Interlude 5: Jacob Kellerman

  Hmm, where is it? Pabst? Ick, horrible dreck, ah there you are, two shiners left, I grab one. We'll need to make a beer run soon, groceries too. Hmm, something smells. Tupperware container of goop, oh, label on it. 'Keep refrigerated, do not open, Riley'. Damn, she has her own fridge for this stuff. Be careful not to bump it when I shut the door. Sniff, smell is still here, it's not the mini-fridge.

  Only one blip on the tinker-tech monitor, but it's heading toward the campsite. Good, means I don't have to move the RV again in this snow. Must be the girl, maybe Alan or Balluri captured her. Still don't know how the boy got rid of his tracker.

  Where's my big coat? Ah there it is. The weather is getting nasty out there, it might pose problems in finishing our hunt. I'll just button up and step out. Damn cold out, the campfire needs more logs on. There's a limit to even Riley's enhancements, if the temperature keeps dropping.

  The walkie-talkie crackles to life with several clicking noises; I drop the logs and pick it up. That's Mannequin checking in with his internal radio, he's heading back. He must have the girl, maybe the boy too. Why hasn't Balluri radioed yet? Hope she didn't drop hers again. I should suggest to Riley a radio improvement be made to all of us. It'll be better than lugging these things around. No, I should complain about the lack of easy long distance communication without them and let her come up with the idea on her own with a bit of prodding. Then I'll praise her for it, and get more mileage out of it that way.

  "I hear you, you got the girl?" I say into the radio. Alan clicks back twice. Good. "You got the boy?" Alan clicks back once. No? Damn. Still, with the way he was protecting her the whole time, I doubt he'll abandon her. He should, but the heroic types are stupid that way. It'll be satisfying to break him of that. She'll work as bait. Just need to get everyone back in time. I wish I could be more certain, but the kid's been hard to read. At least that makes it interesting. Haven't had this much fun in a while, even if he did irk me; obvious thinker power on that one.

  Ah, that hits the spot. Cold beer is always good, even when it's freezing outside. "Hey Pumpkin, how's Tiny doing?" I say into the radio.

  "Oh Hi Jack!" Riley chirps over the radio.

  I sigh. "No names over the radio." Even if they're tinker-tech and encrypted, no need to take chances.

  "Sorry, Tiny can walk now, but he won't be running any time soon. I had some of my uh, friends, attach the leg braces I made for him. I really, really need to get some remote tools made again."

  "And have you found Candy?"

  "Uh yeah, but, uh, she, uh... Big Toad fished her out of the river, and she's, uh, kinda brain-dead after all the water and the other thing. But the rest of her is intact! I bet I can fix her with more brain matter!" Riley happily squealed. "Though, her nose and cheek kinda rotted off, because, uh." Riley says more softly cutting off at the end.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. "You're saying Candy died? Pumpkin? What is this 'other thing' you mention?" Oh well, it was getting about time for another turn-over. It actually leaves a spot for both the kids if they prove worth it. Though a mover like that; it'd probably be best to keep her as a puppet. She'd greatly enhance our ability to infiltrate and escape.

  "Yeah, but it wasn't my fault! It was really the water that killed her anyway! Birdie told me over the radio. The big blue glowy thing dumped water right on her, put out her fires and washed her into the river."

  Hmm, now why didn't Balluri radio me that bit of news? "You mean she drowned, and what wasn't your fault? You can tell me, I won't be mad, I promise." Clearly, Riley is evading.

  "It was one of my spiders. It stabbed her face. I uh, was using that new batch, but Mim— Candy hadn't taken the immunizer yet. I told her to! I really did! The boy must have did it! He stole some of them like he stole my bone—uh, tools."

  I can't help but sigh again. "Let's do better next time. Remember, like I've said before, no deploying new... things, until you have personally witnessed everyone that needs it, take the immunizers."

  "'Kay…Chief"

  Hmm, the whole time we were trying to herd those kids toward Jason, the trackers showed them reacting to try to avoid it every time Balluri and Mimi got into position. There's possibly some kind of sensory thinker power at work there. Having everyone together at the same place might scare the kid off too much. Didn't avoid Jason though, probably has the same problem with Jason that other thinkers have had with him.

  "Alright, I had to move the RV to the campsite to keep in range of your trackers, so I want everyone to head back toward our fallback point. I want Tiny, Big Toad and Kitty to wait about a quarter-mile out until I say it's show-time. When I do, you three rush back as quickly as you can. Tin Man, bring the girl to camp. Pumpkin, you and your friends can get your stuff and bring Candy back to the Chevy. It's still good, right? Birdie didn't wreck it did she?"

  "It was peachy last I saw it! 'Kay, Tiny, Big Toad and Kitty are on their way"

  "Alright, Pumpkin hand the radio off to Tiny"

  "'Kay! We'll be there in a jiffy. Over and under"

  It's over and out, Riley, over and out. "Tiny, you understand all that, Big Toad and Kitty too?"

  Jason grunts into the radio, and Crawlers bellows out a 'Yeah' and a booming laugh in the background. Sibby won't speak, but they'd say something if she disagreed.

  "I want to kill those punks," Jason growls out into the radio.

  "You had your chance Tiny, don't be a spoilsport. You all get back quick. We've spent too long being separated. Mind the weather, and since you can't run, ride on Big Toad." Jason just grunts again in acknowledgement. Best get things prepared. Crank up the generator and set the flood lights out.

  ****?

  There, that should just about do it. I turn to hear faint sobbing getting a bit louder before Alan walks up into the fire light. He's holding the Mexican girl in a bridal carry, but one of his hands is covering her face. He sets her down by the fire.

  "Well, well, she looks half dead." I spy the trail of blood droplets leading out into the snow from the direction Alan came from.

  As soon as his hand is removed from her face she gasps, a portal springs up and she feebly tries to lunge for it. She's immediately halted by the rod impaled through her shoulder that's still attached to a cable on the end of Alan's hand. Blue sparks erupt from the end of it where it's embedded in her chest and she convulses and screams.

  "Nifty," I should get a closer look. I grab a stick, and try to tap the edge of the portal. There's a firm resistance there, but the stick keeps veering away from the edge when I try to come at it from a perpendicular angle to its thin side. I poke the stick through the portal into some other part of the forest.

  Alan taps on his torso to get my attention. He has one hand on his hip in a pose expressing annoyance. He points to the portal then points two fingers at the girl's eyes, his sharp finger blades less than an inch from them. She squeezes her eyes shut and shudders.

  "Right, line of sight based like most teleporters." Alan raises his hand to his open empty sockets in that ceramic head of his and scratches his finger blades across them. It sounds like nails across a chalkboard. "No, let's not pluck her eyes out. Not yet anyway. Riley might want them intact. We can wait for her. She and the others are on their way back. I'll go get a bag from the RV in just a second. Balluri hasn't checked in yet though. What happened when you left?"

  Alan starts making signs with his free hand but I haven't learned enough of them. "Right, I'll get your wipe board when I get the bag." I caught enough signs to know she did something and was fighting the boy when Alan left.

  "Alright girlie," I say as I pull my switchblade out. "I know you don't understand me but hopefully you'll learn fast." Alan grabs her head and forces her to look in my direction when she doesn't comply right away. "What's the Spanish word for eyes, ojos? I think that's right. Ojos on me." I point to my eyes then to her then point to myself again.

  She stares at me intently, eyes filled with hate. "Good, that's good. That's what I want to see". Give her a bit of a lesson and a fright, nothing too lethal though, Riley needs her toys. I try to tap the stick directly against the inner ring of the portal but some force pushes it back when it gets too close. Seems like some mechanism to keep things away from the edges. I turn back to look at the girl.

  "It'd be better if you understand but maybe you recognize the knife. I used it to slash your mama's throat. Just like this." She flinches backward before I move the blade, my ranged cut only slicing through a bit of cloth on her shirt and her top button. Interesting, my hunch may be right. They usually are. I flick my knife a few more times as I speak to her.

  "What's the Spanish word for close? Abierto? No, Abuelo?" I look at Alan but he just shrugs. The girl's eyes start drifting to look at the fire. We can't have that. A flick of my wrist and more of her shirt is cut, another button gone. Even though I aimed for something deeper, she flinched just before and I only got a thin scratch of a cut. "Shock her." I say to Alan. He does so and she convulses. "Ojos on me!"

  "Now what's the Spanish word for portal? Eh. Maybe door is better. Door, that's just dooro? Sounds a bit odd." I gesture to the portal. "Dooro, duro?" She looks at the portal then back to me right away. That must be it. "Abuelo es duro; close the portal."

  She looks at me with a confused expression, so I gesture with the stick in the portal. "Abuelo es duro." I flick my knife again, deeper cut. She flinches and it only becomes a thin laceration. Yep, she's definitely got a thinker power too. Finally, the portal shatters. What are those tiny two dimensional triangles? They float in the air for a bit then fade into nothing. The stick has been cleanly sliced in two; very cleanly. Oh the possibilities that could do. "Heh, don't go sticking your hand in those!" Her eyes drift back toward the campfire, I nod my head at Alan and he shocks her again. "Right, now behave. Alan, cover her eyes again, I'll be back."

  I brush the snow off my coat and step into the RV. Now where was that? Cloth bag, cloth bag; don't want her suffocating. Ah ha. Sniff, there's that smell again. It's the big coolers. Carnal and Prophet are getting ripe again. Riley needs to do something with them soon. Where's Alan's wipe board? There it is. I need another beer.

  I step back out into the snow, and put the bag over the girl's head and pull the drawstring taunt. I run the flat of the switchblade over the cloth on her face. "Most times, doing it up close is far more fun." She says something in Spanish, some pitiful whining but it sounds like gibberish. I hand Alan his wipe board and marker. "You still haven't heard from Balluri?" Alan taps once. That's a no. "What happened then?"

  'She got impatient, went after the boy when I was. I got the girl, so let her. Left a trail if he lives.' Alan writes on the board.

  "Balluri's been doing that a lot lately. Trail trapped?"

  Alan taps twice. That's a yes, but then he writes down 'only some, was moving quickly'

  "Good, good. Then I guess we'll wait and see."

  ****?

  I put another log on the fire. Even with the winter coat, and roaring fire it was getting damn cold. The girl had even moved closer to it, not caring much when a flame got a little too close, but somehow they never touched her or her clothes directly.

  I glance at my watch. It's nearly four am, and Balluri still hasn't checked in. This night's been going on a lot longer than expected. Exciting, sure, but I haven't slept. I force myself not to yawn. Mannequin taps on his chest again to get my attention. Looking over, he has his hand cupped to the side of his head where his ear should be. I clear my thoughts and listen.

  There's a faint humming sound, coming mostly from the RV. Long hum, long hum, long hum, short hum, short hum, short hum, long hum, long hum, long hum; in a repeating pattern. It's the RV windows, and flood lights, and even the glass cover on my watch. Heh, well Balluri, what kind of trouble have you gotten in? I tap the glass cover on my watch with my switch blade several times in response and the humming stops.

  Mannequin taps his chest again and nods his head and points without pulling his hand away from his chest. Unfortunately it's in the complete opposite direction of the blood trail we expected the kid to follow. Annoying, Alan's traps are useless now. I usually get a feel for these things first, but it's been an odd night. I suppose it can't be helped. I reach over and pick up the radio and speak into it even though it is a lot earlier than I was hoping it would be; "Showtime."

  I have to admit, the kid wasn't wrong. I've been fucking bored and he's played a good game. It's pretty brave and ballsy to come back, but all games come to an end. I stand up and slowly clap.

  The wind and snow make the dark hours of the morning even worse for visibility, I can't see him, but I know where he isn't. I nod to Mannequin and he turns the flood lights on. "You got some big brass balls kid, might as well come out." I shout over the wind.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Balluri comes into view of the flood lights first, gagged, and in nothing but her skivvies and boots. Her skin is nearly blue, she's covered in bruises, and blood and snot are frozen to her face. Her hands are behind her back, and she has some leather leash around her neck. Well, this is different. She's not merely in distress, but captured? That's a very disappointing showing on her part. What does the kid think he can accomplish with this?

  The kid is behind her, pushing her along; making sure Balluri remains positioned between me and him. At least that's smart of him. I catch a glimpse of a gun pointed to the back of her head.

  "What did you do to her?" The kid asks, making a quick gesture with his gun to the Mexican girl. There's something off about the gun. If he's had one this whole time, why hasn't he used it before now?

  I glance over at the girl. The bag is still on her head, being held by Alan, her shirt cut open in places, long, thin red cuts on her skin underneath. I look back at the kid and smirk. Always assuming the worst eh? "Nothing, yet. I may be a monster but even I have standards." Besides I sated my desires with the pretty nurse earlier tonight, too bad Crawler hacked on her and she offed herself. It would have been fun to keep her around for a while.

  I look Balluri in the eyes expressing my disapproval. She starts trying to say something through her gag, but the kid shuts her up by squeezing down on her injured shoulder. Well, he's got some viciousness. That'll be something to work with. "Why Balluri, you're looking a little blue. I guess your turn went badly." I smirk at both of them.

  "She interfered, you know, broke the rules of your game." The kid responds.

  "Did she now? That's disappointing, Shatterbird." I feign surprise, not like it was ever going to stay fair. Still I need to give the others more time to arrive. "So where's that leave us, in one of those, what do you call them, Mexican stand-offs? Nah, that's not it. That implies some kind of equality." I glance over to the girl, and flick my knife, eliciting a satisfying wince from her as more of her shirt gets cut open, and a new red line of blood appears. The kid moves the gun again to look at what I did to the girl, and I keep an eye on it.

  "Trade; release the girl or I kill Shatterbird." The kid says as a flash of lightning appears illuminating the area.

  Ah, I see now, no magazine in the gun. It can't be loaded. If it was, he'd have used it already. That makes Shatterbird's capture even more pathetic. She'll be in a rage when I reveal it, and I'll be able to hold it over her for a very long time. I just need to draw it out more, wait for the others to arrive. "Hmm, thunder snow; that's pretty rare this far from the great lakes."

  "Who cares about the fucking weather?" the kid responds.

  I tsk at him, more for Alan than the kid, who has moved closer to him. Alan stops to look back at me. "Careful now Alan, don't get close, you don't want to get disappeared." If he could do it to a surgical table, tools and one of Bonesaw's spiders he might be able to do it to people too if not Manton limited. Alan is more object than person too, not worth the risk.

  I gauge the kid's reaction, there's a hint of concern in his eyes after that statement. But he is still very hard to read. It's worrying, but tantalizing; he's unpredictable. I'll just have to prod him further. "What do you want her for anyway? Some misplaced sense of nobility?" I ask and get his attention again. "I mean, there was a small chance you could have gotten away without her." More than a small chance, when his tracker disappeared, he could have cut loose. We're already treading dangerously, sticking around in one place this long.

  "I want to keep my options open, not like I forgot what you asked me to do." He says back.

  Ah, so he wants to play that game, kudos that he actually said that with a straight face, but it's not in line with his prior actions at all. He's bluffing in more ways than one. Calling it might actually be more fun than I thought. "Interesting, interesting, not that I actually believe you."

  "You just want me to kill someone. Wasn't Burnscar good enough for you?"

  Well, he's got me there. I do. He needs to get on with it though. "Ned fished her out of the river. The way I hear it, that was more the girl's work than yours; Jason too." I feel the ground vibrate a bit through my chair. Ned is nearly here, time to call his bluff. "But enough chit-chat, the girl or Shatterbird, you want to shoot one of them, go right ahead. I'll watch."

  Of course that's when Shatterbird starts panicking. The glass around us starts singing as the kid cocks the empty pistol. I can't help but laugh. Now to let Shatterbird and the others realize I always had the control here. "Alright, alright, Mannequin, let the girl go. I'm actually curious to see how this turns out, and see what you think you could actually accomplish."

  Alan walks back and gets the girl to her feet, pushing her into the kid, as he releases his hold on Shatterbird's leash to stop her from falling. I'll let her maim him then make her stop, give him back to Riley, and break him, slowly. "Besides," I yell loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's a bit difficult to shoot anyone when your gun isn't loaded, isn't it?"

  Shatterbird rises while wrenching out all the glass around us and the flood lights go out, leaving only the light of the campfire. She slices her gag off and threatens the kid. Damn it, Shatterbird, there was more than enough glass for you to use without wrecking the RV--- Fuck!

  I move backward just in time to avoid the splash back of the stream of acid that comes out of the kid's hand and melts Shatterbird right in front of me. That was… surprising. I haven't been surprised in a long while. Childlike, ruthless, hard to read, unpredictable, he'd be hard to manage; "Beautiful," he reminds me of Grey Boy, presuming I rip his sense of empathy right out of him. "Maybe you've got potential after all, Ned, Sibby, fetch."

  Oh, fuck bag is off the girl's head way too soon. I thought I drew that tight. Bonesaw said his injuries didn't go below the skin. "Skin deep, eh?" Hit the most vulnerable soft tissue parts. I stand up and project my blade across the kid's face to take out his eyes and blind him. Damn, girl's got a portal open already.

  "Ahhhh, Fuck!" the kid satisfyingly screams, bingo. Now I just ---need to get the hell away from the fire… I backpedal away as the girl turns and looks at it. An explosion of heat and light bursts out of the campfire, it engulfs Alan, the chair I was in, the windowless RV, and my arm.

  "Fuck, coat's on fire." I take it off and beat it against the snow. I look up and realize that Sibby has a hand on me, and Crawler's ass and back legs are hanging out the back end of the portal. The kid and the girl are gone. How the hell was he still able to see? Thinker power again probably.

  What's left of Balluri's corpse is on fire. "Sibby, can you get that?" She picks Balluri's corpse up, but her neck is already melted through. At least Sibby's touch stops the fire and further degradation. Fuck it, it's too late. Ned is still stuck in the portal. "I'll take that, if you please. Riley will want it." I gesture to the head. "Just go get them, but try to keep the maiming to a minimum, if you could. I'd like them brought back intact." I tell Sibby before she runs off.

  "Well," I look at Balluri's half empty sockets. "Guess I'll need an iconic replacement."

  I spot some small animal running towards me, that's not normal behavior. It even runs straight through the fire. I project a cut towards it and take a leg off. It doesn't bleed, and it keeps coming. What the fuck is that thing? It jumps right at me, so I bash it aside with Balluri's skull, and slice it up while it's down. It still tries to crawl toward me missing three legs, but a good stomp stops it from moving. Dirt? The thing was made from dirt? How many powers does this kid have? Or is there someone else in play?

  I hear a tinkling sound and Crawler’s roaring suddenly stops. I look over and the portal is gone, so is half of Ned. Then his front half starts regenerating again. Several seconds later he's fully formed, twice as big, with more arms, and a meaner jaw.

  "THAT WAS GLORIOUS!! MORE!!" Ned yells before running off down Sibby's trail of destruction.

  Shit, I didn't even have a chance to tell him to rein it in. Someone who can harm Ned is a rare thing. It might be good to let the girl go, to use as a carrot for him to hunt later, if she wasn't half dead already. I look toward the sound of tapping and scraping noises. Alan is using snow to put out the fire that's still on him. He looks at me with his featureless face as he finishes. "What?"

  He just gestures around. The fire in the campfire itself and what was near it has already gone out, unnaturally fast. The RV is in flames though. I sigh. "Yeah, well, we needed new transportation anyway. Ned won't even fit in his trailer anymore. Where are the extinguishers?" Alan still tilts his head at me. "Right, with Riley's puppets so they could put out Mimi's fires. Well you're fireproof. Save what you can."

  ****?

  Several minutes later, Alan has gotten everything out of the RV that he could save, which isn't a lot. The fire has gutted everything else in the RV, including Carnal and Prophet, and is burning down to embers. We definitely need to be gone by dawn.

  I turn toward the noise of servos and crunching snow, as Jason walks up to the campsite, wearing metal braces around his legs. "Where have you been? I thought you'd be with Ned."

  "I fell off" Jason says, then he proceeds to dig through the wreck of the RV, ripping things out of the way with his strength until he pulls out the mini-fridge. I move away, Bonesaw's Tupperware is in there. Jason finds some intact cans of Pabst and tosses everything else into what is left of the flames, but nothing else seems to happen.

  Soon the Chevy pickup pulls up with Ned's Trailer, Riley and some of her puppets get out. "What happened?" Riley asks.

  I shrug. "It burned."

  "Some of my stuff was in there! Carnal and Prophet were in there!"

  "We'll get you some new stuff. We'll get everybody new stuff. Here, I saved you some brain matter. Maybe you can use Mimi and Balluri instead of Carnal and Prophet." I say as I hand Shatterbird's head over to Riley. She squeals and rushes over to the toolbox on the back of the pickup and begins digging through it. As fun, interesting and different as this night turned out, I've lost far more assets than I expected I would, both material and personal. I definitely need to do a recruiting run now, and get a full roster back up.

  "Are we going after those kids?" Jason asks, impatient again now that he was out of beer.

  "Ned and Sibby will either bring them back or they won't. We need to pack up and get ready to leave."

  "Aw, what about my turn?" Riley complains.

  "You get it if they bring them back, now let's load up."

  ****?

  Damn weather, I turn up the heater in the truck cab. Even though we're all ready to go, we'll have to wait out the storm. Hell, we may need Ned and Sibby just to clear out the snow to drive. At least Mannequin can still work outside, even Jason has retreated to the trailer with the generator, space heaters and emergency candles.

  "Uh, Jack?" Riley speaks up beside me. "The tracker stopped working."

  "Well that's a shame." Either they got out of range again. Or the girl got mauled so bad Ned or Sibby killed the bug. "We'll have to get closer when the storm stops, see if they just got out of range." There's nothing to do but wait for the moment, while Riley fiddles with preserving Shatterbird's brain in a jar.

  Ned arrives several minutes later, without Sibby.

  "What the hell happened?" I ask him. This is getting a bit aggravating.

  "Jack! No swearing…" Riley chimes in.

  "Lost track of them, followed their scent to a tower, wrecked it, but they weren't in it no more when it fell. Since I couldn't smell them anymore; I came back, but something happen to Sibby."

  "Something happened to Sibby?" That was incredulous.

  Riley gasps. "Aunt Sibby? Is she okay?"

  "I came across her chasing those kids. Had a whole bunch of stuff merged with her head. I asked her what happened and where the kids went, but like usual she didn't answer. She just popped and all the stuff fell out." Ned rumbles out in response.

  "What stuff?"

  "A backpack, some books, some bottles, and clear bags of plant stuff. Some other things, but I didn't care, I caught their scent again and went after them."

  "After the storm stops, show me."

  ****?

  Sibby returns before dawn, and we reach the clearing. Had to leave the Chevy on the road near the dam, and walk the rest of the way. At least it's light out now. I examine the content of what got 'merged' with Sibby as Ned explained it, after the both of them cleared out the snow.

  There are bottles of Oxycontin, bags of weed, a roller backpack, a few textbooks, remnants of Shatterbird's glass spear, various other unimportant garbage, and the most prized find of all, a wallet.

  I open it up and look inside. There are five dollars, a dime, a nickel, a penny; and an ID.

  Simon Anderson

  Grade 9

  Westside High School, Houston ISD.

  I flip it over.

  If found, return to: 14201 Briar Forest Drive, Houston, TX, 77077

  "Well, I think we've found all we need. Sibby?" She's gathered up all the weed bags into her arms and then runs off into the forest. I sigh internally, really? She needs to do a better job of keeping up, "Right, she'll be back later."

  ****?

  We get back and there's a snow plow parked near the Chevy. Seems, Riley acquired a new puppet. "Well, that's awfully convenient."

  "Yeah! I got a new friend!" Riley squeals. "He's going to help us drive. We even found a U-haul center down the road that way. We can get Uncle Ned a bigger trailer! Then we can find a new RV!"

  "Good, good, that sounds like an excellent idea. Though it does mean the world is waking up again. We'd best get a move on soon. After we resupply, I've decided we're going south. I'm in the mood for some authentic Tex-Mex."

  "I thought we were going to Boston? You wanted to teach Ravager a lesson about trying to hire us." Riley asks.

  "Maybe later, I've changed my mind. Something more interesting has turned up." Sibby comes running back up the road again, minus the bags of weed. That's noteworthy. "Good, everyone's here, we can get moving."

  Hearing a noise I open the door and take a look inside the snow plow. There's a CB radio off the hook and a voice is coming out of it. "John, are you there? What the hell happened?" Shit.

  "Riley, Jason, did anyone notice the radio?"

  "Oh yeah, I heard on the radio that Behemoth attacked Mexico, like an hour ago." Riley responds.

  "That's fortuitous, means the heroes will be busy, but I meant the radio in the snow plow." Nobody says anything. "No? Guess we'll need a local diversion. Sibby, that dam we crossed, after we're well out of the way, wreck it. That'll give the authorities a bigger problem to deal with than us. Alright let's get a new trailer and RV, and get going."

  I'll need to be on the lookout for reports of strange power sets too. Music coming from nowhere, a brute that appears to bleed and get injured but doesn't leave permanent messes behind. Small monster-animals made of dirt, and the ability to make objects appear and disappear from thin air. Oh and of course the girl's portals, but she's not likely to have survived everything we did to her.

  "Will you still teach me to play D&D?" Riley pleads.

  "Of course, after we get on the road, it will be a long drive to Texas."