"Dahn't tahmpt me, human..."

"Will you two lay it off already!" Marcus raised his voice, startling the group.
"We're stuck in the middle of an abandoned city, in the middle of an uninhabited wasteland, and you are at each other's throats. I don't care if he's a human! Way's an extra pair of skilled hands which we need." The grey fox shot accusing looks at Sniper and Wayfarer.
A tense minute elapsed, with no one speaking.
"Is it me, or have the testorone levels in this plane gone through the roof? C'mon guys, let's go get some fuel, before we all choke to death on the machismo in here." Balli spoke, before making a swift exit out of the plane. Spaz stifled a laugh, and followed her out. Kaine remained with Way as Sniper made his way past Marcus.
"With due rahspahct, stahy aht ahf mah business, fox. Thahs ahn't thah lahst y'all hear ahf this." The marksman passed him, and stepped back down on to dry land.

"No," Marcus spoke reflectively. "I don't think this is."

The grey fox stepped up to Kaine and Way, taking concern in the overlander's wellbeing.

"Are you going to be okay, my good man?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine, just worry about getting some fuel for this baby."

"Good. If our melancholy friend out there gives you any more trouble, please, don't hesitate to inform me. I do hate it when a team can't get along. Now, to the expedition, before any more trouble finds its way here..." With that, the grey fox turned and left the plane, back to his usual flamboyant outward appearance.

***

"Ah rahkon y'all should stahrt looking in thaht ahld hahngah ovah thah." Sniper pointed out an old and rusty looking building a few hundred metres away, sitting next to a squat control tower and terminal buildings. Dust and sand blew about the assembled team in ferocious little eddies, the only movement for what seemed like miles around. With some murmured agreement, the little made the dash through the swirling dust, to stop outside the open entrance to the seemingly cavernous hangar.
"I really don't like this..." Spaz commented, peering inside the dark interior. "...Something doesn't feel right."
"It's a ghost town, of course it doesn't feel right!" Balli replied.
"There's nothing here. We should move on..."
Way advised, as Sniper raised a hand.
"Small ahrms fahre here. Cahn't tell how old though." He pointed out a small trail of bullet holes up the steel hangar wall. "Someone wanted sahmthahng dead."
"No corpses though," Marcus said, as he looked around. "Which means that it's prolly old battle-scars from the time immediately following the Day. Way's right though, there's nothing here but dust and stuff for history books. We should make our way into the city, as I doubt we'll find anything in the other airfield builings of any use."

"I still have a bad feeling about this."

Kaine had to support Way as the group moved forward. Way could walk, but he had to keep his eyes closed, because: "Everything keeps on spinning!"

Nonetheless, he was able to keep up if he was pointed in the right direction. He decided now was a good time to voice a concern of his. "Hey, earlier, before the crash, somebody said that this place had been abandoned because of some freaky stuff. Anyone know anything more about it?"

Marcus explained.

"There are some places, usually tucked away into a remote corner of the country, where both Mobian and Overlander fear to tread. Tales abound of unexplained lights and noises, of entire expeditions setting out in earnest and never being seen again. No one knows why this is so - some call these places cursed." The grey fox glanced around at the surrounding ghost town. "This is the town of Fort Towson. This is one such place."

"And of all places, we had to land here..." Balli sighed.

Wayfarer waved an arm, before putting his hand on his forehead. "That is exactly what I didn't want to hear...*sigh*. I heard about things like that going on, when I worked as security at Fort Knox."

Marcus' eyes widened. "You were security there?"

Way nodded. "Aye, but I don't have any useful information besides general layout, but that's useless now, anyway. The Security Team I was with were hired to stay at Fort Knox to protect it, even as everyone was leaving the surrounding regions. When freaky things started happening inside Fort Knox, some of the security thought their lives were more important than money. They made it out safely. After about a year of freaky things, we were attacked. The rest of the team gathered, and we made a decision to leave. None of us knew how to handle THEM, so we made our way out. Only two other guards and myself made it outside, out of the original group of 20. We managed to get aboard the last train that was passing through that region. One of the things we saw was the entire layout of the Fort was changing. We couldn't get out the way we would have been able to the day before, so we wandered in the maze-like halls for quite a while. THEY were very good at ambushes...but I never heard of THEM anywhere else, so we should be safe here. I never experienced what it was like for the people in the towns and stuff, so I don't know what to expect here."

There was a little chuckle from Sniper, who was now bringing up the rear. "All of yah got weak stomachs an' too good imaginations." he muttered. "There ain't nothin' beond what can be seen. THEY were probably robbers same as us, an' they'll have all the gold now, thanks ta your cowardice."

"Believe what you like." murmured Way, the insult ignored like water off a duck's back. "I know what happened there."

Sniper grinned beneath his hat. "Cheap tricks." he muttered. "One ah THEM showed up now ah'd show ya how powerful he was with mah gun. See if he could scare ya with a bullet in his head."

Way sighed, and left it at that. He had seen this before. Anytime something supernatural happened, most people refuse to believe until they see it for themselves. He just hoped that this time, none of them would die...

They approached their destination, and everyone began to be more alert, looking for anything that could be of use.

(OOC: I'm on holiday for a few days all. I'll catch up when I get back, probably around Sunday^^)

Kaine kept his eyes peeled for more than stuff that could help as he helped Way along. His ears rotated, searching for sounds, what was more unnerving was that there practially weren't any.
Tilting his head to look at Way,
"Ho do you kil THEM? I suppose you had guns too so how come they didn't work so well?"

"Yeah, we had guns, but THEY moved so fast, we couldn't hit THEM very often. Even if we did get ONE, the OTHERS carried off the body so fast that we never got a good look at THEM. Definitly not human."

After casting a glance at the expressions he was given, Way continued, "I left a bit of myself there, near the gold. Even though it's been a long time, I can still feel it. The gold's still there, that much I know. I suspect THEY never left the Fort, why I don't know. I don't know much about the other stuff, like ghosts, so this place might be totally different."

OOC: Okay, I'm going to stop referring to them in bold from here on out, it is getting annoying I think. I did it to emphasize what we were talking about, but it's a lot of trouble. If anyone has a name, go for it. I don't even know what they are, anyway.

(OOC: I'm back all^^)

IC:

They were comming up to a row of houses, and Sniper stepped up to the gate of one of them.

"Ah'm gonna check for supplies an' all in here. If y'all too scared to join then wait out here in the open, otherwise, follow me."

With that he set off down the pathway towards the old door, hanging off it's top hinge with age and lack of upkeep. As he went he twirled his Magnum on his finger, once again making the small sparks flicker. He would never admit to anyone, but the silence and stillness of this town was even beginning to put him on edge!

Kaine felt torn, he didn't like the idea of anyone goign off on their own, he wasn't thinking of them, he was thinking of collapsing stuff like stairs, if someone got trapped noone would no where they were in time to help.
But on the other hand he felt he had to help Way. Finally he sighed, and turned to look at the others in the group...

Way leaned against a door, and waved Kaine on. "You go ahead. I'll just rest here for a minute. I won't be of much use in there, anyway."