Week 36.2 – Hole Cards

Previously: Digger and Cole were on their way to the mysterious City of the Moon, when Digger asked, ‘What could happen?‘ And now…

“No, you don’t ever say that!” Cole said. “You’re just tempting fate!”

“Believe me, fate screws with me plenty, with or without temptation,” Digger said. He stepped carefully through a patch of thick undergrowth and had to pause to pluck away slim thorny vines that were clining to his pants. “Jeez, this is starting to remind me of my last international incident.”

“What incident?” Cole asked.

“In North Korea,” Digger said. “Some of the trees looked kind of like this. And I didn’t have my powers then, either, as far as I knew.”

“You were in North Korea?” Cole asked. “I never heard that.”

“Well, it was secret, wasn’t it?” Digger said. “I’m really not supposed to be talking about it, but hell, we’re fugitives together, right?”

“So were you a spy or something?”

“No,” Digger said. “I’d just come back from Hell.”

“Really?”

“What, you think all the entrances to Hell are in the United States?” Digger asked. “When I finally got out of Hell, it wasn’t as if I could be too choosy about where I came back. I ended up in this forest, looked something like this. Wandered around for a while, ended up on this road. Twenty, thirty minutes later, this bus comes along. I’m thinking, ‘Great, I can get a ride back to civilization.’ Next thing I know, the bus stops and these soldiers pile off and point their rifles at me.”

“A military bus?” Cole asked.

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]“My Drillers didn’t work in Hell,” Digger said, absently rubbing at the knuckles on his right hand. “So I ended up welding on these knife-blade looking things, like foot-long claws…”[/blockquote]“No, tourists from South Korea,” Digger said. “They kept them under strict guard. I can’t blame them for overreacting. I mean, I looked pretty outlandish, what with the demonskin tunic and the claws.”

“What claws?”

“My Drillers didn’t work in Hell,” Digger said, absently rubbing at the knuckles on his right hand. “So I ended up welding on these knife-blade looking things, like foot-long claws. So needless to say, I looked, um, dangerous. And I’d just spent a couple of years in Hell getting attacked by something almost every time I turned around. So when those guys came out shouting and threatening, I, uhhh…”

“You killed them?”

“No,” Digger said. “Well, not on purpose. But yeah, I took ‘em down pretty hard and fast, and I may have maimed a couple.”

“I don’t believe it,” Cole said.

“Probably better if you don’t,” Digger said. Then he spotted something higher up the hillside and ducked behind a tree trunk.

Cole ducked behind the nearest tree himself. “What?” he stage-whispered to Digger.

“Ssh,” Digger shushed him with a wave. He peeked carefully around the tree and then pointed for Cole to look as well.

Cole edged his head around the tree trunk and looked up the slope. Through the screening trees, he could see a high chain link fence and behind it. a patrolling guard in a uniform of olive-drab with blue patches and a red beret. The guard carried a machine gun.

Digger nodded to Cole. “What do you want to bet the Czar’s secret cave is in there?”

Just what is the City of the Moon and is it really worth all this trouble? Don’t miss the next episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…