Chapter 16: The Mysterious Dripping Noise and Leaving Las Vegas
Location: Underground Cavern
"What," Bella Black insisted, "is that dungeon dripping noise?"
The loose skin flaps on Sophia Loren's chin were shaking as she spoke, saying, "We are many miles beneath the surface, methinks. Deep streams of water are the lifeblood of the earth. They flow and eddie inside of it currently, and well up in pools and lakes underground, where they wait, and far below the lakes these caverns run, several dozen leagues of rock hold up these ceilings, water dripping down withal."
Bella Black let her face fall, then picked it up, and repeated the cycle, nodding. "I cannot turn the time into heads or tails; it may have been several moons since we fled the corpse creature, or several minutes."
Sophia Loren looked at the walls. The rock was roughly hewn here, without the chic fashion technology of the previous prison complex. Perhaps a planned expansion? Sophia Loren looked at the floor. On the floor were several stripe patterns running parallel, raised slightly from the floor, with orthogonally placed flattened iron of the raised stripe patterns was slightly larger and higher up and close to the middle of the whole thing. There were six stripes in all, with a line of symmetry at the midline. Hmmm... Aha! They are tracks! For a train.
To test her claim, she neared the middle of the possible tracks, and slid her sort out of its pocket socket. Then she touched both of the middle lines together with the sword.
ZAP! ZAP! CRACKLE ZAP!
Arcing electricity exploded everywhere. The dim emergency lighting that lit the way flickered, and several bulbs exploded. A line of lightening zoomed down the track to where Bella Black stood petrified, like a piece of a tree left in the ground so long it turns to stone. The lightening grabbed Bella Black and swung her violently at the cavern wall, and she screamed as she flew!
Sophia Loren removed the sword and dragged her bones, encased loosely in a sack of skin, to where Bella lay by the side of the tracks. "Are you alright darling?"
Bella Black nodded her face for the second time already. Then, she got up, her limbs creaking from the static damage.
Location: Bus
It was dawning by the time that the bus rolled out of the desert, its tires spinning. Said tires had deflated from the stab of cactus creatures who had earlier been unleashed, and one of its front exterior flashlights had been demolished likewise. Of the windows on the right side, the first, third, and sixth panes, out of the eight panes available, were partly or fully smashed. Of the windows on the left side, the second, third and forth windows, out of nine available panes, were partly or fully broken out. The bus produced a creaking noise. Old Ben had used all of the bus driver's magic tobacco, and they had only just escape.
Safely out of the desert, the bus was pulled over by Old Ben. We all left the bus, and found a slab of rock somewhere in the sand. We were now in Las Vegas, having come all the way from the greater Los Angeles region. Old Ben produced an etcher, which he used to inscribe:
On this day, at least by December 2031
The great desert was traversed
By a warlock, a magi, and a bus.
Never forget. Never forgive.
Then we all went out to eat breakfast at Denny's to celebrate. I ordered a Grand Slam and a glass of milk. Edward ordered a steak, bloody rare. The others ordered sausage and omelets. Edward was sucking on his steak, slurp slurp, and I said, "Thank you, mysterious Old Ben and bus driver. I really appreciate your help traversing this desert. Now we will be able to approach Tuolumne Meadows by the backward pass. But before that, how about enjoying Las Vegas for a while?"
We had a wholesome day. I played the penny slots until lunch with Ed, and then we ate at a buffet that I think is called Flavors. It had really good orange chicken, I recommend it. And it wasn't that expensive either! After that, we watched a pirate show. They sang songs. And the cannons were convincing. I played billiards then.
At the end of the day, we all met up and ate a wonderful dinner at Margaritaville. There wasn't much there besides fish, chips, and alcohol, and so we only had fish and chips.
"Alcohol is disgusting, isn't it?" I asked.
"Oh yes, we hate it," Old Ben confirmed.
"It is immoral," asserted the bus driver correctly, "and illogical."
"It tastes like rubbing alcohol smells," I continued, "Gross!"
Ed didn't have to speak. He laughed at the idea of imbibing alcohol: "Ha ha ha."
After that we rented a penthouse for the night using money from Ed's pawned Rolex, which was not really important to him, because even though it was a 100 year old perfectly working antique, he is rich. He is a vamp, after all!
"My name is Wayne," the bus driver said, "look what I have," pulling out a pot.
We inhaled it happily, and fell asleep. It did not addict us. It is safe. We did not OD on the pot. It was only once, since we were having fun in Las Vegas, so come on. Relax.
The next morning, we drove to Tuolumne Meadows (in case you forgot, that's in Yosemite), and we said goodbye to Wayne before he offed himself into the distance.
Old Ben decided to accompany us, and we wandered five miles off the road where we could set up camp. We were in a glen by a brook. Everything was happy and we fell in slumber.