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As Kenny stumbles and tries to regain his balance his thoughts are a stream of incoherence. He is aware that he is in great danger but cannot focus on his surroundings. A man just hit him and is going to again. Where am I?What is going on? he wonders. When his blurred vision resolves into the picture of his attacker, Kenny realizes that he is unarmed and searches for the chair. He decides that is too far to reach and instead he fakes an attempt to retrieve it. If this guy moves to block me I will run around him and out of this room. I don't want to die here. Where is this place? he thinks to himself.
Kenny sees the folding chair and thinks back to the many nights of his youth that he wasted watching professional wrestling. With that he grabs a chair and attacks the shambling man.
Is there anything that can be used as a weapon in the room?
When the freakish man leaves the cellar to follow John, Kenny steps out of the shadows. He walks to the door that the ambler left and stands in front of it to peer inside. He does not step in until he can see what is inside the room.
Kenny gives John the 'thumbs up' gesture and then withdraws into his hiding spot.
Kenny checks for a spot underneath the stairs. Failing that he looks for a dark corner of the room.
"I'll wait if you want to lure him outside." Kenny cannot stop thinking about the contents of the book he brought from Arizona. These thoughts are impeding his judgement and usual cowardice.
"Maybe we can lure him outside, double back and find out what he is doing in here. He dosen't walk real quick, so it might work."
"At lease we will have a head start towards the stairs if need be" Kenny responds.
Kenny whispers to John "Do we wait here or check the door? Whoever is in there must know someone is out here."
As the light comes on Kenny makes an inarticulate but definitely audible noise. He straightens up from his crouching position and turns to rush up the stairs. But instead he turns and looks into the room, arcing his head to encompass as much as possible.
"Good idea" Kenny replies. He is impressed by John's ability to think strategically, an area that Kenny knows himself to be deficient in.
Kenny sees the light from John's camera and follows along, often using his hands to feels for the steps in front of him.This is more frightening than Arizona or Virginia he tells himsef.
Kenny reaches out to the lightswitch then stops suddenly. He lets out a "hmmm?" to guage the reactions of his companions.
Kenny reaches for his cellphone in order to use its light in this dark hallway. It is not at his belt; he left it at the bed and breakfast since it had no reception in this area.
Kenny looks to John as if to say 'we came this far, might as well continue'. He then takes a step into the foyer and toward the stairs. If nothing happens he will proceed down. As he moves forward, the tune continues to play in Kenny's mind. He then realizes it is the same tune that played on the Muzak in Song's dinner in Arizona. Kenny last heard it before he went into the basement there, where the kidnapped women were held.
Kenny nods his understanding and waits for John to get a few steps ahead of him. He then looks back at Edith and Carlotta and turn to follow John as quietly as he can.
Kenny stays where he is, waiting to see what John's assessment of the place is. For some reason an unfamiliar tune repeats itself in Kenny's mind, resisting all his efforts to banish it.
Kenny gets close enough to the doorway to peak his head around and see inside.
Kenny nods back to John then follows along.
Kenny follows John and tries to put their current situation out of his mind. Absently he looks at any headstones they pass and reads the names if they are visible to him. After a few moments he decides that focusing on the fact that they are walking through a graveyard towards an isolated building does little to calm his nerves.
"Fine, I'm fine. Someone is expecting that guy to return to the building. Maybe we can creep in behind him or something."
Kenny's mind is a chaotic barage of thoughts as he walks along the path. Every conspiracy he has ever heard of comes into his mind to be assessed as applicable to his surroundings.
Kenny curses when he sees the cemetery and the tracks. "That guy is heading along a path someone else made. That means there are more of ...them in there. I don't have anything that can be used as a weapon. Do either of you?" The sight of the cemetery calls forth memories of the in the truck stop in Arizona and the book that Kenny took from there. He thinks about the contents of the book and silently recites it to himself in order to try to get a grip on what he expects to encounter.
Kenny was already moving in the opposite direction when John said that he would follow the ambling fellow. "But...what if he attacks again?" Kenny mumbles under his breath before falling in behind John. I was hoping Ms. Edith had a gun in her purse he thinks to himself.His thoughts then drift back to the book that he took from the cannibal restraunteur in Arizona and the rituals it describes. Absently, he recalls the procedures for casting so-called 'spells' that protect one from harm.
"You're right, John. Good call. Something is very wrong here." "Remember, if we hurt this guy it looks like some outsiders attacked a local. That would not go well for us. It will be bad enought that no one sees us help put out the fire. I guess we can say that we were trying to help someone who was hurt from smoke inhalation."
Kenny backs away suddenly at the realization that touching Edith might have been excessive familiarity. For a moment he stammers an inaudible apology then he points to the fleeing figure. "We should keep that guy in sight but far away that we can make a strategic retreat if needed."
"Pull back, John, pull back! We can follow his tracks if we need to later." Kenny puts his hands on Edith's shoulders and asks her "Are you all right?"
Kenny does not have anything with which to attack. He withdraws back the way they came and scolds himself for being unprepared. He reminds himself that they are outsiders here and that had they killed this man they would have found themselves arrested or worse. Better the residents see what state this guy is in before resorting to violence.
"Man injured here! Man injured!" Kenny yells as loud as he can, in hopes of drawing witnesses.
Kenny hears John gasp and tells himself not to look. But his instincts override his decision and he stops in his tracks as he faces the man.
"What? What are you looking at?" The noise, smoke and confusion are overwhelming and Kenny stands still, feeling confused and embarassed at his state of indecision. When he sees John run off he looks to Carlotta and Edith and gives them an imploring look. Then he runs to catch up with John.
Kenny comes to a stop when he sees the burning house. His paranoid tendencies cause him to look around in order to see if anyone is runnning away from the fire without helping or doing anything out of place. He also looks to the upper floors to see if anyone is trying to climb to safety. Perception Check:
Kenny stumbles out of bed and stands in a daze. It is only when he sees John take action that he is roused to dress and follow him to the source of the fire. This is no coincidence he thinks to himself.
"You are not being paranoid, John. Carlotta and I have seen things I would never have believed just six months ago. This weather could well be a side-effect of experiments being conducted by the military or some company way up here. It might even be the desired result of what they are doing. The weather changes might have driven the beasties into the town and in the path of the plane." "The creature you saw was most likely a genetically-engineered animal or human. That kind of work would have to be carried out in secret. And what better place than Alaska for that?"
"Dinner sounds good. I can't wait to eat some fish."
"I would love to see the church also. What kind is it?"
Kenny peers at the book as well.
"Thank you very much, Edie. Would you recognize most of the old pictures of town residents? It might be fun to get current pictures of them and compare them to old shots. Is there anything in the old photos that does not exist in the town anymore?"
"Hi, I'm Kenny, this is Carlotta, John and Edith. We are staying at the bed and breakfast, as I am sure you must know. We had an idea for tomorrow; we want to get some copies of old pictures of the town throughout the years and intersperse them with photos that we take tomorrow at the celebration. It would make for a great way to remember our trip, don't you think?"
"Is there anywhere to buy fireworks? It wouldn't be right not to blow things up on the Fourth" Kenny asks his hostess.
"Let's try the library. We can tell the curator that we want to contrast some of the old town photos with one we will take during the party tomorrow. It will give us a chance to chat up the staff on the guise of getting context for the pictures so we can contrast them."
"That would be great, Steve. Maybe we can get the lady of the house to let us keep them in the fridge so we can fry them up. Hey, does the town have a fireworks show tomorrow?" Kenny is certain that if they do not have much of an Independence Day celebration it means that the people are aware of bizarre events taking place in the area. What else would cause Americans to not have a party on the Fourth? And if there is a celebration, some cold beers and festive moods should get people to loosen up and start talking. It would also give John a great excuse to take pictures of everyone and everything.
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