[2-8] The Campground

[Hiro Protagonist]

The sight that greeted them beyond the door was horrible. Almost unbearable, after everything they'd been through, and yet, Hiro wondered why he hadn't expected it. Barry shuddered in revulsion as well, but the hacker-ronin steeled himself and strode forward to meet this new challenge.

"Oh..gasp....fucking.....gasp...pant....god fucking damnit."

"Stop...huff....whining...you big...gasp...baby..."

Omni knows how long the spiral stone staircase had been, but they finally reached the top of it. Well, more like collapsed into the landing, half splayed on top of each other. Lungs burning and muscles quivering with exhaustion, they slowly rolled away from each other and lay there recovering for about five minute. Finally, the hacker spoke. "There better be some goddamn water up here....because if not you're lugging my dead ass back down those stairs, Barry."

The bartender weakly raised a hand and flipped Hiro off. "N-nah...I'll give you a shove, let momentum do the rest." He struggled to his feet, followed by the samurai. "Now let's see what we got here."

The top of the lighthouse was surprisingly furnished, almost like a small apartment. There was a bed, bookshelf, and nightside table tucked away in one corner, the mattress neatly made up with pillows and a blanket. Across the room was what looked like a larder, with barrels and crates and some heavy sacks labeled "Grain". The front was open, or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection it was covered with thin panes of glass, ostensibly to let the light from the tremendous lamp shine through.

Hiro peered inside the large, reflective dome and shook his head. The bulb was smashed and the wiring was pitted and rusted. He might have been able to fix it if could summon things, but this was museum era tech. He was a whiz with circuits and data, but rewiring a turn of the century lightbulb was beyond him. "Hey, Barry-"

The hacker turned around to hear a loud crunching noise, and was subsequently hit with something in the chest. It thunked off his torso and he caught it in one gloved palm. An apple. The Syntech bartender wiped his mouth and waved, sucking down a plastic bottle. "There's water too. Whoever was here left without their supplies. Maybe they got rescued?"

Hiro walked over to the larder and began to help himself, drinking two full bottles of slightly brackish water before eating the apple in two bites. There was also some less palatable hardtack, but they ate that too, washed down with a couple sips of that liquor Hiro had rescued from the plane.

Both travelers now full and content, if not happy, were at least optimistic now. Barry was perusing the bookshelf and nighttable, and held up some old looking papers. "The lighthouse keeper was studying stars. Look, here's some constellations! That's weird, though..." He walked over to the glass window in front, peering through an old and battered telescope in the corner. "You can't see anything in this fog."

Hiro waved him off. "Let's unwrap that mystery tomorrow. It's getting dark, and those stairs were a bitch." He got up from his perch and went back over to their slightly depleted food stores, grunting and shoving a barrel over to the staircase. Doing the same with another couple crates, there was soon a rudimentary barricade at the top of the stairs. 

Hiro took off his sword, dual tanto, and goggles, leaning them on the side table. Barry, still musing over the star charts, looked behind him at the ragged hacker. "I'll stay up for a bit, I wanna see something. You hit the hay, Hiro." 

The hacker needed no more encouragement, and was about to fall onto the mattress, before thinking better of it. He looked around for something else and spied the sacks of grain. Rearranging them into a more comfortable shape, he reclined in his makeshift beanbag and was soon out cold.

The bartender looked back at his traveling companion and sighed. "I really hope he doesn't snore."