She Pulled the Fog Over Your Eyes

November 20, 2023

Lochlan enters the living room. She looks uncertain while awkwardly standing near the door. Cole walks out of the hallway and leans next to it with a smile. Lochlan is becoming more antsy as she fidgets.

Cole raises an eyebrow at Lochlan, "Are you okay?"

Lochlan looks over at Cole, "Is it normal to get a sudden location in mind?"

Cole looks concerned as he keeps his eyebrow raised, "No? Do you wanna tell me?"

Luna is sitting on the sofa and looks over towards them, "A sudden location? That's not normal at all."

Lochlan looks confused, "It's like I just know where it is. I don't know what anything looks like though. I guess it's like a distinct direction and distance?"

Cole shakes his head and sighs, "Just say it, I'm extremely curious at this point."

Spider walks in her ears perked up. Luna nods while listening intently, "Please do. It'd be nos-- erm. An adventure."

Lochlan shrugs, "Like 276.12°W for 112.64 miles."

Cole pauses for a second as he notes it, "Ah I see, bearings and miles... Anyone care if I handle this?"

"Precise bearings and a casual 112 mile walk. Yeah uh you got this Cole," Luna shows a thumbs up to Cole.

Spider comments, "I'd rather that you not go running off to god knows where by yourself."

Cole rolls his eyes at Spider, "You say that like I have a target on my back or something."

Luna stares, "Right... definitely not."

Spider sighs, "Sure just don't get arrested this time."

Cole snickers with a grin, "I'm only letting that happen once," Cole cracks his neck with a groan, "I'll keep you two informed, how's that sound?"

Spider and Luna both nod. Luna responds with a smile, "Works for me."

Cole waves as he slowly disappears while talking, "Good bye, I won't die horribly" Lochlan then disappears shortly after Cole.

Cole appears by Lochlan at the base of the lighthouse. It feels fairly cold even with the door shut.

Cole pats down his black and gray custom armor that makes his figure look slightly more bulky while the joints are covered with a slick black rubbery material. His breathing is muffled by his bulky helmet with a metallic visor that prevents people from seeing Cole's face. He looks over at Lochlan and speaks but his voice sounds a little like it's being put through a speaker, "Are you ready?"

Lochlan glances over at him with slight unease, "Yeah?"

Cole nods as he starts walking in the direction, "You look uneasy, are you alright?"

Lochlan follows beside Cole. The forest is a lot more cold with a hint of frost in the shade. Lochlan zips up her jacket as she speaks, "Just a bit weird seeing you wear armor."

Cole seems slightly confused, "You said that like you already knew about my armor."

Lochlan stays quiet and looks away.

Cole sighs as he looks over at Lochlan, "Did you know?"

Lochlan keeps looking ahead, "So about that weather. Pretty cold huh?"

Cole huffs and looks ahead again, "Yeah, it's cold alright" Cole seems slightly annoyed, "Do you plan on just changing the subject to avoid talking about why you know about this armor?"

Lochlan looks over at Cole, "Am I allowed to?"

Cole shakes his head, "I'd prefer if you didn't."

Lochlan raises an eyebrow, "So you're saying that I can or I can't do that?"

Cole groans, "You can't"

Lochlan growls to herself, "Dagnabit."

Cole snaps slightly at Lochlan, "So why do you know about the armor?"

"I mean. I gathered the information seeing that at your company you had exoskeletons and a big machine guy. Figured if you had such a thing for machines you wouldn't be past making yourself feel more like one too."

Cole shakes his head, "Right" Cole goes quiet.

They continue to walk for a long time as the land around them is slowly inclining. They come across a dirt path that is heading the direction they are going.

Cole starts following the path, "I'm assuming this path is what you were trying to lead us to?"

Lochlan doesn't sound tired, "It's been 6 hours We still have 86.5 miles to go."

Cole sighs and groans, "Here we go again." Cole continues walking.

Four hours later the sun is slowly rising. Lochlan is still keeping just fine as they follow the path. They can see mountain peaks covered in snow growing closer. The path suddenly stops. In front of it is completely dark from the shadows of the mountain around them. A small wooden post is stuck just before it with the text, "Lunar Pass."

Cole stops and reads the sign then shrugs as he looks over at Lochlan expecting her to be winded, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Lochlan doesn't seem winded at all. She keeps her hands in her pockets, "What's a Lunar pass?"

Cole shrugs and seems confused at her not being winded, "How are you not winded?"

She sounds serious, "I was given a task. I'm going to finish that task."

Cole stares for several seconds, "Right." Cole resumes looking forward and starts walking again.

The shadows lie just between the Two mountain ranges. The moment he takes a step into the shade, his foot continues going down as there's no ground beneath it. Cole takes a sharp breath as he quickly pulls his foot back onto solid ground, "That's a fucking hole in the ground."

Lochlan walks up and stops at the edge as she squints. "So is it pass as in passing away?"

Cole nods and seems slightly scared, "Yeah, I'd assume so."

Lochlan leans over to get a better view. It seems like a large ravine of rock reaching miles into the ground. "Well now what?"

Cole thinks for several seconds, "How do you feel about being carried, unrelated, are you afraid of flying?"

Lochlan looks uncomfortable for a split second before returning to normal again, "If it's necessary for completing the task I won't turn it down."

Cole looks ahead to see how long it is. He can't see the end of it as it winds around a corner slightly. He can expect a decent amount of miles.

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "Follow up question, how do you feel about being strapped to my back while your carried over."

Lochlan's face instantly turns sour, "...Great."

Cole crouches down, "It's either that or we slowly hover across at like 2 miles per hour."

Lochlan gives a long sigh, "Yeah yeah fine whatever. Just get it over with."

Cole nods as he turns around, small metal strips move out from small slits in the armor seemly preparing for Lochlan to get on his back. Lochlan climbs up. The metal strips gently wrap around her and hug her against the armor much like a backpack. Cole stands up as vents on his forearms and calves open with several audible clicks.

Lochlan can see the grass being affected by strong winds that seem to be coming from Cole's calves and forearms as they start lifting off the ground. Cole speaks up over the sound, "Comfortable?"

Lochlan yells over the sound as she folds her arms, "No."

Cole yells back, "Too bad" they start hovering much higher as Cole pitches down and starts flying quickly over the ravine.

Lochlan stays quiet as they go. Its relatively safe with only a few turns. Cole makes the turns easily and quickly lands on the other side then crouches as the metal strips release Lochlan and retreat into the slits of the armor.

Lochlan instantly steps away the moment she can and puts her hands in her pockets. She seems very uncomfortable, "Hate."

Cole sighs as he stands up, "Well, you can hate it all you want but we made it across safely."

Lochlan mumbles to herself again, "Hate."

Cole shakes his head and continues walking, "Yeah, yeah"

Lochlan twitches slightly, "H- Feedback loop detected." They can see the dirt path continues again in the direction they need to go. But rather than seeing a beach as the maps would suggest, They see more of the woods but with only pine trees.

Cole continues following the dirt path. Lochlan still follows though her legs don't seem to be going as gracefully as before. By now the sun has come up but a layer of fog starts to settle over the area. At first Cole doesn't seem hindered by the fog. But as the fog is getting more and more dense Cole has to reach up to his helmet and click on a small light, "Fucking foggy."

As they get closer they can almost make out the sound of a radio playing music. A figure then emerges from the fog and walks towards them.

Cole stops walking and as he sounds tense, "Who the fuck are you?!"

Lochlan stays near Cole. The figure before them stops and tilts their head some. They can barely make out what seems like a human face at first as it speaks. It's voice sounds a bit harsh, "A bit lost friends?"

Cole shakes his head, "Just passing through" Cole cheeks how many miles are left. There's only one mile between them and the destination.

The figure scoffs some, "That's what they all say." The figure turns and returns to the fog, out of sight again.

Cole continues walking while still sounding tense speaks, "We'll be fine."

Lochlan looks a bit worried as she follows. Cole moves without saying a word, hoping to reach the destination without another encounter.

They walk up to the wooden posts of old porches, attached to equally aged buildings. A few more people are standing on porches and watching as they pass. They each wear gas masks or human styled masks over their entire face. Lochlan seems more nervous.

Cole still seems on edge as the slits and vents on his armor close with various clicks, he checks if he's at the destination yet as he keeps his head on a swivel

They are almost there. They continue to walk through an entire town. More and more people are standing outside and watching them. The buildings in the area are all made of the same material but something feels wrong about them. They soon reach the end of the town and find a more hidden dirt path only a minute away from their destination.

Cole seems to shrink and tense up more as more and more people watch him as he mutters to himself, "It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's just a dream."

Lochlan gives him a glance but says nothing. They reach their destination. The path has become a small circular clearing but with all of the fog, it's difficult to see what's around them.

Cole huffs and starts searching around the clearing, "This can't be it, there has to be something else here."

When Cole steps closer to the edge of the clearing he sees a large gothic style candelabra. It holds up a set of red unlit candles. Lochlan covers her nose as she looks in a different direction and mumbles, "Can you smell that?"

Cole looks over at Lochlan, "No? What are you talking about?"

Lochlan points with her free hand, "Over here."

Cole looks over at where Lochlan is pointing

He doesn't see anything at first. As he walks closer he sees a stone altar with the leftover remains of a creature strone on its surface. Lochlan is staying back with her nose still covered, "What is it?"

Cole sighs as he inspects it, "It's a stone altar with stuff on it."

It looks like the torn muscles and tendons of an unknown creature. Lochlan steps closer out of curiosity but instantly steps back as she sees what it is, "What the funk... what is that???"

"Some muscles and tendons" Cole doesn't look too affected by seeing it as he continues inspecting it for any symbols.

Engraved into the stone is a large symbol now filled with blood. It looks like a circle with a line through it and an X on either side of the line. While he's inspecting it, it gets rather quiet.

Cole pauses as he sees the symbol, "Oh... oh no," Cole seems to be scared as he backs up slightly.

On backing it up he feels alone.

Cole quickly spins around, "Lock?!"

Lochlan is nowhere to be seen. Cole screams out as he starts shaking slightly, "LOCK THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

He hears nothing in return. The silence is deafening

Cole turns back to the altar as he yells, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?!?"

A few snowflakes begin to fall as time passes.

Cole keeps screaming out as he pounds on the alter, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE YOU FUCKS?!?"

It's still quiet. Time is running out

Cole huffs as he starts walking away from the altar, "YOU BASTARDS, SEND ME BACK." Cole starts looking around the area.

As he looks he finds a few more candelabras surrounding the clearing. The snow falling is sticking to the ground. He finds a section of grass that's been walked over.

Cole makes his way over to the grass, "What the fuck is THIS COLD HELL"

It looks like someone had walked through it, it leads into the trees.

Cole sprints into the trees as he follows it, "LOCK THIS IS NOT FUNNY!"

As he runs the snow drifts by him. He quickly catches up to a figure that turns to face him. It wears a black horned mask with the same marking across its forehead. The rest of it is covered in a white and gray cloak to camouflage with the fog and snow.

Cole stares at the figure as he huffs, "What the fuck are you?!"

It reaches a hand into its cloak. Something else moves away from behind it.

Cole tenses up in preparation of getting shot as he yells out, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

They draw a short blade and move towards Cole. Whoever was behind them continued out of sight.

Cole steps backwards as two sets of taser prongs pop out of the back of Cole's gloves, "Don't fucking try it, i will tase the shit out of you."

They swiftly thrust an arm forward, throwing the knife towards a gap of his armor near the arms. The rubber is cut as Cole is stabbed near the shoulder as he quickly aims a punch at their neck as the taser prongs activate.

They try to step back but aren't nearly quick enough, They tense up.

While they are tensed up, Cole aims a punch at their throat as the taser prongs retract and he yells, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO IT."

They stumble back and coughing can be heard from under the mask.

Cole walks forward and attempts to shove them to the ground, "I WILL RIP THAT MASK FROM YOUR FACE."

They fall backwards and try to kick at Cole's torso with a hoofed foot.

Cole doesn't expect to be kicked but doesn't stumble due to his armor absorbing the impact, Cole in retaliation aims a stomp on one of their legs. They make a grunt from the pain before sitting up to throw a punch at Cole's leg.

Cole's leg is unaffected due to the armor, Cole aims another stomp at one of the arms, "GIve up."

There's another grunt as their face lunges for the leg. Dull teeth from under the mash latch onto his leg with an immense amount of crushing force.

The armor barely dents from the teeth as Cole panics and quickly rips the knife from his shoulder and aims a stab right into their jugular.

They only hold on for a second before coughing up blood and falling back.

Cole yanks the knife out as he looks for more path to follow. They choke on the blood before laying down to die. The path continues out of sight as it lightly snows. Cole starts following the path with the knife in hand.

He hears steps moving forward and faint whispers dead ahead.

Cole puts his head on a swivel as he grips the knife tighter, "Swear to god if I have to kill something else..."

He approaches another person wearing a white cloak and dark mask who turns to face him. In front of them is Lochlan who is standing and facing away.

Cole stops in front of them as he announces, "You've got nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, hand her over."

They draw a small knife.

Cole doesn't seem to show any sign of fear, "You want me dead? Come get me then."

They also take out a plastic water bottle with a blue liquid and prepare to stab into it. Cole runs forward in an attempt to tackle them before they can stab it. They get tackled and drop the bottle that rolls out of reach. They hastefully try to stab the knife into the first gap they see in the armor.

They stab near the shoulder as Cole groans and winces slightly then aims a punch at their face.

The mask he punches is paper mache and it dents slightly. They try to drag the knife downwards. Lochlan is still standing a few feet away and facing away from them.

Cole winces as blood and coolant spills out of the wound, Cole tries to rip the paper mache mask off in anger as he yells, "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU."

He's now face to face with a nonferal who instantly lets go of the knife and reaches for their own face as they start hyperventilating.

Cole who's still full of anger aims a punch at their shoulder as he screams, "GIVE ME MY FUCKING DAUGHTER YOU IRRUMABO."

They yelp but continue to breathe harder as they have a loonism induced panic attack.

Cole aims another punch at their chest, "GIVE ME HER."

The nonferal is already having issues getting air in as they are winded by the hit. They blink some, trying not to pass out.

Cole slams both of his fists on their chest, "GIVE HER UP."

There's a pop as they wince before passing out.

Cole huffs and puffs as he sits there for a second before standing up and walking in front of Lochlan. Lochlan glances over at Cole. She has a familiar blank expression that Mailman had before. Though she also has stains of blood running down from her mouth.

Cole waves his hand in front of Lochlan, "Hey? Look I get that you like staring but... we gotta get out of here." Cole gestures to his deep wound.

She sounds somewhat tired, "Ok, we can leave."

Cole puts a hand on Lochlan's shoulder as he tiredly asks, "Ready?"

She responds, "Yeah."

Cole and Lochlan disappear.