In and Out of Consciousness

When she awoke again, there was nothing but total silence. A single burning truck illuminated the scene of carnage out of Astra's worst nightmares. Bodies of the Russian soldiers lay littered one atop the other among the wreckage of their vehicles, as blood pooled in the grooves along the cave floor. A single fellow lay beside her with his head split open down the middle, leaking viscous fluid, and Astra suppressed a strong urge to retch.

Somehow she climbed to her feet. The corset was still painfully tight but she found she could almost breathe normally, almost as if it had loosened while she was unconscious. There was no sign of either the Lion or the Scarecrow, but the little dog from before was lapping at something on the ground a few feet away. "Here, boy!" Astra called, and the pup looked up and barked alertly before running to her side. Astra gathered him in her arms. "I shall call you Fred," she explained. "For that poor valiant knight who died earlier trying to protect me."

Survival was now Astra's primary concern. Queasily rummaging among the wreckage, she found a rucksack filled with provender, a sharp two-edged dagger in a sheath and two pounds of gold bullion concealed in a small metal box. She was curious about these foreigners' strange weapons, but she had neither the time nor inclination to learn how they worked. Instead she grabbed their dead commander's beret as a trophy, and carefully pondered her next course of action. It was clear she had to reunite with her lost companions, but where could they have gone?

1. Follow the trail of straw leading down the corridor to the left.
2. Follow the trail of oddly smelling cigarette butts down the corridor to the right.

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