literature

Through the Dust - Section 15

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Alex squinted through her goggles, searching through the blowing dust for the glimmer that she had seen just a moment ago.  The bike was parked and sealed next to her, a tempting invitation from the dust storm she was standing in, her eyes protected with her goggles and her mouth and nose protected with something resembling and old-world gas mask.  Her head whipped to the left – there, again.  The flashing seemed patterned, but not in her direction.  There were long breaks, in which she assumed a different part of the message was being transmitted.

With the direction etched in her mind, she opened the bike and draped her leg over it, closing the shielding and letting the air system purge the air with-in of the dust with a momentary, strong, outward gust of air.  Once started, she turned it and revved it to full speed, kicking up a dust storm in her wake.  This was her first lead since she left the previous morning, and she wasn't about to lose it, even if it was a dead end.

It took her nearly an hour before she saw a small walled village through the blowing dust.  There was a tower that was taller than the others, and she saw the occasional flick of a mirror, though it seemed that they were more frantic.  Probably announcing her presence.

When she pulled up at the gate, she was greeted by a dozen armed guards, though they all carried old-world guns and wore something resembling medieval armor, but matching the times with leather and riveted steel.  She got off the bike and sealed it, holding her hands up and bowing her head in greeting.  They obviously weren't the University group she was after, but she might be able to get some information from them.

"State your purpose," one of the guards said curtly, yelling through his mask.   Alex assumed he was the leader of the guard.

"I'm searching for a group associated with the University," she stated, her hands still up even as she was being patted down by a pair of guards – she hoped that would be explanation enough for how well-armed she was.  "They took something of mine."

One of the pair who searched her said something privately to their leader, and he nodded in response, beckoning for the rest of the guard to lower their weapons.  Alex lowered her hands in time with them, and went to remove her hat, realizing that she hadn't worn it.  They gestured her to follow them, and she was taken inside the gates.

The state of the outcast city surprised her – it seemed like there was an air filtration system, since none of the dust from the storm outside the walls was in the air inside.  It looked like something out of Uncle Tom's Cabin otherwise, though built of salvaged lumber, steel, and other random materials.  It was teeming with life, despite the village's small size, and Alex was impressed with the life they'd developed here despite the harsh conditions outside.

The leader sent the rest of the guard back to their posts, and brought Alex into the guardhouse by the gate, removing his mask and motioning for her to do the same.  She followed him, letting her goggles hang down around her neck.

"Have a seat," he said, gesturing to a chair and waiting to sit down until she did.  "You're looking for the University, hm?"

"Only a special sect of it," she replied, setting her mask on the table and rustling her hair, letting the dust fall from it.  "Apparently there are some Loikans that joined up, though in their own group."

The guard removed his gauntlets and dropped them down on the table with a heavy thud, "Loikans part of the University?  That seems like false information to me."

"I assure you, it's not.  And considering I had a bout with them, I'm fairly certain I can trust the information, regardless that it was from a reliable source."  While explaining this, she made a brief gesture to her face.  It was starting to heal and the black eye fade, but the bruise was moving into the cycle of green and yellow and still tinged with the purple and blue.

"What of yours did they take?"

"That's not information I can share, for various reasons.  I only came here because I had to make sure it wasn't their hide-out."

The guard brushed some stray strands of sun-bleached hair from his eyes and slicked it back with the sweat that was the result of a long day under a helmet.  "That sounds like fair enough reasoning.  Can we offer you anything, then, before you continue on your way?"

"I appreciate your offer," Alex said, standing in good manner as he did the same.  "However, I do need to continue on.  I need to find them as soon as possible.  Have any ideas of where I should head next?"

The guard thought for a moment as he pulled his gauntlets back on.  "Well, our hunting party has spotted some herds running south with no immediately apparent reason recently.  They hunt about two or three miles east of here.  That might be a place to start looking, if I could offer any."

Alex nodded, "Thanks for the tip," she replied, pulling her goggles back up to her eyes and strapping her mask on and he led her to the gate.  He saluted her as she got back on her ride, and replaced his helmet as she pulled away and revved to full speed, due east.
Finally making some progress again~ A friend of mine warned me about the introduction of too many secondary characters when she got to this point. The trouble is, I'm running them to so many places, I figure they're obviously going to meet some people there.

The only thing that comes into play is who is important, and who is not. I think I have a lot of that figured out, though.

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