Walking Dollar Bills

Chapter 35: Labyrinthine Lengths

Gumbo cups his hands around Zala's waist as he glides through the sky. The cool air whips around her hair as she points down at the seas of sand beneath her. Earls flies right beside Gumbo. The two have different methods of flight, however. While Gumbo flaps his light and dark energy wings, Earl summons a gust of wind to send his body high into the air.

"Earl, you're sure we're headed in the right direction? All I see is sand" says Gumbo.

"Well, this is a desert country" replies Earl with a smirk, "But on a more serious note, we should be on the right course. We've already passed the smokestacks, which I believe is the sixth ring."

Zala lifts her head up at Gumbo. Her nose is right under his chin,

"We also passed the markets. That's where we saw all of that black smoke."

"And, where the smell of soot was impossible to avoid" adds Earl, "Anyway, we should be approaching some homes. The second ring is where the government employees stay and where we'll find Horatio."

Zala turns to Earl and nods, "Right. I have to tell him Granny's last words... that was her final wish" says Zala.

Earl does not react to Zala's statement. She notices that odd blank expression has returned to his face. Lifeless eyes, a frozen countenance, and frightful silence. She pulls her eyes away from him and focuses on what's ahead of her. The feeling is strange. She feels as if her friends are both physically present and mentally absent.

***

"Slow it down! Hit the brakes!" screams Twister.

A large crowd forms in the tiny space between the conductor's room and the hallway of the Freedom Flyer. Twister clutches his scarf and holds the door to the conductor's room open. Byrd and Amara stand amongst the crowd.

"We can't afford to slow down" says Byrd, "We need to go around it."

Amara turns to a nearby window and realizes how futile Byrd's suggestion is. A grayish cement wall rising 14 meters into the sky extends to the right as far as Amara can see. She quickly turns to the window on the opposite side and sees the same wall stretching to the left.

"We can't go around it. Look out the windows! That wall is as endless as the sand" says Amara.

The crowd breaks off into two sections. One half looks out the left window and the other half looks out the right window. Their faces smear the triangular windows as Nationalist twist and stretch their necks to see as far out as they can.

Byrd pushes away from a window and grabs her brother's shoulder,

"I don't want to stop this locomotive. Our entire plan changes if we have to travel on foot now. We're supposed to ride right up to the second ring."

Twister eyes his sister over his shoulder,

"Do we really have a choice? Look how high that wall is. Who would have expected the Crimson Brigade to block off the entire third ring with a great wall?"

"Smash through it!" shouts Orlando followed by an echo of advocates.

"Are you insane? Does that wall look flimsy to you?" says Tiff followed by a roar of Nationalist in agreement.

The two factions debate their reasoning in a discord of disparate arguments. Amara, standing in the middle of it all, covers her ears and shuts her eyes. She knows that Twister and Byrd need to come up with a resolution before things get any more hectic.

Slicing through the sound barrier created by Amara's hands, the groan of an engine reverberates inside of her ear. She slowly lowers her hands and opens her eyes. The internal conflict has stopped and the door to the Freedom Flyer opens.