#25

A while after landing, the cargo door opens and You hears several Fennecs walking around. You smells something strange in the air. It's salty, and the instant that adjective—“salty”—washes over Your brain, You realizes with both shock and hope that it is the scent of the ocean. You had never hoped to see the ocean, but it seems the airstrip or wherever You is now is close to it. That's even more motivation to escape alive.

They don't seem to be unloading the crates yet, so You turns to Klaus and makes a gesture indicating Your desires. He nods in affirmation and the two of you attempt to, as both of you have done several times now, make a break for it. As You runs, You sees several Fennecs disembarking and heading for a gate. Several sights hit Your eyes at once, all of which surprise You greatly.

The first is that there are many cars here, and there are many cars in the distance. They are all absurdly loud; You's never heard anything so terribly cacophonous in Your life. It's probably coming from that ridiculously shiny city that is off to Your left. Holy shit, You has never seen such a gorgeous thing in Your entire life. Its ability to inspire Your intrinsic grammar mutations to shift Your thoughts to italics is enough to make You forget that a bunch of heavily armed bandits are greeting some Imperial soldiers to Your right. This causes You to dive behind some boxes, alongside Klaus, whose expression doesn't show any emotion in regards to either the city or the soldiers.

The boxes are somewhat close to the soldiers and gangsters. That they didn't notice You is a miracle; it's likely that whatever they're concerning themselves with is serious business, and they aren't paying much mind to background details. At least, that's what You hopes.

The crates are near enough to them so that You can hear them speak.

“Greetings,” says one of the soldier.

“Hey there,” replies one of the Fennecs.

“Welcome to Imperial Central.”

“Thanks. E told us to come here in case of an emergency, y'know? So where we staying? Somewhere with good grub, I'd hope.”

There is a pause.

“Well. It is said, sometimes, that Hell has quite a feasting table.”

Suddenly, there is a loud burst of machine gun fire. You flinches away and covers Your ears as the Fennecs start screaming. You sees droplets of blood fly past the crates, and a dead Fennec flops down past You. His eyes move to look at You slowly, but there's no life behind them.

Eventually the shooting stops. Several soldiers start to run past You to board the plane; You and Klaus cringe away from them. Several still remain from their point of assault. You hear one of them begin to speak:

“My Lord. We have disposed of the Zorro survivors. The Fennec Gang's exhausted usefulness has been taken care of.”

The people who bombed Zorro City, then—they must have been with the Empire. But who could be the “Lord” of these guys? “E”? Who might be Susie's dad...?

A vast conspiracy unfolds, but You can only see its shadow.

You waits until the soldiers leave, before deciding to head to the city. It certainly was convenient that they didn't deliver their message from inside their car. It's just another one of those things that perfectly slides into place.

You stands up and watches their cars head towards the strange city.

Besides You, the sea glistens, and tries subtly to hypnotize You; but the ocean of blood seems to You to be about as big as the waves beside You.