EVENTS:

The birds nods, hopping off the truck.

Bird: "Yes! Bye friends!"

She attempts to fly off, somehow oblivious of her missing wing, but only manages to land on her face. After a few tries, she settles for awkwardly hopping through the snow, taking shelter under the great steel wreckage.



Meanwhile, Eigla checks the map. They've just crossed the northern bridge, so... The path heads over to the west, circling around something cryptically marked "Colossus", then meets with the Seawall Road. A day of travelling north should lead you to the Floodplains, in the middle of which lies the Triplets' Rig. So... Perhaps two and a half days, assuming you don't stop.

EVENTS:

The party chooses to press onwards. Eigla ends up falling asleep, while Rosa worries about the bird's fate. The threat of the meatblob looms on the horizon, an everpresent darkness that keeps her from relaxing. Klimt lets Curie sit on his lap, gently petting her head while thinking of all the creatures he'd met. Once, they must have all been people, before the End. Perhaps, one day, again...?

Emilia sits on the back of the cargo bay, admiring the landscape as the truck makes its way down a steep incline. There's hills all around, occasionally interrupted by ruins and wrecked vehicles. The weather seems to improve here, and light rain takes the place of snow. The night takes a dark blue tinge, tinted yellow by the truck's flickering headlights.

---

Hours pass. Klimt is now the only one awake, looking out the rear of the truck as Emilia and Curie sleep beside him. You seem to be passing through a narrow corridor, flanked on one side by the gutted ruins of concrete and steel skyscrapers, and on the other by a huge, cracked wall, 200 feet tall or more. The smell of saltwater permeates the area, and this time it's not just Rosa's body odor.

The road ends at a large, rickety-looking metal ramp, connecting it to an old suspended highway. It is a good thing it does, because the terrain drops quite suddenly, eventually disappearing under a layer of foamy water. Indistinct shapes swim under you, and broodcrabs nest in the flooded buildings. Seeing it all from above, at a safe distance... It's almost calming. He can feel himself drifting off to-


CRUNCH

The truck stops with a jolt, tossing you about the cargo bay like ragdolls. Ouch!

Peggy: "I-I WAS NOT ASLEEP IT WASN'T ME- I MEAN WHA- Who? Where?

Wait, who the hell put this huge metal thing in the middle of the road?"

EVENTS:

Everyone leaves the truck to see what happened.

Klimt: "You alright, Peggy?"

Peggy: "Yeah, yeah, I- I didn't see the bloody thing- Damn, I'm tired."

She waves dismissively at you, rubbing her eyes.

Peggy: "Just, get it out of the way so we can get moving again. I don't like this place."


Meanwhile, Eigla has reached the front of the vehicle. It seems to have smashed against a large metal object, partially stuck in the concrete, dead in the middle of the road. It's a bit hard to tell, with the damage it's suffered in the crash, but it looks very much like a stasis pod. Who left this here?


Rosa slithers to the edge of the road and looks down. Foamy, foul-smelling waves, but they don't seem particularly dangerous. It might just be-

Wait.

A few rays of light filter through the morning clouds, piercing through the muddy water, revealing bodies. Hundreds, thousands, a veritable army of the drowned, carcasses bloated and partially covered in algae. They moan silently and reach up towards the surface, gasping for air that they no longer need. Strange, snakelike tentacles swim between the zombies, occasionally squirming into the sunken undead, then retreating back into the muck.

EVENTS:


Peggy shrugs, head bobbing sideways in exhaustion.

Peggy: "...Iunno. If, any of you know how to drive this thing. I guess? Yawn."


Meanwhile, Eigla pulls the pod out from under the truck. The door latch seems to have broken in the collision, so it's reasonably easy to pry it open. Inside, other than the usual sizzling, evaporating oil, there's... A doll?

Indeed. A rather mature-looking ginger, seemingly wrapped in a cocoon of vines, lays sleeping before you. Free parts?