Despite all the uncooperativeness, spontaneous fistfights, and unreasonable building instructions, eventually you all managed to assemble your parts of the big display project. Blahajar, overcome with joy, jumped and hugged each other (and possibly some of you, if encouraged). With enthusiastic gestures they finally guided you to a door that you certainly hadn’t run into previously—though with the way this car worked, you weren’t surprised. The gold handle spun without resistance, once again opening to the wasteland beyond.
Was it really so necessary to leave this place? You had food, a place to rest… But staying wouldn’t get you any closer to finding a way off of this train. At least, not without a little death. And the way Neko-Neko looked at anyone hesitating, that death may have been sooner rather than later…
You moved on, out of the IKEA-like entity, across the walkway, and into the next car.
The group stepped into a narrow, dimly lit hall with dingy, flaking paint. Wood groaned beneath you somewhere. A few doors on either side ahead of you were shut, locked by wheel-like handles affixed front and center. The air smelled of salt, and some faint rushing-wind sound narrowly made it to where you stood.
Only when the entrance shut and vanished behind you did the floor lurch with another groan. It was enough to knock some of you into the walls, but not that terrible…
But it didn’t subside. The ground jerked and swayed in every direction, lights flickering and unseen objects clattering. Finally, with a great crash, the door at the far end flew open, a surge of water cascading down rickety stairs to form a layer at your feet.
Ah. This was probably not good.
You fled the flooding level through the only route available, up onto the deck of a ship—clearly unmanned and clearly in peril. Sails and ropes snapped wildly in the wind, and large, frothing waves leaped over any railings they could find. You could see the helm spinning out of control, but how much would stilling it help? Could you even make it that far in the lashing rain?
As the horrible creaking transformed into cracking and the ship began to split apart, that rapidly became a lost cause. Was there a shore in the distance? It was difficult to see and impossible to aim for anyway, with the boat disintegrating into flotsam.
Right now, you simply needed to survive.
—
[no car reference post at this time]
