Lily Thompson's Journey: Deception

[Seon]

"You'll die. Forever."

"The hotel is close to where I am going," Jack said simply, continuing to walk.

[Kadael]

"How do you know? For that matter, how can you be so sure I'll die at all?" Lily continues to follow, figuring she has to due to his vague answer.

[Seon]

"Anyone who is weak and considers him or herself weak will invariably die in this town," Jack said.

"You may attempt to avoid this fate by growing strong enough to stand on your own legs on this world. But we both know that that will not happen."

"There is a pier nearby. We will need to find a boat."

[Laraqua]

Depending on the direction Jack has gone, he'd either be at the bridge by now or on the waterfront road.

[Seon]

To the waterfront road then.

[Kadael]

"What? I'm not weak! Of course I can stand by myself, what do you think I'm doing now?" Lily huffs impatiently as she continues to follow.

"Why do we need a boat?"

[Seon]

"To get to the Lighthouse, of course," Jack said.

[Laraqua]

The trip to the lighthouse should've only taken about two minutes to walk to the main pier but they're still walking through the town section. It's hard to be sure with all of this fog until he starts truly paying attention but it soon becomes clear that they're forced to re-trace their steps. It's as though they're stuck in a perpetual loop, returned to almost where they began.

[Seon]

"By the way," Jack said. "We are irrevocably lost. Sorry."

[Kadael]

"Irrevocably? What? How hard is it to find a lighthouse?" Lily stares at him. "I saw it on the way into town, there was the giant blinky light and everything!"

[Seon]

"Indeed, but doesn't explain why we are at the starting point again, now, does it?" Jack said. He put the radio close to his ears. Perhaps it could still be active.

"If we can just make it to the lake, we can walk along the edges of the water to the Lighthouse, although we'll have to cross a bridge on the way there."

[Laraqua]

As Jack puts the radio to his ear, he can hear a screech coming from somewhere behind them in the fog-shrouded streets.

[Seon]

"Now Lily," Jack said, turning to her. "Would you classify that screech as 'oh shit, we've got to run now!' kind of a screech, or 'there's somebody there who might need our help!' kind of screech?"

[Kadael]

Lily's only response is to grab Jack and hide in front of him, hopefully out of view of whatever that is.

[Seon]

"The former than," Jack said. "Well, Lily, that thing's probably going to kill you. Least you can do is look at it in the eye," he softly shrugged her off.

[Laraqua]

The kitten growls in warning and the pocket radio hisses burbled static at them.

[Seon]

"So, Lily, are you going to do something or should we have a nice little tea party with the monsters?"

[Kadael]

"No, no, no, what the hell are you doing?!" She stares at him incredulously, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. He's the closest thing she has to her brother right now, and she has no idea what else to do. "We have to go! I'm not gonna die!"

[Seon]

"Ahhh, but why does the thought of dying not interest you?" Jack said. "It's fascinating, death, no?"

He softly pushed her away from him again.

"By the way, the reason why I'm so calm is that I know that monsters want to kill you, not me."

"You wanna live?"

Jack pulled out a shotgun and tossed it in front of her.

"You are going to have to fight. Ja mata."

[Laraqua]

Somewhere, in the fog a woman's voice is raised in a frightened whimper and the silhouette of a feminine form begins to coalesce out of the fog.