“Treble twenty” was throwing me off

“You mean … I’ve been sending objects to the future?”

Alex had returned looking quite ragged, and nearly passed out. We had urgently asked everyone else to leave while I attended to him.

“Yes!” Alex replied, “and after you sent me, I’ve been in contact with others. Or … will be in contact with them … oh, it’s all so confusing. But I’ve got to go back!”

“Wha, what? … What for?”

“There’s been a terrible plague, which has wiped out most of humanity. A few scientists have quarantined with their families, but most of the masses have died off… but it can be stopped! We happen to be at just the right time to…”

A loud knocking on the door interrupted Alex mid-sentence.

“I’ll go get it,” I said.

“No! There’s no time, let me get on your computer.”

“It’s upstairs, who the h-“

The knocked repeated, so hard the floor shook beneath me.

“Who the hell is that!?” I said, following him upstairs.

“You’re not the only one who can facilitate time travel. Now close the door.”

He began frantically typing at the keyboard.

“You were only gone for like, 30 seconds. How long were you there?”

“Three hours. They gave me instructions on how to avoid the plague altogether, but they also warned me that …”

THUD CRASH

The entire house shook as my front door was kicked in. Boots thudded on the ground as the intruders began searching the house.

Alex whispered intently, “Lock the door!”

I turned the lock as quietly as I could, my heart pounding. Someone was coming up the stairs.

Alex was frantically scrolling through a large PDF of a patent filed by Monsanto, looking for just the right page.

The door handle jerked suddenly and I jumped back instinctively.

“UP HERE, BOYS,” shouted the man just beyond the door, “HE MUST BE HERE.”

The next couple seconds happened in a blur. Alex snapped a picture on his phone of a molecule on screen, then urged “Send me back, Now!!”

The door crashed open and the intruder spotted Alex immediately. This tank of a man came right for him, but it was too late. With a swish of my arm, Alex was swept right back to the future he visited moments ago, and then the world went dark.

——————-

Suddenly, Alex and I were back in my house, breathing heavy, adrenaline coursing through our veins, but safe. The doors were all perfectly in tact.

“What … the … hell just happened?!?” I asked. “The doors… they were kicked in, and know they’re fine! How did you get back? I didn’t pull you back, just suddenly we were back here.”

“Well… technically, it never happened.”

I stared blankly at him. “Of course it happened, we just survived that shit, what do you mean?”

“The scientists developed a cure once they had some more information about how the virus was made. The plague was accidental at first, but some other powerful survivors wanted to keep the world… culled. So they sent henchman after me once they traced my time leap.”

I sat there silently.

“So, in essence, while it did happen, because we were successful, none of it will happen.”

“You’re giving me a headache,” I replied.

“Let’s grab a beer and forget that never happened,” Alex said.

“Agreed,” I replied.