The Team Is Together Again

[Laraqua]

The path seems eerily clear as they stride down the hospital without a care for stealth and approach the store room where the lift awaits. There lights reveal that parts of the flooring have fallen away in the corners of the room but the lift itself seems relatively intact and undamaged. It's an easy matter to get onto the lift and push the button with the arrow pointing down. What is more disturbing, however, are the singed hand and foot prints of small children that cover the walls and ceilings.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald grits his teeth and whispers 's something to himself before pushing the button.

We're coming Brianna

He shines his light on the tiny hands.

They've made it this far up... The little ghost kids I was telling you about. They're afraid of the light.

Now with courage he had not possessed until this moment in his life, Ronald takes command.

Back to back. Everyone!! torches out! Back-up torches in your belts at the ready. Keep em moving at all times. When the lift opens we move... Lionel and Agnes watch the rear. Me and Sara take the front. We move quick and we move together.. Noone gets left behind!!!

Ronald faces the door to the lift and shines his torch in a circular pattern, covering the entire door every other second.

[Laraqua]

The lift begins its descent with a slight whirring and the flashlight shifts from the wall to an old brick wall.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah and Lionel light their own torches as the lift descends. "I remember when Brianna saw those ghost children," says Sarah. "They are scary, but now we're well-armed to deal with them. They must have gotten poor Jason, though."

"I have the big torch," says Lionel. "That one gives a brighter light. Jason must have followed Ronald and Brianna back in time. He didn't become a ghost, though, he was quite solid. He was more of a zombie-like thing. I think the ghost children were the ones who were sacrificed."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald grits his teeth. He remembers Jason. He was a little prick if memory serves...

Get ready! We move as soon as we hit the bottom. No screwing around... Let's end this!

[Laraqua]

The lift touches bottom into a dark, cavernous chamber. The flashlight can't pierce the gloom as far as it normally could and just reveals twenty feet of space.

[Mr. Handy]

"This is where whoever kidnapped me sent me," says Sarah. "It's still scary, but not as bad now that I'm not alone any more."

"It'll be all right, Sarah," says Lionel. "We're going to have to go forward to get anywhere."

Sarah gulps, then nods. "Okay, let's do this, then."

[DSIGFUSS]

ooc - oops missed this one.

Ronald nods to Sarah.. This is where Louie dropped us too..

Damn you Louie...

Ronald, feeling a tad bit chivalrous takes the lead.


Keep those extra torches ready mates! It's do or die time.. Let's find this thing!!

Then in his best Mickey voice Ronald squeals..

Never say die Ronald..

[Laraqua]

The darkness widens in front of their light as they step out into a broad cavern. To one side slopes the amphipheatre within which Ronald had found himself not so long ago. Ahead the gloom stretches off, impossibly far, with no support structures to hold the massive ceiling from tumbling onto their heads. All is silent down here. Still. But not a deathly stillness but one alive ... watching, waiting.

[DSIGFUSS]

ooc- what are we looking for here again. It's been a while.

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah and Lionel follow, waving their torches around to dispel the darkness surrounding them as much as they can. "It's down here, somewhere," says Sarah, trembling. "I can feel it."

OOC,We're looking for the taboo, but we don't really know what it looks like. Presumably it's imprisoned down here somewhere. We need to reveal it to the ash so that the entity that caused all of this to happen will find it and take it away.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald does the same with his own flashlight swinging it up and down like a nervous traffic control guard.

He responds to Sara in a shaky voice.

It's H-E- double hockey sticks got to be.

Ronald leads them towards the amphitheater, the only real familiar landmark he has down here. A part of him wishes that Louie was with them to act as a guide of sorts..

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't like having the fate of the world resting on my shoulders," says Sarah. "What if I make a mistake?"

"You mustn't think like that, Sarah," says Lionel. "Trust in your instincts. Just do what you know is right, and you can't go wrong. Whatever happens, nobody will blame you if you try your best."

Sarah nods. "I'll try, Daddy."

[Laraqua]

They veer towards where Ronald feels the amphitheatre had been and, sure enough, they can make out its outline. They can also note a section of sand and flattened stone that soon becomes covered by a series of loose wooden planks across two metal bars, like an upside down railway but with no gaps between the planks. There are bells attached to those planks with wire. Considering that the planks aren't nailed down, this would make for a very musical walkway.

"This walkway must lead somewhere," said Agnes.

Show,Agnes hasn't posted in awhile so I'll be posting for her for a bit.

[Mr. Handy]

"But is it where we need to go?" asks Sarah. "It doesn't exactly look safe, and anything on the other side would hear us coming. We need to be certain this is the right way before we cross, or we'll end up doing it twice for nothing."

[Laraqua]

"There's dirt underneath it, or at least on either side of it," said Agnes. "We could follow next to it for a bit? Or...." She casts her light toward the amphitheatre. "....go that way."

[Mr. Handy]

"Ronald, what do you think?" asks Sarah. "You were down here before. Which way should we go?"

[Laraqua]

Ronald seems distracted, clutching at his puppet, and cocks his head to one side as though trying to listen to something. He then turns and points along the path marked by the wooden planks. "I didn't see much when I was down here but I think it's somewhere down there." His voice is oddly soft and quiet. It's almost as though he were putting on another puppet's voice but this one more feminine and terribly sad. "We were in some kind of stadium or something. There were big steps all around us. I don't ... I don't know if there's anyone left in the whole wide world other than us. I think this is the end."

"There has to be someone out there," said Agnes.

"If you're here then it took you through time," said Ronald. "Maybe it gobbled up all the time in the world and this is the only time left." He sighs, a long and drawn out sound. "Maybe there's no time left in the world but for this moment."

At his words the world seems to hang poised and heavy as though his words were true and the moment itself were a heavy weight hanging loosely by a few threaded chains. It really does feel like a moment surrounded by emptiness. An uncertain future extending before them with an abrupt yet soon end and an emptiness where the past once stood. Could it be true? Surely not. They still remember the past though now it does feel hollow as though it had just been a dream. Perhaps that was expected, considering all they had seen and done since only yesterday.

[Mr. Handy]

"I vaguely remember that from when I was Brianna," says Sarah, sighing as well. "All right, then let's use this moment well. Onwards we go." She clutches her father's hand.

"It's all right, Sarah," says Lionel, examining the bridge. "Shall we cross the bridge? Will it hold more than one person's weight at a time?"

[Laraqua]

As far as they can tell the wooden planks aren't suspended over much more than the railway sleepers below them so are more like a raised pathway than a true bridge. That might change further onward but thus far they look stable enough. The main difficulty are the bells hanging on either side which are sure to tinkle. Especially since the planks don't appear to be nailed down or fastened anywhere to the sleepers.