Chp 12 - Super Bandits and Town-Sized Nuclear Bunkers
Earth/Europe/Bertotia Kingdom/Outside a Tavern Town just West of The Capital/07_09_2020:
Clicking a button on the side of the near-luminous blue car-keys, Andresia sucks Hilbert into the pocket dimension that just appeared beside her.
(POV Andresia): Yeah… that’s not something I’m ever going to get used to… Though Ivan seems surprisingly calm, actually. Yeah right, Ivan couldn’t be calm if he tried.
Lips pursed; Ivan turns to face Andresia. He sighs, explaining his thoughts to her.
(Ivan): I honestly have no idea how we’re going to deal with this. The only strategies I can think of for this situation basically just boil down to running straight at the door and coming up with a plan when we get there… It’d be easier if we could camp out and slowly work out some information about the bandits… But we don’t have days to waste here. We can’t afford to spend days here, as for every day we waste here, our pursuers will only get closer… Damn!
Walking up to him, Andresia begins to pat him on the head, attempting to console the man before her. (she’s not trying to be condescending, that’s just a direct biproduct, completely unavoidable).
(Andresia): Well, that’s fine by me, anyway. Besides, don’t most of your “plans” just devolve into “making it up on the spot and hoping for the best”.
(Ivan, cheering up): Huh?! You knew this whole time???
Choosing to adopt a display of mock-surprise, Ivan brings his hands up to his cheeks and forms an exaggerated “0” shape with his mouth. After teasing Andresia like this for a few seconds, he gets back to business.
(Ivan): Well, let’s go then, I guess…
Pumping strength into their legs, the 2 begin to run, head-first towards the Town before them. Their legs carry them closer and closer to the towering wall surrounding Tavern Town to their front. As they approach, their eyes begin to pick out minute details in the structure of this monstrous wall: slits for gunmen and Weavers to attack through; large black scorch marks that tell of many fierce battles; and watch towers, perched atop the mega-structure, providing watchmen with a magnificent view of the surroundings. A black line is burned into the ground surrounding the town, signifying the range of the magnet. Now only 200 metres away from this line, the pair begin to sprint, focusing solely on reaching this point. Legs pumping, arms swinging, they are carried closer by the weight of their lives in their hands… 100 metres… 50 metres… 10 metres…
(Ivan): ANDRESIAAAAAA!!!!
Keys in hand, Andresia presses the button on their side, prompting a small black rift to open up in the space beside her. Falling through this gap, Hilbert screeches as it bounces off the tarmac before settling down again. Wrenching the doors open, the pair throw themselves into their trusty van, quickly closing their entrances, preventing any unwanted passengers from entering.
Nothing.
Nothing can be heard aside from rhythmic, heavy breathing. Exchanging glances, looks of terror and confusion plastered on their faces, they begin to doubt their actions.
(Andresia): Are we still not in ran~
A deafening screech followed by a dull whirring, reverberating across the highway. Closing their eyes and covering their ears, the 2 protagonists wait for their doom… Which never comes. Feeling a vague sense of motion, Ivan peels open his eyes, eyes that proceed to shoot open wide in shock. Peepers fixated on the event transpiring outside the van, Ivan begins to shake his partner.
(Ivan): Quick, quick, look!
Prying open her sealed eyes, Andresia follows Ivan’s outstretched arm to his finger, with her gaze. From there she continues until her view falls upon the large, rusted gate to her front. As if to mimic Ivan’s, her eyes fly open. Unable to hide her surprise, she speaks:
(Andresia): Wait… We’re going in?
Earth/Europe/Bertotia Kingdom/Tavern Town just West of The Capital/2-5 minutes later:
(One of the Guardians of The Gate, basically just a standard guard, Thalmus): Second guest of the day? What is this, some kind of festival?! Seriously, this is ridiculous…
Ivan, looking from the large, burly man in front of him to the slender woman to his left, cocks an eyebrow to display his confusion.
(The female guard, Jericho): Look, Thalmus, you’re not being particularly helpful here… Sorry for the delay, on any normal day, we’d have magnetised your van as soon as we saw you. However… Today is not any normal day. For whatever reason, the bandits haven’t attacked in over 3 weeks now, today marking the longest we have gone without a confrontation in over 500 years… Adding to that, we haven’t received more than one visitor on any given day for years. I’m sure you understand, but unfortunately, we had to clear your entry with The Brass before allowing you to come in…
(Thalmus): Well either way, now that you’re in, feel free to drive over to the garage by the entrance, there we’ll complete any repairs you may need. You can also get any equipment for your travels from the Town market…
Suddenly noticing the pair’s hesitant gazes, Thalmus stops talking, eyeing them suspiciously. Seeing his harsh glare, Ivan speaks up.
(Ivan): A-ahh, w-well. You see, unfortunately we’ve run out of petrol, so we kind of can’t do that…
Voice trailing off, Ivan looks up to meet the guards’ astonished faces. Turning to Andresia, he looks at her, questioningly to which she replies with a light shrug. Finally breaking out of their trance, the guards speak up.
(Thalmus): Wait, well then how did you get your van to the gate? We saw you parked in the lay-by before we went to get permission to let you enter…
(Jericho): Oh no, don’t tell me you ran from the lay-by to the gate on foot???
Ivan, hesitant, gulps before gathering his thoughts for a few seconds. During this time, Andresia speaks up.
(Andresia): Hilb, errr I mean, our van stopped in the lay-by you just mentioned. After that point, we pocketed1slang used to describe putting something into a pocket dimension it and ran to the line. At that point we summoned it back, climbing in and waiting to be pulled inside… Wait, why are you just staring like that?!
The guards’ faces have paled, their eyes now hollow. They seem to be unable to comprehend the fact that someone chose to walk around, on foot, in the bandit’s territory. Looking at the faces of the pitiful guards, Andresia looks back to Ivan, who’s yawning.
(Andresia): You know, I think you’ve really screwed up my perspective of normal with all your reckless plans…
(Ivan): Really? I don’t think that one was nearly as bad as some of the plans I’ve had in the past… Just you wait, one day, soon, I’ll make a plan so awesome it’ll blow even my own socks off!
(POV Andresia): That’s not a plan, it’s attempted suicide… Please just leave me out of it.
Adopting the same blank expression as the guards, Andresia turns away from her partner, deciding to find out more about their situation.
(Andresia): So then, where do we go from here?
The next FRUIT may surprise some people, as it is the: Fr es h A voca do
Fact time, it's like snack or nap time but worse: Using that massive stone (which is actually a seed, btw) you can propagate a new a voca do tree, which'll typically take 4-6 years to bear fruit! However, they're really picky about their environments, disliking environments that are slightly: too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. They are typically grown in their own "Ripening Room"s in industry, just to get the conditions right.