Simon still had not awoken, and it was beginning to worry the boys. His fever had gone down a bit since the wet rag was wrapped around his head. But he only mumbled incoherently on occasion and made an occasional twitch. No one knew what to do for him here. That, alongside all the other ominous signs of this place, made them eager to return home. It didn't help when Ramone mentioned to Jessie that he was fairly certain that he had been here longer than when he had visited the red eyed world.
They walked through even more fields of the dead, some with the bones and restraints having since long fallen to the ground, where the earth had begun to swallow them under the grit and dust. Although they were disturbed by their surroundings and the immensity of the paraded corpses on tall poles and Y shaped structures, they were also becoming numb to it. They had trespassed through cemeteries and graveyards in past adventures, many times during the hours of twilight to find some alleged spirit or forgotten grave. The time spent here and a part of their previous experience gave them the ability to push on through. It was mostly the native audacity and lack of respect burned ever bright and horrible.
At some point, the field of bodies upon the crucifixion poles did end. Ramone glanced over his jacketed shoulder briefly, wondering if Rio was going to stay back there, as if it were home to her. But she did not, nor did she seem to care once she stepped away from that place. She merely maintained an orderly smooth gait some six yards behind Jessie, trailing the boys. Part of Ramone had truly hoped she would have stayed there, as her hair swept in line with the tall grasses partially obscuring her.
And yet, he was beginning to feel bad for being judgmental about her at all. She hadn't done anything wrong beyond just coming off as creepy. She had not hurt anyone that they could determine. If anything, she had been a help to them and had inadvertently offered a small tidbit about the knowledge of Drifters in a foreign world. He had to admit on some level, it was useful to know.
And like Jessie, he had noticed the nasty scars and welts on her hand from earlier. They looked like dragged lines caused by multiple injuries from violence or abuse, not from someone playing and getting hurt by accident. He also came to a conclusion about her body and age; something that Jessie hadn't the experience to determine.
Now, in his own mind, Ramone considered himself well studied on the female form. And he had not lacked for mature examples in his years. Of that, there was no question. Reflecting on that, he noticed her proportions seemed 'off', as if someone stuck between early puberty and adulthood but not truly in either state. Maybe she wasn't even a kind of human and that would have potentially accounted for things. But by his estimations, it seemed Rio grew up malnourished and neglected. Her frock and limbs seemed to indicate she was thin, possibly rail-like. It could have accounted for her slow pace and reticence to speak, even in her own language. Additionally, he noticed both child-like and teenage proportions on her outline. He was beginning to believe that whatever she went through had been long term and that she, in fact, was physically stunted, and around thirteen years of age, give or take one.
Ramone did not like the idea of pity. Pity, while it had compassionate undertones, was often used by others to highlight their own 'moral expression through elitism'. Pity was used to look down on people. It was condescending, and rarely in the idea that the person truly felt bad or sorry for whoever they felt was worthy of it. But Ramone genuinely felt bad for this girl, despite his discomfort in her presence. He realized it was something he needed to come to terms with.
A large piece of him wished he could take her to lunch somewhere and just let her eat something healthy. Or failing that, then as much as she wanted. Another slice of his nature wanted to gut punch her parents hard with his rock-like balled up fist, for what seemed like clear neglect. He hoped her situation wasn't the norm in regards to how things actually worked around there.
As the boys trekked across the near wilderness of Dresden Port, they spied several crude houses along the back roads. There was nothing too out of the ordinary about that, other that their adobe redesigns. But something became immediately clear to Ramone as he made his way along. The dirt roads were fallow and unused, save for footprints of man and beast. No tire tracks anywhere. And the houses themselves never had any vehicles. "Jess, did you notice any cars when you looked in town?"
"Hrm. No, I don't believe so."
"Are people not able to afford cars here?" Ramone wondered. "Or do they not exist? Because I'm not seeing any signs of them. It feels weird."
Jessie cast a glance around, picking up on his point. "You're right. There doesn't seem to be anything like that around. Maybe they're anti-technology luddites?"
"It doesn't make any sense, though…" said Ramone, "they have a parking lot at the 4 H grounds, but no cars at all?"
"Well, maybe they have carriages? This could be some kind of simple agrarian society."
"I don't know… I guess? Yeah, there's basic stuff around, but why does everything still seem to be 'it's almost just like Dresden Port'? If these people weren't historically the same on a lot of fronts, and I'm betting that's accurate, then why is everything so similar? I mean, there should be a butterfly effect of how this place turned out, because that would have led to significant different changes and placements of things."
"I don't know. I think we've seen a lot of things that our Dresden Port doesn't have. But I get what you're saying. It seems to me that maybe they did have all the things our culture did, but something sharply changed. Now everything's just left over and ignored, because something significant took a different path altogether. Oh hey, come look at this."
Coming upon an empty dark road, guiding themselves under star and moonlight, they stood next to a utility pole. "Check it out. There are all sorts of power lines up there and they run all the way down the lane like normal. I see an electrical transformer. It's not humming. None of the street lights are running either. It's just like our area, but off. The question is; why?"
Ramone looked flabbergasted. "You're asking me? That's what I'm saying."
Jessie shook his head. "I'm making my point here, Ra. I think whatever societal change happened in this Dresden Port… things weren’t always the way they are now. In fact, I dare say it may even be somewhat recent. Like a decade or three ago."
"Alright. So, it might be some kind of theocratic dystopia. You told me you saw weird symbols and some guy swinging around a censer. What's the point of it all? It doesn't sound like anything I've seen."
Jessie shrugged and scoffed. "There are a lot of oddball faiths and spiritualties out there. I don't know what it is, but it might be specific to this place only. Or at least, there might not be an equivalent where we're from. The symbols looked passingly familiar, but I'm not great at telling one style from another. Whatever the story is, I bet that big black sphere in the sky has something to do with it. Because that's the only thing I can't even begin to fathom."
"It is pretty strange, gotta say," Ramone chimed in agreement. "I dunno… it… just feels evil. Like, waking, live as day… evil. I can't explain it. Just some vibe I got from it."
Jessie shot him a curious glance. "I had a similar feeling, actually. I lost my shit when I saw that thing. That said, I'm really hoping this place isn't just some possibility of what could happen in our town. I would not want to live in this place. Um, no offense, Rio."
The young girl looked at Jessie expectantly for a moment. Having no idea why he haphazardly spoke her name, she resumed staring off into space when she recognized that although he mentioned her name, he didn't intend to address her personally for whatever was being discussed. The two males were awfully chatty and she had come to accept that about them much earlier.
Having made their way north without encountering anyone or anything beyond a foraging possum, they climbed down the dry canal embankment, and began following it west. They had walked parts of this many times in the past; Ramone and Simon more than Jessie. But it went on for miles in any given direction and it wasn'
t the most interesting place to be without a bike to race upon. The walls of the old canal were about six to seven feet high- it was a great place to hang out of sight from the more nosy officers in town, so one could light up a joint or have a drink. It was also very difficult to get a car into. Ramone thought about cruising down the canal many times in the past, but the closest place he could get down safely with a vehicle was almost ten miles away by a crossing within the outskirts of Heiowah. With the rocks, debris, and occasional mud slicks in the canal, he ultimately decided it wasn't any more worth it for him, than for the cops to come down and patrol in it.
In the days of Captain Dresden, the canal was apparently much wider and perhaps a good bit deeper. Given the years upon years of disuse, erosion, and rough weather conditions, nature seemed to be slowly reclaiming it, filling the gap with bits of loose timber, sand, dirt, and crumbling sidewalls. It was not uncommon to see the many scraggly weeds and other wild plants of the area within the deteriorating passage, although it seemed to resist trees and grass rather well. The former only existed in the occasional sapling by the edges, while the latter would only be found in scattered growths of straw and crabgrass. Perhaps this is because it could still hold drainage water when it rained hard enough and the looser contents within needed to go somewhere.
Within the rugged confines of the canal, the boys felt a little more at ease. The chance of being seen while traversing the passage was next to nil, unless there were cultists hiding back here sharing dime bags of Philadelphia Silver or taking swigs of moonshine. At least thus far, they didn't seem to come back here anymore than regular residents of Dresden Port.
"Hey man, can we take a breather? My leg hurts like a bitch right now and I haven't eaten in forever," Jessie asked. "You don't have the easiest pace to keep up with, you know."
Ramone nodded and came to a stop, carefully setting Simon down. "Honestly, I could go for a break too. I'm just as hungry at this point. We've been 'on' all day. Let's take five here," he said, sitting down on a worn smooth tortoise shell sized rock. He again thought about having a clove, but still remained against it with Rio around. She continued to stand and look about at nothing in particular.
Jessie groaned and parked himself upon a washed away tree trunk. "Does she ever get tired? I don't think I've seen her sit even once today."
"Has she eaten anything either?"
"Not that I noticed," shrugged Jessie. "I can't tell if she's got pockets on that frock of hers, but I don't think so."
Ramone sighed. "Hey… I'm gonna be straight with you. I don't think she's eaten much ever. I think she's someone's neglected kid. She's got some signs of malnourishment, I'm pretty sure."
"So she doesn't have a place to go back to?"
Ramone audibly breathed out, pursing his lips. "If she does, I don't think she likes it there. Another part of me thinks she's abandoned, maybe. Just, you know, living out here, scratching by or something along those lines."
"Yeah…?" Jessie said, sounding uncharacteristically sympathetic. "Damn. Maybe she's one of those feral children, I read about. You know, the kind of kids that get raised by wolves? A common trait to them is they can't or don't like to talk. Although, she did do so earlier… eh, what do I know? Is there nothing about this area that isn't fucked up on some level? I really wish we'd go back already. This place is dreary."
Ramone could only agree, rubbing his eyes, as he stretched his legs. "I was thinking about what you said before, and not to pile it on, but I'm a little worried about my car. I'm wondering if these yahoos scrapped all the vehicles at some point. Seeing mine out there in plain sight is probably just asking for it."
"You think they might take it away? Well, if they got rid of all the cars and what not, that might mean the tow trucks are gone, too. Not like they can drive the thing away," Jessie said playfully.
"Unless they still have gas around for some other reason. And, uh, if they remember how to fill up a car. Ehh… well, I was also thinking, they're gonna realize that car came from somewhere. A sweet Challenger like that doesn't just fall from the sky into a parking spot. I don't recall seeing it leave any real tire tracks, so that might be a big sign it's not from these parts. They could get the idea that someone else is around. If she's any example, they know damn well what Drifters are. And I’m guessing they don't like them one bit."
Looking thoughtful for a moment, Jessie realized something. "Oh crap. And they have those branded dogs, too. They might actually be able to follow us here."
The Italian grit his teeth and nodded. "Yeaaah. That is a thing, unfortunately. We can't wait here too long, just in case. Are you about ready to make tracks?"
Jessie sighed and dusted himself off. "No, but it's not like I have a choice. We might not even be able to stop off at the hunter's lodge down west if they're trailing us."
"Guess we'll find out." Popping his lower back, Ramone hopped back to his feet and hoisted Simon back on his shoulder. "You better pray this world has an actual Chester over there that's willing to save the day. Because if we are being dogged, then we are not in good straits here, Jess."
"Hrmph. That’s the human condition, if I've ever heard it summarized. You get to know how utterly screwed you are, but you're rarely in a position to do anything about it," his friend replied with blasé commiseration.
Their pace had, despite their growing weariness, picked up. One could call it motivation. The dry canal bed no longer seemed quite as safe as before. Increasingly, they began to debate if what Jessie mentioned was going to come into play. Would the lodge be safe or would it only be a matter of time before the creepy robed cultists zeroed in on their position? If so, what would they do? The vast fields of the crucified dead told them they didn't want to take a chance on learning the answer.
And if not for the shack, where would they go? Just keep following the canal west through other forests and towns? Maybe walk until exhaustion, only to find the tri-state area or even entire eastern seaboard was like this town? Both of them silently hoped the Drifting would recall them to their home sooner than not. Being at the mercy of this unknown force was nothing short of vexing. It was feeling less like a journey and something much more related to being chained barefoot to an active treadmill covered in thumbtacks.
Although both of them wanted to gripe, their concerns about being sniffed out by the possibility of dogs made them focus on moving forward. There was no point in complaining. Nothing worthwhile would come from it and although they were 'the boys', they were not children. They walked for miles, following the empty passage in the facsimile of their lonely backwater town. It was about an hour into the trek, pushing hard to make distance, when they finally arrived.
"There!" Ramone said in a slightly loud, yet still hushed voice. "That's it right there on the ridge! That's Chester's shack!" The sight, even in the shadows of moonlight, raised his spirits.
Jessie was breathing hard by this point, well out of breath, and his bad leg in agony at every swollen joint and fibula. "Thank the fucking gods… I am done," he wheezed asthmatically. He didn't care about what it looked like. This was as far as he could go for now.
Ramone grunted and raised Simon's unconscious body fully with an overhead press motion he performed many times with his weights at home and rolled him onto the lip of the canal. He followed after, soon climbing with the aid of an errant root that surely extended from a great dead tree behind the shack itself. Jessie limped over slowly and tried the same, but Ramone grabbed his hand instead and simply yanked him up the rest of the way. Jessie winced as he caught himself on the ground above, but gave a thankful nod of the head. He knew it would have taken him too much to climb up.
Ramone then went to lend a hand to Rio. However, Rio made her own way up. Before his eyes, she made a standing six foot high leap, catching herself on all fours, before joining them next to Simon. "Holy crap, kid… how did you do that??"
"What happened?" groaned Jessie.
"You didn't see that? She just did a bonafi
de 'air jordan' up here from a standing position! The damn lip of the embankment is higher than she is tall! It's impossible!" exclaimed Ramone, a bit mystified and genuinely impressed all at once.
Jessie wasn't sure he believed Ramone on this one. It seemed like one of those 'catch you unaware' whoppers he liked to do from time to time. And Rio was unreadable, so he couldn't discern anything from her. In the end, he merely conceded with a confused shrug, although he wished he'd seen it.
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