trans_9 | What Some Take For Magic At First Glance [Opentastic]

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What Some Take For Magic At First Glance [Opentastic]

Howard has avoided The Warehouse entirely for the last few days. Something about wandering around in it alone seems like a profoundly unsettling prospect. Even when he returns to it, he decides it's a better idea to work out in the front yard than actually lounge around the living room.

Today's project is a roller fridge. Having found three sets of identical rollerblades (for someone with six legs? Or just three right feet?), Howard's set to dismantling them and fixing them to a mini-refrigerator he found in an unclaimed house down the tracks. He eventually plans on recalibrating the fridge into a freezer and attaching a handle to drag it to and from Hydroponics, but actually putting wheels on it seems to be the most difficult task so far.

After several failed attempts to use a candle-lighter to weld some sort of axle on, Howard gets a drill and an extension cord out. The sound of the drill upsets the cat, whom he's zipped into an old backpack, bar her head. He doesn't want her to run off onto the tracks, after all, or leave her alone in the house, and despite all the random junk he's accumulated, he hasn't yet found a small leash or collar.

She growls at him and struggles to free herself, but he routinely calms her down with cat treats and a sock full of catnip when the noise scares her too much. To keep her attention, he slips one of the cat treats up his sleeve and out of sight. That's just sleight of hand.

The fridge, on the other hand, may require more creativity. He sits with the backpack full of cat on his lap, chewing on a hangnail, trying to figure out how exactly he's going to give it wheels that can swivel.

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Howard, having successfully upgraded from 'apprehension' to 'shrieking terror', doesn't bother with the brisk walk. He bolts about halfway back through the tunnel, crashing into rock walls as he goes, before skidding to a stop to look back and make sure Zouichi's behind him. Which is difficult to do in pitch darkness.

At that point, it becomes obvious that the tunnels aren't just a straight line back to the exit. "Zou, tell me you can see in the dark."

It doesn't take long for Zouichi to catch up, not with the darkness slowing Howard down. "Try to stay calm; don't run, we don't want to get lost. And I can see very well in the dark. Just--"

"Don't leave." He turned sharply toward the sound of the voice as the form of a man with a crushed arm slowly oozed out of the tunnel wall.

"Don't leave!" A woman with a gash in her abdomen and smaller cuts in her legs, coming up from the darkness behind them.

Okay, now it was time to run. He grabbed Howard's hand.

Yeahhhhh, forget staying calm. Howard clutches Emergency Rations so tight he squeezes all the air out of her kitty lungs and dashes with Zouichi, stumbling over the uneven floor in his attempt to keep up.

What the hell was that? As freaky as the FAYZ could be, he thinks someone would have mentioned ghosts. If it's the spirit of Duck Zhang, he's so sorry about stealing his calculator. And calling him fat. And taking his comic book. And throwing his backpack over the fence. But somehow he doubts that Duck would choose to come back as two mutilated adults.

Still, those ghosts fall hard under the category of 'completely horrifying'.

"Stayyyy!" hissed the woman, her clawlike hands missing the back of Howard's shirt by inches.

But at least it seemed the ghosts were not quite as swift as their living counterparts. They began to fall behind, though their howls followed their would-be prey down the long tunnel.

Zouichi concentrated on retracing their path toward the exist, hoping there'd be no more ghosts up ahead. They hadn't demonstrated any ability to harm anyone yet, but...

The fact that one of them tried to pull Howard under the floorboards is reason enough for him to think their intent is malicious. He runs as quickly as he can with Zouichi, unable to say anything given that he's using his lungs for, you know, gasping for breath. Thank goodness he jogs every morning, right?

Also, running when you can't see the floor and are carrying a cat and are getting half-dragged by a synthetic human is totally harder than a morning jog. He trips and skins his knees more than a few times and considers throwing Emergency Rations at the ghosts more than a few times, but doesn't.

The exit appears before them, one of Stacy's fake night skies looking like a picture window. Two hundred yards...a hundred fifty...a hundred and twenty-five...

They're about a hundred yards from the exit when a cold chill hits.

Zouichi was beginning to think it might be better to carry Howard, but then there was a blast of cold air, and suddenly the tunnel seemed to be falling apart. No, that wasn't not quite right; it was a localized collapse, blocking off most of the exit. Maybe Howard could fit through the remaining open.

The sounds of the ghosts floated up from the distance, aimless and plaintive. Apparently they'd lost track of the two of them for now.

The ceiling comes down on top of them and in front of them, though thankfully, more in the latter direction. Howard goes with instinct, which is to huddle up in a little ball until the dust and rocks stop falling on him.

When he opens his eyes he can see that there's a crack out to the sky, but it's tight. Big enough for the cat (whose displeasure is quite loud at the moment), maaaaaaybe big enough for Howard if he doesn't mind making out with a slab of stone, definitely not big enough for Zou. Then again, Zou could probably punch his way out or something, if he isn't buried under rubble.

Big enough for air, and that's the important thing.

"Zou, you okay?" he whispers, hoping ghosts don't have amazing hearing. He's shaking and bleeding, but given the nature of most cave-ins, miraculously alright.

"I'm fine," Zouichi answered, glancing over his shoulder in the direction of those ghostly voices. He drew his gun, eyeing the opening. Punching was one way to go, but when you needed a quick exit...

"I'm going to try to open up the tunnel, all right? Stand back for a second."

"You're sure that won't just make it cave in further?" Not that Howard's opposed to a hasty exit, or at least any exit that doesn't take them back in the direction of the ghosties. He almost suggests letting him and the cat try to squeeze out first before blowing a hole in the place, but he wouldn't actually leave Zou here unless ordered to.

"I'm only going to take out part of it. The rest of the rubble should be able to hold." Well, hopefully.

Zouichi aimed the pistol at the side of the opening, planning to widen it rather than create a new exit. There was a soft click, and then the jagged opening was suddenly widened, smoothed out into a neat round hole in the rock big enough for either of them.

"After you."

Howard doesn't need to be asked twice. He picks up Emergency Rations and scrambles out the hole as quickly as possible, only pausing a good twenty yards from the mine's exit and to make sure Zouichi's behind him. "Whose stupid idea was it to go in there?"

"You can blame it on me." Zouichi looked back at the entrance, but apparently the ghosts hadn't elected to follow them. In fact, the mine entrance looked as deserted as it had before they had gone in. On top of that, the sky was rapidly darkening. He looked Howard over, trying to spot any injuries.

"We should probably get back before it gets too dark. You okay?" Seriously, why did they keep running into ghosts?

"Don't think I won't. It's all your fault if I can't sleep tonight." Howard's banged up, with bloody scrapes on his palms and knees and a few bruises, but for the most part he's fine. The worst is just the popped stitches on the cut on his leg from Galilee. "Nothing I can't patch up back at the house. You?"

Zouichi shook his head. "I'm fine. How's the cat? Can you walk back all right?"

He figured it might be another late night with Howard again. But for now, the most important thing was to get back and deal with the injuries.

Howard inspects the cat for injuries, although she seems uninjured, if rattled by the whole thing. Her fur is standing on end and her ears lie flat against her skull. "She seems fine. Guess she's not a huge fan of ghosts."

And he's definitely sure that's growling, not purring.

He nods. "We just sprinted out a mineshaft. I'm pretty sure I can walk." He takes a few steps and winces. "As long as we don't go too fast."

He should have brought his first aid kit instead of the backpack.

Zouichi had sort of assumed the first aid kit was in the backpack. "I can carry you if you want. It'd probably be faster." And less painful.

Poor Emergency Rations.

"So, are the ghosts part of normal mine operations?"

"I can do it myself. Let me have some dignity." He hands the backpack-of-cat over. "You can carry her though."

He shakes his head. "Not that I know of. I mean, there's supposed to be weird shit in the mine, but that was a little over the top. Then again, we do have zombies back home."

Zouichi raised an eyebrow. Howard, was dignity really more important than not limping back to the house?

He took the cat, carefully holding her in his arms while minimizing the likelihood of biting. "How many times have you been in there? Maybe you just didn't see them last time."

Good luck getting Emergency Rations not to bite. She may dislike Howard, but Zouichi is a stranger, and thus a threat instead of just a nuisance.

"Never been before. I mean, I got close once, but got a massive case of the heebie-jeebies, so...yeah. I think if they'd existed back home we woulda had way more urban legends, though. I know older kids used to dare people to spend the night in there."

Well, it was more for her sake than his, really; his gloves had some plating on them that probably wouldn't be too particularly tasty.

"It doesn't really make any sense that the ghosts would have shown up only after the mine was brought here, though. Maybe they're unrelated... although that wouldn't explain why they chose to settle down there in particular."

The cat continues to gnaw on Zouichi's gloves, occasionally batting at his face and hair with a harmless paw.

"Well, if you were a ghost, where would you go? Maybe they're like bacteria and like warm, dark and damp places." Besides, it makes more sense than a ghost hanging out at the Inn. "And honestly, we don't know how long Stacy's been around. That could have been her last crew."

Yes, Howard, because thinking of THAT will totally make going to bed easier tonight.

Aww, Zouichi is taking a liking to her already. He lets her gnaw on him.

"I'd haunt someplace nice and comfortable. Probably not a mine. Sounds like that would get boring fast."

He frowned a little. "Maybe we should put a warning out on the comms to stay away from the mine. I don't think someone will crawl in just to look around, but..."

"I don't know. Mines, you wouldn't get any visitors, wouldn't have to pay rent. There's probably some awesome geodes down there for interior decorating." It's good to talk; it helps to wind down from the fact that he's still scared and shaking. "Yeah, maybe. I'm pretty sure no one comes out this far, though. Unless there are some rogue hermits on the ship that I don't know about."

"Well, I don't think ghosts have to pay rent anywhere, really. Besides, I'm not sure they can crack open geodes, either."

"Maybe we can post up a sign. 'Do Not Enter: Tunnels Unstable'. That should discourage would-be ghost hunters."

"Why not? If you can drag teenagers kicking and screaming into a hole, you can crack a rock, I'm just saying." He nods. "I thinking actually have some warning yellow signs and caution tape in the garage. I'm not gonna help you carry it, though. I'm not getting anywhere near those mines again."

He sighs. "Sorry we didn't find your piano."

What Some Take For Magic At First Glance [Opentastic]

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