Sugarcane

<html> <h2> TINA: The coupe's driver was a scorching twenty-four-year old female, blonde-slash-green with a textbook fracture-slash-dislocation of her spine at the atlantooccipital joint and complete transection of the spinal cord. Fancy words for whiplash so bad it snaps your neck. So-buckle up and slow down. Reporting for Graphic Traffic, this is Tina Something...</h2> </html>\n\nConway turns the radio off. Rant looks at him until Conway turns to face him. \n\n[[...|Rant2]]

Rant leaned over and messed with the radio. Discordant noises and shrieks came from the radio until he settled on one station.\n\n<html> <h2> TINA: Expect a gapers' delay if you're eastbound on the Meadows Bypass through the Richmond area. Slow down and stretch your neck for a good long look at a two-car fatal accident in the left-most lane. The front vehicle is a sea-green 1974 Plymouth Road Runner with a four-barrel carb-equipped 440-cubic-inch, cast-iron-block V8. Original ice-white interior. </h2> </html>\n\nConway looks over at Rant. Rant is smiling and looking at the wave forms on the radio visualizer. \n\n[[...|Tina2]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: There only happy because they're forced to go home. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Or because they have a home to go to. Do you have a home to go to? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: I'm no family man. </h2> </html>\n\nZach turned around to look at the river again. He stood a while until he lit up another cigarette. He turned to Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Did you know I may well be the only FBI agent who's ever fished for evidence? </h2> </html>\n\n[[-----x-----|Zach6]]

They talk about a severed ear. They talk about Sandy and her father who's a policeman. They talk about Sandy's boyfriend who plays on the football team. They talk about Sandy's dream.\n\n<html> <h2> SANDY: In fact, it was on the night I met you. In the dream, there was our world, and the world was dark because there weren't any robins and the robins represented love. And for the longest time, there was this darkness. And all of a sudden, thousands of robins were set free and they flew down and brought this blinding light of love. And it seemed that love would make any difference, and it did. So, I guess it means that there is trouble until the robins come. </h2> </html>\n\nThere is a spider crawling along the outside of the window next to Conway. It's crawling towards its web, newly stocked with squirming flies.\n\n[[...|Arlenes3]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: I'm driving back to work. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: AN antique dealership, I presume? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: You read the side of the van? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> It was hard in this light, but I could just make out the words. Lysette is a beautiful name. Is she your wife? </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach3]]

Conway continues driving. A diner is sat on the corner where 3 streets meet.\n\nArlene's.\n\nBooths built for two people to look across at each other. Square metal napkin dispensers between the salt and the ketchup. Red and white checkers.\n\nConway sits at a booth and waits for a waitress. There are only two other people in the diner. Kids. One with black hair and one with a smooth blonde ponytail.\n\n<html> <h2> SANDY: The Blue Lady...she sings at the Slow Club. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> JEFFREY: And how is she connected? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> SANDY: I don't know. I heard my dad say she was, but I didn't hear how. </h2> </html>\n\nA cockroach crawls over Conway's shoe. He crushes it and pushes it away with his foot.\n\n[[...|Arlenes2]] \n\n

<html> <h1> END OF ACT ONE </h1> </html> \n\n\n\n

Conway carries on driving.\n\nThe station plays country and folk music. Its adverts are full of crass jokes and innuendoes.\n\nA Dodge Charger overtakes Conway. Inside are 5 men. One of them is from the diner. He looks scared and the driver is screaming at him. The driver has a plastic mask in his hand and a metal tank on his lap. He notices Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> FRANK: The fuck are you looking at, you fuck? Don't you stare at me! Don't you fucking stare at me! </h2> </html>\n\nConway carries on driving. The Charger speeds up the road. Tyre squeal and screaming and laughing.\n\n[[...|Arlenes5]]

Conway carries on driving.\n\nHe drives until he's out of range of the station. His headlights pierce through the legions of trees and shadows. Long straight roads and blind corners.\n\nIn the road was a Dodge Charger. Its headlights are off.\n\nNow they are on.\n\nNow they are driving towards the van.\n\n[[-----x-----|Act3]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Who knows? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You know a girl called Echo Lawrence? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: How about Chester Casey?</h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> You ever got a snake bite? Or been sprayed by a skunk? </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: No.|No1]]\n[[CONWAY: Once or Twice|Once1]]\n[[CONWAY: You getting in?|Getting1]]

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Emily sits upright. She thinks about something whilst rubbing her thumb along the jagged edge of the bottlecap. She looks at Ben and Bob. She turns over her cards and stares at Ben and Bob. She has the ace of clubs and the ace of spades.\n\n<html> <h2> EMILY: Alright I'll fold, but I want to see the river.</h2> </html>\n\nConway takes a card off the top of the deck and discards it. He takes the next one and puts it face up at the end of the line of cards.\n\n[[-------x-------|BackonRoad1]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: I can imagine a lot. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: What I experience was made up of fever dreams and sordid fantasies. You wouldn't want to imagine it. You would want them purged from this world, for they should not exist. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: You purge a lot of things? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Only those that I cannot bring to justice. Shadows and demons and other unworldly creatures. They only serve to blind us, to distract us from what our lives should be. Honest. Just. And prosperous. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach3]]\n\n\n\n

Conway tells him to fold.\n\nThe man looks at you and nods. He mucks his cards.\n \n[[...|Poker2]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Homer. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Mine's Fetch. Half a hound, half-a beagle and halfa bull terrier. Middletown's full of them, but we don't let him out this time of year. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant3]]

A Kentucky Route Zero Fan-Fiction

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Dogwood Drive </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Well, I'm not in any position to turn down your, most generous offer. Thank you. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach3]]

[[CONWAY: Or maybe just 'dog'?|Enddog]]\n[[CONWAY: Yeah, you're called Homer. Aren't you, boy?|Enddog]]

Conway knocks on the door.\n\nThe sound echos through the house and gains volume and density. The door gently vibrates. Conway places his hand on the door which causes him to shake and quiver. He puts his hand back in his pocket where it shakes and quivers. He can still feel it in his bones and in his blood.\n\n[[Knock on the Door Again|Knock2]]\n[[Step Back|ApproachHouse]]\n[[Head back to your Car|...]]\n

<html><h1> ACT TWO </h1></html>\n\n[[...|Drive1]]

<html> <h1> SCENE 3 </h1> </html>\n\n[[...|ending1]]

[[CONWAY: Guess it doesn't really matter, does it?|...]]\n[[CONWAY: Do you want some jerky?|...]] \n<<set $total = $total+1>>

<html> <h2> CONWAY: The Zero </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: The Zero? I hope we won't become stuck on it if it lives up to its infitisemial namesake. </h2> </html> \n\n[[...|Zach3]]\n

<html> <h2> CONWAY:You want to stay in a motel? Around here? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: As long as it has beds with sheets and coffee in the morning. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach3]]\n

Conway examines the punched cards.\n\nThe cards are metallic and thin. The edges of the card are still sharp. The punches in the card are different shapes and sizes. Conway runs his hand over it and swirls his finger around its bumps and imperfections.\n\n<<set $card = $card + 1>>\n\n[[...|Upstairs]]

<<if $total gt 0>>\nno secret end!\n<<else>>\nsecret end!\n<<endif>>

Emily sits upright. She thinks about something whilst rubbing her thumb along the jagged edge of the bottlecap. She looks at Bob and Ben. She flicks in the bottle cap into the pile in the middle before pushing the rest across the table. \n\nConway takes a card off the top of the deck and discards it. He takes the next one and puts it face up at the end of the line of cards.\n\n[[-------x-------|BackonRoad1]]\n

Conway tells him to go all-in.\n\nThe man looks at you and nods. He pushes all of his bottle caps into the middle.\n\n[[...|Poker2]]

Conway woke up.\n\nHe was sitting at the wheel of his van. His dog sitting on his lap. He picked him and placed him in the passenger seat before stepping out of the van.\n\nIn the road behind the van was a truck on its side. The wheels has slid loose. There were broken whiskey bottles and booze spilling over the highway behind him. There was no driver. He was alone with the stars and the wind and the alcohol that twinkled.\n\n[[...|ending2]]

Conway climbs back into the van. He pats his dog and gives him a jerky treat.\n\nHe starts the engine and releases the handbrake. The van lurched forward before slowing down into a metered roll. He pressed down the pedals and drove into the night and shadows and circumstance.\n\n[[-----x-----|endofact1]]

Rant leaned closer to Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You know what really killed my Grandma Esther. It werent the black widow. It was the dogs. Packs of them rolling around the town. Her own was in it, howling at the top of its lungs. Teeth full o blood. </h2> </html>\n\nSomething was getting closer. Conway started squirming away. Rant pushed his foot on his shoulder firmer.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You get enough warm blood and muscle, you can kill anything. </h2> </html>\n\nConway felt the earth shift and the punch of-\n\n[[-----x-----|Act3]]

You muck his hand.\n\n<html> <h2> EMILY: You fold too? Dammit. </h2> </html>\n\nShe flips over her cards. She has the ace of spades and the ace of clubs.\n\n<html> <h2> EMILY: What did you do with your cards? What did you have? </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Allfold2]]\n\n

Ben and Bob retrieve their cards and put them face-up on the table.\n\nEmily snorts before taking a sip of her beer. The collars of her white blouse poke out from beneath her grey cardigan. She wears glasses and has a long blonde ponytail.\n\n<html><h2> BEN: Told you Bob had something big. \nEMILY: You want to see who would have won? </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Allfold3]]

Conway takes a card off the top of the deck and discards it. He takes the next one and puts it face up at the end of the line of cards.\n\n[[-------x-------|BackonRoad1]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\nRant looked up and down the dirt road before back to Conway. He walked to the back of the van, opened it and put in his suitcase. The suitcase jangled and clinked as he set it down. He closed the door and hopped into the front seat.\n\n[[...|Tina1]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: And they don't even wear clothes. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Very true Conway, very true. And poetic. Are you poet? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: I'm no artist. </h2> </html>\n\nZach turned around to look at the river again. He stood a while until he lit up another cigarette. He turned to Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Did you know I may well be the only FBI agent who's ever fished for evidence? </h2> </html>\n\n[[-----x-----|Zach6]]\n

Conway steps out of his car. The easterly wind sweeps flecks of dust and dirt off the path and into the grass beyond. The path to the house is sparkling somehow. The house is partially lost in the dark and in the shadows.\n\n\n [[...]]\n<<set $total = 0>>\n<<set $door = 0>>\n

Conway carries on driving.\n\nA forest looms alongside the road on Conway's side. In between two towering tress is a clearing. Two men and a woman are seated at a table. All of them are looking at the table.\n\n[[Stop and get out of the car|Poker1]]\n[[Carry on driving|BackonRoad1]]

There are still no waitresses.\n\nConway leaves the diner and gets back into his van. The radio starts up again.\n\n<html> <h2> RADIO DJ: This is Lumberton, U.S.A. At the sound of the falling tree...it's 1:30, and this is the mighty voice of Lumberton, the town where people really know how much wood a woodchuck chucks. </h2> </html>\n\nA bug splatters on the windshield and the wipers wipe off.\n\n[[...|Arlenes4]]

<html> <h2> RANT: Next Easter my mom made me paint easter eggs. I painted mine to look like grenades. MK2 Fragmentation grenades. She just painted hers yellow. That Easter Sunday she placed them through the garden and wanted me to find them in the roses and the tulips. You feel anything yet? Go deeper. </h2> </html>\n\nConway went deeper.\n\n[[...|Rant9]]

<html> <h2> Underneath one of the roses were a black widow. It bit me. I went hollerin inside about it but I got tole to find all the eggs. They were going to church and I had to find them before they left. All I could think about was the way my grandma's fake teeth had bit into her tongue. You know what the last thing she said was? You know? She said: Run fast, but if you aint fast enough, remember I still love you. </h2> </html>\n\nConway delved deeper into the earth. Inch by inch his hand was getting colder and his pulse quickened and the hammering in his temples grew louder.\n\n[[...|Rant10]]

<html> <h2> RANT: What's your dog's name? </h2> </html>\n\n\n[[CONWAY: Homer|Homer1]]\n[[CONWAY: Blue|Blue1]]\n[[CONWAY: I don't know. It's just an old mutt|Mutt1]]\n\n

<html> <h2> RANT: Dogs pack up this time of year. Not to kill, just for heat. Runts, strays, maulers that skipped the pound. When the howls rip through Middletown every dog wants to join up. Even dogs got souls. Souls are for heating blood, keeping muscle tense. You get enough warm blood and muscle and you can kill anything. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: Middletown? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Just a little town. Aint nobody there who didn't want to move away. Aint nobody who wouldn't move back </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant4]]\n\n\n\n\n

Conway talks to the hitchhiker.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: I'm Rant. You heading to the city? </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: Some city|City1]]\n[[CONWAY: Somewhere|Somewhere1]]\n[[CONWAY: Who knows?|WhoKnows1]]

There was a large hole in the ground. Dark and twisting.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Put your arm in there. Go on. </h2> </html>\n\nConway looked at him. He was smiling. Conway placed his hand around the edge of the hole.\n\n[[Feel deeper into the hole|deeper1]]\n[[Back out|backout1]]

Conway delves deeper into the hole. The dirt around his hand starts to quaver and shake. \n\nRant leans over him and whispers into his ear.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You ever looked at a spider bite? The veins all crab up, all dark red and pulses. It spreads from the bite, and its hot, its so hot. I saw my Grandma Esther get bit by a black widow. But it weren't the spider that killed her. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant8]]

Conway carried on driving.\n\nThe road they were on carried them alongside a wide river full of salmon leaping upstream. Conway pulled over and dipped his feet into the river. There was a family down stream. A rod was dipped into the water whilst the family ate and laughed. Rant sat down next to Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: That aint real fishing. You want to go real fishing? </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant5]]

Rant walked away from the stream. He walked quick with his greasy hair and sideburns whipping in the wind. He wore pale blue jeans and a green shirt that looked as if he had worn it every day of his life. He kept on walking.\n\nThey went past olive trees with shaggy long silver leaves. Then they went past sugar beets. Further on was a desert. Cracked earth and empty sky. Eagles flew in front of the sun.\n\nRant found the largest rock and tipped it up.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: This here is real fishing. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant6]]

The downstairs room is run-down. Battered chairs and tables. Dust and cobwebs. The room is dominated by a lareg windown at the rear of the room. Spreading out from the window is lettering that covers the room.\n\n\n[[Look at the carved letters|Letters]]\n[[Leave the room|IntoHouse]]

Conway feels deeper into the hole.\n\nIt's cool. The sun and the heat of the desert doesn't mix with the cold below. There are light vibrations in the dirt around his fingers. Like a heart-beat.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You feel anything yet? Don't be scared. We won't never be as young as we is tonight. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant7]]

The path up to the door is sprinkled with glass which picks up the light from the full moon. The house has a blind door that nearly blends into the wall.\n\n[[Knock on the door|Knock]]\n[[Try the door|Open]]\n[[Walk Away|...]]\n[[Go into the house|IntoHouse]]\n<<set $total = $total + 1>>\n\n

Conway carried on driving.\n\nThe scenery went from fog to snow to sun to rain. The road they were on went past a river with salmon swimming upstream. Zach wanted to stop.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Must be useful to be hardwired to know your way home. To instinctly know where you need to be. </h2> </html>\n\nZach smoked a cigarette and watched the leaping fish. His stance was all shoulders with his heart angled away slightly. He looked like he was made to look into the distance.\n\n[[...|Zach4]]\n\n \n\n

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Okay...Zach </h2> </html>\n\nZach lights up another cigarette. He takes a drag and breathes it at the windshield.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: I'm in aid of somewhere where I can sleep. A lot happened in that town. More than you would ever imagine. </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: I can imagine a lot.|Imagine1]]\n[[CONWAY: Which town?|Greenvale1]]\n[[CONWAY: You want to stay in a motel? Around here?|Motel1]]\n

\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Francis Zach Morgan, but please, call me Zach. That's what everyone calls me </html> </h2>\n\nThe man picks up the dog then sits down with it in his lap. The dog didn't wake up.\n\nIn the light of the cab Conway can see Zach has a large bandage below his right eye and a scar under his left. He has an unsettling smile and short hair. He smells of cigarettes.\n\n[[CONWAY: Okay...Zach|Zach2]]\n[[CONWAY: Whatever you say...Mr Morgan|Morgan1]]\n[[CONWAY: Where you headed?|Zach2]]

Conway drives west.\n\nTrees start to spring from the heavy earth. The bark of the trees grows lighter until they are the color of deer. The forest and mountains give way to a small pretty town. Bright red roses in front of white fences. Five engines with firemen atop them; waving.\n\n\n[[...|radio1]]

Jaws was playing. Zach had never seen Jaws on the big screen. Conway pulled into the empty lot. Grass was starting to grow through the concrete and the trees surrounding the edges of the screen. Owls hooted and the sound of crickets resonanted. The light of the projecter burned through the blackness of the forests like sunlight.\n\nThere was no other cars or attendents. Zach went to find a coffee.\n\nHe came back with the speaker, two coffees, two bags of popcorn and a bag of candy.\n\nThe film started.\n\n[[...|Zach8]]

Conway carried on driving.\n\nZach had found a punk station on the radio. Sham 69. The Buzzcocks. Slaughter and the Dogs. The Fall. The Damned. Joy Division.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: A Drive-in. I've not been to since, I saw the Fire Walk With Me. I liked its twisting plot and its faltless cinematography, but I found Chris Isaak unengaging. Kyle Maclachlan played a much more interesting character. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach7]]\n\n\n

Zach lit up another cigarette and blew the smoke at the river. The salmon were still leaping upstream and the family were still laughing. \n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: We've never been separated. I left York in Greenvale, but at least he's got Emily to keep him company. That family, they are happier than I am, and I am happier than you, Conway. I can feel it. Bt these fish, they are happier than all of us. </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: And they don't even wear clothes.|Fish1]]\n[[CONWAY: ...|Silence1]]\n[[CONWAY: There only happy because they're forced to go home.|Home1]]\n\n\n\n\n

<html> <h2> ZACH: Greenvale is a ghost town now. Since everything that happened. The police station, the Diner, the Galaxy of Terror: all shuttered and locked away. </h2> </html>\n\nZacch looked down stream at the fishermen and his family downstream. They were picknicking. They had smiles full of teeth and ungainly laughter. \n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: The Milk Barn was still open, but I've never liked Rock and Roll as much as Keith does. I'm more of a punk man, myself. Olivia said that it was like 'all of the happiness she'd been missing finally came back'. She told me to come back to the diner, for something even tastier. I've no doubt It'll beat even the Sinner's sandwich. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach5]]\n

Zach took the lid of his coffee and peered into it.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Do yo listen to your coffee? They always help me solve my most complicated of problems. </h2> </html>\n\nConway peered into the coffee. It looked like a white and brown whirlpool.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: There! Can't you see it? It says- </h2> </html>\n\n[[-----x-----|Act3]]\n

<html> <h2> CONWAY: ... </h2> </html>\n\nZach turned around to look at the river again. He stood a while until he lit up another cigarette. He turned to Conway.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Did you know I may well be the only FBI agent who's ever fished for evidence? </h2> </html>\n\n[[-----x-----|Zach6]]\n

By Daniel Winters

Conway backs out.\n\nRant stands on the shoulder that is closest to the hole.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: This here is a test of faith. History is just monsters and victims. Which is you? </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant7]]

\n<html> <h1> KENTUCKY ROUTE ZERO </h1></html>\n<html><h1> SCENE ONE </h1></html>\n\n[[ ...|ACTONE]] \n\n

A sound comes from the computer.\n\nWhistles and distant shouts. Hot steam.\n\n<html> <h2> DONALD: This Donald. I'm standing next to the tracks, next to the flowers I always see coming into the station. I'm taping this to the side of the train. I have seen swallows and eagles fly by the window of this train, and I'm wondering what else I have missed. These flowers...they're usually gone before I see what they are, but now I can see they are not Lupine or Bluebells.</h2> </html>\n\nThe whistles blow again. The engine chugs and the wheels screech. Motion and wind and eagle cries.\n\n[[-----x-----|BackonRoad2]]\n\n

<<set $secretend = 0>>\n<<set $door = 0>>\n<<set $card = 0>>

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Okay...Mr Morgan </h2> </html>\n\nZach glared at Conway and let the ash of his cigarette fall to the floor of the van.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: My name is very important to me. As I'm sure yours is...Conway. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: How do you know my name? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: As an FBI Investigator my job is to have a complete perspective of my surroundings. People and objects. Where are you headed Conway? </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: The Zero|Zero1]]\n[[CONWAY: Dogwood Drive|Dogwood1]]\n[[CONWAY: I'm driving back to work|Work1]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Blue. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Mine's Fetch. Half a hound, half-a beagle and halfa bull terrier. Middletown's full of them, but we don't let him out this time of year. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant3]]

Conways goes upstairs and into what was an office. The walls are lined with filing cabinets. A few drawers hang open. A stack of flyers sit on the desk; some mentioning new student clubs and others asking for new roommates or old textbooks. \n\nA massive computer looms in the corner. There are punched cards on the floor and around the computer.\n\n[[Examine the punched cards|Cards1]] \n[[Examine the computer|Computer1]]\n

A sound comes from the computer. It is the sound of rushing water. A voice of a man tries to talk over the sound.\n\n<html> <h2> DONALD: This is Donald. I'm at the top of this mountain. They said that there was a brook on it somewhere - some say right at the top. It's a curious thing. From here I can see the snow down in the valley and bluebirds buzzing through the pines. No-one knows where this brook goes. It slinks through the mountain rocks and goes into the heart of the mountain. Into those caves and shadows. It goes somewhere. It must do. Everything deserves an ending. </h2> </html>\n\nThere is a splashing sound and the rush picks up. The sounds gurgle and slosh until the sounds become unbearable. \n\n[[-----x-----|BackonRoad2]]

Conway comes to an intersection. Three dirt roads stretch off at right angles. \n\n[[Drive North|North2]]\n[[Drive East|East1]]\n[[Drive West|West1]]

He passes buildings that should have fallen and trees as big as houses. An eagle shaped shadow passes over the road and the draft of great wings shakes the van.\n\nConway's thoughts spin and weave themselves together. The cargo in the back of the van slides and tumbles with the rough road. Conway's dog naps in the seat beside him with his hat over his eyes. \n\n\n[[-----X-----|Drive3]]

Conway leaves the house and gets back into the van.\n\nHis dog follows and stretches out on the passenger seat. He starts the engine and pulls away.\n\n[[...|ACTTWO]]

Conway continues driving.\n\nThe leaves in the trees look like pastel smudges and the bark like furrows in tilled earth. The wind picks up and the sky gets darker.\n\n[[...|Drive4]]

Conway drives down the road.\n\nThe road winds on and keeps winding on. Around each bluff and hill the tarmac gets patchier. The sun slowly recedes into the horizon.\n\nA young woman on a horse rides alongside. She wears glasses and has computer equipment on her back. She's wearing a flowing denim dress with a drawing of a man down the side. Her hands are covered in ink smudges and paper cuts.\n\nShe smiles at Conway and waves at him before kicking the horse into a gallop. She takes off and rides her horse down the middle of the road. The young artist's shadow is illuminated in the sunset. \n\n[[...|Drive2]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Where are you headed? </h2> </html>\n\nZach lights up another cigarette. He takes a drag and breathes it at the windshield.\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Somewhere where I can sleep. A lot happened in that town. More than you would ever imagine. </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: I can imagine a lot.|Zach3]]\n[[CONWAY: Which town?|Greenvale1]]\n[[CONWAY: You want to stay in a motel? Around here?|Motel1]]\n

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Somewhere. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You know a girl called Echo Lawrence? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: How about Chester Casey?</h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> You ever got a snake bite? Or been sprayed by a skunk? </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: No.|No1]]\n[[CONWAY: Once or Twice|Once1]]\n[[CONWAY: You getting in?|Getting1]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: You getting in? </h2> </html>\n\nRant looked up and down the dirt road before back to Conway. He walked to the back of the van, opened it and put in his suitcase. The suitcase jangled and clinked as he set it down. He closed the door and hopped into the front seat.\n\n[[...|Tina1]]

<<set $open= $open + 1>>\n<<set $door = $door + 1>>\n<<if $door lt 2>>\n\nConyway tries the door.\n \nHe tries to yank it open, and but it only shudders against the frame. Flecks of paint on the door spiral onto Conway's boots.\n\n\n[[...|ApproachHouse]]\n<<else>>\n<<if $door lt 3>>\n \nConway tries the door.\n\nHe tries the door again, and it shakes with his force. He kick it near the door handle and a small crack appears. More and more paint has fallen and he begins to see an outline of two letters in the door.\n\n[[...|ApproachHouse]]\n<<else>>\n<<if $door lt 4>>\n\nConway tries the door.\n\nThe door handles falls to the ground with a metallic twinkle. The rest of the paint falls to the floor in a delicate flurry. A 'C' and a 'C'.\n\nThe door swings open slowly.\n\n\n[[...|ApproachHouse]]\n<<else>>\n<<if $door lt 5>>\n\nConway tries the door.\n\nConway steps into the dark house and runs his fingers down the splinters and jags in the door frame.\n\nOnly darkness is inside.\n\n[[...|IntoHouse]] \n<<endif>>\n<<endif>>\n<<endif>>\n<<endif>>\n\n

You put him all-in.\n\nThe woman laughs and flips a bottlecap with his thumb. He leans back in his chair. The collars of her white blouse poke out from beneath her grey cardigan. She wears glasses and has a long blonde ponytail.\n\nThere is only a few bottlecaps in front of her. \n\n<html><h2>EMILY: I have aces. What should I do?</h2></html>\n\n[[CONWAY: I'd go all-in. You've got the best hand|Allin2]]\n[[CONWAY: You should fold. I would fold, at least.|Fold2]]\n\n

Bob motions Conway over. He is a wide man with blue suspenders over a white shirt. He has a chiselled black beard and mustache.\n\nHe removes his beer from on top of his cards and hands them to Conway. He has the seven of clubs and the two of spades. He takes a drink from his beer.\n\n<html><h2>BOB: Ben was right, eh?</h2></html>\n<html><h2>BEN: Are you lying again?</h2></html>\n<html><h2>EMILY: Are you two bickering again?</h2></html> \n\n[[Muck his hand|Allfold1]]\n[[Put hin all-in|Poker3]]

Conway stops and gets out of the car.\n\nThe table top is made of metal and is slightly concave. It looks like it used to be on the side of an aircraft or space shuttle. Each has a beer bottle and a number of bottle caps in front of them and there is a pack of cards in the middle of the table.\n\nThey are playing poker. Four cards are on the table in a line. The eight of diamonds. The six of hearts. The five of hearts. And the three of spades. A jumble of bottle caps lies next to them.\n\nOne of the men and the woman are staring blankly at the table. The other man has an elbow on the table and his head in his palm. He looks up at Conway and whips his head away from him before nodding at his cards.\n\n[[...|Ask1]]

Blue is lying at Conway's feet and is resting is his head on his front paws. He is looking up at Conway with soft eyes. The wind ripples through his old and tattered straw hat.\n\n[[Look at the house|LookHouse]]\n[[Approach the house|ApproachHouse]]\n[[Talk to Blue]]\n[[Drive Away|ACTTWO]]\n\n<<playbgm 7Qnu72j4Y2k 0>>

Conway examines the computer.\n\nThe computer is loud and monstrous. It has a wide slot and an eject button on the front.\n\n<<if $card gt 0 then>>\n\n[[Insert punched cards into computer|Computer2]]\n\n<<else>>\n\n[[...|Upstairs]]\n\n<<endif>>

[[Insert the card marked 'mountain'|Mountain1]]\n[[Insert the card marked 'train'|Train1]]

Conway drives north.\n\nThe sky is dark now and Conway can hear owls in the deep forest alongside the road. Further down the road a flare is let off; red light in the front of stars.\n\nUnderneath the flare is a police car and a man standing next to it. He is wearing just a white shirt, pants, a tie and is smoking and whips his arm around to flag Conway down. The bandage around his head is illuminated in the headlights.\n\n[[Drive On|Act3]]\n[[Pick up the hiker|Zach1]]

Conway turns the radio dial until he finds one that sticks.\n\n<html> <h2> RADIO DJ: It's a sunny, woodsy day in Lumberton, so get those chainsaws out. This is the mighty W.O.O.D, the musical voice of Lumberton. At the sound of the falling tree...it's 9.30! There's a whole lot of wood waiting out there, so let's get going. </h2> </html>\n\nThe song after was a mesh of saxophones and violins; with a light sprinkling of piano.\n\n[[...|Arlenes1]]

Conway looks at the house. \n\nIt is a chaste house of bricks and timber and slate roofs. The house is made up of three sharp pyramids with two small windows apiece beneath them. The colors of door and window frames match the dusk skyline. A realtor would have called it charming. \n\n[[...]]\n\n<<set $total = $total + 1>>

Conway goes into the house.\n\nThe walls are rough, but reassuring in the dark.\n\nThere is music playing in the room down the hall. Metallic scratches are coming from upstairs.\n\n[[Go Upstairs|Upstairs]]\n[[Go into the door at the end of the hall|Downstairs]]

Conway drives east.\n\nThe trees grew sparser and the forests stopped. The clouds parted and it became a dry grey day.\n\nAround the next corner was a kid walking away from Conway. When he saw the light beneath him he turned and stuck out a thumb.\n\nHe looked like a hilbilly. Sticky black teeth like warm tar. His hands and fingers were covered in scars like there wasn't enough skin. His fingers were ripped up and dripped blood.\n\nHe carried a beat-up cardboard suitcase and a piece of rolled-up paper in his back pocket.\n\n[[Talk to the hitchhiker|Rant1]]\n[[Drive On|Act3]]

<html> <h2> RANT: You know that only a fraction of people die from a black widow bite. Most it just makes you retch till you get a 6-pack. But it gives everyone priapism. Nature's little blue pill. That Easter morning and that bite was the first time I ever got a boner. It lasted four hours. 'Booster shot' I called it. Poison's just a drug when you do it right. Your so close to dying that you get high from the fumes of it. You feel anything? You feel a heartbeat. </h2> </html>\n\nConway nodded. He could feel something scrabbling around his fingers. He had tried to pull back but Rant was standing on his shoulder.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Go after it. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant11]]

Conway's hands were lost underneath. He pinched the cold earth between his fingers and he grabbed huge chunks of it with his free hand. Something was getting closer. The vibrations were getting more fierce. He could feel breath on his fingers.\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Go after it. The future you have tomorrow won't be the same future you had yesterday. ANd if you've never been rabid you've never lived. Go deeper. Grab it. Grab it. Grab it. </h2> </html> \n\n[[...|Rant12]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Which town? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: Greenvale. A handful of roses between a red scrubs and bones. Such a shame. York and I did all we could. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: York? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> ZACH: He was a very important part of my life. Someone that I had to leave behind. He always did get the girl. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Zach3]]

<html><h2> BEN: Bob's got something big, I know it. And Emily...I have no idea. I never know what she's thinking. </h2></html>\n\nHe lifts the edge of his cards to show the seven and the eight of hearts. He has a large pile of bottle caps in front of him.\n\nHe is tall and has sturdy black hair. He is wearing a white shirt above his grey trousers. His yellow boots creak as he shifts and squirms. \n\n[[Tell him to go all-in|Allin1]]\n[[Tell him to fold|Fold1]]

[[CONWAY: Hey there Blue, how's it going?|Homer]]\n[[CONWAY: Wait, aren't you called Homer?|Homer]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: I don't know. It's just an old mutt. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: Mine's Fetch. Half a hound, half-a beagle and halfa bull terrier. Middletown's full of them, but we don't let him out this time of year. </h2> </html>\n\n[[...|Rant3]]

Conway looks at the carved letters. Each of the letters is intricate and smooth. Around the room are hundreds of letters that make up great waves around the room. Each wave tell it's own story.\n\n[[Look at the wave above|Wave1]]\n[[Look at the wave at eye-level|Wave2]]\n[[Look at the wave below|Wave3]]

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Once or twice. </h2> </html>\n\nRant looked up and down the dirt road before back to Conway. He walked to the back of the van, opened it and put in his suitcase. The suitcase jangled and clinked as he set it down. He closed the door and hopped into the front seat.\n\n[[...|Tina1]]

Conway looks at the wave above.\n\nIt tells of a story:\n\nThere is a hut in the heart of the deep forest surrounded by leaves and branches that crunch in all seasons.\n\nIt only has one entrance and two chairs.\n\nYou have to sit down first but if you wait long enough...\n\n[[-----x-----|BackonRoad2]]

Conway looks at the wave at eye-level.\n\nIt tells of a story:\n\nTo try and keep young she stopped reading their textbooks and newspapers. By 23 she had read 430 metaphors for love and 397 happy endings.\n\nBy the age of 27 she was mistook for her own daughter.\n\nBy the age of 30...\n\n[[-----x-----|BackonRoad2]]\n\n

Conway looks at the wave below.\n\nIt tells him of a story:\n\nEveryday he wrote a poem on a post-it note he stole. 5 lines of ABABA next to the emergency stop button of the lift.\n\nHe never looked back.\n\nIn the morning he takes the lift back up and sees...\n\n[[-----x-----|BackonRoad2]]

Conway knocks on the door again.\n\nConway steps back and watches the whole house rumble. Its voice is hoarse and allusive. Its stories pour out of the house in a language Conway can't understand.\n\n[[Knock Again|Knock3]]\n[[Open the Door|Open]]\n[[Head back to your Car|...]]\n

Conway knocks on the door again.\n\nThe voice tears apart. He begins to pick out two voices. Distinct and concerted. They whisper of new beginnings and lost endings and harsh sunlight over an entrancing world. \n\nThe door swings open. Only darkness is inside.\n\n[[Go into the House|IntoHouse]]\n\n

<html> <h2> CONWAY: Some city. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: You know a girl called Echo Lawrence? </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> RANT: How about Chester Casey?</h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> CONWAY: No. </h2> </html>\n\n<html> <h2> You ever got a snake bite? Or been sprayed by a skunk? </h2> </html>\n\n[[CONWAY: No.|No1]]\n[[CONWAY: Once or Twice|Once1]]\n[[CONWAY: You getting in?|Getting1]]