The Lotus Eaters

[VoltTurtle]

Lily looked out in the direction Kyle pointed, shielding her eyes from the midday sun, a phantom umbrella popping up above her, though providing no real shade. The concrete structure loomed in the far distance, a sense of foreboding creeping into the back of Lily's head as she looked upon it for the first time.

"...I see," she muttered, a new weight settling on her neck manifesting itself as an inky black sludge.

Before Lily could regain her composure and come up with a plan, a sharp, mechanical screech cut through the air and she jumped in response, her illusions disappearing, and an air horn blaring out just as the voice began speaking. Lily stood, frozen, briefly turning to stone as it played out.

When it got done, Lily remained frozen like that, a small whine escaping her lips.

"Sh-Shit..."

Her breathing picked up.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" she yammered.

She abruptly spun on her heels to face Kyle, kicking up a small tornado of sand behind her.

"Okay," her voice took on a deadly serious tone, "Kyle, we gotta go now."

She pointed towards the compound in the distance.

"We gotta stop them before they kill each other, okay!"

((Then she took the boy's hand, and sprinted as fast as she could across the desert.))

[Ohm]

Lily looked towards the giant building that Kyle had pointed at with the sun in her eyes. More constructs from her told him her mood and some of her thoughts. Umbrella for the heat, sludge on her shoulders for... Whatever. Dread? Ok. It was not perfect science or what one would call it, but it was close enough. He could sort of tell.

They were interrupted by a screech that pierced his ears and made him want to put his hands over them in an attempt to stop whatever would come out. But his hands hung at his sides as he stared out into the distance. Instead, he listened to the people that put them there, the people that had the gun to their heads. And was willing to pull the trigger it seemed like from what they were saying.

Kyle's eyes widened as the people in charge made it clear that they needed to kill, or else people were going to get randomly killed by the hour. Unconsciously, Kyle reached with his left hand to the collar that held around his throat. This was bad; this was really bad. They were now pushing them further into it, and some people were already going at it. He had proof of that lying around here.

...He hoped Lily would not find that.

With that errant thought, Lily took hold of his hand and started running, and Kyle tried to keep pace as he was dragged along the trail.