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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

And if it catches us, we're all in trouble. Your gait is smooth and I'll keep him as immobile as possible

Rebecca wraps the blanket snug like a cocoon around the unconscious form in her arms and then holds him firmly to herself to reduce the motion of his body as much as she can. The pressure against the child's wound can only help"Hold on, Wyatt," she warns, then leans down to cut the wind resistance, knowing Wyatt will lean over her when she does.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:52 am Post subject:

Wyatt raises his kerchief over his nose and mouth and smacks the top of his hat down to make it snug around his brow.

Demon rides hard and soon enough a sparse rain with heavy drops beats them hard. The storm is heading their way and on their tail for a while, but the riders and mount do everything to make the ride smooth and as fast as possible.

The thunder is deafening, the lightning cracks the earth and the winds kick up dirt in small twisters sprouting from the base of the storm's connections to the earth. The sky is black as night all around them and the clouds are alive with light and the mayhem crackle of skygods.

The canyon's gate is hidden as their vision is reduced by the dust storm. They are at the edge of the storm and suddenly they are through, finding themselves in a place quite different from the previous land, demonstrating her cousins led an intense hellride.

...

The dirt plains remain, and the blasted Black Road, dozens of miles ahead. But here the skies are blue and mountains sprout from the edges of the world, blue and white. It feels very dry here, vegetation only existing at the feet of the mountain ranges. Everywhere else, trees of rusted iron, barbs grown out of the ground to forms bushes and small sprouts. They are sparse, but there is a gathering of trees ten miles ahead and Demons points it as the next opening.

Carcasses of the machines can be found, already rusting, spaced out evenly just as before, marking their way.

"Wow," Wyatt says, looking about, as they continue to ride.

The still air of this land is disturbed by wind at their backs, dirt kicking up again.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

Rebecca curses the storm at their backs. She slips a hand to the boy against her and checks the pulse at his throat. Trumping to Amber was looking attractive. Not that she would trust Caine to see to the child, and Gerard was gone. She considers Julian, but isn't sure she wants to be in the position of owing him a favor.

"I'm givin' it one more shift, then I'm gonna try and get to Amber. There's an inn we can take him to. They'll take care of him for me."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:12 am Post subject:

The boy is not dead. His pulse is shallow but steady, as if some sort of hibernation or deep trance has come over him rather than shock.

Wyatt exclaims, "Ya mean this is still comin' after us? What in the..." Baffled, he holds her in and steady as they continue to ride out, not towards the grove of dead rusty trees.

Behind them, the storm forms again, taking on the shape of a much more mundane one. Dust twisters, rainy black clouds gathering unnaturally fast, and the occasional lightning and thunder.

Demon curses at the barbs sprouting out of the ground. Those must have hurt her cousins advance compared to the machines, except perhaps for Blake. If she cared to and had more time, retracing their path and spelling out each step would be easy here. Each shot, each turn and each sprint through to the next Shadow.

Finally, they arrive, the rusty metal of bushes and trees tearing at their clothes and scratching their skin as they jump through openings to get to Demon's intended destination. The storm has taken on a large aspect, a whirlwind of power carrying dust from two worlds and she can spot things floating, following the great whirlpool of air. Cadavers. Bodies of the people half-buried a world away.

Then, it begins to rain.

A body falls near to them, caught in the sharp branches of a tree ahead of them, dangling like a dead man puppet. Then another, a puppet girl, about twelve.
Wyatt tenses against Rebecca, Demon continues on, doing his best not to be in the trajectory of something that could knock all three of the humans over.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

Even focused as she is, Rebecca startles when the body drops near them. Heart racing, she sends a command to Snake and a warning to Wyatt. The length of strong braided leather slithers from its place at her hip, winding a figure 8 around Rebecca and Wyatt's waists, twice around the saddlehorn and knotting itself. She wraps her hand in the reins she rarely uses and tightens her hold on the boy.

As she keeps an eye on the gruesome tornado so Demon doesn't have to, Rebecca is doubly glad she'll have Wyatt with her tonight.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:44 pm Post subject:

The tornado is tossing bodies at them and it takes from a grave of nearly two-hundred. It isn't a pretty spectacle, and this somewhat peaceful yet strange place has changed to a hellish place, the machines, uprooted rusty trees and cadavers fallen all around them.

The passage through Shadow is unfortunate, the rust trees and barbed bushes are the element that remains. Here, the sky is white and low, the dirt plains have given way to a tundra broken up by rifts, sprouts of metal plants and bushes. The hills of the tundra abound with fallen machines. In the distance is a settlement of large roundish tents. The Black Road is hidden or gone...

The Tornado at their heel struggles to come through and adapt. The winds here are cold and unsteady and dry, hardly heavy storm weather. This keeps them far ahead of it and by the time it makes its way through to this Shadow, it has begun changing the landscape around its base and top. The things previously caught in the tornado are gone, probably left behind.

There is a passage ahead, it'll be a quick path away from that storm! Demon says in a rush.

...

Demon leads them away from the storm at last and into a Shadow of grassy hills with strange thin rifts and an ocean a few miles down. The sky is a light shade of green and the waters ahead a deeper, more intense green. A dozen miles up the weird yellow hills is a town of grey brick buildings, large enough for a thousand people.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

Rebecca all but held her breath until they passed through that hellish place. When the storm finally leaves them, she sits up and recalls Snake back to her hip.

"Slow down, Demon," she says with a pat to the stallion's neck. 'Take a breather for a minute."

She shifts in the saddle and looks back at Wyatt. "You alright?"

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:06 pm Post subject:

She's never seen Wyatt look like this. He is not frightened, but rather looks as though he's just awoken from a frightful dream to find himself in a dire situation. His breathing is quick and shallow and he catches his breath and swallows.

"I know this don't happen when ya guys travel usually, but what tha hell was that?!" pointing back behind them, where the hellish storm has just left them. He rubs his eyes quickly and says, "I'm sorry, I'm fine... How's tha boy holdin' up?"
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

"He's alive. Breathing's shallow, but steady."

"There's a flask of whiskey in my right duster pocket. I think ya need a drink." She reaches behind her for one of his hands. "I'm sorry, Wyatt. I don't have much experience with these things, or I would've warned ya. Let's go check out that settlement and see if we can do something for the boy. Hopefully, they'll take him in."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

Wyatt follows her suggestion and helps himself to a drink. He wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve and says, "Yeah, let's hope so..."
He sniffs the air several times and looks at the ocean while they ride; Demon finally slowing down quite a bit, still maintaining a decent pace, hopping over rifts in the earth one foot wide at the most. Down those holes is nothing but darkness it seems.

The air smells of the sea, though perhaps a bit sweet too, as if blooming flowers could be found nearby. Though the grass and vegetation here is lush, it does not seem to yield fruits or flowers.

Wyatt takes another gulp of the whiskey and replaces the flask in her pocket, kissing her cheek as he slips it back.

They make their way to a dirt path that winds around the hills, uninterrupted by rifts of any kind, leading to the small city, it seems.

Before they make it to the city streets, they notice it. There is no noise but the screeching of birds on the distant beach. No bustle, no hustle...
This is a ghost town, though it does not appear to have been abandoned in a hurry, for the streets are empty and neat.

Wooden shutters are closed and there are no city gates or monuments to tell her much more about this place. The architecture is simple yet efficient. Most building are one story since the town still appears to have had room to spread outwardly. The buildings are old looking, but well kept, with few fissures in the walls.

The main street is unpaved: packed dirt.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

"What the hell?" she wonders aloud quietly. Because echoes in empty cities were very vaguely creepy..

She nudges Demon towards a building that looks like it might have been a home at one time. "Let's check it out. If nothing else, it'll give us a chance ta tend ta this wound before we either try one more Shadow, or I Trump us back to Amber and Maggie."

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:53 pm Post subject:

Quietly, Wyatt says, "I didn't realize Cimarron was tha only place out thar that wasn't weird an' creepy... Is all this really related ta tha road?"
Demon steps closer to a townhouse with a small porch. There, some potted plants hang down from the balcony just above. The door and shutters are painted a copper green color. The potted plants look well trimmed and taken care of.

Somewhere down the street, they hear the creaking and clicking of shutters closing.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

"No. The trip from Amber to Cimarron is actually very pleasant," Rebecca answers. "Dismount so I can hand him down to ya. The Black Road has corrupted everywhere it touches, Wyatt, and Shadows are diverse to begin with. So I can't say how corrupted these places are. I just know that we are."

Rebecca slides off after handing the boy gently to Wyatt. She draws her pistol and cocks the hammer before stepping up on the porch and approaching the front door. She notes the plants and frowns thoughtfully, but continues on with her investigating.

Nihilistic Mind · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject:

Wyatt looks inside the bundled blanket, awkwardly holding the boy like an overgrown baby.

It seems to Rebecca that there are people holed up inside. She's not sure what might threaten the denizens here if she's right since it is neither winter nor night...

Still no noise except for the cries of birds in the distance.
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Arden · Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 543 Location: Oklahoma

She pauses with her hand on the doorknob. Rebecca pushes her hat back off her head so she can be seen clearly if there is really anyone inside. Then she motions Wyatt to the side with her pistol and then lowers her arm, hiding the firearm in the folds of her duster.

"We mean you no harm, but we have a injured child who needs help and shelter." She speaks in a clear, low tone. The same tone she uses when dealing with skittish horses. "Please."

Steeling herself for trouble, Rebecca silently counts to 10, giving them a chance to open the door before she does it herself.