Lugging a bunch of long planks, and a saddlebag full of dynamite, along with my weapons, up several flights of stairs to a roof, is hard, sweaty, thankless work. I had a new respect for all builders who either built places, or fixed them. It’s slow, taxing, and makes every step feel like a mile after awhile.

With no adrenaline from a fight, or desperate battle to stay alive, each step was slow, hot, heavy, and utterly miserable.

In the end, when Lillianne and I finally got everything up to the roof, we both took a minute to catch our breath.

After our last report to Stidham, my original plan had been refined a little bit. Halona had some modified saddle bags that she could run and throw dynamite from, along with a long burning wick to light them. Lillianne and I had several long planks that could function like bridges for us to use and move across the buildings roofs better. And if we needed too, we could pull them with us and reuse them as we worked our way across the buildings.

It was certainly better than jumping building after building for nearly two blocks.

The only issue was when we had to move across one street that separated the two blocks, with the bank block residing inside the second one. It was a concern only that we didn’t know if the snatch-worms would care and attack us or not. In the end, we had no real choice.

I hated to see what two dozen of these things could do to a train car, especially one filled with people. They might not stop the train, per se, but I was willing to bet they could rip it apart while it passed by them. I briefly thought of all the people on there, such as young Andrew, who would be at these things mercy, and I shuddered.

Time to get to work. I thought darkly, as I readied the first long plank, and carefully set it up and let it fall into place between the roof we were on and the next one. If bounced for a moment, creating an awful racket in the silent town, and then settled. I glanced down to check, and was relieved to see that the snatch-worms weren’t moving.

Sighing, I glanced back at the plank in question.

It was wide, as planks went; a good three feet wide. But three stories up, with nothing to hold it down or any guardrails; it suddenly looked a great deal smaller. I groaned as I looked at it.

I hated haphazard crap like this! And yet I always seemed to be stuck doing it! There were times when I hated my life, and the joy God seemed to take in making me face down terrors.

“I will hold it.” Lillianne said, walking up behind me and then taking a gripping stance with the plank and roof. “Go, quickly, and look at your destination. Focus on that, not all the distractions.”

“Easier said then done.” I muttered darkly as I quickly, and carefully, scrambled up the side of the roof and got onto the plank, carrying all the extra stuff we had brought. I really hoped the plank was strong enough to handle the weight.

Then, before my courage to desert me, I quickly stood and walked with confidence across the bridge, praying God would keep me safe as I did.

He did.

I made it across, hopped down, caught my breath, and then turned and held the plank in place on my end for Lillianne. She quickly scrambled up, and with a gasp and gulp of her own, walked across the makeshift bridge with the rest of our gear as well.

The plank bowed a little, but otherwise held up, even with our weight.

Still, it was a good thing we had extras.

And that was how we slowly worked our way across the two blocks. It was slow, hard, and terrifying. By now the sun was getting low in the sky; we’d been at this monster examination for several hours now. Noon had come and gone, and the shadows were starting to grow.

I had no desire to spend a night in this town, in any capacity.

We would get this done, and then we’d leave, all before the night rolled in.

The only real issue arose when we had to cross the road. As we worked our way through the building to the ground floor, we saw what looked like empty road, so we carefully went and started across it. As we were about halfway across, I saw the ground next to us start to shift upward, like something was carefully pushing up from under it.

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“Run!” I snapped to Lillianne, and we both burst into a sprint across the rest of the road. Behind us a snatch-worm rose through the dirt and took up position in the middle of it, its tendrils waving back and forth as its hooked teeth slid out of its tube body, and then snapped open onto the ground.

A living bear trap indeed.

Catching our breath, we made our back up to the roof, now with fewer planks, so it was a little easier. Once there, we crossed the last few buildings to the last one before the massive bank.

“Last chance to back out.” I told her as we set the plank up. It was much easier with the bank and building being much closer together.

“If you’re scared, I can lead the way.” She replied impishly. We both chuckled before we repeated the familiarly routine one last time, and then suddenly, we were both on the roof of the bank.

Home to whatever horror had taken up residence in it.

We both gasped for breath, and then set our gear down to go through it, and to take some time to breathe again. I took a long drink of water from a canteen, then passed it to her, and she did the same.

We divided up the gear, weapons and bombs as best we could, and then signaled Halona with a single shot. She signaled back with two shots. In ten minutes, she would toss her bombs at the snatch-worms closest to the train station, and hopefully draw their attention away from us. Or at least clear out some of them from around the track.

I looked at Lillianne and nodded, my rifle at the ready. She nodded back, her odd pistol held at the ready.

We quickly turned smashed the roof door open and entered bank, our weapons at the ready. I descended the stairs to the top floor quickly, Lillianne right behind me, and we quickly moved from room to room, clearing each one. Some were private offices or small conference rooms, but on the whole everything was in largely good order; just empty and dusty.

Having found nothing, not even evidence of frantic leaving, I felt a little disconcerted. Still, I stayed confident, and with a nod to the staircase at Lillianne, we headed down to the next floor. Once we’d cleared our first room there, I quickly checked my watch.

We only had a couple more minutes before Halona started chucking bombs.

Moving around this silent, seemingly abandoned building, checking every door, weapons ready, wondering if someone or something was going to jump out and attack, was certainly nerve wracking. I’d done it a few times in the war, and each time, the body reacts like it’s in danger; the heartbeat speeds up, the blood pumps, adrenaline is dumped into the body, sweat builds up, and all your senses come in sharper and clearer. It’s a hard fight between focus, and the cloud brought on by the spirit of fear.

We had just finished clearing the second floor; more offices and storage closets of records and paper, when we heard several explosions go off!

We looked at each other, and then quickly headed over to the stairs to the ground floor.

Several more explosions went off as we reached the floor, followed by some shooting.

Rifles. I recognized the sound. The boys from the train station. I shrugged and refocused; couldn’t worry about any of that. I had a job to do, and I had to stay focused on that. Waving her forward with my hand, we quickly moved through the first floor of the bank.

Here, at last, there were signs of major disruption; papers everywhere, furniture overturned, even a few holes in floor behind the tellers counter. Lots of dried blood in certain areas. I could guess at what happened here, and that it had happened rather quickly. Those that survived the initial onslaught likely fled through the front doors or the back doors.

The snatch-worms eventually followed, underground, and began consuming the town.

The town fought back, but lost, because they didn’t clear out whatever had started the mess.

I sighed. I really didn’t want to go down into the dark of the underground vault floor. I’d rather just drop a bunch of dynamite into the holes, and call it a day. But we really needed to make sure this monster was dead, or else it was just start again, and have time to grow to an even bigger mess.

Nodding again to Lillianne, I pointed with my rifle at the stairs that led down to the underground vault. She gulped, and nodded, her large coppersmith pistol at the ready.

Neither of us relished the idea of descending those stairs.

We quickly moved around the cleared out first floor, and gathered some lanterns to use for light, since there would be no light to be had down there. We quickly got them lit and ready. I’d heard of electric lights, and even seen a few once, but they were still rare as blue diamonds out in the frontier, or many of the frontier towns like this one.

Too fragile.

Still, lanterns can work just fine for light, and we quickly each got one, lit and bright, before turning back to the stairs.

Taking another deep breath, and gathering my courage, I headed over to them, and slowly began working my way down. I could hear Lillianne behind me, and together, we descended down into the ground.

Down into the dark.

Down into the den of something horrific, that we had now become tasked with clearing out.

Being a legendary folk hero sucks. I thought darkly as we stepped down into the dark