Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Recovered Journal from the legend known as “The Night Mother”.

I have finally arrived within the place known as Mammon’s Gulch. Oil, blood, and tinge of embers sting my nostrils as I make my way with the group Doctor John has created. One carries bottles of bitters and spirits on his back while he wipes his brow with his hat calling himself Eddie Davies. The other is Felis, guarding the Doctor with her gun as if she turned into a fearsome predator. Never would I have seen such a colorful bunch.

We haven’t had much conflict, but the Doctor was right. Corruption spreads through this dry valley like vines up a willow. We have fought the corrupted denizens of this once thriving place, even having to use one of Eddie's bottles as a makeshift fire bomb to prevent from being overwhelmed. In the distance, I can swear I hear the roars of an inhuman beast every time I feel the temperature rise. 

As it grew to night, the lights into one valley near a quarry began to shine near the trees. Cheerful music inside of a faded multicolor tent. Felis held out her hand and crouched near a tree. She pointed to a group of hunters wandering into the front entrance. When the last one passed through the converted gateway, a flurry of shots rang out. Screams echoed throughout the valley and caused Eddie to take a step back in fear. Through the lights near the fabric advertisements, something hulked on two legs and painted. Soon, it disappeared into the main tent in the middle of the compound. 

“If that is an animal, I can’t smell it over the sulphur and ash” Felis whispered to the group.

“Then we shall wait until sunrise,” the Bone Doctor stated. “But this is the place I’ve heard whispers about.”

I looked back at Eddie who already just looked back at us like we were lost souls. I calmly grasped his hand to calm him down.

“We need your expertise. You know any bottle better than any of us.”

He then sighed and nodded to stay put. He pulled some supplies as Felis nodded to help him set up camp as she went to quietly discuss some matters with the Bone Doctor. I unpacked food, and the smell of spices from one bottle in particular caught my attention. “Koo’s Spicy Tonic” on a worn paper label. At the slightest whiff, I could hear something in my brain whispering in an angry distorted tone.

As the fire fades, I’m glad that my trip here has so far not been wasted. The wind may be muffled by death, but it reassures that something is wrong with this traveling circus.