The young boy of a conductor quickly led me through the train towards the front where the engines and train staff were at.

Unfortunately, this meant he led me through half the train, and more than a few people saw him leading me, a heavily armed man, towards the front of the train. What was worse; some of those people recognized not only that growing situation, but me personally.

I really despised those damn articles and cursed dime novels!

“Are you going to fight something Mr. Wild Ranger?” Andrew Gale asked, in the loud and excited way that young boys always ask. Which of course got everyone else’s attention. “Are there bandits or giants attacking?”

I felt my general hatred of those books he loved so damn much doubled right there on the spot!

“No, there’s no giants or bandits.” The young conductor, who was barely older than Andrew, and suddenly as excited as him, answered. “There’s some kind of monstrous, things, around the tracks though, and no one knows what to do with them, or even what they are.”

“So you’re going to go fight monsters?” Andrew asked, again very loudly, and by now all progress had stopped and I was surrounded by curious, and suddenly very frightened people.

“We don’t know what’s going on, good or bad.” I said loudly. “The railroad crew has asked me to take a look at something odd. That’s all. I may well be all dressed up for nothing. So, I’m going to look, and then we’ll see.”

“You’ll beat it, no matter what it is!” Andrew declared with supreme confidence, and I about wanted to tear my hat apart!

“We’ll see what it is first, then worry about fighting, or ignoring, whatever it is.” I stated firmly, before giving the young conductor a small shove. He got the message, and quickly slipped back into conductor mode, leading me through the throngs of now scared people to the front of the train.

Finally, we had reached the train crew cars.

Once there, the head conductor, a much older man and seasoned professional, thank God, quickly gave me the general rundown.

“Sorry for the trouble sir,” he said, as he brought me over to a table with a map. “But we really have no experience with this…whatever it is.”

“Oh I understand,” I sighed with a weary smile. “Believe me, I do.”

“Well, be that as it may,” the conductor shrugged sympathetically. “We’re still sorry for the trouble, and do appreciate any help we can get.”

I nodded to him respectfully before focusing back on the map.

“So, what do we have anyway?” I asked, ready to get to work and get this mess over with.

“That’s the main trouble; we don’t really know.” He pointed to the map with the tracks on it going through the main heart of the town. “Several of the train hands walked a little of the track to make sure everything was all good, and they saw several strange looking things sticking up out of the ground.”

“Whereabouts?” I asked, looking from the map to the window out into the town, wondering what was lurking out there.

“They saw a bunch, and we marked a few area’s of them.” The conductor pointed to the map, showing little spots they’d marked with pencils. It looked like a big blotch of circles around the tracks, and a few spots around town buildings. All of them could be seen from on the ground sight.

I frowned as I looked at the map, and thought about the town being abandoned. Not part of the town; all of the town. I don’t like this.

“I’ll head out carefully and take a look.” I stated, standing up and looking at old conductor. “Let my traveling companion out of her car, she’s ready to go as well. Also, it might be a good idea to get some sharp eyed men on the roof of the train, and maybe the train station itself, with a spyglass, and see if they can spot anymore of these strange, flowers. And if so, please mark them on the map.”

“Of course sir.” The old man nodded, giving me the impression that the conductor uniform wasn’t the only uniform he’d ever worn. “We’ll see to it immediately. The door to hop out of this car is right up ahead.” He gestured to a door behind him at the end of the, before he turned and started calmly and implacably giving orders to everyone else.

I walked out of the car while the conductor, who I suspected was a former NCO, set about getting things lined up.

It was eerie hopping down onto the train station platform, and being one of the only people on it. There were a few train crew and conductors milling about, seeing to things, but they were all very quiet, and very nervous. Turning, I began walking down the station towards the doors that would lead through the station and out onto the main road, parallel to the tracks.

Something about this felt wrong; like an ambush, without any ambushers, yet still a dangerous place all the same.

I slowly walked through the building to the outside, turned, and started towards where the odd growths had been marked on the map. I kept trying to figure out why I felt like I was in a ambush site, but I could’t effectively put it into words or thoughts. It was vexing.

I hit the dirt road that ran parallel to the track just as I heard the clomping of horses hooves through the main building lobby. I turned with a smile that died on my lips as I saw Halona come out of the train station, followed by none other than Lillianne Lancaster.

The bane of my existence.

Well, that might have been a bit much, but considering the mess I was now in, again, it wasn’t too much of a stretch at this point. At least, not in my opinion. Still, in this situation, behaving like an adult, and a professional with a vested interest in survival was key.

So I deliberately beat my temper and annoyance at Lancaster over the head with a club until I was able to think clearly again and focus on the task at hand.

“Hello ladies.” I said politely as I gestured towards the track. “Care to join me for a stroll to something most likely horrible and dangerous?”

“That sounds lovely!” Halona chuckled, before she hopped down to the dirt road with a cloud of dust. With her hide-shirt and pistols, she cut a very imposing figure, surrounded by dust and being a centaur and all. We were fortunate that it was a nice day at the tail end of summer, otherwise the heat would’ve been brutally distracting.

“It does have a certain ring to it.” Lillianne agreed as she too hopped down next to the two of them, her boots hitting the dusty ground with a crunch.

I took a moment to look her up and down, a little surprised by what I saw.

Gone was the sensible dress of a prim and proper lady reporter. She instead wore a simple pair of pants, well worn looking work boots, a green shirt and a expensive looking leather jacket. She had several devices belted on, including a very large, and odd looking pistol on her hip, as well as several other devices strapped to her forearms and thighs.

During the war, I‘d spent some time near the east coast, and she reminded me of some of the more eccentric, and eccentrically employed people I’d seen there.

Best I could tell though, she was ready for combat with the esoteric and the strange.

Or as ready as one could get.

“Like what you see?” She asked with a smile.

“I wouldn’t know, since I don’t know what half of that stuff is.” I replied frankly, eyeing her up and down in her odd getup, for which I had to admit showed off her amazing figure quite well in its own way. “Do you know how to use all of it?”

“Of course.” She nodded, her smile vanishing; replaced by a focused mask of professionalism.

“Good. Then if you have some capability that is useful for the situation, let us know. Otherwise, ladies; let’s go.” I shrugged, turned, and started walking through the town. After a moment I heard their steps behind me as they slowly came up to either side of me.

“So, how’s the interview going?” I asked, curious, as we slowly walked around a curve of the track towards the town proper.

“It’s coming along quite nicely.” Lillianne replied with a brief smile. “Miss Halona is fascinating.”

“It’s fun, chatting and explaining things.” Halona agreed, sounding happy as she looked around the buildings as we took the wide train track curve. “And having things explained to me. Like who my enigmatic travel companion is and what he’s done.”

“Oh God, not you to!” I muttered darkly as we finally round the curve to see the towns heart stretching out in front of us. Any further jokes or banter ceased as we saw what was in front of us along with the tracks, road, and buildings.

“What the hell are those?” I asked, at a loss.

“I’ve never seen their like before.” Halona replied quietly.

“I’ve seen things similar, but far smaller, and they lived out in the ocean.” Lillianne whispered, sounding suddenly apprehensive. “This town is near a lake, but even so, what on earth are those?”

“I suppose we’ll have to figure that out. At least at a base, practical level of what they can do.” I muttered, cocking my rifle.

In front of us, pushing up out of the ground like bizarre pumpkin plants, were strange, colorful tendrils that waved back and forth. They were thick tendrils, like vines or roots, but with the smooth fleshy look of some kind of animal.

They moved with a slow, lazy undulation back and forth, almost chest high, and each were segmented with bands of color wrapped around them.

I could see why they’d been called monster plants.

However, as I kept looking at them, from a very safe distance, I got the distinct feeling that these were somehow alive. Animal like, not plant like, even though they were mimicking plants pretty damn well. As I continued to stare at them, more details slowly emerged.

The root, or stalk, that was connected to the base, were each as thick as my waist! It looked like the tendrils or vines were almost slimy, as they waved back and forth. But there, along the ground, almost obscured by all the color, movement and weirdness, was the true terror.

Thanks to the bizarre plant-mimic bodies I almost missed it!

Long, curving hook like bones, sticking out in four different circular directions along the ground, almost obscured by the dirt and the strange slimy-tendril body.

Teeth. I thought, my blood running cold. Teeth designed to snatch and hook!

“Look there!” I quietly pointed out the teeth to the girls. “It’s like natures living bear trap.”

“Those would snatch you and hold you tight!” Halona realized with a shudder. Her hands gripped her holstered pistols as her horse legs shifted in place multiple times.

“The vine things must be both a distraction, and a kind of living tripwire.” Lillianne calmly analyzed with cold focus. “You look at the strange, dancing tendrils with all their colors, walk up to them in curiosity, touch them, and then the teeth snap shut and you’re trapped.”

“Trapped for what though?” I asked, staring at them in a new light. I began looking at where they had been placed, and while a few were seemingly random, most were not. They were strategic: between the road the stairs leading to shop fronts, or at the mouth of various alleys.

Places with lots of foot traffic, once upon a time.

“Perhaps the tendrils digest their catch?” Lillianne guessed, sounding both perplexed and horrified.

“Wouldn’t the townsfolk have simply cut them down or burned them then?” Halona asked, her voice sounding much more under control.

I shook my head, now understanding why it felt like a giant trap. It was, but of a different kind. And one we still didn’t understand. “We’re still missing something. Something important.”

“I agree, but short of touching one of them and setting them off, I don’t know how we can learn more.” Lillianne replied, still in hard professional analyzer mode.

“Agreed.” I said, with a sudden bit of inspiration from her remark before spinning on my heel and heading back the way we came. “Ladies, back to the train.”

“Why?” Halona asked even as they both turned with me and started walking back to the train.

“We’re going to get some bait, and go fishing.” I replied with a dark chuckle.