A pulsing roar like the surging of giant turbines added to the constant rumble of thunder and the eerie singing that filled the air of the Villa as Valeria led a small band of Nightkin through the winding streets. Electric lanterns still burning after two centuries cast dim greenish glows through the red murk
Valeria strode ahead, her hammer again slung over her shoulder and her face grim as she searched the darkness for any movement. It had soon become clear that she could see better in the dim light than her brutish followers, and the mutants reluctantly followed her lead.
After their leaders had been killed, the Nightkin had turned to Valeria for leadership, leaving her at a complete loss about what to do with them. Her first action once she had regained control of herself was to limp to the mutant wielding her sledge. The Nightkin snarled as she approached and Valeria glared back as she grasped the haft in her blood-smeared fist. The mutant growled and tightened his hold before something in Valeria's eyes made him look away and release the weapon. The rest of the Nightkin were sullen as she swept them with her gaze in a mute challenge. None raised their weapons or their eyes, and Valeria ordered them to return to the Town Square as she privately tried to decide what to do next.
Valeria was clinging to the hope that Veronica was alive somewhere in the Villa. The problem was that she had no idea where to look, and there were abundant signs that something was going wrong with the Villa ventilation. Red mist was seeping between the cobblestones, and the clouds billowing over the ruins loomed thicker and higher. Valeria suspected that the roar she was hearing had something to do with a catastrophic failure in the ventilation systems that dispersed the toxic vapors. She realized by the time they returned to the fountain with its glowing sentinel that she and the Nightkin were trapped. Outside the Villa was Colonel Royez with the mutant infested desert beyond. Above was the Sierra Madre, protected by lethal automated defenses. Valeria knew she had to do something before the unstable Mutants decided to turn on her on a whim.
Valeria looked over the battered remains of the Master's army and realized she had only one choice. She didn't know if Royez would listen to her and grant the mutants safe passage, but she had a better chance with the Colonel than with the mindless holograms. With luck, she hoped to leave the Nightkin at the outskirts and return to continue her search. As Valeria led the grumbling mutants down the winding streets, she observed sourly that luck was not something she had an abundance of. It also didn't bode well that one of the Mutants noted they were heading toward the humans, and was reassured by another that they would crush any that stood in their way.
Soon they all fell silent as the walls of billowing gas pressed toward them, muffling the echoes of their boots on the cobblestones. Suddenly there was a tremor through the streets and a roar from somewhere ahead. Valeria and the Nightkin stopped and looked about as the ground continued to shake. Suddenly the sound of rending and cracking split the air and Valeria stared with alarm as cracks began to appear on the street and climb the yellow stucco walls rising above the street.
"Get back!" Valeria shrieked as she turned and ran back up the street. The Nightkin blundered about in confusion when with a roar the ground opened beneath their feet in a explosion of dirt and gas. Valeria was closer to the edge when the street dropped out from under her, leaving her scrabbling desperately at the cobblestones as she hung suspended over the cloud filled void. The howls of the mutants trapped below were drowned out by the inhuman shrieks of the glowing-eyed mutants erupting from the darkness to fall upon them. The few Nightkin who could still use their weapons roared and opened fire as the reptilian mutants swarmed over them in a screeching wave of teeth and talons.
Frantically kicking her feet for purchase on the crumbling slope, Valeria's nails gouged the stones as she continued to slide into the pit. She risked a look down into the swirling red chaos and saw nothing but a mass of scaled humanoids as they shrieked and tore at the Nightkin. Suddenly Valeria's descent stopped as her nails hooked into one of the widening cracks in the street. Realizing the entire slope was about to sheer off into the pit, Valeria desperately heaved herself up and managed to dig her fingers into another crack. Suddenly there was a grinding crack from above and Valeria looked up to see the buildings to either side of the Pit beginning to topple forward. With a shriek of desperation, she flung herself forward, managing to get her upper body to the street as the loud cracking became a steady roar. Then Valeria screamed as she felt the searing agony of talons ripping into her leg. She frantically lashed out with her other steel shod boot and felt bones crush under the impact. The Tunneler's talons ripped free as the dying mutant fell thrashing into the cloud boiling up from below.
Gasping with pain, Valeria lunged forward as she desperately fought to get clear as the villas began to slide into the pit in a shower of bricks and tiles. Blinded and coughing on the cloud of grit and toxic gas, Valeria staggered to her feet and lurched forward as blood poured from the gashes in her thigh. The ground continued to shake and she could hear more rumbling and cracking from the ruins. The crumbling infrastructure of the Villa was collapsing under the combined assault of the Tunnelers, and the immense pressure building from the gas under the streets. Valeria had to ignore the pain searing her leg and force herself to limp as fast as she could back to the Town Square. The winding streets of the Sierra Madre were now a death trap, and the only haven left for her was the Casino on the cliffs above.
Valeria could barely see as more clouds of debris billowed past her as the buildings began to collapse in a cascading chain reaction of destruction. Before her in the murk she could make out the flickering blue glow of the Vera hologram, and with a snarl of pain she forced her injured leg to move as she ran for the gate. Adding to her efforts was the shrieks and howls of the Tunneler's as they continued to boil from the ground, driven by the clouds of poison erupting from the earth. Suddenly Valeria was through the gate and into the town square. Taking huge shuddering gasps, Valeria limped toward the fountain and looked back toward the gate. All she could see at first was the cloud, then one by one pairs of burning white eyes began to appear as the shadowy forms of the tunnelers crawled toward the Square. Valeria readied her hammer as she tried to gauge the distance to the gilded gates leading from the fountain to the winding road toward the Casino. Her leg was slowly improving as her mutant metabolism did its work, but she knew there was no way she would reach the gate before the Tunnelers. With a snarl of helpless rage, Valeria turned to face the oncoming swarm in one desperate last stand.
She stared at the swarm of eyes bobbing and moving at the gate, then realized the Tunnelers weren't advancing. Valeria stared at them in confusion, before a sudden realization made her turn and look up at the glowing hologram. It's blue glow illuminated the entire square, even through the cloud of dust and debris and that pool of light was what was keeping the Tunnelers at bay. Unable to believe her good fortune, Valeria limped around the fountain and crossed to the tall gilded gates blocking further progress toward the casino. Valeria seized one of the bars and gave the gate an experimental tug, finding it locked and immobile. She looked at the buildings to either side and wondered if it was possible to use them to climb over somehow. She doubted there were any windows conveniently facing the casino, and until her leg improved climbing over the rooftops wasn't an option. Another roar from somewhere in the Villa reminded her that time was running out when the ghostly singing suddenly fell silent.
Valeria had grown accustomed to the eerie sound, and its sudden absence was alarming, even with the continued rumble of thunder overhead. The Tunnelers gathering at the edges of the Square also fell silent, their nose-less faces looking up as they sniffed the air. With a feeling of dread, Valeria gripped the handle of her sledge until her knuckles turned white as the Hologram flickered once, twice, and then vanished plunging the Square into a deep gloom. There was a moment of silence, and then with a bedlam of shrieks the Tunnelers swarmed forward.
Valeria screamed in reply, her eyes blazing as despair fueled her rage. Her last conscious thought was of Veronica and how she had again failed someone she cared for as she raised her hammer and launched herself headlong at the Tunnelers. White ichor sprayed as she whirled and smashed the Tunnelers with the head and haft of her hammer. For a moment, her berserk onslaught drove the mass of mutants back, but then her injured leg betrayed her and she stumbled. In that moment, the Tunnelers were upon her in a storm of shrieking clawing fury. Unable to swing her hammer under the press, Valeria fought back with her clawed hands and fangs, slashing eyes and crushing skulls in her iron grip while sinking her teeth into a tunneler's throat with an inhuman snarl. Again for a moment Valeria held them off as their own numbers hindered their attempts to tear at her, but then it was over. Valeria spat out a mouthful of blood and flesh and screamed as she was crushed to the pavement as claws slashed at her sides and scored her armor.
Then the world exploded in a fury of light and sound. The Tunnelers shrieked in agony as the sky filled with flashes of red and green fire and blazing white searchlights slashed through the murk above. Valeria rolled to her hands and knees, staring uncomprehendingly at the Tunnelers as they fled back into the collapsing town. Only then did Valeria realize that the roar of sound she was hearing was a pre-war march blaring over the loudspeakers over the Sierra Madre Gates. Fire again lit the sky as fireworks launched from the base of the Casino, filling the air with showers of multicolored sparks and thundering explosions. A spear of light blazed from the top of the casino as four other searchlights at the base swung out, and then converged their beams on the Casino's spire. At that moment Valeria saw the gates of the Sierra Madre silently swing in. Barely able to believe that she had just been saved, Valeria staggered to her feet, spitting out another mouthful of the Tunneler's foul-tasting ichor. After a quick search among the bodies lying twisted and contorted about her, Valeria retrieved her hammer, and then limped between the gates as lanterns began to ignite along the road winding up the cliffs.
Valeria began to climb the winding street before her in an almost dreamlike daze. The exuberant strains of the pre-war march continued to play as lights continued to light up before her as if beckoning her upwards. As Valeria continued to limp between the silent facades, she began to hear a woman's voice speaking from hidden speakers.
"Everyone." The ghostly voice said. "Please may I have your attention, guests and residents of the Villa alike. I ask you to step outside and look to the night sky. It's the moment you've been waiting for, the reason we're all here: the Gala Event, the grand opening of the Sierra Madre casino."
Valeria left the buildings behind and began to climb a cobbled street winding up the front of the cliffs. Gilded statues of stylized women wearing sunburst head-dresses adorned marble columns flanking the path. The music continued to play, as did the woman's voice which was audible even over the rumble of thunder.
"You are the ones who have made this momentous occasion possible and for that, we thank you. So raise your glass in celebration, let music fill the streets. Fireworks light the sky and promise of new beginnings fill your hearts. No matter what your fortune, no matter what your cares, let go this night and begin again. I suggest you hurry though the gates of Sierra Madre are open but only for a brief time. After that the doors will close for the evening's festivities and won't open again till morning."
The pain of Valeria's wounds was beginning to lessen as she listened to the voice that greeted the Sierra Madre's guests on that fateful October night two-hundred years ago. How many people walked up the same path, eager for the wonders that awaited them, ignorant that their entire world was about to vanish in atomic fire. The fireworks had stopped, although the searchlights and fanfare continued as Valeria reached the top and stood before the opulent grandeur of the Sierra Madre Casino. The blackened skeletons of trees flanked the gilded path leading to the wide marble steps of the Casino, and Valeria stopped a moment to look up at the ancient edifice in awe. The searchlights revealed that the gold and marble tower was still intact. The light-posts flanking the path began to light in sequence, drawing Valeria's eyes to the massive front doors under the tiled entryway. Feeling as though the lights were beckoning her forward, Valeria limped toward the broad steps. As she approached, she saw that the doors were decorated with a gilded relief showing the towering form of a woman surrounded by the rays of the sun standing with her arms outstretched over a mustachioed man in a formal suit extending his hand toward the hand of a woman in an evening gown. Valeria stepped to the top of the stairs and stared at the doors, realizing she was seeing Frederick Sinclair and Vera Keyes. Suddenly a line appeared down the middle of the door, and it silently swung in revealing only darkness.
Valeria stepped forward through the entryway and waited for her eyes to adjust. Suddenly she felt movement behind her and she whirled to see the doors swinging closed. For a moment Valeria tensed to leap through, but remembered what the recording had said on the path below. If she left the Casino now, she would never get back in. In that moment of indecision, the doors closed with a final click and Valeria was left in the darkness. For and instant she felt a surge of panic as she realized she was trapped, then her pragmatism took over. Staying in the ruins was certain death, her only chance to escape now lay inside the ancient Casino. It was also her only chance to find Veronica. If her friend was still alive, then she too was trying to get in. Maybe she was already inside somewhere, and all Valeria had to do was start looking.
Valeria seized that faint hope and stepped back from the doors, starting as her boot crunched through something on the floor. Looking down for the first time, she saw the landing she was standing on was strewn with skeletons still wearing the tattered remains of pre-war finery. Valeria realized that she was looking at the terrible last moment when the Sierra Madre's guests tried in vain to get back out. The fact that the bones were heaped at her feet meant that death had come swiftly...and from behind.
At that moment there was a piercing shriek and Valeria whirled, before freezing and staring in stunned disbelief, her mouth hanging open in shock as she tried to comprehend what she faced in the room beyond.