Coming into Town

Harold stands before a small bridge that appears to lead into a small town called Waynesville, Iowa. With its polished white houses, row of shops, and a church in the distance, the town looked inviting. But looks could be deceiving…

As he contemplated whether to enter the town, he hears a loud inhuman moan a few miles away, back where he had left his totaled car after the ambush…

He knew what that sound was. The pack of wild pandorans that had ambushed him had finally caught up to him and they were getting closer. He knew that if he side stepped the town, they would catch up quick with him…they ran on four legs after all.

Harold looked around impassively, not very concerned for his own safety, and didn't even flinch at the sound of pandorans. In fact for some odd reason it made him hungry. He sat on the ground nowhere in particular, then chomped on a bag of fritos while the inhuman creatures whined looking back in there direction with an expressionless glance. He had a duffel bag of clothes and tools that he set down while listening to pandorans. He felt as if he had been lead here anyways so the most he could do was get where he was going at his own time. He tapped the bottom of the frito's bag and sighed as if done with it.

He wore a blue track suit with a black stripe running down the side. He touched his rubbery face that had been beaten and battered from years of vigorous medical testing, and put his hand through his well manicured hair. If their wasn't anything in this town he'd go back out and take his chances with the pandorans, if he died he died, he had came back enough times to be jaded with even death. He picked himself up and dusted off, then headed over the bridge walking nowhere in particular.

Spoiler:

The town:[Assuming he decides to venture across the bridge, and avoid an encounter with the Pandorans, this is what he would find find]

The town appeared to have a single street with a cluster of buildings, all within walking distance of each other.
Amidst a group of novelty shops, and Mom and Pop Stores, a few buildings stand out.

At the center of town a church with a tall white steeple stands directly across from a court house that appears to be very old, its brick layers and greek columns fading a bit from the wear and tear of the world.

A gas station appears a little further up the road, directly across from a cheap single floor Holiday Inn Express.

There are a few people walking about the streets shopping, and a few of them look at you funny but don't say anything. The town wasn't used to getting many visitors.

Weather conditions: Daylight with clear skies, warm and sunny.

[Words marked in blue represent locations that your character can choose to visit]

Harold looked the town over with an unexpressive glance. He waved to people on the way towards the gas station smiling politely not having any qualms about holding a conversation with perfect strangers. In the back of his mind he always envisioned who would be the first to show ghost symptoms, then get sick, who would be the first to blame him, and what creative way they would murder him. He never knew what they felt when the mob bore down on him but he always assumed murdering a monster would be a huge catharsis, so in a small way at least he was helping someone in some way even while being murdered.

He walked farther up the road to the gas station

Spoiler:

When Harold walks into the convenience store he doesn't see a clerk on duty.

He does however hear the noise of a rending iron and metal coming from the back room which apparently leads out to some sort of garage.

A little post it note has been left on the counter which reads,

"Leave money on counter."

[Door leading to the garage is unlocked and assessable]

Harold casually looked around the store for binoculars completely ignoring the noise for the time being. He then gathered chips, he placed money on the counter, maybe a bit more then he needed to and opened the bag eating the chips right in the store. He still ignored the noise, mildly curious, but more curious in inspecting the store itself. He took slow steps measuring things as if he didn't particularly care either way.

If he saw nothing, he had nothing better to do then see what the noise was. He didn't tense up, or show any signs of fear whatsoever, in fact he didn't stop eating his chips. Whatever happened happened.

Spoiler:

The door leads to a garage that holds a few worn out cars and pick up trucks that look like they are from a by gone era. He sees the contours of a man working underneath one of the vehicles, the sound of machinery from a power tool mixing in with a mellow country music tune hums from its radio.

When you approach the garage, the man wheels himself out from under neath the vehicle and gets to his feet.

The man appeared to be a tall, thin, wiry man of middle age. He wears blue overalls and has smears of engine grease on part of his face,

He looks at Harold with a curious expression.

"Something I can help yah with Mister?" He asks.

In the back of the garage Harold spots a tow truck. Harold realizes that this man might be able to pick up his damaged vehicles and repair them.

Harold continues eating chips, "Yeah, maybe...", he paused then looked around a bit, "my truck broke down I could use a tow". The medical dummy instinctively inspected this man for signs of medical distress, an instinct he never could shake. He walks around the garage with no apprehension while he was conversing. Shyness and fear of social repercussion was no fear at all to him. "Do you by chance know any store that sells binoculars?"

The man smelled like cigarettes, but other than that had no obvious signs of health problems.

He looks at Harold with an odd expression.

"Sure, I suppose I could do that. I don't know where they sell binoculars though, maybe one of the shops on Main Street has somethin."

"Tell yah what though, it'll probably take me a bit of time to get all that done. Why don't you look around and see some of the sites around here. If you could leave me a number I can give yah a call when your ride is ready."

Harold smiled, then made a casual point and click gesture and said, "right". He resisted the urge to say see what sights, but instead looked for something to write down one of his contact numbers, "Names Harold Johnson", he explained, completely confident, he had so many last names they all were his names. "I'll look around then. Say do you have a park ranger or something, I swerved out of the way of some animals they looked a bit rabid". He kept things casual, but didn't force the mechanic to be drawn into a long conversation if he didn't want to. Harold could have spoke to anyone for a long spell at this point in time seeing he had nowhere to be at the moment.

Spoiler:

The mechanic nods his head, seeming a little more at ease now that Harold had introduced himself.

Harold surmises that the locals here are not used to dealing with outsiders, something that would make disquiet that much harder to detect.

"Wild animals yah say? I think that's something Sheriff Winters would handle. I could call him if yah like, or you could probably tell him yourself, if he's at the court house.

The mechanics' gaze is interrupted by the sound of his cellphone going off. After checking it quickly, he says. "Hold on a second" and proceeds to take the call.

A worried expression takes hold of his face as he starts pacing back and forth.

"Good Lord, are you hurt bad?"

Moments later

"I don't care if he's my cousin Beth, I ain't gonna waste my money bailing him out of jail again so that he can come right back home and do it again. The man needs to sober up plain and simple."

"Look I'm sorry but I'm at work. I'll call back later."

He shakes his head a bit as he turns back to Harold.

"Sorry about that, ummm, anything else yah need?"

Harold smiled with a face that didn't move very often. He looked around all the while listening to the phone call. He noted the Sheriff and where he was but didn't comment on what he planned to do next. When the mechanic got off the phone Harold said in a consoling voice, "Is someone in need of medical attention? I'm a doctor, I wouldn't mind ...", Harold shrugged letting the mechanic know he was offering his services. He didn't get into detail or ask for any, because entering into some sort of personal issue might hit a nerve and he was going to be a big enough problem to this city soon enough.

"Sorry about that, I think my cousin's wife might of...fallen down some stairs or something."

The mechanic nods his head a bit as he thinks things over before replying.

"Yah know that actually would be a good thing, a real kind thing. If its not too much trouble, she lives down at the trailer park
that is right behind this gas station."

He walks over to a nearby counter and scribbles something on a piece of paper with a pencil before handing it over to Harold.

"Here's the address, the woman's name is Beth. When yah get there just tell her Jonas sent yah."

Jonas grabs the keys to his pick up truck and hops. "Thanks again, I'll see about getting you a discount for this."

He starts the engine, preparing to head out.

"Alright, no problem", says Harold taking the paper. "Do you have a weapon of some sort Jonas, just in case that animal makes a go at you", Harold asked. Normally pandorans left humans alone, but ever so often they broadened their horizons and decided to do humans harm for whatever reason. "I was being serious about the rabid animal I saw", Harold explained

Jonas cracks a slight grin.

"Don't worry bout it man. I'm sure whatever it is yah saw is long gone from here. You just do your job and I'll do mine."

The tow truck hums to life and pulls out of the garage, out of sight.

"Nice knowing you", Harold said in a whisper after the truck sailed off not really caring if he heard it or didn't. If he died he died, he had to cross his fingers and hope for the best. He looked at the note then walked back into the store area. He hoisted his dufflebags and headed for the trailer with no apprehension or concern for what might happen next.

When Harold reaches the trailer he notices that the door to the place is about half open. He hears a woman' voice from inside.

"The door's unlocked, come in."

The inside of the trailer is cramped and in a messy state of affairs. Trash and dirty clothes are all over the place along with beer cans and various half empty bottles of liquor.

Sitting on a chair at one of the trailer is a woman. She appears to be in her 40s but sounds younger and appears to be holding an ice pack over a swollen ankle.

"So who are you, the bail bondsman?" She asks.

Harold puts his bags down at the door and moves in. "I don't know anything about that", Harold said evenly in reference to the bail bondsman remark. He was a doctor and he was in the habit of never forming judgments about anything, he just saw a problem and diagnosed it, just like he would here. "I'm Harold, the mechanic Jansa, sent me over. I'm a doctor and my car broke down. Figured I could help you out while I'm waiting". Harold looks around the apartment inspecting everything, but casually, he couldn't help doing it. Then he focused in on the ankle and said, "may I", as if asking to step in and inspect the obvious ankle symptom.

The woman (Beth) looks a little flustered.

"A doctor? Now that's not something you see everyday around here. I just got a sprained ankle is all. They wouldn't have even had to take my husband away if he hadn't been acting like such a drunk idiot. Beth's tone conveys some anger and resentment."

Beth takes the ice pack off of her ankle for Harold to take a look. It looks pretty swollen.

Harold feels something quite odd start happening to him. The azoth within him was starting to burn a little faster, pumping the pyros through his veins like a dead heart that had suddenly sprung to life.

Could this be the sign of a milestone? And if so, what was he supposed to do?

Harold took a look at the ankle, not outright ignoring his azothic flutter, but not showing it any great enthusiasm. He should have moved on years ago, but now whatever happened happened . He didn't go chasing pipe dreams anymore it was a waste of time, destiny could wait for when he was good and damn ready this late into the game. He had met a slew of promethans that had died never having met the new dawn, having lived never feeling as if they had existed, it was a cruel cycle of envy and inadequacy. He felt sad for those in such a hurry they couldn't see their own self worth.

The medical dummy inspected Beth's foot having no interest in destiny, though if he happened on it by accident so be it. He asked purely out of a need to put her at ease with a stranger, "So what happened exactly?", in a clinical non judgmental tone.

"Just got to arguing with Jack, when I slipped and fell. Of course everybody had to go on and make a big deal about it." Beth frowns as he watches the stranger inspect her injury. She looks like she could be on the verge of tears but pushes them aside.

"So is my ankle gonna be alright? It ain't broken is it?"

Spoiler:

Harold wanted to ask more but it was none of his business, all she had to do was ask and he'd help that's what he did. "People worry, what can you do", said Harold with a non committal shrug. He took another glance at the ankle and diagnosed.

Harold determined that the ankle would likely heal on its own without any trouble, though ice would certainly decrease the swelling.

Beth continues to fret.

"Yeah I know, if wasn't for them nosy neighbors, always gotta be gettin in other people's business."

"Say, you said you know Jonas right? Could you maybe talk to him for me to help get by husband bailed out of jail?"

"The fact that he's in there right now, its just got me all upset."

Harold gave Beth the thumbs up on the ankle, and said, "give it time, it'll heal". Harold nodded as if talking to Jonas wasn't all that big of a deal. If he had to guess this husband seemed to not be the right sort of man for her, but it wasn't his place to say. "I'll talk to Jonas and see what he has to say about it. Jonas seemed like a cool guy he'll probably be able to help", Harold said just to be nice.

"What are you up to now, I don't know anything about this town or know anybody, maybe you could show me around a bit. I'll carry you... even get dinner later", Harold said. He certainly wasn't hitting on Beth and hoped that it didn't come off as that. He truly did want someone to talk to and she seemed to be the only one that wanted to do that, even if it was to gripe about her husband.

Beth seems a little taken aback by the suggestion.

"Well umm, I don't think I need to be carried around. But I'll tell yah what. How about you and Jonas come over here for dinner tonight? I'll see if I can cook something decent up for yah' all."


OOC At this point, Harold has the option of continuing to explore the town or proceeding to the next scene (dinner with Beth and Jonas), which will happen a few hours later.