Westward Ho

[Josh]

As the Tahoe trundled across the scarred California countryside, Don Klukas had no personally invested reason to be here. The weight had come back, the familiar but eternally oppressive sensation that he did not belong, that the very nature and substance of this place wished to reject him, the way the skin would eventually eject a splinter.

He was accustomed to that, he had never really landed in a place he belonged before.

They'd made their peace with the powers that be a few days before, and made the case that there was still work to be done in the western lands, colloquially and entirely appropriately referred to as the Deadlands these days. In the interests of comity and in preserving the steady supply of cash, it had behooved them to convince Uncle Sam that the work was of benefit to government interests, and Don had made that case.

Truth be told, he had no personal stake in any of it. But the Manifest Destiny Railroad company was an agglomeration of assholes run by a mega-asshole, and fucking over assholes was Don's way of life.

Often to his own detriment.

But the greater calling came from the people in the vehicle with him. Eve had a suspicion about the Reverend Grimm on Lost Angels, and William was maniacally obsessed with the root and branch destruction of MDR. So they'd said their goodbyes and returned once more.

They'd lost some more on the way- Sandy had stayed behind, and no one had faulted her that. Somewhere along the way, she'd lost the nerve, seen one too many horrors. Bai Long had gone his way shortly after they'd crossed over, returning to the culture that had nourished him. So of the team that had started in New York just a few months before- Sarah, Mickey, Noel, Sandy, Eve, William, Don, it was down to the three of them.

Where they went, he'd go. He had ten cartons of cigarettes, a virtual fortune given that his government wage let him spring for the good Camels instead of the cheapass American Spirits he used to smoke back when he was living on low-rent reporter's wage. The booze was stocked, again with the best quality he could lay hands on.

He had a pistol on his hip and a rifle stowed next to him. They were probably about eighty miles away from the City of Angels. It was time to start some shit.

[Blair]

Eve lay across the back seat, feeling deeply for the first time the sense of loss of those who had begun this trip with them. She couldn't say she thought fondly of the so-called Deadlands, they were... difficult for her in ways she couldn't technically begin to understand. The ghost rock that powered the machines here burned the inside of her nose, somehow even worse than the gas combustion back where she was from. Still, she had friends here, friends who had done particularly wonderful things for her. They'd seen her do some pretty wonderful things, as well, and they'd... well, at the end of the day, they'd seen her, and that was something she wasn't sure anyone had done before. They'd stood by her side through so many things that the least she could do was offer them the same courtesy.

Besides, even as she'd awkwardly asked Don to send a text message to a pair of phone numbers she'd remembered her whole life right before they re-entered, she knew that her parents weren't her family anymore, Don and Will were. Eve's parents were the parents of Evelyn Hill, the quiet, nervous young vet tech who had been so excited to be accepted into an apprenticeship at the Central Park Zoo. Their daughter had died the night she'd reached out to the green lightning that beckoned to her - that had called her home. They didn't know that yet, of course. They didn't know that their child - one of three - was now a Jakat, and a high priestess of a goddess they'd never heard of. They didn't know the things she could do, the things she had done this past year. If they ever saw what she'd become, she imagined they'd shy away, perhaps reject her outright.

But Don and Will had seen it all. They'd been there from the very beginning. And while Will was no longer Will, and was now William, and while he wasn't even remotely the same person they'd begun this trip with, neither was Eve. And Eve couldn't fault him that. And Don was, in theory, the same. But she knew that was a lie, as well. He'd adapted and adjusted and was... well, Eve had promised herself she wouldn't force her beliefs on her friends, but she was grateful that Don had begun to pick up some of the Jakat language. Even now, if he glanced in the back seat, where she lay with her feet hanging out of the rear passenger window, he'd see all the agitation and energy and excitement she felt to be heading to Lost Angels in the way she was breathing, in the movement of her limbs. She wouldn't have to say a word. She missed being known like that back on Long Island. She thought of Avi and hoped he was safe and happy. She thought of the others they'd met, and of the first time she'd seen an ankylosaur. She thought of the Jakat who flew overhead. She didn't miss the city, not really. But she missed being so close to what now felt like home. She'd never entered. The others had told her it wasn't safe. And now she feared that she'd missed her only chance.

She closed her eyes, doing her best to focus on the hot, fresh, clean air that was rushing across her feet and ankles, and she prayed to Lanala that she'd get another chance. And that more importantly, here, even in this place, she would be able to bring life and hope to a land everyone called Dead.

[B4UTRUST]

William was riding shotgun as they passed through the storm, letting the changes in reality ripple over and through them and the vehicle they were in. A tension that he wasn't quite conscious of left him then, allowing him to finally relax. It was odd. The world they just left was technically his home, according to everything he knew. But it wasn't a world he was at all familiar or comfortable with. It may have been his world once, but whatever change had come over him when the team had crossed over the first time had altered those ties irreparably and then removed them entirely. When he thought about it, when he really concentrated, he could still catch glimpses of that old life, like vivid dreams that stuck with him. But that's all they were now, dreams and hallucinations. His real world, his home, was this place, this desert called the Deadlands. He had work to do here, important things and he had two people he knew he could count on to see it through.

That made him think of those who were no longer with them. They had started off with six that he clearly remembered. He knew there was a seventh but that was before 'his' time. Of the remaining six, only they were left. Two deaths, one undeath, one lost beneath the sands. And Sandy who just couldn't do it, couldn't take crossing back over again. Nobody blamed her, she had other things to do, her own life and priorities. Hell, none of them had asked to get roped into the nonsense that got them here in the first place. But here they were, priorities altered and mission changed. He glanced in the rearview mirror at Eve who was sprawled across the back seat. He couldn't begin to understand everything she had given up twice nice to be here with them, and he hoped she knew how grateful they were for her presence. Don at least had someone he was looking forward to getting back to. What did Eve have keeping her here? There was the possibility, of course, that there was more crossovers. They had found traces of her world here. The dinosaurs, rumors of other things springing up. Maybe she was hoping to get back to there through here?

"Mr. Kluk-Don. Don, we going to drive all the way in or are we going to try to get there on foot? I don't think the three of us are going to be able to protect this thing if someone tries to take it again and I don't much fancy trying to walk back to Consequences. We might be better off ditching it a few miles out and hiding it.

"And how familiar are you two with Lost Angels?"

[Josh]

Don glanced over at William. "Smart play, we stash it somewhere and walk in. And LA? This LA? Not at all."

[Blair]

Eve stretched as she sat up, pulling her feet in from the open window and leaning forward between the front seats. "I don't know anything about LA," she replied. "I mean, I didn't really even know a lot about it from where we came from, except that it had Hollywood in it. Hollywood was in LA, right, Don?"

[Josh]

"Yup," Don said sourly. "LA was a shithole that thought it belonged in the conversation with the City. Smog and sprawl and bullshit. Fuck LA."

[B4UTRUST]

"Well, I'm not sure what Hollywood is. I have a vague sense of it from...before, I guess. But it aint anything like where we're going.

"The short version is that about a decade or so ago there was a big quake out here in Cali. The best parts of it kinda got shaken off into the ocean and created what's called the Great Maze. Bunch of water filled channels. It's where they first found Ghost Rock. We saw part of it back in Shan Fan. But here in Lost Angels some preacher-man is in charge of the whole thing. Him and his flock built the whole city after the quake and set it up like a giant wheel. He declared himself as the only authority in the Great Maze and so far has managed to keep it that way.

"I've never been there myself, but from what I've been told is that the place is no guns allowed unless you're a member of the church and they don't much care for Marshalls or Agents there. So that'll be something we'll have to contend with if we're going armed. That and they have some pretty strict rules and not much of a forgiveness policy."

[Josh]

Don glanced over at the cavalry-pattern saber. He hadn't practiced as much with that as he had the pistol and rifle, but he'd gotten to the point where he wouldn't totally shame himself.

"Similar policy on swords?"

He cut his gaze toward Eve, then back to the road. "And if we decide this preacher man needs a killing, I'm expecting it's going to be harder than some of the others we've run across so far. So we have to work this smooth and low profile, okay?"

[Blair]

Eve frowned slightly, but nodded. "I get it. I don't get to go in all loud mouth and flashy like I did back on Long Island." She let out a bark of a laugh, and jumped a bit, as if startled. As if she'd forgotten she could make that sound. "That was hilaaarious," she said, drawing the word out. "I don't know if you remember or not, William, but that was the moment that solidified in me that I'm absolutely Lanala's favorite - as long as everyone backing me has guns and the high ground."

"But I promise I'll behave. At least for a while." She gazed out the front window, thinking. "I wonder if I could convince Lanala to help me manipulate the water," she murmured, eyes going unfocused. "All that water, everywhere. If I could somehow figure out how to control it... He who controls the Spice controls the universe, right?"

[Josh]

Don blinked. Every so often, either of them would make a reference from before, and every time was a little dig.

He'd felt the calling in both passages into this land, the desire of reality to edit him into something new. And he heard the whispers of Jakat pressing against the back of his mind as well, dreaming of green without end.

And none of that would change him. Don Klukas would stay Don Klukas, drinking problems and tobacco addiction and surly demeanor and all.

He loved his friends, but he also hated what they lost, what the world had stolen from them.

[B4UTRUST]

"I think the policy covers weapons in general. They're real big on being the only armed force from what I understand. I'd say if we plan on packing we need to find a pretty damned good way of sneaking them in. Or maybe acquiring them once we're through the checkpoint."

William glanced over his shoulder at Eve, worried about her.
"I know you've managed to do your thing out here before. If it's possible to do it, I know you'll manage to figure it out. I may not hold much stock in the whole god, goddess deity thing but I've got faith in you...but spices? I'm afraid I don't know what spices have to do with you turning into a dinosaur and what not."

[Blair]

Eve grinned at William. "Don't worry about it," she said with a wink. "I've got it all figured out." She bit her lip, considering the saber. "They don't have like... metal detectors and the like, right? Is there a way to disguise it as something else? A cane, or the like? They always find ways to hide stuff like that in stories."

Unable to stand it any longer, she leaned back into the back seat and stuck her hand out the window, allowing her arm to fall and rise in the air, hand gliding through the unseen currents as if it were a bird. "I could always shift into something. Maybe you could hide it on me?

"As far as being the only ones armed, the only way they could stop me is to simply refuse me entrance. And as much as I recognize that I need to be careful, I don't see that going well for them." Her left hand curled into a fist at her side, and the tension in her body clearly broadcasted her desire for violence. In a heartbeat, however, that desire was swallowed down. It was still unsettlingly near the surface, but controlled, for now. She knew that bloodlust swelled and sang within her at regular intervals - Lanala did not hold with peace - but she preferred to direct that desire into things she felt more helpful, such as growth and life. She'd seen enough death for now.

[Josh]

Don pondered this. "Still got some fancy dandy clothes in the trailer, and I think I'd rock a cane. Could you build me one with a gun at one end but also an axehead that comes out?"

He kept his face perfectly deadpan as he glanced back at William.

[B4UTRUST]

William pondered the questions for a moment. Eve's troubled him since the words caused a vague sense of familiarity, something on the tip of his tongue but just out of reach. At least context clues provided something of an answer he hoped. A metal detector, a device that detected metal, of course. The idea made sense when looking at it from a perspective of secreting a weapon.
"I...don't believe so? I think I understand the idea but that isn't a technology that we would have out here, at least not in any common use I'm familiar with. Though they may physically search visitors and traders, make sure they're not smuggling in contraband. I honestly don't know, I've never been here before myself. Just heard stories and read a few briefings. Hmmm, do you think you could carry some guns and ammo in the form of a large bird? That might work to sneak them past the guards? Though then you wouldn't have a visitor pass so you may be hassled for that. Damn...this isn't exactly going to be easy.

"And yes, Don, I'm pretty sure I could build you what you're after. Just not in the time frame we're working with. At least not if you didn't want to risk it blowing up in your hand the first time you used it."

[Josh]

Don snapped his fingers as though disappointed. "And there goes the line I was going to write about your miracle working," he said. "So we secure the wheels, we walk in, or Eve flies in, and we meet up in town, find a place to bunk down and tool up again, then see what needs doing that we can effectively do. I'm liking this plan so far."

[Blair]

"You know, I can fly in ahead, stash weapons on a rooftop, fly back out, and then all of us could walk in together," she says, shrugging. "I could maybe even do it a few times without being noticed."

[B4UTRUST]

"You know, I can fly in ahead, stash weapons on a rooftop, fly back out, and then all of us could walk in together," she says, shrugging. "I could maybe even do it a few times without being noticed."

"If you think you can do it, I'm happy with that plan. I'm just worried you'd end up stuck again. And you being stuck as a bird for a day would be a cawtastrophe," William stated in a deadpan voice, clearly straining not to laugh at his own bad joke. "Anything we can't get in that way though maybe there's a black market somewhere? A city like that there's got to be someone pissed off at the god botherers."

[Blair]

"If there's not one," Eve says with a smirk, "I bet we could start one." She turns to Don. "What do you think, Don? Should I do it?"

[Josh]

Don slammed the brakes suddenly, jarring them all forward as he turned to look at Will.

"What the fuck was that?" he demanded. "The fuck, William? Was that a fucking joke? Humor? Are you possessed?"

[Blair]

Eve slammed into the back of William's seat, giving out an "oof" as she did so. "It was on purpose?" she asked, pushing herself back into her seat and then buckling her seatbelt. "I thought it was like a speech impediment or something!"

[B4UTRUST]

"Yes? No? There's theories that those who practice the...less than normal...sciences may have some sort of connection to the Manitou? So maybe? I'm...honestly not sure. It is something that is a bit troubling if accurate but personally I'm not one for the whole idea of evil spirits running around causing things to happen and science is made with hard facts and not superstitious nonsense. So I'm confident I'm okay."

[Josh]

Don just stared for a moment longer, then turned back to Eve.

"I trust you can," he said. "I got faith in you."

Not Lanala, he didn't say. Eve.

[Blair]

Eve nodded, grinning. "Thanks, Don. I guess let's figure out what we need." She leaned back, looking out the window again. "What sort of birds of prey are there out here? Or should I be a buzzard again?"

[Josh]

"Buzzard would be a good bet, unless William's got something better to suggest."

He nodded at a rocky defile. "Looks just about wide enough to get into and out of, if we backed in, then threw the nets over. Grab our water cans and load Eve up with a couple of small pistols, figure we'd be good to go for our hike in."

[B4UTRUST]

"I honestly don't. A bay bird, maybe? But a buzzard probably has a better carrying capacity, I would think. But I'll defer to your expertise on that part. But yeah, lets hide this thing and get this going. I have a feeling this walk is going to be pretty damned miserable. Not as bad as Arizona but not fun."