Just when I think things can't get any weirder, I get proven wrong. This afternoon I was on the porch of Mr. Forteau's house near Jordan Lake, going over some new techniques for stepping sideways, when it seemed like a freak convention broke out. In the span of five minutes, six people showed up in different in various ways, including one who just sort of faded in - but not from the Dreamtime. Odd.
The group included a rough-looking character who didn't talk much, a young girl who accompanied him, the fellow in mirrorshades who faded in, a professional-looking woman, and a pair of oddballs - one in a suit who didn't say much of anything and the other who kept complaining about the doorbell. Mr. Forteau doesn't even have a doorbell.
Forteau kept getting more and more irritated with this group until Mr. Mirrorshades (who I later found went by Daedalus) started talking about a young girl who had been abducted. This got my attention. From the way he described it, it sounded like the group that Forteau had referred to as "trenchcoats and mirrorshades" (whoever they are) were involved.
With no further explanation, Forteau sent us out to find this girl. We piled into his Lincoln Towne Car (except for Daedalus, who took his motorcycle - where'd that come from?) and headed out, Daedalus leading. It was a harrowing drive, including a near-miss with a hearse (in retrospect this is amusingly ironic, but irony isn't so amusing at 60 miles per hour). We headed north, first onto I-40, then to Miami Blvd., then to Mineral Springs Rd. We turned right on NC 98 and about a mile later turned left onto a dirt road. I was in the passenger's seat, providing what little guidance I could. The loon with delusional doorbells - Nathaniel Harris - was driving. Rather fast, I might add.
Apparently Daedalus finally got a fix on the girl, because he pulled his bike off the road near and open field, looking at the treeline about a hundred yards away. We piled out of the car, but as we did, four Men in Black stepped out of the woods. Then they pulled out automatic rifles. By all that's holy, what have we gotten ourselves into?
I panicked, unfortunately. Guns make me nervous anyway, but people aiming them at me really bothers me. My first instinct was to run, but I saw it was too far to the car if they opened fire. Then I thought I could get away by stepping sideways, which would have been a great idea if they hadn't shot me while I was gathering my will.
I got shot in the right arm and grazed in the right leg. It's amazing how much damage one little piece of metal can do. While I was lying on the ground wondering why I was still alive, the professional-looking woman (Renee) got shot as well. I crawled over to her, ducking the random gunshots, and did what I could to stop her bleeding. She pointed out that I was bleeding myself, but I couldn't just leave her like that and tend to myself first. No way.
The others actually attacked the guys with the guns (I'm not sure I could have) - I'm afraid I didn't see much of what was happening, but what I did see was horrific - a huge wolflike creature came out of the woods and started beating the bejeezus out of the guys with the guns. The one image that I saw that will stick with me, though, is when Daedalus went up to one of the Men in Black who was down and defenseless and shot him, point blank. God. How can someone do that? I can take comfort, at least, in the fact that these things weren't even human - after Daedalus shot him, the thing dissolved into this black goo. There was some other weirdness involving lightning or something, but in truth I was too terrified to pay attention; I just got as low as possible and stayed put, hopefully out of the line of fire. I fumbled around, and after screwing it up once, was finally able to stop my own bleeding with a tourniquet improvised from my shirt.
Once the gunfire and shouting stopped, I poked my head up. Everyone else had disappeared into the woods, except for Renee, Eric (the quiet suit), and me. I worked my way over to the car and collapsed into the back seat. Renee, somehow, seemed fine - I didn't think my first aid was that good, but she was positively glowing. She went up and pulled out a little bottle, sampling the goo into which the men in black had dissolved. She stared at it, seemingly puzzled, and brought it over to the car. I extended myself and inspected it for life, but it wasn't just dead, it was long-dead in a way that made my flesh crawl. Ick.
Everyone else finally came tromping out of the woods, with a young lady (whose name is Casey, apparently) in tow. She looked pretty shell-shocked and kept asking about her aunt. Poor girl. I have no clue what she's talking about, but maybe Forteau can tell us. We all piled into the car again, and Casey got on the motorcycle with Daedalus.
We were ready to head over to Renee's to crash when suddenly someone points out that not only are we missing the gruff fellow (whose name is John), but also the young girl who was with him. I remembered that he had sort of faded out as we were getting ready to leave, and it looked suspiciously like stepping sideways. I had the bright idea to go into the Dreamtime and find him, but neglected to take into account the fact that I was hurt and hurt bad. I tried to step sideways and got caught in the Gauntlet.
I would still be stuck there unless the girl hadn't shown up in the Dreamtime. She hit me with a flying tackle that knocked me fully into the Umbra. Thank heavens it was a soft landing, because my arm was killing me. She kept motioning me over the next hill, and there I found John, trapped in a similar state as I had been, rooted to the ground. But he wasn't alone. There was this huge, black thing - bigger than a house. I could sense its malevolence and decided that I really wanted far away from there. This had to be one of the things that Forteau had warned me about.
The girl made some pushing motions, and I figured out what she wanted. The huge thing (John told me later it's called a nexus crawler) saw me, and started to attack as I hit John with a tackle while trying to step sideways. I actually succeeded in knocking us both into Reality. Just in time, too, because the soles of our shoes were smoking like they'd been hit with acid. I panicked for a second when I realized the girl had been left behind with that thing, but then she stepped sideways as if it's something she did every day, just for fun. Sheesh.
The rest of the evening is blur to me - we crashed over at Renee's apartment near Lynn and Ray Roads in Raleigh because it was the closest place. I stumbled in and lay down on the couch and promptly fell asleep. I woke up briefly when the girl, Crystal, joined me on the couch, but that was it. I think Eric and Nathaniel went out sometime in the night and got lost, but quite frankly, I was too tired to care.