They had been driving for what felt like hours. Along the way, Betty reassured Joe that she no longer required refuelling—a huge relief, given his mounting anxiety about running out of gas in this place. Levi was dozing in the passenger seat, his hat tipped low over his face. From the silence in the back, Joe guessed Pete had also fallen asleep.

Joe decided to take another health potion, his last one, to ease the sting of the scratches covering his arms and neck. No more reckless injuries, he thought, though he recognised the irony of making such a vow here.

“The wind’s picking up,” said Betty.

Joe felt her frame start to shudder slightly as the landscape darkened around them. A bruised shape of purple now seeped through the sky, the edges foreboding of an oncoming storm.

Threads of winds shook Betty and the dirt beneath them had lost its softness, each turn of Betty’s wheel now clattering against rock. Stones now littered the ground like broken teeth and the road, once a clear line through the wasteland, faded into a mishmash of crumbled stone.

“Yep, that’s rain,” Betty said with a tone of mild surprise. “Didn’t know it could rain down here.”

“Neither did I,” Joe replied. He sighed. He really should have tried to get some rest, but his mind felt like a mess of tangled thoughts.

The drive had sobered him up to the reality of the situation. So much had happened, and he was still trying to process it all without feeling completely overwhelmed.

Levi stirred, noticing the change outside, and sat up slowly. “Huh, rain,” was all he said, almost indifferent.

“It’s getting much windier as well,” said Joe, feeling another gust rock Betty side to side.

Levi frowned as the car bounced and jerked against the uneven terrain. “If we keep this up, we’re gonna pop a tyre.”

“Oh, my tyres don’t pop,” said Betty.

“What?” asked Joe, “You don’t need fuel, and now your tyres can’t burst? Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yep. I can feel it.” Her voice carried a hint of pride.

“You can feel it?” Levi’s said, echoing Joe’s disbelief.

“Uh-huh,” Betty confirmed. “Ran out of gas ages ago, but I still feel as strong as ever. My tyres aren’t soft; they’re as hard as the rocks themselves. They won’t burst.”

Joe and Levi exchanged a look, both clearly thinking the same thing. Whatever “Inferno” or strange magic had given Betty her newfound sentience seemed to have done a number on her physical components too. Joe couldn’t help but wonder what other surprises his old Datsun had in store.

The rain hammered down harder, drumming against Betty’s roof with relentless force.

“Hey, I didn’t bring an umbrella!” came a muffled voice from the trunk—Pete, sounding half-awake, clearly roused by the pounding rain.

Joe peered through the downpour, struggling to see past the wall of water slapping Betty’s windshield. Something loomed up ahead, dark and massive, barely visible.

“Is that… a wall?”

“Stop the car!” said Levi.

“My name is Betty,” she snapped. “Remember that, or I’ll eject you.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Joe’s locked onto the expanding shape ahead—it was a wall, towering and pitch black, like a barrier or… something else. Maybe a portal? Whatever it was, it didn’t look friendly.

“Betty, stop! Now!” Joe shouted.

Betty skidded to a halt, tyres grinding against the wet gravel, her brakes shrieking. A second later, her windshield wipers flicked on, clearing away the rain in rhythmic sweeps.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” Levi said.

Betty sniffed—well, as much as a car could sniff. “You didn’t ask. And I don’t need them,” she replied.

Joe left them to squabble and surveyed ahead. The wall loomed before them, a pitch-black monolith stretching across the horizon. It was impossible to tell how far it went or where it ended. At first, it looked solid, like the cliff face of some ancient, unyielding mountain—but as Joe squinted through the rain-streaked windshield, he realised it was moving in the howling wind.

The surface wasn’t stone or metal; it rippled. Slow, subtle waves undulated across it, like ink dropped in water, dark tentacles shifting and curling.

The wall looked alive, pulsing with an unfeeling presence. Joe’s mind flashed to the people who wandered into the supermarket at three in the morning, hollow-eyed and silent. Present, yet so far away.

"Move a little closer, Betty," Joe said quietly, not taking his eyes off the shadowed expanse.

“Hey, what’s going on up there? Why are we stopping?” Pete’s voice crackled from the backseat.

Joe and Levi ignored him. Betty inched forward, her headlights illuminating nothing but a bottomless void. The map’s marker glowed directly over the wall in front of them. This had to be it. The Sullen Abyss.

“We can drive through it,” Levi said.

Joe looked at him, then back at the wall. Hell, Levi was probably right. This was their path forward. But something deep in Joe’s instincts urged him to stall, to wait—to stay on this side a few seconds longer.

“There’s… a wall,” Joe finally shouted over his shoulder, “Or a portal, maybe. Looks like we can drive through it.”

“You… you think we’re supposed to go through it?” said Pete.

Joe exhaled. No use waiting around. If this was their way forward, then they’d face it, no matter how bizarre or dangerous it looked. “Ready, Betty?” he said.

"Always," she replied with a hint of mischief. She revved and surged forward, faster than was probably wise.

“Steady!” Levi’s hand gripped the dashboard, “This car is insane.”

“Oh, Betty will hunt!” she yelled, as they plunged into the dark, liquid wall, the world blurring and bending around them.

They exited the darkness.

The ground beneath them was unchanged, yet Joe wasn’t looking at the road. Immediately above them, high in the sky hung something that defied every natural law he knew.

Waves—vast, twisting, erratic waves—surged and crashed, somehow suspended in mid-air. They rolled and folded over themselves.

And within those impossible waves, he could see people.

Joe’s mind refused to accept what he was seeing. Bodies drifted in the sky, thrown against strange barriers that appeared and disappeared in time with the surges.

Their faces were pallid, eyes hollow and unfocused, their limbs limp. They were entirely unclothed.

Even inside Betty, with the windows closed, Joe could hear them—a chorus of wails, moans, desperate pleas that rose and fell with each swell of the waves. Shouts for help, agonised screams, whispers of names lost to the wind. Their voices wove together in a haunting symphony.

Joe felt his grip tighten around the seat. He glanced at Levi, who was staring up at the sight. “What in the ever-loving fuck.”

“What is it? What is it!” Pete shouted.

Levi grabbed the handle and flung the door open. Joe wasn’t ready for it and gasped.

“Levi, wait! We should stay inside!” But Levi was already out of the car. Joe quickly followed, hoping to pull him back. Betty seemed to take this as a cue—she popped the trunk, and Pete hopped out too. He circled Betty and moved up next to Levi, staring at the crashing wave of people ahead.

“What is that?” Pete asked from behind.

“They’re… people,” Levi said.

“No, not those people—those!” Pete pointed.

Joe followed Pete’s finger and saw them: statues scattered across the jagged rocks ahead. Dozens, maybe more. Each one was a person frozen in stone, rendered with precision. Some stood tall, while others lay half-collapsed, caught in unnatural positions as if they’d frozen mid-fall.

Their faces contorted in terror—mouths open in silent screams, eyes wide and pleading. The details were so vivid that Joe half-expected them to start wailing any second.

Betty’s headlights swept over the statues, one by one, revealing each figure. A man with his hands raised to shield his face; a woman on her knees, arms outstretched.

The lights cast deep, shifting shadows, and for a split second, it looked as if the statues were moving. Just a trick of the light, but Joe couldn’t shake the feeling that their hollow eyes were following him.

“I don’t like this place,” Pete murmured.

Joe leaned closer, lowering his voice. Speaking loudly felt wrong here as if he might wake something. “I think we should try to go arou—”

A massive wave from above crashed down, engulfing the statues. It happened in an instant, covering them all before pulling back just as fast. When the water receded, more statues appeared.

Joe opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, music blared out of nowhere.

Staying Alive by the Bee Gees?

They all spun around, horrified, to see Betty blasting Joe’s CD at full volume. Joe’s jaw dropped. What the fuck was she doing? With a thunderous roar, she revved her engine and tore past the three of them, barrelling through the statues ahead.