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 Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:38 pm
Across the sand, on the other side of the dunes were a procession of shadows that seemed just a thick swarm of insects. As Gale neared them he could see them for what they were -
Famine horsemen, with sharper clarity and power than his own reality ever had. They immediately noticed him, but instead of engaging, began to travel away faster.
In the middle of the swarm was a nest, a prison filled with people, all of them still alive. He couldn't at this distance however, make out if one was his sister.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 8:33 pm
He skidded in the black sand, spraying it everywhere as Gale staggered, eyes wide. A mixture of combined fear and anger was beginning to bubble in his throat, the panic twisting with the fury at the Horsemen's presence, the lurching sense of hope that had been in his chest beginning to disintegrate as they turned in the opposite direction.
"No!"
He didn't know if Leslie was still there. He didn't know if they had her, but they must, they had to have her -
He began to run.
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2017 1:00 am
There were so many people in the prison, all of them bruised, beaten, extremely malnourished, less human-looking than the horsemen carrying them. They were all blindfolded, they all looked so gaunt it was nearly impossible to tell if she was in there.
And then the first of the Famine sentries began to peel away from the swarm, whistling sharply. From the sand rose two giant centipedes, each easily twenty feet in length, and the sentries clambered onto their heads and rode them like war steeds into battle.
Gale would have to fight them alone.
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kuropeco rolled 2 12-sided dice:
10, 6
Total: 16 (2-24)
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:35 pm
He could only see their figures, not too much of their features. Gale's heart was beating too fast; he was trying not to panic, not to think too much of what might have become of his sister, whether one of the starving, hollowed people was Leslie, wasting away...
"No - "
Gale skidded in the black sands, sending a spray flying as he came to a sudden stop, the rifle reeled up and held tightly in his arms. He adjusted it to fit properly, raising it with a cheek resting against the side of the cold metal, his narrowed eye squinting through the telescopic lens.
I'm not losing you again, Gale thought ferociously, and fired.
DMG: 10
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:00 am
One of the centipedes shattered at weapon impact, but the prisoners were moving further away now, the captives jostling the cage, becoming lost to the sands and dunes. They were far now, too far, it would take too long for him to reach-
- And then he was right next to the cage in that split second. The horsemen didn't bother fighting back, they scattered and left the prisoners there.
Now that he was close enough, actually close enough, there was someone whose face pressed between the cage looked a lot like his twin's.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:48 pm
He had made a good shot; Gale didn't waste time in trying to look and see what else was on the horizon, he just bolted pel mel towards the caravan, stumbling and sliding in the black sand, his breath coming out in ragged gasps, and he should have brought his goggles, damn it -
- another spray of sand burst as Gale was suddenly, abruptly in front of the cages. He had no idea what had happened, a stitch in his side making his chest feel tight - but he saw a glimpse of blond hair, amber eyes like his own...
"Leslie!"
Her name felt like sand on his tongue, Gale's voice hoarse. He staggered forward, heart pounding, stretching out a hand towards her as his weapon disappeared, his throat too tight to formulate proper words other than her name.
"Leslie!"
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:14 pm
She stared at Gale mutely, recognizing the name, and then there was
Tempest next to her as well and they were waiting, and the cage was brittle - it practically crumbled upon his touch.
"Gale!" shouted Ben from the headset, his form barely visible at the top of of the sandy incline, "We have a chopper coming down, let's grab them and go!"
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Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2017 9:10 pm
He felt his heart stop.
They were there - they were both there, and he was reaching for them, hands closing around Leslie's wrist, and then Tempest's, and he was forgetting to breathe, forgetting everything except the fact that they were here and he was going to save them -
- and Ben's voice was in his ear, a familiar, aching sound, and Gale's grasp tightened on his sister's hands.
"I'm coming!" he shouted through the headset. "Come on, let's go - "
He tugged on them, starting to run.
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Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2017 10:07 pm
The rest of the journey home felt like a blur as a helicopter landed and then a second and third and all the prisoners clambered in through the buffet of wind and sand, Mark practically clinging to the rails just as the vehicle was leaving.
The ride was smooth, Ben looking at Gale with a bit of a concerned look before going back to fiddling with a small runic device. Mark had fallen asleep, laptop still on his knees. It was peaceful, and quiet, and when they arrived, it felt like no time had passed at all.
"We called for emergency," Ben was saying as both Gale's siblings were rushed away to be taken care of, "You should go to them." He put a hand gently on Gale's shoulder. "You're a good man, Gale."
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Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 4:13 pm
It was fortunate, perhaps, that Gale's attention was focused on his sisters, less so on the helicopter, because he remembered only too well what happened in helicopters - and out of them, for that matter, if one had a name like, say, Lucky.
He only vaguely noticed Ben's look, or Mark being asleep. And it took too much out of Gale to want to let go of his sisters' hands as they were rushed off, because he could feel their pulses under his fingers, the reality of their existences, the familiar weight and gentle squeezing of their fingers.
It hurt. Something inside of him hurt.
"I - " he said, and turned his gaze to Ben, Gale's expression flickering. "Can I? Will they be okay?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:45 pm
"It'll work out," he assured, face oddly becoming more dream-like, vague, blurry, "We're here for you. Everything that you wish, want, your greatest dreams and hopes, as long as you're here, we will as well. As long as you stay here, why would you ever want to leave?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:27 am
No, thought Gale desperately, as Ben's face began to distort, shifting, blurring. No, no, no -
He could still feel the pulse of Leslie and Tempest's heartbeat under his fingers; he'd just been holding their hands, keeping them safe, reminding them that he was there, that he was going to take care of them, that they were going to be all right - that everything -
- everything would be all right -
Gale swallowed hard.
"I...don't..." It felt hard to speak, hard to breathe. The admission felt like betrayal in his throat.
"I don't want to leave," he whispered.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:48 pm
"You don't have to," Alice reaffirmed, smiling just slightly. "It's fun if you stay here. You have everything you want, and I'll make more, so many more dreams just for you!"
It felt like someone was telling him not to listen, it sounded almost like his weapon shouting at him to wake up from a distance away, and for some reason, Gale's hourglass tattoo began to burn, even through the dream mist.
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:09 pm
His hand was trembling; Gale's fingers closed automatically around his wrist, covering the place where his tattoos lay, his eyes searching for -
- he wasn't sure. He closed them, because looking was painful, because he thought he could hear Jinhai's voice, wavering in and out, like the edges of a song or a thought or a word he could almost remember but not quite; the frayed parts of a dream skimming his mind.
"...Alice," Gale said softly, so soft it was almost inaudible. "I don't want to leave. I want to stay."
With Ben, alive and whole. With Leslie, awake, and breathing. With Tempest, safe.
He swallowed hard.
"...but I can't, can I..?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:35 pm
There was a steady noise in the background, like a rhythmic pulsing.
"Then stay," stated Alice, pulling at this sleeve. "Come with me, we can go on so, so many adventures. We can go anywhere."
She began to lead him down a long, dark corridor, and at the end was a familiar window, one where Ben was falling asleep waiting on the chair next to Leslie and Tempest, a book draped on his lap. The pulsing was slowing down even as his weapon tried to break the surface of the haze.
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