Doc started the time machine. It was time to go back where they belonged, where they could stop worrying and just let time take care of itself.
Marty kept a firm grip on the unconscious Jennifer.
He wanted to keep anything more from happening to her on the way home.
‘Altitude, seven thousand feet,’ Doc announced. That should be high enough.’ He glanced around to check on his passengers. ‘Marty. Einie. brace your-selves for temporal displacement!'
Doc floored the accelerator, straight for a row of floating lane markers.
They reached eighty-eight miles per hour in a matter of seconds.
There was a blinding flash of light from the flux capacitor, accompanied by that moment when you seemed to go from travelling at eighty-eight miles per hour, to not travelling at all - as if, for an instant, you were suspended outside of time and space. Then there were the three sonic booms, and you were back going eighty-eight miles per hour again - except you were sometime else.
Marty looked out the window. Wherever they were, the floating lane markers were gone. It was night, and all he could see were tiny lights far below. ‘Did we make it?’ Marty asked.
As if in answer, a 747 jumbo jet roared much too close overhead. The DeLorean shook violently for a moment before Doc stabilised it again.
‘We’re back,’ Doc agreed. ‘Now let's get Jennifer home.
He took the DeLorean down slowly, searching the lights below for familiar streets.
A moment later, he set the car down on a quiet road outside of town as the wheels slipped back into place underneath.
They drove the rest of the way to Jennifer's house.
Even in the dark, Marty could see THE PARKERS in big block Ietters on the mailbox.
Marty and Doc managed to get Jennifer out of the car, and gently carried her toward the house. Doc nodded ahead to the front porch.
‘Let's put her in the swing.'
Wouldn't that just confuse Jennifer more when she woke up?
'But she left from my house,' Marty pointed out.
Doc thought about that for a second.
'True,' he replied reasonably, 'but when she revives here at her own
house, and it’s dark, the disorientation will help convince her that it was all a dream.’
Hmm, Marty thought. That sounded logical enough.
‘Okay,’ Marty agreed, ‘you’re the Doc.'
They set her down on the porch swing. Jennifer began to snore softly. Marty guessed everything was going to be all right. But why did he still feel uneasy? May be it had something to do with the time travelling - sort of like jet lag.
Still, there was something different - he turned away from Jennifer, ready to follow Doc back down to the car - but stopped when he saw the heavy iron grillwork that covered the windows to either side of the front door.
‘I must be crazy,' he muttered, half to himself. 'I don't remember bars on these windows.’ Maybe, he thought, that time-lag business played tricks with your memory, too.
‘Oh well, I guess -’ He had to get himself back together. He paused to take a deep breath, but stopped almost as soon as he started to inhale.
‘Jeez, something really stinks!' He barely kept himself from coughing. It was really foul!
Doc sniffed the air and made a face of his own. ‘Must be a fire somewhere. We'd better get going.’
Marty glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping Jennifer.