He grabbed the book.
Biff reached over the windshield in a wild grab for Marty.
‘You son of a bitch!’ he yelled.
But Marty simply let go of the car. The Ford shot . ahead, and Marty, no longer sharing in the car’s acceleration, fell behind. He shoved the almanac in his inside jacket pocket as his hoverboard glided to a halt. He zipped the jacket up, and started kick-pushing the hoverboard with his free foot toward the end of the tunnel where they had come in.
He heard a squeal of tyres behind him. Marty glanced back as he tried to kick the hoverboard forward with greater speed. Biff had stopped, and was turning his car around in the tunnel.
Without a car to tow him along, Marty could only go as fast on this hoverboard as he could kick it, just like the skateboards Marty was used to. But he had to get out of this tunnel before Biff caught up to him.
He just hoped he could kick this sucker fast enough!
So where was Marty?
Doc had kept the DeLorean hovering over the exit to the tunnel for the last minute, expecting Biff’s car to show up at any second. But there was no sign of Biff, and no sign of Marty - no sign of anything, really, except a big old truck carrying fertilizer that had gone into the tunnel beneath him.
Gone into the tunnel?
Oh no, Doc Brown thought, Marty didn’t have to come out this way at all.
He raised the DeLorean quickly. He only hoped he wasn’t too late to rectify his error.
Oh, shit.
Marty saw the mouth of the tunnel in front of him. But he could hear Biff behind him, coming on fast. And Marty couldn’t push the hoverboard any harder. His leg felt like it was going to fall off, and his ribs had started aching all over again.
But he couldn’t stop now. He was so close to the mouth of the tunnel, so close to getting away.
He didn’t want to look back again. He expected to get run over by two tons of Ford convertible at any second.
Marty kicked even harder.
Pour it on, McFly! Pour it on!
He swore he could hear Biff laughing, over the sound of the revving engine.
Oh, God!
The tunnel mouth was just in front of him, but Marty had no energy left. Even his adrenalin was all used up!
Biff’s car roared behind him. Marty had never heard a car sound so loud. Kick! He had to kick!
A rope tied with multi-coloured pennants dropped down in front of him. It looked like the rope from a used-car lot - or the Lyons Estates sign!
Marty grabbed it, and felt himself being lifted aloft, the hoverboard still strapped to his foot.
Marty looked up.
Doc waved down at him from the open door of the DeLorean.
Marty looked down, and saw Biffs astonished face as his old Ford sped through the space where Marty had been only a second. By the time Biff had turned his eyes back to the road, and saw that slow-moving fertilizer truck just ahead, it was much too late for him to put on the brakes or get out of the way.
‘Shit!’ Biff screamed as the Ford smashed into the truck.
Then tons of manure fell down to silence him.
Chapter Twenty-two