Alex Reynard
The Library
Alex Reynard's Online Books
Part TWENTY-TWO
Outside the Tatterdemalion, Junella told Piffle and Toby to go amuse themselves while she and Zinc did a full check of the Fearsleigher. Just in case anything had come loose or got stolen.
Piffle fluttered off to check out a floral display on the second floor of the building across the street. But Toby kept an eye on the skunk and canine. He held Doll and kneaded her forearm worriedly.
N-E-R-V-O-U-S-? she spelled.
"Maybe," he whispered back. He could see that Junella hadn't lied about checking the car or their stuff, but she and Zinc were doing an awful lot of hushed, urgent talking. And their faces were still stuck in predatory grins.
"I don't think they'd do anything bad to Piffle, but..." He fidgeted. "Should I say anything?"
Doll thought a bit. U-P-T-O-Y-O-U
Toby looked at the duo, standing shoulder to shoulder while they rustled around in the trunk. Then he looked up at Piffle, hovering in place and blissfully sniffing blooms. Occasionally, Junella or Zinc would steal a glance at the hamsterfly like they wanted to dissect her.
Gathering the microscopic traces of bravery within him into something resembling a spark, Toby set his jaw and headed over.
He overheard whispers. "...could buy our own willwell and have her fill it during the ride!"
Toby cleared his throat. "Excuse me. Are you two planning to exploit Piffle?"
Junella turned around and Toby swore her eyes were glowing. In a flash she was standing an inch in front of him with cutlass in hand. She was so close he could almost read the record labels in her eyes. "Don't you dare say a word to her!! I know you, goody-two-shoes. We ain't planning nothin', so just go back over to where you were and keep your lips zipped!"
Toby trembled but did not flee. Instead, he scowled. "Piffle is my friend. She cares about me, I care about her. Whatever it is you were saying about her, I wanna hear it too."
Junella looked on the verge of shrieking for a second, then she blinked. She looked down at the sword in her hand, then clumsily sheathed it out of embarrassment. "...Jesus, that was out of line. I'm sorry. It's just... I mean..." Her upper lip flared in frustration. "Zinc, dammit! You tell him!" She stomped off towards the back of the Fearsleigher and pretended it needed inspection.
Zinc rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah... that got ugly. Sorry if you thought we were gonna tip her upside down 'n shake her like a piggy bank. Because... we kinda were." He winced, then got defensive. "You saw what she did in there! NO ONE can fill a willwell that quick! Well, almost no one. It's like finding out you've been riding around with a millionaire in yer car."
Toby crossed his arms and said nothing. (Doll didn't either.)
"C'mon man! Think about it from our position! We do this adventurin' shit because it's in our blood, not for payday. Sure it rockets up our own wills, and we get a lot of shiny souvenirs, but road trips are expensive! The food, the fuel, the survival gear!"
"Did it cross your mind to just ask Piffle if she minds helping you out with that?"
Zinc flinched as if Toby had whacked his nose with a newspaper. "...No."
Toby kinda pitied Zinc for that. He walked closer and put a hand on the mutt's shoulder. "You saw how much she wanted to help pay off the hotel bill. Probably anything you asked of her, she'd be happy to do. Some people like to be helpful."
Zinc's tail was tucked between his knees. "Yeh... Again, sorry. We got greedy. Greedy breeds paranoia, y'know?"
Toby nodded. "There's this mystery show I watch a lot, and the detective's motto is, 'It never hurts to ask politely.' It works out for her a lot."
Zinc 'hmmph'ed a little. "Ain't always been my experience."
Toby gave him a 'you just watch' look. He turned around and cupped a hand to his mouth, "HEY PIFFLE!"
Zinc freaked out a bit, gesticulating wildly in a 'what the hell do you think you're doing!?' way.
Piffle's antennae twitched, she gave a last big sniff, then zoomed towards them. She landed as delicately as a rose petal. "What's cookin', gents?"
Toby quite bluntly said, "Junella and Zinc were both amazed at how quickly you took care of the bill and they were plotting how to trick you into paying off all their trip expenses."
Zinc clutched his cheekfur and whimpered.
The hamsterfly tossed back her head and laughed. "That's silly! Why wouldn't they just ask me?"
Zinc was honestly surprised by that reaction.
Junella's head popped up from behind the Fearsleigher.
Piffle waved to her. "If ya want me to be your financier, I'm fine with that! Didn't I already tell you?"
The skunk sheepishly slid around the vehicle. "Yes. You did. I just didn't believe it."
Piffle gave her a genuinely warm smile. "Aw, I understand. You're not used to people bein' nice to you just to be nice, huh?"
"Not in our line of work, no," she begrudgingly mumbled. "So... You're actually serious? If we get to EC and run up a few million grit in gear, you don't mind paying that off?"
"Sure I don't!" she giggled. "If it helps us get where we're going, why not?"
Junella had a hard time understanding things from Piffle's purely philanthropic position, though that last bit of self-preservation logic clicked with her. "Allright, allright..."
Piffle gave her a quick squeeze before she could protest, then twirled over to kiss Zinc's nose. "Though if you guys do decide to tie me up 'n tickle my feet with feathers 'till I pay for everything, that'd be okay too!"
She traipsed off to the backseat while Zinc and Junella both sputtered and Toby slapped a paw over his mouth to keep from giggling.
***
They were five miles out of Coryza when Junella suddenly made a face like she just realized she'd left the water running. "SHEEEEIT!"
George, who had been thoroughly enjoying seeing how much of a dust plume he could kick up behind him, intuited that such an exclamation probably meant she wanted him to stop. So he planted his hooves and let the Fearsleigher come to a thumpy halt against his bony tush. "Something the matter, Madam Brox?"
"Yes!" she spat, obviously furious at herself. "I got so keyed up about money, I completely forgot about what we're heading into." She opened the skatecar's door and indicated everyone else should do the same.
Zinc looked puzzled, then was struck with the same realization she'd had. "We forgot to chain the car! Five-fucks-and-a-half, that coulda been bad!"
Coryza was a spot on the horizon by now. The group was surrounded by miles upon miles of desert. The ground was as cracked and dry as week-old brownies. The moon was full in the sky. The fact that Coryza's walls were down indicated that this was the safer part of night, but Toby was still concerned about stepping out of their vehicle into the open. He remembered the monsters in the painting...
Like an orchestra conductor, Junella waggled her scarf to line the others up beside George. "This shit's important! It's better if I can see all your faces so I can make sure you're listening."
"Aye aye!" Piffle said, giving the girl scout salute.
Junella blended with the night, creating a strange illusion. Her feet were clearly visible against the dusty, bleached ground, but the rest of her melted against the sky. She was visible mostly as her scarf, her eyes, and the slivers of moonlight reflecting off her curves.
She pointed dramatically in the direction they'd been heading. "THAT," she started, "is the quickest route to Ectopia Cordis. But it's gonna be one bad picnic. Zinc and I have been through it. You four haven't."
"Amaurosis Fugax," Zinc moaned balefully.
Junella nodded, glad he'd said the name so she wouldn't have to go hunting around herself for the syllables. "...What he said. It's not physically dangerous, but it WILL mess with you. Out there, we're gonna start runnin' into roaming clouds of phobias. You can't see 'em, you can't smell 'em, you can't do anything about 'em. They're gonna get in your brains and kick stuff around. One minute everything'll be fine. The next, you'll be so scared you literally can't think straight."
"Of what? Piffle asked.
Junella threw her hands up. "Anything!! Any damn thing anyone's ever been afraid of; it's somewhere in there. That's why we gotta lock ourselves in the car. We got these bigass heavy chains in the back. George, you're gonna have to make sure they're secure once we're all in."
The spectral stallion nodded. "I may not possess thumbs, but I shall do my very best."
"And since you're a nightmare, I'm gonna roll the dice and say the clouds won't have any effect on you."
"I do dimly remember this area. I never encountered anything similar to what you're describing, so you are very likely correct."
She looked relieved. "Good to hear."
Toby raised his hand like he was in class. "Um, what would have happened if we went in there without the chains?"
"Maybe nothing, Maybe we'd get lucky. Or maybe we'd hit a cloud of claustrophobia and all run out into the wasteland and our minds'd turn into permanent soup. Or maybe we'd run into a fear of bugs, or skunks, or whatever the hell Zinc is." He chuckled. "I know for damn sure that if we ran into a fear of dolls, I'd claw over all the rest of you to be the first one to throw that nasty thing out the window."
Piffle hugged Doll protectively. "I wouldn't let you."
Junella smiled a sick little smile. "Oh really now? You think you could resist it? That's the worst part about the place. It's one-hun-dred-per-cent irrational. I don't care how much more willpower you got than me, it doesn't matter. Whatever cloud we run into, that's what you'll fear. End of story. We've gone through here before and I've been so terrified of Zinc I've straight-up panic-murdered him."
Piffle looked to Zinc in horror.
He shrugged. "I've done the same to her," he said. "At least with the chains on, we re-form inside the car and keep going. S'better than getting lost."
Toby paled. Physical monsters were frightening enough. But there was something much more insidious about having your thoughts and perceptions come under attack. And to the point of being deathly afraid of one's own friends! "Is there any way to avoid it? I mean... I'm sure if you're taking us through, it means any other route will be worse..."
Junella nodded. "Betcher ass. Like I said, this place can't physically harm us. Much as I hate it, I'd rather drive through a carnival funhouse than a real minefield."
"Allright, that's logical. But, um... Could you maybe just hit me in the head and knock me out for the whole thing? I don't think I can handle it!"
She chortled at the suggestion. "Nice thinkin'. But all that'd happen is the fears'd get in your dreams. And that'd be worse. If you're awake, you're only reacting to what you can see. If you're dreaming, your brain can play fill in the blanks with whatever the clouds want."
The mental images Toby's mind conjured up from that idea were almost enough to make him pass out. Piffle put an arm out to steady him. "How long will we be in there?" he whined.
Junella considered George's speed. "It's always taken us about two hours. We might do better if the pony express puts some zoom on it."
"That shouldn't be any trouble," George said proudly. "Though I have a question of my own, Madam Brox."
"You ain't gotta be so formal. Just ask it."
"Ah. Yes. Anyway, my night vision is quite excellent, and there appears to be a pack of cactusyotes a mile off, attempting to approach stealthily. Shall I kill them now or let them get closer first to allow them a false sense of confidence?"
Junella chuckled. "Whatever floats your boat."
"That seems a little mean," Toby muttered. Whatever the creatures were, they were probably just looking for food.
"I assure you, Sire Toby," George said, "They are nightmares, the same as I. They do not want our meat. Only our terror. Besides, unless it truly makes you uncomfortable, I sometimes feel a need to act upon my more vulgar instincts. Best I direct these outbursts at non-sentient beings, true?"
Toby made a sound like, 'I can't argue with that.'
"Go for it then. Keep 'em away while we prep the car," Junella sang.
George's aura burned brighter. "With supreme pleasure, Madam Brox!!" He let out a fierce bray and went charging off towards the concealed beasts.
Soon enough, even over the sound of the chains being dragged out of the trunk, they could all hear squealing yelps of pain and George's delighted, demented laughter.
***
Closing padlocks with your teeth is not easy. Especially if you don't have any lips. Especially if you happen to be harnessed to the front of the thing you're trying to lock up.
Once the others had put as many chains around the skatecar's body as they could, they all squeezed through the one remaining entrance and gave George the signal. Piffle cheered him on while he tried to loop the last lock through two chains at once, then keep it there while he clamped it shut. Finally, after a lot of fiery snorting, 'click'.
"Whatever money nightmares use, you definitely deserve some for that," Junella praised.
"Thank you, Madame Brox! And though I have no need for currency, the sentiment is very much appreciated."
The skunk slapped her hands on the dashboard. "Allright! We're 'bout to get going. Any objections?"
"I gotta use the little boys' room," Zinc piped up.
Junella parted his hair with her sword. "You better learn to piss through your nose out the window in the next ten seconds."
He 'tee hee'ed. "Kidding, Juney, kidding!"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Any REAL objections?"
Piffle shook her head. Toby did too, though he was compulsively wringing his pajama sleeve to manage his fear. He did not like this one little bit. But if Junella said it was the best way through, there wasn't anything he could do about it.
Junella shouted to George. "When I say go, you take off in that direction and don't stop for nothing. I mean it! NOTHING! No matter if we're screamin' bloody murder for you to let us out, don't listen!"
George nodded. "Understood, Madam. Though... what if there is an actual emergency, and for whatever reason you do need to be let out?"
"There won't be," she snapped.
"But what if there is?" Piffle asked.
Junella growled, "Then we'll just yell louder!"
George was confused. "But you said not to let you out even if you do scream."
Junella did scream.
Toby had a sudden flash of logic. "I've got it! Since you said we'd be scared out of our minds with irrational fear, if an emergency comes up and we do need George to stop, we'll just ask calmly. Thus proving we're in our right minds."
Zinc made an 'impressed' noise. "Makes sense."
"That actually does," Junella admitted. She reached behind the seat to give the mouse a thumbs-up.
Toby felt rather glad to have contributed. Doubly so when Piffle tickled his ear with an antenna.
With that out of the way, Junella consulted her compass-like device one more time just to be absolutely sure, then dumbfounded it away and pointed forward. "Let's go, George."
And go he did. Everyone was thrown back in their seats as the luminous nightmare went from 0 to 60 in about three seconds. He kept accelerating until he reached the same speed as when he'd been racing to reach Coryza.
Toby let out the breath he'd inhaled sharply. "How long until the clouds start showing up?"
Junella shrugged. "Hard to say. Coming from this direction, it'll be desert turning into wasteland: not much difference. Nothing can grow there since even the grass is too scared to stay."
Toby winced. He did not like the idea of having no advance warning. He worried about which fear would be the first to smack into him.
Piffle noticed his expression and put Doll on his lap. "Here. Hugs always help."
He squeezed their toy companion and smiled to Piffle. "Thanks."
I-M-S-C-A-R-E-D-T-O-O, Doll wrote.
Toby rested his chin on her headfur. "Maybe we can help each other not be," he whispered.
As George sped on and the moon stared at them from above, worry eventually melted into boredom. Toby had been keeping an eye on the landscape so he'd notice any changes. But after several minutes of staring at the same fissured ground, he began to wonder if it ever would. He also began to wonder if you could only transition from one section of Phobiopolis to the next if you weren't paying attention when it happened. No, that couldn't be, could it? There had to be taxi drivers or truckers or some similar profession that needed to keep their eyes on the road. Or maybe they just pointed their cars in their desired direction, put a brick on the accelerator and took a nap?
Toby did not discover whether or not a watched landscape never boils, because eventually he grew too restless. He took out the book he'd gotten from Pick's and found that he could read the title with ease now: The Dot And The Anchor, by Gordon Delevane. Even the table of contents was easy. Toby guessed this was because he had an expectation of what would be written there. While Piffle played cat's cradle, Toby started on chapter one. He tried to lose himself in the story, knowing the phobias would start hitting him soon. He figured he'd just make it worse on himself if he dwelt on anticipation.
He was a respectable seven pages in when he felt his heartbeat speed up. "There aren't any centipedes in the car, are there?" he asked.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing!" Zinc yelped.
Toby looked up and saw Piffle. He gasped and drew back in the corner. "You're not a centipede, are you!?"
"No, no!!" she protested. "They eat flies like me! At least I think they do. If they can catch us!"
"Everybody shut up about centipedes!!" Junella howled from the front seat. She caught a glimpse of her own scarf in the corner of her vision and jumped.
Toby looked all around the interior of the car, dead certain that those hideous insects with their endless tiny legs were squirming their way through every crevice, slithering through the upholstery, swimming in the gas tank, crawling all over the roof and doors and-
The fear suddenly vanished. Toby exhaled.
He looked out the window. Things had changed. But as Junella had said, not by much. The ground was sandy now, not cracked, but it was an even grayer color that reminded Toby of powdered bone. Here and there he saw dead trees and shrubs. All were contorted horribly. They looked like they really had been scared to death.
"Are the fear-things all gonna be that short?" he asked, daring to hope.
"No way to tell," Zinc said. "A minute? Ten? Fifteen? I heard about a guy who drove through here once and was crapping his pants over piranhas for half an hour straight." He rubbed the sides of his head. "This place makes my guts knot."
Toby reached out to take Piffle's hand. She gave him a look that said they shared a wavelength. They both looked out the window. Junella had told them the clouds were invisible, but they still squinted ahead nonetheless.
Suddenly, Junella shouted, "YAAH!!" and started frantically trying to cover every inch of her body with her scarf.
A second later, Toby felt it too. He checked his pajamas all over, mortified that anyone else might be able to see an ounce of indecent flesh.
Piffle blushed hard and smoothed her skirt down.
"Zinc you bastard, gimme your jacket!!" Junella was already tugging it off him.
"Careful, you'll rip it! Besides, wait a second and you'll go back to not caring!"
"I CAN'T!!" she screeched. Having no success at getting the leather sleeve past the giant wrench, she popped open the glove compartment and covered herself with a road map. "None of you fuckers saw anything! Not one of you!!"
Needless to say, she was quite embarrassed and apologetic when they left the nudity cloud a few minutes later.
She'd only gotten the map folded once before they drove into fear of the dark and all hell broke loose.
Moonlight was definitely not enough. Everyone in the car (minus Doll) all screamed constantly as Junella and Zinc both fumbled for the interior light. He nearly amputated her hand in the process. When the overhead glow came on, they all sighed in relief and huddled as close to it as they could. Junella held her wrist to stop it bleeding and gave Zinc a dirty look.
This was a long fear. For about eighteen miserable minutes, all four of them clustered around the ceiling bulb. Junella turned on the floodlights too, and Piffle managed to dumbfound a flashlight to point at their feet in case anything nasty was coming from below.
After the cloud passed. they all sighed in relief and plopped fully back in their seats. Zinc laughed weakly at how ridiculous they all looked, but it hadn't been funny to live through. Toby said it reminded of him of when he was on some of his more hallucinogenic medications, lying in bed in the dark, his fevered brain feeding him all sorts of imaginary horrors.
Thankfully, their respite was fairly long as well. Nearly six minutes.
Then the fear of heights hit. This one was easy to deal with so long as they all avoided looking out the windows. Whenever any of them did, the relatively minor distance from the chassis to the ground seemed like miles. Junella hummed quietly to distract herself. Toby buried his face in his book and read the same sentence twelve times.
But all the phobias they'd suffered through so far were nothing compared to the next one. The others were merely cruel pranks. Then it got bad.
Fear of mice.
Piffle had been tracing a finger along Toby's leg when suddenly she whipped her hand away like it was stuck in shit. She screamed ear-shatteringly loud. Doll fell off of Toby's lap and was immeasurably grateful for it, since it meant no one was looking at her and she could crawl as far under the seats as possible.
Junella and Zinc looked up in the rear view mirror to see what the hell was going on. There in their own back seat was a rabies-carrying, buck-toothed, flea-ridden vermin. A huge one! Grotesque pink eyes! A tail like a worm! Zinc shoved himself away from it so hard he nearly cracked the windshield. Junella had her cutlass out and was trying to simultaneously stab the monster to death while keeping as far away from it as possible.
Toby had no idea what was going on at first. Everyone was screaming and pointing at him. Junella's sword slashed his knee open. He gasped in pain and looked down at the wound. At himself.
Furless feet with curved claws. Bleach-white grimy fur. His hands were hideous, scrabbling bony things. He looked around and saw his reflection in the mirror.
Toby's scream was the loudest of them all.
He started trying to escape from his own skin.
He was out of his pajamas in an instant, shredding through them like paper. He scratched at the backs of his hands but the skin wasn't coming off fast enough. He ripped at his legs. He pulled on his tail so hard he dislocated it twice. He punctured his own eyes so they wouldn't have to see that unspeakable thing in the window. He clawed his ears in half. He dug his fingers into his face and pulled with the strength of a madman. Blood and screams poured out.
The others screamed too and tried to tear their way out of the car any way they could. Junella's needles destroyed the ceiling. Piffle broke her own fingers trying to pry the chains away from the window. Zinc smashed the windshield to smithereens and tried to force himself through. He wedged his head through the chains and had nearly snapped both his collarbones when suddenly the fear wore off.
Pain rushed in to take its place.
Toby's screams died out in a whimpering gurgle. He could not see anything, but he could feel hot, sticky blood covering him head to toe. And every single part of him was on fire with agony. A thin, wavering cry started within his throat. He choked on it as it grew in volume, until it was the siren wail of someone who cannot bear to spend one single second longer in the reality they found themselves in.
Piffle immediately crawled across the seat to hug him with all her heart. She rubbed her cheek to his and the tears washed some of the red away. "Toby, I'm here! We're not afraid of you anymore! I'm sorry I couldn't stop you from hurting yourself! I'm so sorry!"
Junella looked behind her. "Oh jesus!!" Blood was everywhere. It looked like a paint can had exploded. She was starting to smell it. She realized her sword was in her hand and there was blood on it too. "Oh Toby, I apologize! Sweet holy fuck, I apologize!"
Zinc was rather stuck in the chains. And he could now feel all the broken glass that was digging into his ribcage. "What happened!?"
"Toby peeled himself like a banana," she said.
Zinc was suddenly really glad he was stuck. Just thinking about that made him taste his lunch again. "You're gonna be okay!" he shouted towards the back seat, trying to sound encouraging.
Toby heard none of this. He was sobbing so hard he was nearly hyperventilating. The pain was indescribable. His mind was a burning electric web. He held onto Piffle for dear life.
Junella hated this, but she knew what she had to do. "Move back a bit, Piffle."
Piffle saw the sword in her hand. She gasped at what the skunk was about to do, but realized it was the only option. She tried to pull away but Toby was holding her too tight. "I guess, just try to aim good," she whimpered.
Junella nodded. She tried to block out the sounds of Toby's tortured weeping. She carefully positioned her cutlass.
She thrust her arm out and smoothly buried the blade right down the center of his throat.
The mouse gurgled and spasmed for a second. Then Junella gave her wrist a sharp turn and he went silent.
She got her sword out of the way just in time as the mutilated Toby twisted out of reality and a perfectly healed Toby snapped into its place.
There was no shock-induced denial to retreat into this time. Toby was 100% unavoidably aware of what had just happened to him. Fresh tears splashed his cheeks. He looked down at his whole, unharmed self. Then at the gargantuan splatter of mouseblood he was sitting in. Piffle looked like she'd been drowned in barbecue sauce for the second time today. He nevertheless fell onto her in a hug because it was the only thing he could do. As he shuddered, Piffle ran her paws through his fur.
That was when they passed through a cloud of ornithophobia; the fear of birds.
This actually ended up being beneficial. For one, it gave Zinc the motivation to get his head the hell out of the open and back into the safety of the car. Secondly, it gave Toby's mind something else to think about other than having just lived through the worst moment of his life.
Junella kept her sword at the ready, just in case any filthy motherfucker with claws and beaks came flapping through the shattered windshield. She leaned in to touch Toby's shoulder. "You okay? Your mind's not fried, I hope?"
Toby's whole body was locked up. He'd curled into a fetal position on the seat. He tried to squeeze words out through his breaths. "No, I'm... still here..." He turned his face to the skunk and said something she didn't expect. "Thank... you."
She cocked her head. "For killin' you?"
He managed a nod. "It made... the pain... stop. No har... hard feelings."
Junella slipped down off her seat and slithered closer to put her arm around him. "I think you're toughening up, mouse. I wouldn't've expected you to be so rational after what just happened."
The trembling mouse looked up to Piffle, then over at Zinc, down to Doll, and back at Junella. "I've... been through a... lot of fear already. I'm... starting to get u... used to it I guess. And having you all with me... helps."
Zinc leaned closer to give him a light, companionable tap.
"I hate to say this," Junella started, "but something just as bad's probably gonna happen again. With just two of us in a car goin' through this place, Zinc and I usually end up a bit bloody. With five?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Toby. It's gonna get worse before it ends."
He groaned a bit.
Piffle kissed him behind his ears.
He mumbled something into her skirt.
"What was that?"
"Can you help me... get my pajamas back on?"
***
It was a good thing they'd spent the afternoon in Coryza relaxed and happy. It not only gave them memories to retreat into, but it had brought them closer to one another. There was no way to stop the waves of fear that kept infecting their minds, but at least they could console one another after each one passed.
Fear of needles was next. Junella managed to plunge her fingertips under her seat before she got a good look at them. If her reflexes hadn't been so quick, she knew she would have likely chewed her own hands off and spat them out the window. The others talked her through it, saying anything they could to keep her from thinking about the thin, shiny, pointy needles right at the ends of her own fingers.
That one was mercifully short, but then they plunged into fear of social interaction. Altogether, it was probably the easiest to deal with. But everyone squeezed themselves as far away from the others as they could in the cramped vehicle. Everything they thought of to say seemed incredibly stupid. They knew the others would laugh at them and ostracize them forever for it. For once, Doll was grateful for her inability to speak.
Then came fear of broken glass. Junella and Zinc both took one look at the remains of the windshield and screamed themselves into the backseat.
This had the unfortunate consequence of one of Zinc's wrenches accidentally smashing Piffle's left eye into pulp. She squeaked in pain and was soon the center of many comforting hugs. Zinc apologized about a thousand times, kissing her paw again and again. When she had calmed down enough to concentrate, she tried to let herself heal back, but couldn't manage it. She nodded to Junella, who killed her back to normal. Toby wished he could be so composed. Piffle said she'd give him more lessons sometime.
The phobias persisted. A seemingly endless parade of them. Fear of spiders. Fear of trains. Fear of, bizarrely enough, octagons. The fear of skeletons had them all huddled in the back seat again, shrieking and throwing anything they could get their hands on at George. Thankfully, most were stopped by the chains over the windshield. A few projectiles did get through, but he weathered them silently, knowing his friends knew not what they did.
Then came fear of betrayal. There was a flurry of motion and then it was over. No one even had time to scream. Junella had already been tense as a bowstring, so the instant the fear hit, her cutlass decapitated everyone else in the car. She sat there, panting, sword arm shaking, watching the four corpses with wide eyes. When one of the bodies twitched, Junella made it stop. By the time they'd passed through the cloud, she was backed into a corner amid a sea of blood and fleshy puzzle pieces.
She cried when they came back to life. She tossed her sword as far away as she could. She hugged each one of her friends in turn. Even Doll.
Then after fear of death, fear of cancer, and fear of playing cards, fear of dolls came. Doll was just quick enough to scamper under the passenger seat and lock herself in the glove compartment, while the others banged their fists against it and screamed, "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!!"
Piffle had to give her an extra big hug after that.
Fear of mosquitoes. Fear of flying. Fear of mirrors.
Fear of blood.
Oh, you can't even imagine what happened when that one came up.
After the absolute chaos of five fursons trying not to touch any surface of the very vehicle they were trapped in, next up was agoraphobia. This was an extremely welcome relief. Everyone held each other close in the center of the vehicle and were immensely glad to be locked in a tiny, enclosed space.
After that, fear of germs. Which produced similar results to fear of blood.
And then, to everyone's relief, it was over.
George called out, "I can see signs of plant life ahead!"
Everyone rushed to the front window and looked out. There was still a mile or so of dead desert left to cross, but up ahead, the bravest little shoots of grass struggled to exist on the fringes of Amaurosis Fugax. They all cried in overjoyed relief and hugged each other over and over. But they were still tense. There was no telling if they might pass through one more cloud before the nightmare ended.
In the Fearsleigher, four pairs of eyes (and one hollow face) looked around in every direction. Coiled in exhausted terror, readying themselves in case one more ugly surprise-
They all felt it starting.
The fear of chains.
The metal loops surrounding the car on every side tinkled and shimmered in the moonlight.
"FASTER, GEORGE!!!" Junella screamed.
His companions' mental torment had already driven him to scrape the upper limits of his own speed and the Fearsleigher's structural integrity. But hearing the excruciating desperation in that voice, George knew he could not fail. He pushed his nightmare-born body harder. The edge of the desert was so close now.
Inside the skate car, the five passengers were damn near drilling through one another trying to escape the clanking, constricting tentacles just outside the windows.
George felt sure all four of his legs would snap like tree branches at any second.
But he made it.
Toby, Doll, Zinc, Junella and Piffle all felt their fear start to wane. Its grip loosened from around their brainstems. They looked at one another and all the bruises they'd accidentally caused. And they started screaming again, this time in laughter. Their throats were as raw as if they'd been under a cheese grater, but they laughed nonetheless.
And when George finally felt actual soft, wonderful green grass under his feet, he simply collapsed to a stop and let the Fearsleigher run over him. It sheared through several of his limbs, which actually felt kind of refreshing. Though it was a bit startling when a bone-rattling tug on his harness was the only thing that made it slow to a stop.
"LET US OUT!! LET US OUT!!"
George crawled over on his splintered stubs. "Is it safe to? Have the effects of the phobic mists worn off?"
Zinc poked his muzzle past the chains. Calmly and politely he said, "George ol' buddy ol' pal, we would very, VERY much like to be out of this car. Could you get the locks off? Bite 'em if you have to. And hurry. Please."
"Post haste!" he assured, and regrew his legs to aid in the task.
Zinc, who was splashed head to toe in layers of blood and terror-barf, tossed a smile to Toby. "I remembered."
The very instant George chewed off a padlock and one of the chains came loose, all five passengers squeezed through the tiny gap and flung themselves onto the grass, rolling back and forth and letting out feral cries of boundless relief.
Not too far from the borderline, snow had begun to fall. The six travelers crawled on hands and knees towards it. The cold was just what they needed. Bracing, exhilarating, and wet. They rubbed as much of it as they could on themselves, shivering like mad but also moaning and giggling at the relief of finally getting some of the repulsive red fluids off of them.
They yelped and giggled and hugged and acted like toddlers. Their joy at finally being out of that living hell was indescribable. They threw snowballs at one another. They made snow angels.
And then, shadows fell upon them.
Giant figures had approached so silently, the group was surrounded before they'd heard a sound.
"WE ARE THE COLD COVEN. YOUR LIFE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT OUR TRUTH. JOIN US AND BE SAVED."
Junella looked up at them with an expression of abject disbelief at her rotten luck. But then a chuckle bubbled up out of her raspy throat. A smile snaked its way across her lips. She braced herself against the grass and, grunting, got to her feet.
Her sword was in her hand. She looked towards the others.
An unspoken agreement was shared. Zinc flexed his wrenches. Piffle punched her palm. Twin flames danced from George's nostrils. Doll tensed herself for the moment when everyone else would be distracted.
Even Toby slid his hammer into his hand.
"YOUR LIFE IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT OUR TRUTH. JOIN US-"
Junella spared just enough time to say, "I'm gonna ENJOY shuttin' you the fuck up!!!"
And then the air was filled with the sounds of a billion shattering ice cubes.
*****