The laize that had been falling on them, creating an abundance of chatter throughout the petrified forest had finally diminished.
They walked quickly through the pungent darkness with a steady gait toward a cluster of lights that hovered just above the ground like so many street lamps severed from their poles.
Over a cluster of what appeared to be burned out vehicles, the lights floated airily illuminating the dilapidated scenery.
The renegade pair that they were. The roles that they were thrust into together years earlier were not on their minds when they found the clearing just outside of the forest. What would Jack say of their predicament?
As luck should have it, the clearing lead to a great expanse of very flat terrain where they would discover the remains of an old car that had been wrecked badly not long before they had arrived. Domingo could tell by the lack of dust collected on it’s exterior that it had not been there long. The front bumper and grill had been devastated by a pole of some sort.
“Dare we spend the next six hours toiling over a wrecked Mercedes, Octavius? I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”
Octavius had already begun his designs. “It’s the only way”. He said with a sense of urgency that almost made Domingo uneasy.
“We ain’t got no tools. How are you gonna fix that thing?”
Octavius replied.
“Look. The keys are in the ignition. I bet it still runs. It’s just smashed is all!”
He turned the key awakening the six cylinders into a tortured state – a squealing frenzy. The engine hissed, bucked, and moaned before letting out a pathetic groan and a whimper.
“The pyramid was too far” they would reason. Due to it’s size, It looked much closer than it actually was. The lights, as warm and hypnotic as they were had only led them this far and had now vanished. Now, it seemed they were stranded with no hope of reaching the next set of lights on foot without being dashed to pieces by a nightrunner.
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well jeez… Bet you didn’t expect all of that. If you are a casual observer of our work you may not know that we have an in-house novelist known as Leo Bruschetta. He sent us this alternate take on a scene in his new book PERGO. – out now on Amazon.
