But Biff had other ideas. He picked his right foot off the accelerator, and stuck his left foot there Instead. He kicked his right foot out, against the door, forcing it open with Marty still on it.
Marty lost his grip on the book. But Biff had lost his hold, too.
The overmuscled teen took his foot off the gas as the sports almanac went flying. It landed on the hood, and the wind whipped it on to the windshield.
Marty had to get that book, now.
He started to pull himself up past the door, up toward the windshield.
To his surprise, Biff didn’t try to stop him. Instead the burly teenager grinned, and floored the gas pedal.
Doc had put the DeLorean on autopilot, so he could watch everything below on his own set of mini-binoculars - except when the occasional cloud got in the way. It was taking far too long! If only there was some other way he could help Marty! But he couldn’t get any closer. He’d risked showing the DeLorean far too much already.
He saw Marty reach the front of the car, and actually get his hand on the book. But then Biff had it, too, and, after a brief tug-of-war, it ended up on the windshield! Marty started pulling himself toward the book again -
There was another one of those pesky clouds.
Oh, no! There was a hill up ahead - Deacon’s Hill, as Doc recalled - which meant they were coming up to the Deacon’s Hill Tunnel! And Marty was so busy trying to get that book, he wasn’t paying any attention to where Biff’s car was going!
Biff swerved the car to the right. He was going to wipe Marty off the side of his car like an insect.
Doc pulled out his walkie-talkie.
‘Marty!’ he yelled. ‘Look out!’
But the DeLorean was already flying over the hill, and Doc lost sight of Biff’s car below.
If only he had been in time!
Chapter Twenty-one
Marty had almost bought it.
He had turned the second he heard Doc’s warning, and seen the tunnel coming up fast!
He let go of the car, more from panic than from any plan. The hoverboard fell back away from the speeding Ford as Marty grabbed the rear bumper, barely swinging himself away from the wall as Biff threw the car to the right. Sparks flew when Biff scraped the side of the car against the rough brick of the tunnel.
But Marty was still here, hanging on to the back of Biff’s car. And he was still going to get that Sports Almanac.
He started to move the hoverboard forward again, this time on the driver’s side.
All he had to do was keep low as he pulled himself past Biff.
Marty glanced up and saw Tannen grinning at him in the side-view mirror. He couldn’t duck fast enough. Biff socked him in the ear, hard.
His head ringing, Marty almost lost his grip. Somehow. he managed to hold onto the windshield. Biff swung at him again, but this time Marty was ready. He dodged the blow as Biff had to throw his hands back on the wheel to straighten out the car.
Biff jerked the wheel left. He was going to try to crush Marty against the other wall.
Marty had to get out of here.
There was the sound of an air horn, and
Marty saw two truck headlights, headed straight for them! Biff swung the car back into the right lane, and the truck missed Marty by inches. It was a dump truck of some sort - Marty watched it travel away from them through the tunnel for a second until he felt Biff jerk the car back into the left lane. They were awfully close to the other wall. Marty had to do something!
But then he remembered how, when he had been in the future, the hoverboard had been able to skate over more than just the ground. In fact, it could go over anything but water! Maybe, he thought, he should stop trying to avoid the wall, and lean the hoverboard into it, instead.
Yes! It really worked. Still holding the side of the windshield, he pushed the hoverboard away from the car and skated up the side of the tunnel! And - this was even better than he thought! - going up the tunnel wall brought him above the hood of the car, that much closer to the Sports Almanac.