Behind the pitch black of her eyelids Mona heard the chatter and clanging of a city, she heard the faint and distant sounds of children playing. Adults were making small talk, or what appeared to be, because the words to Mona sounded garbled and incoherent.  The smell of freshly baked bread wafted across her nose, then dissipated. Only to be replaced by the smell of garbage passing by.

It was like one of those weird dreams, where she couldn’t wake up even if she tried. Her heart pounding, bouncing up against her chest. Thump, thump thump.  Try as she may to open her eyes, it was impossible.  Then like the peak of a symphonic crescendo  the voices grew louder and louder and suddenly she could hear the conversations all at once.

“Dear, are you alright?” an unfamiliar voice called out.  Mona’s childish instincts kicked in, she refused to  face what was before her. Her eyes still shut, perhaps it was because she didn’t want to accept her new life or perhaps she was just plain scared.  She decided it was the latter and not the former.

Mona slowly and steadily opened her sluggish eyes and found a  gawky and what appeared to be an affluent man sporting a top hat standing before her.  The old fox wore a concerned  inviting smile and thin , decaying white hair.  Maybe, at one time he was  good looking and all the women begged for a kiss, but now wrinkles  hung down off his old eye lids. His face filled with  a history of scars and scabs. His forehead drenched in liver spots.

It was then that Mona felt her new body crumble before her. Using one hand on the old man as a crutch  and the other on the ground she got up. Feeling as though she had found a steady footing she let go, only to find that she  fell to the ground again.

 His long pale arms ended with  white gloved hands that   reached out and  offered Mona a hand up. He stared down at her with solemn swollen eyes that  somehow  kept Mona at ease. She decided that she had no choice but to trust the man, after all he was offering her a hand up.  

 “Perhaps you should go see the doctor you seemed to have had a great tumble” he said with a oddly jolly chuckle.  “I’m….” she cleared her throat. A lump. Ahem. Ahem. It was like being sick, not deathly sick…. but when you can’t speak and your voice is hoarse kinda sick. Henry hadn’t told her about this peculiar symptom.  “I’m alright” she finally whispered.  Mona found her voice harsh and grainy .  Henry hadn’t told her about that either. In fact he hadn’t told her much about anything. But she was sure she would get used it.

Although, she should have been jostled by the long strange trip, she didn’t find the idea of starting a new life hard.  After all, she was used to moving around as a child.  Her father  a terse, hardened   military man moved so often, she rarely if ever  had a choice to not do so.  She thought of this experience  like moving to a new town. Sure, she was in a new body, some new clothes and had a new voice, but it wasn’t any different….

 As that thought came to mind she noticed something, that deterred  her if only for a moment. Among the brick buildings and cobblestone roads, bronze animatronics robots helped build small and quaint buildings. Each of the bronze humans had a long cylinder spigot that spit out steam and whistled as it bent down or walked forward. She stared only for a moment to take in it’s strange glory. Her vision then became distorted by a bulky piece of machinery, manned by what looked like another robot. She watched in amazement as the machine cleared away the rubble from the buildings.

Thick beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks as the mid day sun  beat down on her face. She glanced down at the petite purse in her hand hoping to retrieve a handkerchief . It was her luck, that in her purse was a small white one, barely used….surprisingly. She wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed in auditory relief.

Mona, was never one to complain especially about being uncomfortable. It was the way she was raised, she never had a chance to complain as a kid and never did so growing up, however the dress she was wearing was difficult and tight around her stomach. She tried to loosen her dress only to realize that some of the women around her were staring disapprovingly. She stopped and gave a nervous smile.

“Come on, we are going to miss it” top hat grabbed her by the arm. She was finally getting used to the body she apparently  had inhabited.  Her legs no longer wobbled from underneath her. She was now able to walk with ease, each step was like that of a new moment for Mona, especially in the classy high heels she had on.

As she gained her steps back she started to stray away from her would be husband and walked closer to the ooohs and ahhhs of the crowd .  It was then that she noticed two men standing on a winged machine(which she assumed was that of an airplane).  Each man dressed in vests and bow ties. The men drew in the crowd with their barking. “Come and watch the amazing Hawkins Brothers” they shouted in unison. One man completely bald and dashingly handsome,  the other not so handsome had a thick mustache that wrapped around his cheekbones.  “Ladies and gentlemen” the bald man shouted. A few select folks from the crow stopped they were doing to pay attention to see what was in store. A child in the crowd yanked on his father’s pants, his father in return lifted him up on his shoulder. “My brother and I wish to show you all something amazing” Children and adults alike clapped and cheered for what was to come.

It was then that odd feeling arose over Mona, she stood listening to the men yabbing and babbling on about their new invention. It was the kind of feeling that you would get if somebody were watching you. Though it would seem that nobody was watching her, at least not that she noticed.  She looked to her left then to the right and then carefully behind her. But still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. She started to walk away from the crowd to catch her breath. 

 It was the second time that that she looked behind her, that she noticed the unnerving shadow of  two  men following  her. She lifted up her dress and started to walk with extreme vigilance away from the distracted crowd. The men’s heavy foot steps drew closer as she tried to pick up speed.  Her high heels slowed her down, it was by luck that she could think on her feet in this moment. She kicked her shoes off her feet and started a swift run towards a nearby field.

The prickly tickly feeling of old crab grass pinched the bottom of her feet as she continued to power through the field. In the nearby distance she saw stacks of metal boxes. Again, she used her instincts and jumped behind the metal boxes. Only for a moment did she manage to take a deep breath and catch her failing breath.As she heard her own heart beat quickening she  collapsed and started whispering curses as the ominous men began to catch up to her.

Faint roaring footsteps began to approach and Mona decided to take a  quick peak from behind the box when she felt a cold hand press her back down Behind her was a pasty white skinned kid who couldn’t be older than 16. He had a tiny pointed nose and freckles that splashed on his face. His tussled red hair stuck out from underneath his flat cap. His dirt clad face added to his  genuine adolescent  smile. On his shoulder a brown parcel bag. He had the odd aroma about him that suggested he hadn’t bathed in weeks

“My name’s Toby, junior member of Inner Workings what’s yours?” he said.  

“Mona, ” she whispered.

“Follow me”She looked at him shrugged her shoulders and continued to follow him as he moved like a rat through the fields. Both of the men were still at their heel.   A seed of confusion and distress planted it self like a tumor on Mona’s psyche.  Toby pointed in the distance to a winged machine. It was much like she had seen earlier but this one was much larger and less shiny.  

“They won’t catch us in that.”  

“Of course they won’t” Mona muttered under her breath.

“Hey you” a voice boomed. Mona struggled to get into the plane and pushed her self as hard as she could into the passenger seat. Toby reached out his hand and used all the strength he could muster to bring her in.  Clink  A bullet richeteed   off the planes metal exterior.  Making it quite obvious that he had no idea what he was doing, he flicked ever last switch till finally the engine roared.

“Uh…do you know how to fly this ?”

“I think I do…I’ve seen the Hawkins brothers do it many times”

“That’s not the answer I was expecting”

 Toby  grabbed the small metal small half circle steering wheel in front of him.  He lifted it up and pulled it towards him.  She took a deep breath and looked behind her.

Beneath the cloud of dust that the plane left Mona  could see the two men waving at them irately with gun in hand.   CLINK CLINK two more gun shots hit the exterior of the plane causing the plane to swerve. The plane began to sway to the left then to the right before Toby managed to get control of it again.

The world stopped and slowed down as Mona took in the beauty of the turquoise sky. The loud buzzing hum of the plane kept her at ease for the moment at least before she came back to reality.   “Where are we going?” She shouted. Toby shrugged.

For the most part the plane ride was smooth, only accented by small sputters of the engine. The wind smacked their faces  every once in a while. Leaving Mona’s hair in a complete mess.  In the murky, overcast sky just below them a flock of birds flew in formation.

  Then as things became comfortable for the two of them  the plane started to rumble. Slowly dark silky smoke ascended from the front of the plane.   Panic began to peek  it’s head from  Mona’s bones as the plane descended into  a nose dive. Toby grabbed the steering wheel with his face contorting up against the strong fast wind. He leaned back trying as hard as he could to bring the plane back to its upright position. Mona’s hand gripped on to the seat in front of her as though expecting the worse. She used her other hand to hold her stomach as a sudden reaction. Then finally  she let out a long squeaky yelp.  An ugly bile taste rose up in her throat as she opened her mouth and spewed a heavy green chunky vomit all over her lap.

When Toby noticed that the plane was making a sudden dive for the ground, he began to step out of the plane only to offer  his hand to Mona who  took it no questions asked,  as she did he jumped off the plane and tumbled into the sand below. 

Mona’s stomach pains had now subsided however, a new twinge slivered in her body like a snake.  Every last inch of her body had a different kind of ache. She shook it off, as  she looked over at Toby who had taken a heavier tumble.  His still body lay disturbingly breathless on the white sand.  Nervously she placed her  hands on his heart and her mouth on his lips trying breathe life into him. She pumped his chest with her hands pressing as hard as she could whispering for anything to work.  

 “He’ll be okay.  I’ll patch him up. Even it is against the rules... ” a familiar voice called from behind.  Mona, turned irritably  and spotted Henry dressed in a brown trench coat. “What am I doing here? Why were those men chasing us?” Henry walked closer to Toby’s limp body. “He’s not….is he?” Mona’s voice remained calm  Henry nodded his head and confirmed her suspicions.

He bent down next to the boy and waved his hand over his body.  “You can revive?” she asked. Henry put his finger on her mouth to shut her up. His eyes then began to glow a  pale yellow and the palm of his hands a shocking green. A blue grey glow  gradually lifted Toby off the ground. Toby’s body then shot out rays of light that merged into one giant ball of light. After it was said and done Henry didn’t say a word, rather he just vanished and  disappeared into thin air.

Toby woke up coughing and  rolled over to stare at Mona. They exchanged smiles that slowly faded into nervous laughter.   “I told you I could do it”  he started to shout but his voice cracked. “I can get us to Lexington City. You can tell the coppers about the men who were following you there.” he said getting up from the ground as though nothing had happened.

            It seemed at least that Toby knew where he was going. Mona looked around her and saw dead cacti fallen in the peculiar white sand.  Soon they reached the outer edge of a town called Pointe Duke. A train whistled out in the distance and Mona glanced  at the train as it pulled into Point Duke Station and slid past in a multi colored motion blur.

Point Duke was one of many small towns in the general area. Surrounded by dead trees and mounds of rocks.   As though someone refused to do the general gardening.   A coyote scurried by them and ran off into the white sand. Mona, reached out to touch one of the braches of the dead trees and pulled back with a black smut she wiped on her clean dress.

Toby had learned a great deal of these towns, traveling by train from town to town living in saloons with the money he earned working small jobs.   Since the day his parents died and he became homeless he had learned to take care of himself and others as much as he could.  He took small jobs here and there around Pointe Duke just recently.

An old man approached them walking on a crooked knee, Toby drew nearer and offered a well thought out smile. “Well if it isn’t Toby Baulkin, have you come for another job? and who is this pretty young lady with you?”  “Old Rod…” Toby said with a smile. “She’s…..” he paused and stared at Mona scratching his head.  “Mona….Mona McKorkle” she said. “Very nice to meet you Mona, you stay with this boy, ya hear”  Old Rod tipped his hat.

Mona, enamored with the charm of Pointe Duke took it in silence  Some folks like Roddy, were wearing  cowboy hats and boots. Other folks wearing fancy tuxedos bowed to her as they past. Some animatronics  (but not many) greeted people here and there. These looked to be rusty and old, and not well taken care of.

Toby, pulled Mona by the arm forcing her to follow him through the town to the station.  At the gate window Toby purchased two passenger tickets and gave one to Mona. She let out a sigh and leaned back in the chair. She scoped out the beautiful artistry of the station. The wooden pillars were designed to look like a temples pillar. Cut to perfection the wedges of the pillars had no mismarking.

The door was a thick stained wood  with a pale yellow stained glass window at the top.  Customers walked in and out of the station tipping their hat at Mona.  The station was small and fit only about 50 people in chairs on the inside.  A clock sat on the wall in the left hand corner just above the rules sign.

At precisely 3:00pm a man walked in the thick door. He was tall, not nearly as tall as Henry but tall enough to duck under the door. He had a thin pencil mustache. The smell of cigar smoke was quite literally a cloud that followed him around.

His skin  gangly pale and his eyes a narrowed deep black. His hair long and looked like it needed a good cleaning. At his waist, two long barreled Trout  two guns. Each gun polished and cleaned to perfection. He looked to be the type of man that used them quite often. Mona leaned over and whispered, “Do you know him?” Toby just shook his head

The strange man’s boots clinked as he walked to the seats of the station. He turned his head and paused staring at Mona briefly, then continue to sit down in a dimly lit area of the station.

They walked out to the station and watched hundred of passengers get off. They waited patiently for their chance to hop on board. “All Aboard” a man shouted.  Walking through the crowded train they decided sit beside an old couple. The old man turned to Toby and winked. “You sure do know a lot for as young as you are” Mona said. “Well, thank you kindly ma’am. I sure do appreciate that. I guess I’m just learned”

 Finally the train loaded up all its passengers and started moving steadily downs the tracks.  Mona had been on trains before, she liked them when she was a kid, but they never interested her after that. Just for shits and giggles Mona got up to go look out the window passing the mountainous countryside. Instantly, the majestic mountains and the white sand dotted with cacti  reminded her of the times she used to spend as a child in her prior life, at her uncles farm in Montana.  

As she turned to check her surroundings just out of sheer curiosity  she spotted the two thugs who had followed before, just a few rows back. Their gaze were plainly on her. Trying not cause suspicion she calmly started to walk towards Toby.  But before she knew it  an arm had reached around her waist and a knife was at her throat. Her scream was stifled by a large gloved hand. “Don’t move” a rocky voice said.

“You unhand that young woman” the old man  shouted waving his cane.

The skeletal thug nonchantalty   pulled out his pistol and shot the old man twice in the stomach. The old codger fell to the floor begging his wife to pray for him. She dropped to the ground and started  to cry over his stained body. Aggravated , the thug drew his pistol again and shot her in the head, she fell on top of her husbands limp body.

 The other passengers for fear of death  scurried into the other car, until they were left alone.   Toby awoke to the earsplitting gunshots jumping to his feet. The ruffian with the gun kept his aim at Toby. “You won’t get hurt if you listen to my instructions carefully” the overweight thug tugged on Mona as he did so. It seemed that the rocky voice fellow was the boss. He

 Mona struggled  to get out the  forceful grip of the big bulky brute. Slowly the man removed his hand from her lips.  “I understand” Mona said bravely. “Well then” he cleared his throat and looked at his partner smiling. “This is not what I was expecting.” He eyed Toby “Tell your friend to back off and things will go smoothly” he huffed.

“Toby go sit-down”

“No ma’am I ain’t going to stand around here and watch these guys hurt ya” 

“Shut up and sit down kid” the skinner one shouted.

“You see Mona, I know all about you, I know exactly who you are” Nickel rubbed his gloved hand down her arm.

“I want that crystal, Big Alvin out in Little Beijing is looking for it, but I just might keep it for myself. ”  

“Is that right?” a voice called out behind him.

“Look mister,” he said turning on his heel dragging Mona with him. His eyes opened wide as he found himself face to face with the stranger Mona and Toby had seen. “I don’t want any trouble….” his voice trailed off.  Pete pulled his gun away from Toby and now directed it towards the pale stranger. Shaky and unsteady Pete gulped hard. Toby took the moment of distraction and attempted to steal the gun away from the him  but failed and ended up with a butt of a gun to the head

“Let the lady go, Nickel and I’ll give you a chance to live. How’ s that sound?” 

“How’s that fair Sam” he let out a toothless smile.  “You know I ain’t the negotiating   kind” Nickel breathed in Mona’s intoxicating femmine aroma  “The Tear… will be ours” his hand crawled over her legs crawling towards her most private area. She bashed away his  hand .

“Don’t touch me” she said sternly.

Nickel loosened his grip and threw Mona on the ground. His gaze switched from Mona to the  guns in the strangers hand.

Pete pulled the trigger of his gun but before the shot had even fired he found himself shot in the stomach, moaning in