Ch 39

The passengers of the AJ-2 awoke to the bright sun pouring in through the windows, many of which were open, allowing hot desert air to flood the bus, putting a sheen of sweat on their collective foreheads and backs. The bus was not moving, and a quick glance out the open windows showed it was no longer anywhere near a road, either. The sound of cicadia's singing entered their ears, and some of them decided to get up and stretch their legs.

Leeroy, curious about these turns of events, went to find the bus driver. Upon finding the drivers seat vacant, he commented to himself.

“Must be having a piss, then,” and promptly went outside, because a piss sounded very nice to him at that moment. When he stepped outside, the light blinded him for a moment, his Austrian eyes unfamiliar with the brutal light of the raw desert, and he quickly put on the shaded, mirrored aviators another of the passengers had given him on the second day of their trip. Tonter, a man named by parents who would generally choose LSD over a beer any, and every day of the week, had seen Leeroy squinting in the summer light of Oregon, and shown him some kindness.

Tonter was in the distance, coincidentally also having a piss, and Leeroy decided he would catch up with him in a moment, and found the most private spot he could, behind a large sagebrush, and relieved himself. By the time he was finished, most every passenger had come outside, and they were all currently looking for the driver. Leeroy returned, joined the crowd, and met up with Tonter.

“He leave a note?” Leeroy asked, slapping his friend above the shoulder blade, voice intentionally cheerful.

“Not a trace of him. Lee, come on, I want to show you something,” Tonter said, his voice serious. He led Leeroy to the front of the bus, where a couple of other men were staring, shaking their heads.

“See anything strange?” Tonter asked, gesturing to the hood. Leeroy looked, and it jumped out at him immediately. Though the hood was undamaged, it had been driven under the lip of the front of the bus, giving it a sunken impression, a sudden dark cliff near the edges from where it had been forcefully pushed down.

“Can't get it open,” one of the other male passengers said, lighting up a cigarette, taking a drag, blowing it out and repeating the process until he looked good and angry “This isn't good.”

Leeroy said 'Come on', and led the men back inside the bus. The keys were sitting on the drivers seat, like they had been left there on purpose, and Leeroy put them in the ignition and turned them. The bus gave a few weak, electrical coughs, the engine turning over about three times before stopping, when Leeroy noticed all the lights had been left on.

“Son of a bitch!” he said, slapping the steering wheel, then briefly explaining the situation to the men following them.

“Come on,” Tonter said, “We've got to let everyone know what's going on.”

–

Ben's ATV had four seats, each was filled as they drove, the patchy green and brown mountain coming into view.

“Jesus christ,” Louden said, staring in disbelief “That can't be the same mountain, it's twice as tall!” Polk stared at it, the sharp, narrow peaks that reached towards the clouds, still quite some distance away.

“Is there. . . Ben, is that snow up top there?” Polk said, looking over at him from the passenger seat. Ben drove on in silence, face red.

“He's been experimenting with the weather,” Ben finally said, eyes briefly leaving the road to look at the thinly snowed peak. “That one's new, I've never seen it before. The mountain has gotten taller as well, but it hasn't doubled in size, it's about a hundred and fifty percent, putting it at about eighteen thousand feet.”

“Jesus,” Alice said, doing a double take “I think his eyes just glowed for a bit, did either of you see that?” Ben coughed in surprise, cutting off his use of analyze at once.

“Or at least, that's how it looks to me.”

“So who's 'He', is it that, that dungeon you were trying to tell us about?” Louden said, staring at circular symmetry the mountain seemed to exhibit, very roughly exhibiting the properties of a cone.

“Yes,” Ben said “Casimer. He has total control over this area, hang on a second,” Ben said, reaching behind the drivers seat and pulling out a large flare gun. “I need to let Ahr know I'm here. I'm firing off a flare, you might want to cover your ears.”

Ben stopped the ATV and pulled a large, smoky black crystal from behind the seat and pressed it into the hilt of the gun. It melted into the dull gray metal like it was moving through putty, before it froze into place, suddenly encased in metal.

Ben aimed it high, and fired it, releasing an explosive thump and an bright, emerald green fireball. It shone, standing out even in the bright light of the desert, and rocketed into the air. It rose hundreds of feet into the air, far in excess of what a regular flare gun could accomplish, before exploding like a firework.

“Holy shit!” Louden said, jumping and cringing against the sudden noise.

The smoke glowed green like it was radioactive, and lingered in the air for a very long time.

“You call that a flare?” Polk asked, though in surprise or anger, no one could tell.

“You are going to have some serious trouble adjusting if this is all it takes,” Ben said, hefting the flare gun for emphasis, before putting it away. Ben sat in the driver's seat, then began rummaging around some of the side compartments of the ATV to see if he had a stash of water he had forgotten about somewhere.

“So what are we waiting for?” Alice said “Why aren't we going, you know, further in?”

“Because I'd never want to wander around that place without Ahr around,” Ben said “It's dangerous as fuck in there, the most dangerous wilderness in the world to be perfectly honest. And, Ahr is the one you're looking for, and he should be here any minute. I can tell you something though,” Ben said, his voice lowering to a warning “He's not your Richard, not anymore.”

They sat in silence, the three girls locked in their own thoughts, occasionally staring at the gigantic, narrow mountain. Ben was locked in his own struggle, having found three bottles of water and struggling to decide how to divide them between the four of them. It had been a while since he had been around anyone who acted even remotely like a human being, and his social conventions were a little out of practice.

“It's like, got levels,” Louden finally said, pointing at the mountain. “Like, the base is only so high, then there's a sharp cliff, then another flatish area, then another cliff and so on. Do you see it?” she asked, looking to Polk.

“I think so, yeah, there are about four, including the peak. Ben, what's that about?” Polk asked.

“He's maximizing usable space against how high he can make it. I told him he should just settle for a flat plane, or a cavern system, but he likes being a mountain so he can look at the sky better. You really should see the stars from the peak at night, it's like nothing I've ever. . .” Ben trailed off when he noticed all three women staring at him, expressions he couldn't quite place on their faces.

“Does Ahr signal back with smoke?” Alice suddenly asked, looking off in the distance away from the mountain.

“No, why?” Ben asked, looking in the same direction as he spoke, then frowned “No, that's not normal.” Way in the distance, a thin line of black smoke could be seen, more like a haze, but standing out with enhanced definition against the bright blue sky. Ben's eyes flashed for a moment, illuminated like a flash bulb had gone off in the center of his eyeballs, then he frowned.

“That's a big fire, and there's a lot of oil in the smoke. Ahr should have been here by now. Come on everyone, get back in. We should leave, I don't know what's going on, and that's a bad thing. Ahr'll be over there, and he can handle it. We'll come back later, when whatever this is, is over.”

The girls looked at one another, Louden and Polk both trying to communicate their desire to bail non verbally. Alice looked at the both of them, got the message, then looked at Ben.

“I want to go over there, thank you,” she said, and it was not a request.