The Finder Of Lost Things: Official Site
A Story Of Epic Proportions
Chapter 2-3: The City That Never Sleeps
When Halberd and his goons entered the library, they found nothing of any usefulness until one man found a word puzzle, already filled in. Halberd disregarded it until the library had been searched entirely, and upon further inspection, realized that he had found his clue.
Land
Lank
Lark
Park
Pork
York
Yolk
From here on out, it was someone else's job. New York was a large place, and his team would stand out in a crowd. No, someone else would need to take over. But... If they could be reached before they got to New York, the problem would be solved before it began.
He rounded up his men and made for the bus stop.
* * * * *
"No way."
"Yes way! Right there in her bedroom! I told you, her parents were away!"
"You told me that you would be at a party."
"Yeah, but we decided to go home first, to get sodas. Then, while I popped mine open, she said to me, 'Jack, if I were to die tomorrow, I would not want to die a virgin.'"
"I still can't believe you did Mary Anderson. Yeah right. She was, like, the most popular kid in school. Why would she be horny for you?"
"Ask Mary Anderson!"
"You could not have done Mary."
"I. Screwed. Mary. Anderson. I did. You don't believe me, fine, but I did her. We ended up having to change her sheets, because she bled all over them."
Zap and I were exchanging stories to pass the time over the excruciatingly long bus ride. Before this, he had told me about how he ended up frenching another guy during a trip on acid.
The bus driver yelled, "Approaching Trenton. Does anyone need to get off?"
To mix it up, in case we were followed, we decided we would take a train from Trenton. The freeloader way, of course, because we had no money left after the bus ride.
To make a long story short, we got on the train just in time. I said "To make a long story short" because I didn't want to tell you about all the hi jinks we went through to get there, like Zap hitting on a married woman, or me beating up a taxi driver who nearly ran me over.
Anyway, back to the train.
Anyway, back to the train.
We were riding peacefully like any other person, managing to dodge the ticket collector somehow, when they showed up. It wouldn't have made a difference to me, except for their clothes. Their clothes did not belong in this era. The belonged to the future.
We ran, ducking and weaving and jiving and sliding until we were at the front of the train. I could see only one viable way to lose them now.
I reached down and unhinged the engine from the rest of the passenger cars, then climbed up onto the coal stack. The engineers wouldn't be able to stop and turn around till they reached New York.
We were home free. But now we knew it was only a matter of time.
* * * * *
New York was amazing, for what it was worth. But I still didn't know what I was looking for. So I wound up wondering, until I reached Times Square. The T.V.s were showing reports of the war. Heh. Why would anyone want to watch clip of World War One?
World War One?
This wasn't 1932.
"It's not right, I know," came a voice from behind me. "There's something in the back of your head going, 'This can't be right. It's almost a decade too early.'"
"What?"
"Come with me, Jake. Leave Zap behind for now. We need to talk."