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Tuesday, March 11

Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays: Part 2b – The Begay Ranch

Caprice stood alone under the watchful eye of Guppy and Jim-Bean. They followed him around the property, pretending they weren’t. He knew they didn’t trust him.

Caprice was focusing on the vultures. They were circling in a particular area.

He positioned himself beneath them. Then Caprice looked down at the ground.

The ground beneath his feet was damp and spongy. It didn’t feel right.

Caprice reached down and scraped away some dirt with one hand. It came away easily, too easily in the arid desert air. It was if an animal had been digging there.

Perhaps encouraged by Caprice’s actions, Jim-Bean and Guppy pointed excitedly at the ground. Then they left.

Caprice returned to digging. He was sure he was onto something. The dirt was harder in some parts, hard enough for…

He wiped away some more soil, only to reveal something bone white.

Behind him, Guppy returned with two shovels. He and Jim-Bean started to dig at another spot.

Caprice kept digging with his hands. He pulled up great clumps of dirt. The white, hard mass was a skull.

“Mother trucker!” shouted Guppy. He stumbled backwards from where he had been digging. Jim-Bean turned away and retched, hunched over on his knees.

Caprice stood up. “What is it?”

“Bodies,” shouted Guppy. “I think it’s…the Begay family…” He dropped the shovel.

“I think I found a grave too...” Caprice looked down at the dirt where he had been digging. The recently unearthed soil was a different color. Now that he knew what it looked like, it was easier to spot from far away.

“Sorry, didn’t copy that?” asked Blade over the Cistron. “Did you say you found a grave too?”

Caprice’s eyes widened as he looked out across the ranch. “I may have underestimated…” was all he said.

Dotting the landscape were dozens of mounds just like the one he had dug up. [MORE]

Labels: d20 modern

posted by Mike Tresca at 6:18 AM

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