Chapter 7 – Blinding Vision

                As the Rebels got off Justin’s freighter and stepped foot on the shore of Rinkitink, everyone felt their pulse raise a few extra beats as the mood was haunting and hopeful. They were in unfamiliar territory, having very few in their rag-tag bunch of eccentrics who had ventured beyond the gates of their home state. Nervous eyes darted back and forth like they were watching an erratic ping pong match as the Rebels took turns passing the map among them. They couldn’t quite put their anxiously shaking finger on it, but something just felt different…

“So we’re supposed to go to the Post Office first, right?” Denise asked as she slung the shovel she’d acquired on their trek over her shoulder, a bead of sweat dropping from her brow. “That’s what it says… do you see it?” Carlo answered back with his head popping up from the map it had been buried in to search for their first destination.

As if the Nome King himself were parting the clouds and guiding the way a strip of sun beam off in the distance pierced through the sky with soft, eerie subtly as it highlighted a raggedy wooden shack resting underneath the most gigantic Oak tree they’d ever seen. The Oak tree sighting was made all the more strange by the fact that nobody present had ever seen an Oak Tree in the SAND before, let alone this BIG! Hanging from its bottom branches happened to be a sea of the most intricately strange wind chimes any of them had ever seen. Some were made from car mufflers, bike bells, and rim spokes while others carried a more rustic appeal being comprised of Nonestic sea shells and some sort of antler that looked familiar to a sum total of zero Rebels. There were even a couple made from “Wheeler’s” wheels, who were notorious for their violence and mischief… Between the foreign animal antlers and the wheels of a dangerous group of outlanders dangling closer in front of them with every step closer to this rugged Post Office, the Rebels couldn’t help but feel apprehensive… Just who were they about to walk up on exactly?

As they made their way closer to the post office the group huddled closer together, forming a tight circle of security. “It doesn’t look open…” Sam noted with an edge of nervous disappointment as she scanned the shack for signs of life, coming up short. “Yeah, no light on or anything… It’s the middle of the day, if this place was working there’d HAVE to be somebody here. I think it’s abandoned…” Alaura thought out loud as the Kelly’s and Dan gave a slight nod in agreement while scoping the building for a clue. “I’m checking out the door…” Stephanie said.

As Stephanie stepped towards the door, David and Pete followed right behind her earnestly. As they hiked up the two creaky planked steps up to the porch of the shackled Post Office, cobwebs were brushed aside only to make room for the flumes of dust rising up with each step on the decrepit floor beneath them. Clearly this place was abandoned… so why was it marked on the map as the first spot to go?

“Check it out you guys, the door is cracked open!” Stephanie shouted back with enthusiasm.

Well, no point in waiting now…” David responded, pushing forward eagerly as he stepped foot through the door.

“Will we all fit?” Pete wondered out loud to everyone.

“That’s what she said…” Tami said with a smirk as Suzanne snorted a laugh before clasping her mouth with a smile.

As the sporadic laughter started to subside, David came back out with a new note in his hand wearing an expression of simultaneous confusion and triumph. “No need to see if we all fit, there was only this note next to a stack of papers, cup full of pens, and empty cubbies. I’m not sure this really clears anything up…”

Careful observers noted the cup bore the same face as the figure on the silver tin the puzzle pieces came in…

“Well, what’s the note say?” Jamie asked, ready to take a shot at solving the new found mystery.

David cleared his throat and shook out his arms before narrating the enigma to all the Rebels listening intently:

Jamie’s eyes opened wide like a pair of camera lenses coming to life as realized what the objective was. “The note said “they travel your journey, but afar” so that HAS to mean there are others just like us out there! I mean, it only makes sense… We can’t be the only ones leaving the comfort of our homes because we’re fed up with wanting more and never digging deep and taking it. We CAN’T be alone, we just can’t be…”

“So we write them…” Pete said as he blankly stared at the green cup in front of him filled with pens, realizing what the stationary was for thus what THEY were there for.

“EXACTLY! Guide them. Let them know how WE got started! Tell them we’ll be waiting for them on the other side when the dust settles!” Jamie excitedly replied back.

While the Rebels murmured to one another their confusion, hesitation, and overall anticipation at what they were tasked to do, Sandra noticed dark lettering on the underside of the note still latched in David’s hands.

“Hey David, there’s something on the back… What’s that say?”

“Hmm…” David pondered as he flipped the note around:

 Coming Soon

Chapter 8 – ????????

 – Rebel8