June had been walking across the hills for days now, not a town in sight. She was pointedly ignoring how some of them had eyes. Her search so far had been fruitless. The only things in her pack were her initial items and a single gun she had found in the glovebox of a broken car. She did mark the cars for salvage, but those weren't near as high as actual factory or construction equipment.

A few small animals passed by June as she walked. She ignored how animated they were. She was ignoring a lot of things recently. The hills, the animals, some of the trees as well. They had faces.

All of them wanted to interact with her but she knew better. At first, the animals had tried offering acorns and other plants. June ignored them. The hills had tried to help her move along, she used her power to stop it. The trees tried offering apples from their branches. She refused.

Now, these things were following behind, intent on something evil no doubt. She kept her eyes ahead, scanning for anything useful. A town broke through the horizon in the distance. "Bingo," She whispered.

The town was jiving. That was a good word for it. The entire town, from buildings to streetlights, was bouncing up and down to a tune only it could hear. June saw men and women dancing in the street, their arms stretching in impossible ways as they swung each other around. "It's like a cartoon," She muttered. An old cartoon. Like, from the thirties.

She walked through the town, ignoring everyone who interacted and keeping her power active around her person. She wasn't about to risk getting infected by whatever got this place. She'd pass through and find somewhere not as dangerous. And she'd avoid the area again coming back.

A cough got her attention. In a back alley stood a man in a trenchcoat, waving an arm at June. "Psst!" She heard. "You ain't one o' them yet is ya?"

June ignored him and kept walking. The shady character followed behind, keeping to the shadows. "Yeah, you ain't one o' them." It continued. "You're too sour. Not sweet enough."

June walked past a downtown area. The banners above read, Welcome to Sunnyville. The Brightest Place on Earth! The buildings were all bouncing along and serving customers. With a smile, the storefront would advertise its goods and the bobbing customer would point. In a flash, an arm appeared from above the store and reached into its mouth. A wet plop! Sounded and the customer's request would be there. Another hand would appear to wipe the wet package and it was then handed to the shopper, who tipped their hat and went to the next store.

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June walked through the area, dodging past the shoppers. All the while the character in the trenchcoat would talk. "You from outta town? What am I sayin'. You gotta be. Can't stay too long though, or you end up like them. I'm only fine 'cuz I stick to tha' shadows."

After passing the downtown area, June found a thing of train tracks. One side of the tracks had cartoonish animation, just like the city. The other side was normal, no bouncing, no strange arms appearing, normal. "Perfect," She said. Train tracks meant a factory, or silo. Either way, June was sure she'd find something.

"What's perfect?" The shady character said. "You gonna tie someone to the tracks? You one o' them villain types?"

June kept ignoring him. She followed the tracks along.

"Strong silent type ay," It continued. "You know my brother was tha' type. Except for the strong part. He was jus' silent."

June kept walking down the tracks until she saw a tower in the distance. It was a silo. Perfect, she could find something to use here.

"You know I ain't never been this far away from the town before." The character said.

June stopped in front of a wire fence surrounding the property. Which deftness and grace, she scaled the wire wall and landed on the other side. The shady character was already waiting on the other side. June pulled out her vibrosword. She felt like it'd been ages since she used it.

"Woah woah woah! Easy lady, I don' wanna hurt ya!" The character said. "In fact, I should thank ya. You got me outta that town. The place was terrible, filled with all manner of nasty toon characters. Oh sure, they look nice on the outside but they're reaaal terrible on the inside. Bad ink I think."

June didn't sheathe her weapon. "What do you want?" She demanded.

"I want your help." The character said. "I been stuck like this ever since I stopped in that town and I don' wanna look like this anymore." Without warning, the character opened its trenchcoat. June turned away.

"No lady! I ain't tryin' to show ya my privates. Look what they done to me!" He said.

June opened one eye and squinted over. The shady character was actually three weasels stacked on top of each other, each looking hand-drawn with a pencil. "I'm a darn sketchy character is what I am!"

June could see that. Only the top weasel was talking. He had on one of those wide-brimmed hats seen in old cartoons. It covered his whole head and obscured his face. The other two were holding stilts and using them to maneuver the trenchcoat. "I used to be a human like you," The character continued. "But then I got cursed by that dang town. I can't even swear anymore!"

The weasel on top broke down sobbing. The other two manipulated the stilts to make the hands cover its face. June couldn't help but feel sorry for the thing. "There's this television in town, in this house on the corner. That's where it all started I think. The cartoons there are a little crazier. I thought I could do somethin' about it, but I got captured before I could break the TV. They tried turnin' me into one o' them but I escaped. But not before they got me with their curse."

June finally turned to look at the poor soul. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Byron," The weasel sniffed.