Infinite Moonshine

The Event Horizon

We were parked in a small town a day later. I had answered a lot of Noema's questions about the world, but he always seemed to have more. Questions about himself, Vixens, sacrifices, anything under the sun. At the very least, he was on my side.

I'd been thinking about my "deal" with Sybian for the past day. She'd taken Rev from me. She'd taken Rev from me. I don't think I could just sit back and accept that kind of deal anymore, at least now that I've got Noema on my side. And maybe those two alleged psychos out in Ghalago could help me out — especially since it's their lives on the line. I turned to Noema, who was stalking around next to me.
"I've got a plan."
"Speak, Kalamkari."
"We need to reach those two before Sybian can. I..." Much as I hated to admit it, "I need to take the quick route. We need to take the main highways directly to Ghalago."
"You told me a day ago that those were extremely dangerous and filled with Vixens and Hitmen."
"I did. But we've got both of us for fighting, if necessary."
Noema gave a thumbs up.
"I will not complain — this means I can consume more corpses."

— — — —

This time I kept Noema in the van, much to his dismay. I was on one of the biggest midwestern Medullan highways, anxiously awaiting the first big fuck-up to arrive. We were bound to come across somebody event-

And there it was.

An encampment of "tax collectors," my guess was, living in a few newly-made (rather rough) houses by the side of the road, waving me down. They had cars, those cars probably had gas...it wasn't worth it. I stopped and pulled to the side of the hollowed-out highway, looking back to Noema.
"The back door's unlocked. If things go wrong, you're free to hunt everybody in here."
"Understood. Must I keep a low profile?" He grumbled a bit.
"For now, yes, but they'll probably discover you."

I was greeted by a Noyade as I stepped out, wearing dirty button-up and jeans, sporting some cowboy boots that looked about four years in need of a change. His face was gaunt, with some slightly-gelled brown hair and cloudy blue eyes staring me down. His wound seemed to be a blown-out hole in his neck where you could see the muscles in his throat move as he talked. Noyade were freaky.
"Howdy, ma'am!" His cowboy boots clacked over to me, and a fake smile plastered his face. "Sorry we had to flag you down, y'were speedin'!"
"What speed was I going?" I kept my voice innocent, but sharp enough to keep a few metaphorical fingers pointed at his chest.
"Too fast, I tell y'what!" He chuckled to himself. "Look, I hate to be the bad guy here, but we can't have folks just zoomin' 'round here."

Lord forgive me for what I'm about to do to the southern population of Medullis.

"There are two dead men out west I need to keep alive. I will speed."
"Yeah, I figured an Echo would get all argumentative." He sighed. "Look, $100 and we'll call it settled."
I had $347, give or take. Rev's old money plus my own.
"Really? Tolls? Wasn't this country founded on the hate of this exact thing? They burned and shot politicians for shit like this."
He nodded. "Yup, they did, and that was, what, over a hundred years ago? You sayin' countries shouldn't evolve in a hundred years? 'Cause it seems like you're bein' real obtuse about payin' a little bit for goin' fast enough to kill some folk ten times over."
"Yes. There are places I need to be, and stopping me is absurd, unless you're a bunch of wannabe bandits."
He held his hands up defensively and shook his head.
"Whoa there, missy! Tossin' around some mighty strong vocabulary here for a hundred bucks! You tryin' to start somethin'? 'Cause I've got over a dozen old boys over there who'll make sure you ain't talk like that to strangers. It's impolite!"
"I'm here to move. I'll be taking my leave."
I moved towards the van, and just about as I reached the back, I felt the bastard's hand on my shoulder. He was much less friendly.
"Ma'am, you either pay or some unfortunate things happen."