My bait was a simple goat I bought from the cattle car. After I informed the old conductor of what we found, he showed me the new, updated map.

The things were everywhere, all over town in a big, mostly circular radius.

Staring at the map as some train hands brought me my goat with a rope to walk it, I pointed to the rough center of the circle, where my eyes kept getting drawn to. It was almost two blocks, the majority of the whole town, in any direction, from that center to the edge of the circle. The circle being made up of what the young boy conductor had called Snatch Worms from our description.

They needed a name, and it was as good as any.

Lillianne even made the boy feel proud by officially noting it down on the train log as their new name, with him being the one who named it. Seeing the boy swell with pride, and look at everyone so happily about that, that it had helped calm everyone else down a bit.

And since the unknown was more feared than anything, giving a name to it strips away some of that fundamental fear.

“What’s here in this center of the circle?” I asked, eyeing the buildings there.

“Looks like the town bank.” The old conductor, named Stidham, answered. “It was a big bank too. Had a large vault, and a counting room and a loading dock. That’s why it looks like several buildings all in one.”

“Something’s there.” I muttered darkly, looking at it, and it’s position at the general heart of the snatch-worm circle.

“Most likely, but what?” Stidham agreed, looking puzzled, but steady. More and more the old man behaved like a sergeant at war rather than a train conductor. I felt very happy for his presence, as I suspected his crew did as well.

“No idea.” I sighed. “It seems too far away from any of these snatch-worms to be of any significance. However…”

“However it’s positioned too perfectly for it to solely be by chance.” Stidham finished for me, eyeing the map with a glare. “Something’s playing a game with us.”

“Agreed. But we need to figure out its game first before we confront it.” I stated firmly. “Otherwise it’ll beat us like it beat this whole damn town. They lost to these things, whatever they are. I aim to win.”

“Well said sir.” Stidham nodded. “I think they have your goat ready for your little fishing excursion.”

“Good.” I replied, standing back up. “If anyone here knows how to use a gun, and has steady nerves and a steady hand, arm them up. Same for the passengers. Right now whatever these thing’s are seem to be passive, but I don’t want to rely on them staying that way. However, I also don’t want to get shot in the back by accident.”

“Understood sir.” Stidham nodded again, his eyes going over his men briefly. “I’ve got a few I can trust with pistols and close in work. But only a couple who are any good with rifles.”

“Some’s better than none.” I shrugged. “Get them armed, just in case. And the ones with rifles, have them take spy glasses and find some good spots on the train roofs, or the stations roof. With plenty of ammo, just in case. If nothing else, their presence will calm everyone else down.”

“Will do sir.” Stidham turned and set about calling over the men he felt knew guns, and how to be smart with them. I turned away from the map table, gestured to Lillianne, and hopped down from the train back onto the train station.

Halona was waiting outside for us, and we fell in together again, this time with me pulling along a small goat.

“I take it you’re going to feed that goat to one of the worm-snatchers to see what happens?” Lillianne guessed, curious.

“Yeah, which is why I want both of you in cover and ready to fight, or flee, since we don’t know what will happen.” I answered as we retraced our earlier steps around the curved track and road of the town. “The way these things are mostly set up is like a defensive perimeter. They might basically be a wall or bear trap for something to come and feast on at its leisure. Like a spider with a web.”

“I’d rather not be close to something that treats those strange worm creatures like a web or a simple snare.” Halona remarked, shuddering.

“Nor would I.” I replied. “So, if whatever shows up is a bit too large, we either wait and let it withdraw, or we just quietly back off on our own. Right now we desperately need to understand more about what the hell’s going on here. We’re stumbling in the dark, and that can only get us hurt or killed.”

“Voice of experience?” Lillianne asked as we came around the bend back to the long roads now covered in the strange horrific growths, which we now called snatch-worms.

“First mission I ever had, leading just a squad as a junior lieutenant.” I muttered darkly as I pointed to a nearby large alleyway for Halona to position herself. “Was told to attack a small rebel campsite. Supposed to just be scouts and maybe some message relay men. Our captain didn’t have it scouted it out beforehand, and we ran slap into a full on advance rifle company being staged there.”

“How did you survive?” She asked, sounding shocked.

“We attacked at night, and we were among them so fast that no one knew what the hell was going on at first.” I replied with a shrug as I noted a nearby three-story shop building with a good flat roof and a line of stairs on side leading up to it. “We realized there were way the hell too many there for a small scout party pretty quickly. So we set fire to some tents, rode around shooting a few officers that we saw, and then road out of there in the confusion.”

“Sounds terrifying.” Lillianne muttered, her eyes never leaving the strange snatch-worms as Halona got into position.

“It was.” I agreed as I turned to her, while keeping the bizarre things in the corner of my eye. “Which is why I always do my best to study and learn about whatever I am dealing with. I never want to be knee deep in an enemy camp, in the dark, surrounded by all those who wish me harm and filled with rage, again. Now, you see that building?”

She nodded to me that she did.

“Good. I want you on that roof, watching, and far away from anything that shows up. Remember something Miss L.” I stated seriously, getting her full attention. “The people of this town, those that survived whatever these things are anyway, lost. They gave up and fled. If we hope to do any better, we must understand the nature of these things, or we’ll simply make the same mistakes, and either flee or die the same way.”

“Understood.” She nodded seriously, before turning and heading to the side building stairs. I quickly turned, and leading the oblivious goat, slowly stalked closer to the twisted things.

Once I was as close as I could stand, which was about twenty feet away from the things, and all together too close in my opinion, I stopped. I quickly bent down, released the goat, gave it a slap, and ran. The goat bayed in annoyance, then began ambling towards the snatch-worms.

I quickly ducked around a nearby alleyway between two buildings, my rifle at the ready, and watched.

Once the goat was close enough, a single wavy tendril lightly grazed its side, and the trap was sprung!

The snatch-worm surged forward from the ground! The long, curving hook teeth snapped forward and clamped around the squealing goat! The tendrils also wrapped around the struggling, yelling animal, and before any of us could even blink, it yanked itself, and the screaming animal, under the ground!

The head of the goat was still above ground, with several tendrils wrapped around it, and it let out a piteous whine one last time before it was suddenly yanked fully under the dirt.

There was barely a little depressed mound of what looked like a filled in hole where the snatch-worm, and the goat had been, but that was it. There wasn’t even any blood, apart from the initial wound from the hook teeth. If I hadn’t just seen it, and known what to look for, I wouldn’t have known anything much had happened, besides there being a small, poorly filled in hole in the road.

The whole ordeal had taken less than twenty seconds.

I stared for a moment, stunned, before I slowly left my crouch and came to stand out in the middle of the road, a bit stunned.

“Why aren’t you hiding?” Halona called, sounding shanken. Not that I blamed her. I was shaken too.

“Because there’s no need to.” I told her, feeling a few of the pieces start to fall into place. “Those snatch-worms aren’t holding the food. I think they might actually be eating it themselves. Why else go underground?”

“So, what does that mean for us?” Halona asked, slowly coming out of her hiding spot, each hand holding a pistol.

I sighed in irritation at this growing mess I was stuck in the middle of. “It means we need to back off and rethink a few things at a safer location.”

“What’s wrong with here?” She asked, frowning. “Not that I’m complaining about leaving, mind you.”

“Those things get you from underground.” I told her. “That means tunnels, or at least the ability to move around underground fairly well. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stand around on dirt anywhere near these things.”

She stared at me, and then at the snatch-worms, all of them still waving their tendrils and seemingly unconcerned about anything that just happened. Somehow that just made them seem even more sinister. Especially with the circle of disturbed earth next to them.

“Oh.” She said quietly. I agreed with the sentiment. The longer we stood anywhere near these things, the more nervous I became. I wanted to leave, and leave now.

“Miss L!” I called up to the building. “We’re heading back to the train!”

“Coming down!” She called back, and quickly came flying down the stairs. As soon as she reached us, we turned and started walking away from the snatch-worms very quickly.

“What are we going to do?” She asked as we walked back to the train.

“Probably have to sacrifice another goat.” I muttered, thinking through the few pieces we had, which weren’t many.

“Why?” Lillianne asked, curious.

“If we can rig some rope or something, we can see how far those things travel underground. Or if they just stop a few feet from the hole.” I answered distractedly. I thought of the map of snatch-worms in my head; a big circle, which made slightly better sense. “I want to know if they’re feeding something in that big bank they’re all sitting around, or if it’s truly coincidence.”

“Do we have enough rope?” Halona asked, sounding uncertain.

I shrugged as the station came back into sight. “Gotta start somewhere.”

“Well, we may not need any rope, actually.” Lillianne stated quietly, causing me and Halona to stop and stare at her.

“Meaning what?” I asked, eyeing her shrewdly. “It’s not like we can risk a dog, or any other animal, to try and track their scent. And it looks like those tunnels seal up behind them when they move underground.”

In response, she reached over to one of the cases strapped to her left thigh, opposite of the large, oddly designed pistol on her right. She reached in and pulled out a odd looking glass tube that had a tapered point at one end and a round one at the other.

“A glass icicle?” I asked, confused.

“It’s a kind of special bullet for my pistol.” She said proudly. “I have several different bullets of various capabilities. You said to let you know if I had any that were useful.”

“Yes, I did say that.” I replied, staring at the odd glass tube-bullet. I noted it had a kind of yellow liquid inside it, and that it was roughly twice the size as one of my 44 caliber rounds for my own weapons. What bizarre times I live in. I smiled as I looked from her strange ammunition to her. Strange was left behind years ago when I had to duel a hotheaded warlord, who was also a human tiger.

“And?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. “What can that glass icicle do?”

“It’s a tracker round.” She answered calmly. “I don’t really understand all of how it works. The man I bought it from was, well, eccentric is being both mild, and polite. Anyway, he said it had something to do with electric eels and electric impulse signals.”

“I understood exactly none of that beyond the eels, and that’s only because I read about them in a book back at school.” I replied dryly.

“I don’t even know what an eel is.” Halona chipped in, looking lost, but fascinated by it all nonetheless.

“It’s a kind of ocean dwelling fish snake.” I summarized for her. “One that can famously shock you like a tiny living bolt of lightening.”

“Wow!” Her eyes practically lit up at the thought. Both I and Lillianne had to try and keep from laughing out loud at her reaction.

“My point,” Lillianne said, bringing us back on topic. “Is that I can shoot this into the next got we bring out, and once it gets grabbed, we can track where it goes. Both the direction, and roughly how far. We’ll also be able to tell when it stops.”

“How?” I asked, stopping to stare at her and her, seemingly, magic bullet.

“It transmits a electrical pulse to this device.” She pointed to a bracer on her left arm, which I thought was just some odd, bulky armor. It, like the rest of the odd armor and gadgets she had on, was a mixture of brass, copper, and leather.

She carefully put the glass tracking bullet away, and then flipped a very small latch open on the bracer to reveal a row of small glass orbs running from her wrist to halfway to her elbow, where the bracer stopped.

“These light up when pointed in the right direction, and the closer you get.” She explained. “Point my arm in the right direction, and at least one will light up. The closer we get, the more light up.”

“Clever.” I muttered, staring at the wild piece of tech. “That would change so much! Why aren’t they being manufactured?”

“They’ve tried.” She shrugged. “And it is, but it has to be handmade, from lots of diagrams with lots of materials. Some things can be made in factories, but most have to be assembled and crafted by gunsmiths and coppersmiths.”

“Coppersmith?” I asked, confused. “I don’t know that term.”

“It’s what some people started calling the machinists and craftsmen who specialize in this elaborate machinery made by, er, very eccentric scientists and engineers.” Lillianne explained, though her stumbling over the behavior of these makers worried me. “The name is fairly new, since much of the stuff they work around has lots of brass, wood, and copper, people just started calling them coppersmiths. It was meant to make them different from gunsmiths or blacksmiths.”

“And this coppersmith tool will work to track the goat?” Halona asked as she leaned over to stare at the device with childlike wonder.

“It will. It’ll wear off after about twenty minutes though.” She cautioned us. I just shrugged in response to that as I straightened back up and looked back the way we came.

In the end, while I didn’t really understand the device, I also didn’t need to. Lillianne did, and she was confident she could make it work. I had a sneaking suspicion about where that tracker would lead us, but I really wanted to know for sure. However, in the even I was right, I felt it was best to be better prepared.

“Great work Miss L.” I said, turning back to the station. “Let’s get back to the train. We have a few more supplies to pick up, along with the goat, before we go back to fishing. Time to load up before we saddle up.”

“As you command, Wild Ranger.” Lillianne replied with an impish grin.

“Yes, Master Ranger.” Halona bowed at the waist with a smirk.

I sighed in utter exasperation as I strode forward once again, now determined to ignore the two brats. They just burst out into wicked giggles as they followed me.

How is it that women can make giggles sound so vile? I wondered as I stubbornly ignored them for the rest of the walk back.

It was time to get some tools that would give us a bigger bang for our buck.