Lost in Thought

Chapter 8

After lunch, Ron and company lead the way into a destitute part of town. Calling the buildings "run down" would be an upgrade over their actual condition. Many of the buildings were permeated with large holes, crumbled brick and other building materials scattered around on the ground around them. It looked as if a tank had rolled through, blasting anything in sight.

The few people we saw had seen better days, wearing tattered clothing and trying to find something to take the pain of it all away. Brown bags flapped and empty bottles rolled as the wind blew. For a brief moment, I consider how sad it is that even in this alternate dimension, where supposedly anything can happen, that people still have to suffer as they were.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, Xavier whistles loudly and signals for me to catch up. Hulk, who had been trotting along next to me, starts running towards them, his tongue flailing out of his mouth. Suddenly, he stops, squares up and starts to pinch a loaf right then and there.

"Oh man, gross," I complain. "Do you really have to do that right now?"

An incredulous look comes over his face. "You didn't seem to have much of a problem with it when I couldn't talk," he says. "And you don't even have to pick this one up." He finishes his business, wiping his paws off on the ground before continuing forward.

"Point taken," I mutter.

Shaking my head, I jog lightly to catch up with the group. I quickly catch up with them before slowing back to a walk, but they slowly begin to pull away from me once again as my attention is diverted by my surroundings.

"Is this safe?" I ask, trying to keep an eye on literally everything I possibly can. "This doesn't seem like the nicest place in the world to be."

"I assure you," Ron soothes, continuing to walk ahead of me, "you'll be fine. This, unfortunately, has already been a point of attack for the Dreadnoughts. I doubt they would find much reason to return here when so much damage has already been done."

We turn a corner and it seems that we had not seen the worst until now. A handful of buildings had been charred into barely recognizable shapes. Fragments of what used to be walls remained, revealing the burned guts of structures that no doubt used to have a purpose, daily visitors and a welcoming presence to it. Now, it was simply a burnt up shell, a charred reminder of the hard times this area had fallen under. Many of them looked as though they would collapse with even the slightest breeze.

"What happened to this place?" I can hear the awe and surprise in my voice as I ask it. I try not to sound too much like an amazed little kid, but sometimes I can't help myself.

"The Dreadnoughts happened," Ron said solemnly. "One day, they appeared and this was all that remained."

"What do they want? Why are they doing this?"

"The Dreadnoughts seek only devastation and domination in their quest," Xavier chimes in. "I have only dealt with them once before, but they have been around for ages. They travel from place to place, conquering it as their own, leaving it as nothing more than ash and rubble before moving on to the next one. No one is sure how long they have been doing this, but any questions about their power should be answered with this display." He bowed his head a moment, appearing to contemplate the severity of everything he's just said.

We continue walking a short distance, passing the last of the burnt out buildings until we hit a clearing. A large, open area with grass nearly as tall as me, this place doesn't sport the same total destruction that we had just walked through, but it clearly has been neglected. There are random patches of grass that are completely torn up and dead, ignored over time until the clearing resembled a sickly person losing clumps of hair.