A scavenger sweated profusely navigating the dunes underneath three blazing suns blasting the desert. Jed remained empty handed after breaking and entering into the last few shops of a western ghost town. He struggled on the outskirts to climb the sand flowing over a privacy fence. This gated residential had some of the fanciest homes ever seen. The unique dwellings no doubt designed and drafted by expensive architects before being built in competition among neighbors keeping up with each other.

“Ah this is the perfect place to loot,” exclaimed Jed.

The good fortune unfortunately did not last long. In a fit of too much excitement he became distracted.

“Ooof.”

Jed tumbled down the orange sand to a lawn smothered over by shifting soils. He fell on a supersized sandcastle resembling the capital city that flattened as it cushioned him. He was dredged out by gravity as the dune fell like a wave and the soil collapsed, eating up a cactus in the dust. Jed rolled away with lucky stars spinning overhead. He slumped onto the metal pillow of a flattened sheet of steel on the partially buried roof of a miniature garden shed.

A little later he climbed to his feet with the help of a nearby rake. Jed coughed out sand in the direction of a full sized four car garage. He studied the rows of once identical looking buildings made unique by the level of wear and tear worn in by inclination weather. A road of flooded orange led to the end of the destroyed block that looked like it had been taken away by a tornado.

There was no wind now with the remaining standing of suburbia dead quiet. The first dwelling he stood in the dooryard provided a good picture of what the neighborhood had once been. The four garage doors painted with numbers and the prizes behind them were waiting to be revealed. If he could find a working vehicle and liquid drums to store the jungle juice he could still make it in time to claim the reward.

Jed chose garage door number 1. He groaned trying to pick it up, but it was locked up tighter than a bank after-hours. After further inspection it turned out the entire house including the reinforced front door was locked like a vault.

“Rats,” Jed mumbled to himself.

He struggled over a medium rock-wall, and landed beside a dried out pool. The furniture had been eaten by the environment, and the pool house had collapsed under its own weight. Millions of strands of sand piled along the back of the big house covering the widows. He spotted a corner while most of the backdoor was buried.

Jed limped along the ground as it gradually inclined. It was hard to climb when the unstable ground was constantly shifting underfoot so he went mountain goat mode. Next he grabbed hold of the trim, pulled himself parallel to the wall, and breathed heavily.

The moment of rest was successfully completed. Jed groaned, and strained to climb wood shingling. His flailing legs sheared off the tops of the extremely sun bleached cedar siding, sticking his soles with staples in the process of climbing. His arm had grabbed hold of a tiny windowsill above and that anchored everything.

Jed dangled desperately grasping for something better to hang onto. He shimmied over and successfully caught hold of the plywood screwed over the screen. The piece was anchored by large screws sticking out of all four corners. It began to groan under the weight, and started swaying. He fully lifted himself above the boards with a concentrated effort. A third floor window was directly overhead, and uncovered. He reached up, and ripped a hole big enough for two fingers to cram into the screen. His muscles strained slowly hauling his body onto the ledge too small to properly hold it.

“Grrrrr,” he said, sticking his head directly through the screen.

One of his hands followed while the other remained anchoring. This window was locked, but it pried open with a little elbow grease. This port was round and stylized just like a seafaring vessel. Jed barely slithered his body through it. At one point he had almost given up hope, but persisted wiggling after a break in the action until he fell inside.

Jed tumbled inside like a pair of dice. There was something slimy that cushioned his fall. He withered away in agony at coming into contact with something moist. He panicked trying to get off the slimy floor, but kept slipping back down.He jerked away and his eyes adjusted enough to make out a towel that smelled funky.

The place was dark, hotter than concentrated ghost pepper, and smelled like raw sewage. Additionally it was humid enough to gag a hippopotamus. After struggling for an extended period of time like a clown he grabbed an empty towel rack. He pulled it out of the wall and himself up in one swift motion.

After pulling up his fallen pants Jed fished his flashlight out of his back pocket, and shined some light on the area.The looting was going to have to be quick. His light lit a cracked mirror revealing a haggard reflection. He sifted the light to a bathtub full of excrement, and an overflowing toilet.

Stolen novel; please report.

He burst into the next room dry heaving down a hallway full of dressers. The ancient stained floor creaked like it was possessed. The ceiling was covered in cobwebs, speckles of black mold, and the wallpaper had flaked away from the cracking walls. The air reeked of mothballs and the smell of dry rot. There was however brand new windows and trim surrounding them.

The door at the end of the hall screeched open revealing an attic. The place was a hoarders paradise full of stacked packages, hanging coats wrapped in plastic, and wires covered in plaster. Jed climbed over packed trunks and stacked bunks. He walked around a half wall to reach a metal door. He pulled out the bar of treated wood acting as a block and unlocked the bolt.

The hinges screamed as light illuminated onto a metal catwalk screwed above a sprawling section of the building. The roof in this area was fitted by metal I-beams as were the walls. Jed inched forward testing for signs of weakness. The rusted grates loudly protested as he descended above the dark pit, and the railings had already fallen. He finally arrived at steep steps resembling a fire escape. The way down was slow going until he faced a rickety iron rung ladder.

The flashlight bounced around the garage blurring objects. He could make out the guts of an abandoned project car littering a lift. A big block engine pulled out and was hooked to a swinging pulley dangerously close. The light bounced off a pool of oil leaking from a stack of barrels, a loose pile of disorganized tires, and a pile of mufflers full of holes.

After testing the rusted ladder he slid the remaining distance to land on the hard concrete. A brand new “Eval” branded welder greeted him.

This sturdy device is built to last with a lifetime warranty, and has state of the art crystal rods lasting three times longer without having to reload. Let the sparks fly with two torches of professional quality! Order today and receive a golden royal themed welding mask while supplies last. DON’T BE SORRY!

“Sweet. Well the only problem is figuring out how to carry it over to wield my vehicle fixed,” sighed Jed.

The garage was cluttered with hanging tools, and hazardous objects. He stepped over the extended arm of an industrial jack onto a large square of sheet metal that thudded underfoot. The metal continued acting as a makeshift bridge over pink hydraulic fluid. The path turned directly under where he had been above was a sand sled hung by the pull rope. A dirty shelf was covered in parts including spare train axles.

For the next several days everything was carried over one piece at a time. Even after figuring out a sand sled the work was painfully slow, but Jed was determined to complete the project on schedule. And finally today he had been welding away all day in the shade. The time was flying and he would be ready to leave tomorrow. The darkness was approaching the valley so tonight he would be burning the midnight oil.

The desert was heating up as the last sun went down. A noisy gaggle of witches flew through the dry air cackling like geese. They escorted an airship with a hanging tow line, and a drop-ship loaded with supplies. The royal wedding between Killin Hood, and Queen Elizabethy was only a few hours away. The hustle was on to deliver the juice to fuel the celebration, and failure was not an option. Isabella’s beady hawk eyes scanned the valley.

“Hehehe the jungle juice will soon be ours,” cried the boss Witch.

The rest of them giggled on, while a murder of crows joined the fray alongside them. The music blasting from the fancy brooms was traditional evil folk.

“Let's go witches,” they cried together, revving their brooms armed with hog tusks that functioned like flying bayonets.

A flare of magma light lit the man welding away in the dark. He had successfully fashioned on new wheel-sets after jacking up the tanker. The new cab was welded together with sturdy scrap metal. Jed was almost ready to set sail wearing his armored helmet as it offered a visor with built in eye protection. He missed the changing vibes in the sky.

A Halloween-like atmosphere engulfed the valley as bats joined the pack. The fog rolled into the ghost town with the hags where tumbleweeds blew through past the deserted vehicles. The big rig carrying a prized load of intoxicant was engulfed in green smoke.The dust whipped up a sandstorm, and a naked man ran for cover. The payday was in jeopardy of being seized out from underneath him.

“Hey this ain't a ghost town I see people '' she cackled, raising a wand.

A big blast of fire rained onto the motel Jed ran towards. He was knocked back with a fiery hot explosion that burnt off his beard hairs. His body was thrown a distance and mind was disoriented, but his revolvers remained loaded. The looted bandelier slung across his chest had some ammo in reserve, but not enough to be comfortable.

The motel exploded into a mushroom cloud as witches flew bombing runs nearby. Whatever was remaining of the boom town was rapidly exploding around him. The door of the big rig swung wide open, and Jed climbed behind the wheel on rails. He gave her the gas, and she steamed forward polluting the air.

The witches followed in hot pursuit with their cackles amplified over their crystal balls functioning like sirens. The makeshift locomotive had reached max speed, while the airship cast a long shadow over it. The vehicle was on rails letting Jed have two hands available to wield revolvers. A witch dodged a bullet while another overtook her. He aimed directly at the hag supervising from the rear.

“Bang,Bang.”

“Pop!”

Her witches cap had a hole in it, but she spit out a bullet caught with cheap bubblegum defensive bubble magic. Isabella aimed her wand in retaliation and shot a flare of blinding light from her fingers. Jed covered his eyes and was blinded by the powerful flash. The cackling intensified, as the truck began to shake out of control.. All he could do at this moment was keep the pedal stuck to the floor.