|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- PECULIAR LATHER--CUP 18--"LASSO" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Peculiar Lather  ||  -------> (Cup SRpl018, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = They ran for about thirty seconds, weaving around columns and stairwells, then ran down a flight of stairs and came to Fluffy's automobile, a little white sports car with gray trim. Fluffy took out her key, opened the door, and told Tanner and Thread to get in. Tanner got in next to her and Thread darted in as he was closing the door. Fluffy started the car, revved the engine, and sped out of the parking spot. "Damn it." Fluffy said. "We don't know where the hell they went." "Fluffy, if you give me a second, I can use my remote viewing powers to see where they are." Thread said. "Oh that's right--you can find them! Man oh man, these suckers are chopped meats now." Fluffy said. Fluffy drove her car though the maze of the parking garage at breakneck speed. Tanner was holding on for dear life. They skidded around a corner and came to an extremely steep ramp leading upward at nearly a 45-degree angle. Fluffy stormed up it, accelerating to about 80 mph. "Holy shit!" Tanner said, shutting his eyes. Fluffy laughed and sped up. The ramp was extremely long, and they continued up it for the better part of a minute. Finally, as the opening to the surface was in sight, Fluffy asked Thread if she had a sighting yet. "Just a second, Fluffy--yes--they're on the Service Road heading for Highway 4000!" Thread said. "Perfect!" Fluffy exclaimed "I know a good shortcut." They burst out into the late afternoon outskirts of the City. Fluffy drove along recklessly, turning sharply onto several increasingly unmaintained streets, finally rounding a curve and driving into a mass of tall weeds. Tanner was petrified as they sped through the field of weeds, unable to see where they were going. "Fluffy, I never heard of this shortcut." Thread said. "Never mind that--where are they?" Fluffy asked. "Um--" Thread said "they're just turning onto the highway now--about a mile away. But Fluffy, I don't know if this is such a good shortcut--" Suddenly they burst out of the weeds and into midair several hundred feet above the ground, falling toward Highway 4000 below. "Shit!" Fluffy exclaimed as she rolled down her window and climbed halfway out of the car. They were falling perpendicular to the highway, so Fluffy took out a rope, lassoed a streetlight on the highway, and tensed herself. With a lurch, the car orbited the streetlight twice, and then roughly landed on the highway below. Fluffy immediately wriggled back into her seat and hit the gas. They wailed wildly down the highway. Tanner yelled "How the fuck did you do that!?" "Practice." Fluffy said, and she laughed crazily. The car had sustained some damage in the crash landing, and was swaying back and forth and they tore ahead in excess of 120 mph. "Where are they now?" Fluffy asked. "I--they got off on an exit about two miles ahead, but I lost them." Thread said. "No problem." Fluffy said as they sped onward. In about a minute they got to the exit Thread was referring to, and followed it onto a dirt road. "Look--an accident up ahead!" Thread yelled. Fluffy said nothing, but skidded to a halt behind the wrecked blue station wagon. "That's the car, all right." Thread said. "This is a total fiasco." Fluffy said, getting out of the car. Fluffy and Thread went up to the accident. Tanner slowly got out of the car, so nerveshot that he was barely able to move. Looking at the accident, Fluffy and Thread saw a Hispanic family in the wreckage--all dead. There was a man, a woman, and three young children. "Where the hell is Fisher?" Fluffy asked. "Look! In the tree!" Thread said as Tanner approached the wreck. Little Fisher was in the branches of a dry dead tree, squealing in panic and struggling to maintain her balance, a huge drop into a canyon below her. "Oh no!" Fluffy said. "We have to save her!" Tanner said blaringly. Tanner looked at Fluffy, then ran over to the tree and began to climb it. "Tanner no!" Fluffy yelled. "He looks pretty shaken from your driving." Thread said. Out in the tree, Tanner was struggling to get to where Fisher was dangling. "I'll save you..." he said. Then the tree, losing its rooting, began to lurch forward. Fisher fell, squealing. Tanner desperately tried to save himself by grabbing a larger branch, but the branch snapped, and he also fell. As Tanner fell, he saw Fisher hit the ground below, but instead of smashing up, she just bounced. Then Tanner felt a tug at his ankle and watched helplessly as he slammed hard with a thud into the face of the cliff. Fluffy had lassoed his ankle, and was pulling him back up. When she finally got him back to the edge of the cliff, he was unconscious from the impact. "I hope he's okay--" Thread said. "Oh he's okay." Fluffy said. " I can see he's made of pretty tough stuff." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----