Krampus Plot, part IV

[lady_bols]

 She crawled out of the tent on her hands and knees, gritting her teeth.  The ground was hard packed dirt, and the air smelled clean and fresh. It was dark, and they were under a brilliant desert night sky.

"Oh, Ichabod.  Look."

Comments

[lady_bols]

"Oh darling, have no fear." She quirks an amused eyebrow at him, and then bats her eyelashes in a comic display of feminine wiles. "Now, go forth and be sexy. Our very lives may depend on it."

She was only half-joking.

[1stwitness]

With what is clearly a movement of gathering his nerve, Ichabod glares at her and marches off to be distracting while Alex does her part.

[lady_bols]

She smiles at his back, and waits until he's drawn the girl far away from her intended target.

The ammo cabinet is closed, but not locked. She frowns, but fills her pockets anyway. The gun cabinet is locked, but the keys are by the register. It takes her a minute or two to find what she's looking for. One 12 gauge for him, and a 9mm for her.

She closes the cabinets back up, and peeks her head out. Ichabod doesn't look like he's even trying very hard, and the little blonde looks like she's about to climb him like a tree.

She drops the shotgun inside the tent, and returns to his side. And of course, she can't resist. She sneaks an arm around his waist and leans in far too close.

"Oy, sweet cheeks. Get your own." She lifts her chin at the girl, and just stares as she huffs indignantly, and finally decides it's not worth it.

[1stwitness]

Ichabod looks intensely uncomfortable with the whole situation, and almost flees back to the tent with only an awkward smile for the poor shop girl.

"Never. Ever. Make me do that again."

[lady_bols]

"I hope I never have to. Here, I brought you a present."

She stuffs a box of shells into the pocket of his jacket.

"Shall we?"

Another awkward, painful moment of crawling on hands and knees, and they're back in the desert. Alex takes a moment to load the magazine of her 9mm. She's clearly familiar with the weapon, tapping the magazine in, and racking a round into the chamber with practiced ease.

"Ever used a shotgun before?"

[1stwitness]

"Not with any great skill." He's examining it, takes the shells back out of his pocket, and practices loading. "But I can learn."

[lady_bols]

"It's fairly straight forward. This one holds seven rounds." She demonstrates, cycling it once to show him how to do it. "Just don't try to shoot anything over fifteen feet away, and you'll do fine. Also, this one kicks like a mule, so tuck it in tight to your shoulder."

She's had absolutely no experience with black powder, so she has no idea how much recoil a musket has, but she's fairly certain it's different from a modern firearm.

Once she's done, she has to stop and lean on him a bit. "Have I mentioned cracked ribs hurt? Because ow."

[1stwitness]

"Noted", he says with a dry nod. "And can I suggest you fire only if strictly necessary? No need to cause yourself further damage without good reason."

[lady_bols]

She straightens up and gives him a Look.

"I'll have you know, Mr. Crane, I am a professional. I never fire unless strictly necessary."

[1stwitness]

"My meaning was, let me do it first", he returns, unfazed. "And only if... whatever it may be... escapes my fire, should you join battle."

[lady_bols]

"Let's not go getting trigger happy, already. I mean, there was nothing worth shooting at in your home, or on the rock floors. We've been lucky so far. Let's hope our luck holds."

Yeah, nobody tells Alex to play second fiddle. Injury or not, it just doesn't work that way.

"Which way do you think?"

[1stwitness]

"Forward", he says with a slight shrug. "Sticking close to the tent will do us no good, and it stands to reason the way back lies ahead... somehow."

[lady_bols]

She chuckles under her breath at him. The ridge behind them would be impossible for her to reach, and the way forward looks like it's deeper into the box canyon they're standing at the mouth of.

"Right. That looks like a path. Damn it, I wish I'd thought to pick up a torch." She tucks the 9mm in the back of her jeans, and sets off at a cautious pace.

They don't really need the light, as the moon overhead is brilliant and full. There are a few Joshua trees here and there, and the landscape is peppered with huge sandstone boulders. The shadows they cast are long and sharp in the moonlight, and she tends to give them a wide berth.

"Have you ever been to the American desert before?"

[1stwitness]

"No", he admits. "I was generally in New York and the surrounding regions. I never came this far south - or west, for that matter."

[lady_bols]

"Hmm. I have a theory," she says, skirting another large boulder with a wary look.

[1stwitness]

"Oh? Do tell."

He's half-listening, half paying close attention to their surroundings.

[lady_bols]

"Well... The first part of this, whatever this is, was your home. Only as it exists in Purgatory. The second, a nightmare scene from a movie I saw when I was younger. Walmart... Probably hellish for both of us."

"But this... Neither one of us has ever been to the American Southwest. I'm trying to anticipate what we might be facing."

[1stwitness]

"So this is... perhaps something the creature knows, in some way", he guesses. "Or... oh, no."

[lady_bols]

Alex watches the colour drain from his face. Every muscle in her body goes still, except for her hand, which is inching towards her gun.

"Ichabod? Talk to me."

[1stwitness]

"Turn around", he says - almost hisses, really. "Very, very slowly. It hasn't seen us yet."

From behind her, something clicks on the stony ground.

[lady_bols]

"...It?"

She pivots, slowly, holding her breath.

The 'It' in question is the size of a small dog. It's black and shiny and segmented, with two sharp claws and a tail suspended in the air over its back.

"Bloody hell."

She freezes, eyes wide as saucers.

"Okay? Now what."

[1stwitness]

"We shoot it?" he suggests hopefully. "Although perhaps we should first try to establish if there are any more..."

[lady_bols]

"Let's not provoke it. It looks like bullets might just bounce right off."

She's whispering, which is ridiculous but she is.

"Can you see any others?"

[1stwitness]

"Not as of now, but I wouldn't like to say there are none."

He finds himself whispering too.

[lady_bols]

"Do you think we could possibly be so lucky?"

She backs towards him, gesturing him farther down the path.

"Just walk. Slowly. Quietly. Maybe we can... oh god..."

There's another behind another boulder, and another clicking passed, on important scorpion business.