"Alabama Zack" is a 40-chapter science fiction serial, published in the Scholar and Scribe community once a week on Wednesdays.
You can start the serial from the beginning by visiting the Curated Collection.
Alabama Zack, our hero and a war veteran, found himself standing on a train station platform in another time and dimension. At his feet lay a man in a brown suit. The man was dead, and Zack was arrested and jailed for murder.
Zack can not remember how he had arrived on that platform, let alone whether or not he had anything to do with the man's death.
The rulers of that realm, the inquisitors, released Zack and he met three people who began helping him to recover his memory and prove his innocence: the doctor, whom Zack met on the train station platform, the P.I. Cork McGraw, and Cork's maid Matilda.
In last week's chapter, alone in Cork's office, Zack recovered from the realm's attempt to reclaim him and return him to prison, which Cork, the doctor and Matilda thwarted. Caught in a reverie, he slipped dimensions and found himself back at home in Alabama.
Earlier, during the realm's attempt to reclaim Zack, the town drunk, who was being forced to lead Cork, the doctor, and Zack to the person responsible for a shooting attempt on Zack's life, escaped.
As our hero sat talking with his mother in his home dimension, Cork McGraw and the doctor were tracking the drunk. They had walked Cork's bikes across the field – following rocks the drunk had churned up, which were bare of dust and a shade darker than the rest – and now stood in the shade of an oak tree on the far side.
A breeze rustled grass along the tree line. “He's headed north,” Cork said, as he snagged a thread off a thorn bush. “He ain't headed for the Clayton ranch after all.”
“No, the Claytons are south,” the doctor agreed. “There's just the train station to the north.”
“Hmpf. Well, I reckon I know the Claytons when they shoot at me. So who else wants to know if Zack was shot?”
The doctor adjusted his fedora. Just then the sound of metal clanged across the field – Matilda was ringing the triangle on the back step. The two men mounted the bikes and pedaled hard through the rocks; as they pushed through the yard up to the steps, Matilda called out that Zack was gone.
“What do you mean?” Cork asked. “He left?”
“I'm sure I dunno,” she said, twisting her apron. “I searched this place top to bottom and the man simply isn't here. It's like he vanished into thin air.”
“Well, maybe he did,” the doctor said. “Or, rather, maybe the realm was able to reconnect the green light and grab him.”
Cork shook his head. “Nope. They always need physical proximity to do that.” He turned to Matilda. “What happened? Did anyone come in?”
“No! I put him in your study with an icepack, and I just went downstairs a minute to make more tea. It was so quiet, so I went back upstairs to check, and he was gone. I didn't hear the stairs or door or anything!”
As Matilda spoke, an idea – which he found far fetched but possible – came to Cork. He pulled his hat down to his eyes; by the time she had finished, he'd hung his head. But he had one more question for her: “Was he sitting in my chair? The red wingback?”
“Why yes, I believe he was,” Matilda said, and now the doctor was piqued. “What is it Cork?” he asked.
“The red chair is a transporter,” Cork said without looking up.
“What?” the doctor said. “Are you kidding? Where in the devil did you get a transporter?”
“Aw, it was payment for a job,” Cork said. He straightened up to defend himself. “I just kept it as a novelty, really. It's not like I ever tried to use it.”
“Well, I'm almost certain Zack has never used a transporter either,” the doctor said. “Which means he could be anywhere now, and he probably has absolutely no idea how to get back.”
Matilda interrupted the two men at that point. “What on earth are you talkin' about? What's a transporter? Where did Zack go?”
The doctor sighed. “A transporter is a device that enables a person to jump dimensions. We have no idea where Zack went, but one of us going to have to try to follow and bring him back.”
Next week in our story
Cork was a man in command of two things: violence and intrigue. Dimension jumping was not his cup of tea. But he was also a man who stepped up and did what needed doing, so he had insisted on being the one to attempt to follow Zack.
Chapter XVI (link to come)
Start at the beginning
Cover for “Alabama Zack” designed in Canva using a Pixabay photo as background (image source).
Text written by 
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