The Big Friggin' Wurm

Previously, on The Old Man's Story,

And now...

So, after hearing the old man's tale, most of the prisoners decide to stick around, and make plans to head into Junkyard, aka Salt Lake City. As the sun sets, one man, Wade, begins to scream, and stumble away from the group. His smoking skin is a sure sign that something is not right. as fire erupts from his pores, it melts his flesh to the bone, and all that is left, is a skeleton, on fire, its clothing not burned. It looks over the group, its gaze pausing among the small crowd. Everyone hears the soft whisper from the mouth of the creature "Sinners..." It shakes it's head hard, as if to clear away the thought. Then, whistles. From among the wreckage of the front door, a skeletal horse, also on fire, bursts through, causing further collapse of the wreckage. It trots over to the burning man, and waits. The burning thing, looks to the group again, and they here another whispered word. "Follow..." The man mounts his horse, and speeds into the night.

Our group of refugees pile into an old, military style transport, their only light source, are the flaming hoof prints of the undead rider and the headlights from the vehicle. The group in the cramped confine of the transport vehicle, begins the introductions. Their driver is Brock, and he grabs the cutest little thing, Isabella, and says, No one rides for free fuckers! He shuts the portal to the cab, and the group can only assume that the girl is taking one for the team.

The rest of the group begins introductions between themselves. Darwin, Nocturne, Roah, G-Man, Jonesy, Bobo, Savage, Cooper, Mel, Cody, Ogre, Sun, and Echo all have a quiet conversation among themselves, trying to figure out what anybody really knows about Anubis, or the Old Man, or what could be in Salt Lake.

One brave soul calling himself a ridiculous title, but eventually just being named King, throws down a skateboard and grabs the back of the truck. The group speeds off into the night after the Rider.

They follow a winding road through the hiils, until they come upon the rider, He stands quietly at a junction of road, with many cars and a sheet of rusted metal hiding the road to Anubis. The Man has dug a pit, and he whistles. His horse jumps into the pit, and is no more. The Man, already has moved a car, and concentrates on it. The metal melts on to the hole, forming a cover, with a name on top.

He then whistles again (and how does a skeleton on fire whistle? Very well apparently...) and a bike comes rolling to him. as it moves closer, it too catches on fire, and revs at its new master. The Man gets on the flamming bike and heads south on the road. The rest of the group follows.

They travel south, their headlights illuminating signs for Nevada state highway 93, the next town is Wells, and 60 miles away. The motorcycle's flames leave a visible trail in the darkness, and the sounds of engines rumbling are the only sounds heard by the group in the darkness.

Suddenly, gunfire erupts from the black, and the group stops. a large barrier, made of old cars and junk blocks the way. Three men, heavily armed, yell at the group to step out of the vehicles, and surrender. They seem pretty confident, until one is suddenly dragged into the darkness, kicking and screaming. the other two open fire, and the group defends themselves. Another of the men is dragged into the dark, and the Rider begins to circle the vehicles, using his bike and flames to light up the night. What the group sees is tentacles stretching all around them. Grasping for whatever gets close to them. The third man gets too close and meets the same fate as the other two. And, as the rider spirals outward on his bike, his flames show that these tentacles are attached to something. A wall. The ground shakes, and the wall moves upward, making it almost impossible to escape over. Roah jets off into the blackness, and emerges driving a big rig cab. thanks to a bit of encouragement from an old friend, Nocturne, she blows a hole in the wall with a grenade, and drives through.

The explosion, and hole seem to hurt the wall, which keeps moving upward from the ground, And curving and trying to touch, to close, kind of like a mouth... Oops

The Rider dismounts the bike, jumps in the big rig, and lights it up. The rig responds like the bike did, catching on fire, changing shape, to something from hell itself. He blows the horn, and it reverberates in a baritone that reminds any who hear it of what Gabriel's Horn should sound like. The truck revs, and punches a flaming hole through the wall and surrounding tentacles. The rest of the group grabs the bike, and makes their way clear of the ... thing.

Driving away from the area, everyone can see the outline of a giant Wurm, like from Dune, but bigger. This one could be their grandaddy. with a great thump, the Wurm crashes into the earth, and the dust cloud it produces hides where it heads to.

The party makes haste south again, but some in the group vow to return, and kill this great beast. Or die trying.

Next Time, the party heads South, to Wells

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