As they look around at the quiet, dead town of Topeka, Astra is struck
with a terrible sadness.
We still have places like this after ten years after the war,
she sighs.
The group quietly go over to a nearby newspaper vending kiosk, and Eddie
fiddles with the door.
"Anyone got change?" he asks the others, "I'm kinda interesting in finding
out exactly what happened here. I mean we already know, in general
what's going down here, but....."
He shrugs, then continues.
"Anyway, all the change I had fell out when I climbed that tree," he
finishes, "Back when that robot bear wanted me as a snack. My all out effort
to cancel his meal plans pretty much emptied my pockets in the rush it
all.".
"Here, let me check," Susannah says softly, looking through a purse
she happened to have with here.
As Susannah is rummaging through her purse, and Eddie is admiring her
(he found her so....feminine when she did something like that), Astra sighs
and waves the other Champions back....knowing what is going to probably
happen next here. Susannah is paying more attention on her search for change
instead of the environment around her and Roland, a frown on his face,
is quietly walking over to her.
He takes the revolver from the cocker's clutch he'd made for her, and
then strides past her and put one bullet into the newpaper dispenser's
lock.
Susannah gives off a small scream (as her literary counterpart from
the King novel had), dropping her purse and slaps at her empty holster
(located high, under her left breast).
The new Champions who are not used to the noise that a fired gun can
give off, also have given off shouts of alarm as well....as well as a bit
more in one instance.
"Honky, you scared the livin' Jesus out of me!" she shouts
angrily.
She'd have gone one (and Roland would have admonished her about
ignoring everything else to the point where he could have taken her gun
in the first place), but the spell that Ama'lis hurled at the source of
the loud noise that startled her (purely by reflex) has staggered Roland.
-
 Roland makes
some warding signs, fighting off the worst of the sleep spell that hit
him and shakes his head, staggering over to a wall to gather himself.
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