The Six Guns

Chapter Thirteen: Dead Crater

After spending the night in the broken down aircraft carrier, the group reconvenes to ask around for clues about Holly's whereabouts. For a while, no one could give them information, but that was probably Rose's fault for her poor choice of description. It seems it was just rather difficult for anyone to know the whereabouts of a "Tall nerd with glasses, probably carrying some dumb laptop tablet thing". Eventually, they managed to find someone who knew something about a girl who "looks like they're up to no good, maybe staring at grass and crap and writing shit down" and according to their source, she had left a couple weeks ago.
"She left, headed west" the man told them. "She asked a few people around here about the Dead Crater after spending a few days in these parts inspecting the plants or something".
"Thanks!" Rose says to the man as they leave and walk towards the west.
"Ah hell" Siran says as they walk.
"What's wrong?" Zia asks.
"Dead Crater" Siran responds.
"You know where that is?" Rose asks, excitedly.
"It's where I'm from" Siran replies. The whole group was silent for a while. They couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Except for Alex. Alex was interested in learning more about Siran.
"So we finally get to see your home then?" Alex asks.
"Unfortunately" Siran replies. "There isn't a whole lot there though, so don't get your hopes up".
"Isn't Dead Crater really far away though?" Zia asks.
"Yeah" Siran says, "it's right in the middle of this country. The crater is actually more of like a pit or an abyss. It's just a dark hole, with nothing in it or around it really. It's in the north eastern corner of the state, Oklahoma. So unless someone can give us a ride, be prepared for a really long walk"
"It'd be convenient if we did find a ride" Rose says, "because if we don't, we'll likely miss Holly. She'll probably be gone by the time we get there".
"That'd be too convenient" Siran says. "My luck is never that good".
Just a minute or so later, a bus comes driving by and stops next to Siran and the rest.
"You folks need a ride?" The man driving asks.
"You've gotta be kidding me" Siran says out loud in a disappointed tone.
After they all get on the bus, the driver asks them "where y'all headed?"
"Oklahoma" Siran responds. "We need to get to Dead Crater".
"That's quite the trip" the driver says.
"Can you take us all the way there?" Rose asks.
The driver laughs, then says "No, I'm 'fraid not, but I can take you to the nearest airport. You should be able to catch a ride to Kansas and make the journey by foot. I don't reckon anyone in their right mind is gon' drive all the way to Dead Crater".
"Thanks!" Rose says to the driver, then leans in close to whisper to Siran "What the hell is a Kansas?".
"It's a state" Siran replies, "it's north of Oklahoma, where Dead Crater is".
"Oh" Rose responds, "so we can get there super fast then..."
"Umm... yeah, sounds like it" Siran says to Rose. "Unless you consider how big of a hole Dead Crater is and how we have to walk a quarter of the way around it".
"Why do we gotta do that?" Rose asks.
"Because" Siran explains, "Holly is approaching from the east. Which means she'll likely arrive on the east side of Dead Crater".
"So?" Rose says, "Once we get there, we can look for her there!".
"Dead Crater is really REALLY big" Siran explains further, "and we won't be able to see anyone on the east side of the crater. So we will have to walk all the way around to look for her on the eastern side of the crater".
"It's not THAT big.... is it?" Rose asks.
"Can you just..." Alex interrupts, "... not ask anymore dumb questions. The more I realize how much work this is going to take, the more annoying the journey becomes".
"Okay..." Rose responds with a pouting face. "But what about-"
"No more dumb questions on ANY journey" Alex interrupts. "Ever".
Rose then crosses her arms and pouts quietly to herself. The rest of the ride went along quietly, and they arrived at the airport as promised. As they get off, Finn pays for the trip in the money he exchanged upon entering Jameson in Florida. They wait in the airport for several hours, making small talk here and there. Mostly Alex reminding Rose to not ask dumb questions.
"But how come-" Rose would ask.
"Nope" Alex interrupts. "Not having it".
Rose then leans in close to Finn and asks "Did working in The Ly'Lum make him this much of an asshole?"
Finn then shrugs as Alex complains "I heard that!". Rose sticks her tongue out to taunt Alex and then pouts again.
"By the way" Zia says to Rose, "I've been meaning to ask. You're from Egypt but you spoke better English than anyone else we encountered in Cairo. Why is that?"
"Ah" Rose replies, "when I grew up with the rebels, they spoke mostly in English. They did this because not everyone spoke English well in Cairo so it was less likely to be overheard when we spoke about anything. They made it a practice to speak almost only in English, so I guess you could say English is my primary language. One of the rebels also said they learned proper English so they could properly insult The Ly'Lum to their face".
"That's hilarious" Finn said.
"He died" Rose said, "pretty quickly too"
"That's... not funny anymore" Finn says.
"He was kinda an asshole though" Rose says.
"I'm having very mixed emotions about this conversation" Finn says.
  "Well why would you speak English to not be overheard when The Ly'Lum soldiers speak English?" Alex asks.
  "We didn't wanna be heard by the citizens" Rose replies. "If they reported us, then we'd be in trouble. It's not like we were dumb enough to discuss our plans in front of The Ly'Lum".
  "I beg to differ" Alex responds.