Chapter 10: Into Temptation

They met behind the Topolla Theatre at 11:00 PM. It was a Thursday. All he had was in his backpack, and that was how Elliot liked it. All Skye had had fit into a backpack and a duffel... and she wished she had more to bring.

"Skye," Elliot said. "You don't need to come along."

"Bullshit, Elliot," Skye responded. "You know as well as I do that we'd meet again. Let's just get this over with."

"Fine. Final destination- Fourside. Let's roll." Elliot stowed his backpack, but not his bamboo pole, and climbed into the black bus. It was funny... He had always dreamed of something like this... But now that it was here and dead serious, Elliot found himself afraid.

Skye stepped on. She had left her razorblades in her backpack.

Everdred showed up for one last goodbye. "I'll let you know if anything happens here."

"Sure, Uncle Dred."

"Hey! Dreadman!" Lucky said. "If you're not comin' along, get off da bus. Cause we're leavin!"

"Sure, sure. Bully the burglar, huh? I know when I'm not wanted." Everdred stepped off the bus, and the converted school bus closed its doors.

Skye would remember the bus doors closing... Closing on her old life. Closing on her godfather and a town that viewed her as a novelty, if they thought her powers existed at all.

Gods, but she would miss it.

"The sound system up?"

"Yeah, Lucky, it's all tied down."

"Good. Let's roll. Okay sidewalk," Rick muttered. "It's time to get the hell out of my way!" The old diesel turned over- just as it always did- and the bus jumped the curb with a sickening jolt. There was a brief moment when all four wheels spun in the air, and then the tires cried out in pain, and the bus moved further ahead, into the night.

Elliot would later remember the clouds, seemingly held back by the mountain range in which the Peaceful Rest Valley was located. The southern bend of Route 68 seemed to stretch for miles... And all was at peace, a calm before the storm.

Bad Elliot, He thought to himself. No thinking in clichés.

With nothing better to do, being a little fearful of talking to the band, he decided to talk to Skye. "You ever leave Twoson before?"

"No," Skye said, in a tone that effectively dropped a portcullis on that avenue of conversation.

"Hey, boys!" Ricky said. "Tunnel ahead! Time to rock!"

"Best strap in."

"No need."

Ricky reached below the steering wheel and flicked a small switch. The tape started playing 'Let It Be' at 65 miles per hour and heavy decibel level. The ghosts? Implanted memories? Whatever- couldn't find a foothold to grab the tour bus with, and screamed off in pain at the Modern Rock Hymn That Wasn't.

They were through the tunnel after only a few seconds. Ricky switched off the tape. "See? I told you it would work."

But outside, it definitely looked a lot worse. The stars were gone. Even the moon was invisible behind thick, purple clouds. They were here, and heavy, and they weren't going anywhere.

The landscape looked just as bleak in the washed out light of the interstate as the sky overhead did. Behind him, Elliot could see the light trespass of Onett and Twoson fading behind him. Skye put a hand on his shoulder. "No regrets."

Elliot closed his eyes and smiled. "No regrets," he nodded, and turned back to the front of the tour bus. Elliot then got a look at Skye's wrist from her lowered sweatshirt sleeve. She withdrew her hand as if scalded.

"Scars?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"None of your business," Skye said quickly, and covered the back of her wrist.

Elliot shrugged. White lines. Someone had cut her, a long while ago. They weren't cross-hatched, so she didn't get into fights. Maybe her parents were less loving than he had originally surmised.

"Hey. Where's the bed? I've been up since eight." Elliot looked around.

"You're sitting on it, Elliot," Lucky responded, the bumps in the road modulating his voice oddly.

"You sleep in shifts?"

"Nah. But it's futonnage, all the way." Gorgeous sighed. "It's gonna be a few hours before we get to next town. We'll drop you off wherever you want."

"Hey, thanks," Elliot said.

"No problem. After all, you just gave us what is technically termed a gigantic wad of gas money."

Elliot laughed at this. Skye was already falling asleep, against the window. "Not a bad idea."

After a few false starts, Elliot converted one of the empty benches into a flat bed. It was just barely long enough; and Elliot wished he had brought a pillow.

"Catch!" It was a pillow. The sax player Johann had tossed it.

"Uh, thanks?"

Johann looked at Skye. "Should I...?"

"I can get a pillow myself, thank you." Skye got up, grabbed the pillow, put down the futon and was very quickly asleep, as was Elliot...

They were awakened by Lucky and Gorgeous. "Hey. We're at Barstake. There's breakfast working here."

"All right... Just give me a second..." Elliot got up and stretched, sitting on the side of the futon. He reached a hand to help wake Skye-

Skye caught the arm without even looking. "Don't touch me."

Elliot nodded. "Gladly."

Elliot jumped off the bus, landing with a soft thud that kicked up dust. The dust was everywhere in Barstake. If not for the interstate running through it, it would probably be dead- or very close to dying.

The purple clouds still hung overhead. "Anyone got a watch?"

"It's after sunrise," Ricky said.

"You sure?"

"I saw it rise myself... then it faded into the cloud cover."

Why hasn't it rained yet? "So where are we having breakfast?"

"Well, it's McGrungeld's or this diner down the road from here."

"I think I'll take the diner," Skye said.

"Agreed," Elliot said.

"Yeah, that's what everyone else said. I'll be fueling up the tour bus- which is gonna take a bit- then Gorgeous will take over as driver for a while so I can sleep."

"Sounds like a plan."

"A good one too. Driving for five hours is not my cup of tea in this weather. I don't like it."

After a short walk, they came to the diner. "Ey, guys. Over here." Lucky waved them over to their table.

Every single one of them was dressed in a black suit. "Well, here they are. Now we just need Ricky."

The waitress stepped up. She was wearing a pink dress and apron that seemed to suit her predecessor three hirings ago. On her, they just made her look, well, skanky. Not that skanky was too bad a look for her, Elliot realized, just not her style, and it showed.

"So what'll you have?" Her voice was bright, uncluttered.

"Just coffee to start," Elliot said.

"Water," Skye requested.

"There's another one coming- he's fueling up the bus."

"So that's another coffee and some water. Gotcha." The waitress was soon back with Elliot's coffee and Skye's water. "Call me when you're ready to order."

Ricky came in a moment later, and had some Deist Cola with his meal.

"So, you're ready to order now?"

Lucky nodded. "I'll have the fried skillet. Extra fried. Eggs scrambled."

"I'll take the 2x2x2," Elliot said. "Poached hard. Sausage. And high-grade maple syrup if you've got it."

"I'll take the Tower of Pizza omelet," Skye said. "Hash browns. Dry toast. Wheat."

Johann was next. "I'll have On Mighty Toaster Wings. Over easy. No powdered sugar on the French Toast."

Then came Ricky. "The oatmeal breakfast. Cottage cheese."

The bassist, Wolfgang, finally spoke up. "The bagels and lox. A side of fruit, as well."

"Dry toast," was Gorgeous's only order. "Wheat."

"Just dry toast?" The waitress asked.

"Dry toast," Gorgeous repeated. "Wheat."

"Okay, so we got a refried fried Jerry, a 2x2 poached with sausage, A leaning omelet with potato and dry wheat, The Anthem no snow over easy, some quaker fruit and cottage, bagel meal and some..." The waitress struggled for a second before finishing lamely, "Dry wheat toast. Is that right?"

Everyone nodded, a little confusedly. "Okay, I'll be back with your orders."

"See? I'm always sure about my order."

"Gorgeous," Wolfgang finally said after a minute or two of uncomfortable silence, "you're the only man I know who can live off dry toast and coffee. Don't you have any complete proteins?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Dry toast."

"Dry toast isn't a complete protein."

"That's news to me, pal."

Skye raised an eyebrow. "All you eat is dry toast?"

"Yep."

"Right."

"But there's something I always wanted to ask you, Skye," Gorgeous said.

"What's that?"

"Could you give me a reading?"

Skye laughed. "Oh, no, it doesn't work like that at all."

"It doesn't?"

"Nah. I get... well, call them dreams, visions, hallucinations. They turn out wildly accurate- to a point. Call it an event horizon." Skye took a sip of water.

"How far ahead is that?" Elliot asked.

"Depends on the event," Skye said, calmly. "Certain things... I've seen unchanged all my life. Other things have changed quickly. Though some are changing now. As of five days ago, in fact."

"Five days ago?" Buzz Buzz...

"Yeah. All my visions started getting uncertain."

"For instance?" Lucky asked.

"For instance... I didn't see me here today. I saw myself at Happy Happy Village... undermining Carpainter's cult."

"And me?" Elliot said.

"How did you know-?"

"Call it a lucky guess."

"You were just showing up. You didn't have that marble."

"Marble...?" Elliot thought for a moment. "Oh." He shut up. Maybe telling people about the Sound Stone wasn't a good idea.

"What's 'oh'?" Skye asked.

"Never mind. I know what you're talking about, and I think I see your point."

"So I don't get a reading?" Gorgeous asked.

Skye chuckled. "Now, I didn't say that. You and I will meet again, in the City of Four Winds. In fact, you'll meet Elliot there, too. And a friend we'll bring along."

"I bet you'll be pretty strong by then, eh?"

"Perhaps." Skye smiled into her water.

There was an odd silence at the table. Finally, Elliot said, "Skye?"

"Let me guess: You don't want me to tell you your future." She laughed at Elliot's dumbstruck look. "It was obvious you'd say it sometime, ever since Lilliput City." She took a sip of water. "In any case, you're not getting it, country boy."

"Who are you calling country boy?"

"You, Mr. Pig Herder from Podunk."

"Take that back! I know some fine people in Podunk who would be offended at such remarks!"

"There's actually a Podunk?" Skye asked. "There actually exists a town named Podunk, Eagleland?" Skye burst out laughing. "Oh my... Podunk!" She continued laughing.

"All right, all right. That's enough," Elliot said. "So there's a town named Podunk. There are towns named Lodi, too. And let's not forget that gem of a city name, Twoson, so named because they couldn't get the rights to call themselves 'Greater Onett' from my town."

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"That's not true and you know it!"

"Guys...?" Lucky ventured.

"Oh, just because you're so afraid of the truth doesn't mean you have to be so vehement," Elliot said, almost calmly.

"Guys?"

"Psh. Like we'd ever want the name of a town who constantly loses to us in every way, shape and form."

"Oh, what, you mean like how we win every time the Onett Atoms go up against the Twoson Twins?"

"Well, maybe if you didn't pad the grades of all your players we might win because of your ineligibility!"

"Oh, you did not just call me stupid!"

"Guys!"

"What?" Both said at once, turning to Lucky.

"Soup's on." They looked at the table. Indeed, the orders were now there. They looked at each other for a brief second, and tucked in.

Ricky looked at them. "No doubt. We're probably going to have to separate you on the bus. Either that or there'll be bloodstains on the walls come lunch."

"I can stand to be civil," Elliot said.

"You implying I can't?" Skye asked.

"Not at all." Elliot continued to eat. "Though it's interesting that that's your first conclusion."

"Elliot?'

"Yes, Skye?"

"I took a psychology course too. Drop the bullshit."

There was a moment while Elliot finished off his bite. "Is that so? I've never touched psychology. But I guess it's a vested interest for you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you thought maybe you were crazy at first with the visions, dreams, hallucinations if you will."

"Where'd you get that from?"

"Little things," Lucky said. "How everyone picks up stuff."

"Yeah, like how Gorgeous is always singing about his rubber duckie in the shower," Wolfgang popped in.

"Didn't we do a song about that?" Ricky asked.

"Not sure," Elliot said. "Which one was it?"

"You know? I don't think we ever recorded it," Lucky said. "Though I think we did it once on tour." Gorgeous blushed at the memory.

"Can we just finish our food and go?" Gorgeous asked.

"Good idea." They finished off their meals and got the check. Elliot put in his share plus tax and tip. Then, Elliot walked into the souvenir shop next to the McGrungels- and surprisingly attached to it. He paid an exorbitant amount for a pair of sunglasses.

"... And I'm telling you, human fate is indeterminate despite experiences. Free will is absolute."

"But you can't choose without a decent quality of reason. Now where's Elliot? I saw him head in here." The two arguers turned out to be Wolfgang and Ricky.

"Behind you. I've already got what I wanted." Elliot shoved the sunglasses, carrying case and all, into his backpack.

"Roy-Bonnes? Tch. Cheap pirate knockoffs."

"Hey. Shades are useful. Besides," Elliot made a cheap attempt at a leer. "What's wrong with bein' a pirate?"

"We're about to leave, Fullerby. Let's get gone before the ghosts come back."

"Come back?"

"It happens shortly after noon. They'll be swarming the town in a patrol. Let's go."

"Right. Let's roll." Is this what life is like... ten years from now? Will it be like this all over the Earth? Elliot shuddered at the thought, and stepped into the bus.

It was now several hours later. "Time, anyone?" Elliot asked.

"I think it's near noon," Skye responded. "We're nearing the middle of the Stoneys." She looked at a Timmy Borthers map. "Looks like our next stop's a place called Threed."

Something pounded at Elliot's skull. He looked out the windows. There was a break in the clouds. The sunshine, now an unknown occurrence, hurt Elliot's eyes. But that one patch of clear skies definitely made him think.

For one thing, it made him think that they were approaching it.

"I think we'll be getting off in Threed, Skye."

"Oh. Okay then."

"Because that little ray of sunshine may be the last place resisting this crap." Elliot knotted his brows. "Wait, did you just agree with my destination?"

"Yes, yes I did. You'll be finding I do that a lot."

Elliot shook his head. "Whatever. I'll just go tell them."

"Gotcha. Next stop, Threed," Gorgeous called to the back. "On second thought... Hold on to your behinds, boys and girls, we're about to get company!"

Gorgeous hit the sound system. Once more, the Silver Beetles pounded out over the speakers, and the bus lurched up to sixty, then seventy. "Shit! They're catching up! And they're in force!"

"I'll pound them-!" Elliot shouted, heading for a window.

"Elliot!" Skye said. "Not your fight! Not here, not now."

"But-"

"You can destroy them all, just not now, and not here!"

"But-"

"It's their fight, Elliot."

Elliot stepped down from the seat he rushed to to get a hand out a window. Then he knotted his brow. "Wait. Who elected you moral agent?"

There was a horrendous screeching noise, but whether it was the screams of the ghosts, or merely the rending of glass by their claws, Elliot couldn't tell. There were hundreds, in a path behind them.

"Now do you see? Our one chance lies in maintaining a low profile. This is war, Elliot. And right now, we've picked the lost cause."

"So now it desecrates the dead. It's really desecrated the dead." Elliot closed his eyes. He was shaking. "Why did it have to be the dead?"

Finally, against the raging sound and pure speed of the bus, the last of the ghosts peeled off.

Elliot was still shaking as the bus pulled to a halt in Threed.

"Suck it up, pansy," Skye retorted.

"Sh-shut up," Elliot muttered.

"Don't tell me you're scared of ghosts."

"Why not? It's something to be legitimately scared of."

"Because I am not going to babysit you while you get over it. Now, are you going to get out of the bus, or am I going to have to slap you?"

"I was wondering when that would come up." Elliot sat up, slowly.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you know?" Elliot shrugged. "It's only a matter of time before any given female I meet wants to slap me." Elliot got up and walked off the bus, entirely ignoring Skye's shocked expression. Elliot rubbed his eyes and recovered his luggage.

"Where did that... come from?" Skye muttered.

"Oi! Skye! You just gonna pack off to Fourside with them, or what?"

Skye stepped off the bus silently, collected her duffel, and stood at the door.

"So, guys, I guess this is it?" Ricky said.

"No worries, Ricky. We'll meet again," Skye said, softly.

"I hope so."

"It's time," Gorgeous said.

"If you two die on us, we're gonna beat on your sorry corpses, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Elliot said, sullenly.

"Okay. We're gone." With that, the Runaway Five's bus rolled off into the storm.

Elliot turned around-

And looked right into the face of a zombie. His attack as without volition, just a swift smack across the thing's forehead. It stumbled back and then got a face full of lead. There were several more zombies behind it. "Why did it have to be zombies?" Elliot asked the world in general.

"If you want to keep living, follow me!" The man who had shouted was behind Elliot. Skye had covered her ears. He was fat, and not used to handling a gun. He had a semiautomatic which was still smoking.

"Should we go with him?" Skye wispered to Elliot.

"You got a better idea, Skye?" Elliot asked, quietly.

"Not right now," Skye replied.

"Okay. Time to set up a retreat." Elliot smirked. "Alright, you undead sons of bitches, SMILE!"

End- Chapter 10