Chapter 14The Rotting Jungle   The next morning, Jonah and Alissa were outside the western gates to the city saying their goodbyes to Rasheed, Lilly and Basheer. They had expined to them the night before about the quest that they were going to undertake and recruited their help in gathering the supplies that they would need for the journey including a couple of cycles that were powered with an odd combination of clockwork and a thing called a battery. The cycles required light peddling to charge the batteries while the batteries powered the gears that drove them forward. All of the supplies that the couple needed for the trip, including rations, ammunition, and water, were stored in saddle bags as well as a couple of small carts that were attached to the rear of the cycles.

  As well as Alissa's family, the entire popution of Ib seemed to be gathered to see them off. Several of the citizens even brought the couple gifts of all types to wish them well on their journey. Doctor Sliss even brought them a variety of medicines for the journey, though she said that they were more for personal enjoyment then actual medical uses as she gave the two a sly wink.

  When all the well-wishing and goodbyes were finished, the couple climbed aboard their machines and sped quickly off to the west. Alissa was caught off guard at the speed that the cycles could produce as the city of Ib quickly disappeared into the wastends behind them. She commented about it to Jonah who was pacing her with obvious ease. He just smiled at her and nodded, clearly exhirated by the ride.

  As the sun rose high into the sky indicating that it was midday, the couple stopped to take a break to eat. When they climbed off of their cycles, they both were surprised at how stiff their legs were. Once they were fed and had hydrated themselves to combat the heat of the wastes, they begrudgingly climbed back on their cycles and sped off once more.

  When the day slowly turned to dusk, the couple stopped and made camp for the night, even though they had been told that the cycles were equipped with headmps so they could drive long into the night if they wanted too. Jonah, with Alissa's help, got the security fence in pce and set up a small tent that used both cycles as support structures on either side of it while two colpsible poles created a support structure that held the center of the roof up, creating a pitch high enough for the two to walk under as well as having two fps on both of the exposed sides that could be closed if necessary. Jonah started a fire to the outside of the tent and fixed their first hot meal of the journey. With their bellies full, the couple id out their bedroll for the night and fell into a deep sleep from the exhaustion of their first day on the road.

  In the morning as they broke down the camp, they discussed the best course of action for them to take to find the tomb.

  All that they knew of its location was that it was near the ancient city of Charne, which had in in ruins for at least the st thousand years, since it was abandoned after the razing by Ib. Kristh had told them that the ruins of Charne were to the west of Ib and if they followed the remnants of the ancient hi-way, it would take them right through the center of the ruins. Neither of the couple knew what a hi-way was, but to them it just looked like an old road that had fallen into extreme disrepair.

  The couple decided since Charne was the only ndmark that they knew the location of, they would start by searching the ruins of the city to see if they could find some clue that would hopefully lead them to the location of the tomb. Worst case scenario, they figured that they could just explore around the outskirts of the city in an expanding radius until they found it, but that would be saved for a st resort due to how time consuming it would be.

  Once that issue was settled, they pushed onward not knowing what y ahead.

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  On the third day of travel, the couple saw the end of the wastends before them. In the distance there were spots of green on the horizon that stood out from the bckened desecration of the wastends. As they drew nearer, they could see what appeared to be a lush jungle that stretched before them. Before long, they reached where the wastends ended and the jungle began, though they could now see that it was not as lush or lively as it had appeared to them from afar.

  The jungle stank of rot and as the couple entered it, they could see that much of the foliage was consumed by decay. The air itself was moist and humid as little bugs buzzed around them, biting them constantly. Alissa and Jonah were soon soaked in sweat, causing their clothing to cling to their bodies and making them feel sticky all over. Just a short distance into the Jungle they had to slow their speed of travel because the rotten, decayed pnt life had invaded the roadway, partially obscuring it as well as adding to the destruction of the pavement. In some pces the road was also blocked by low hanging pnts that were choked with vines, all of which made driving through difficult. At several point, both of them had to get off their machines to cut a path clear.

  Slowly they made their way deeper into the jungle surprised at how dark it grew the further in they went. The pnt life blocked out much of the sunlight and soon the couple had to turn on the headmps to light the path before them.

  The pnt life grew more and more rotten as they traveled onward. Soon every pnt they could see were covered in fungus of all varieties from slimes to mushrooms to molds. As they dove deeper, the jungle turned into a forest of vine covered mushrooms that stretched as high as any tree that the two of them had ever seen. They pressed deeper, sticking to the road, not wanting to stray from it out of fear of getting lost if they did.

  The darkness of the jungle grew darker as the day faded into night as the couple tried to find a pce to make camp that wasn't covered slime or mold with little success until Jonah spotted what looked like an abandoned and partially colpsed structure made of stone. He pointed it out to Alissa and together they parked the cycles and grabbed a couple of hand torches that were capable of generating a bright beam of light for a good half hour before you had to use the crank that was tucked into the side of them to repower them.

  Cautiously they approached, not knowing what to expect. The part of the structure that was facing the road had an opening that was roughly the size of a doorway leading inside. The air inside had a musty smell to it that, while not much better than the smell of the jungle outside, was an improvement. The floor was made of stone that was pitted, worn with age and weather though lucky it appeared to be mold and slime free. To the rear of the front room there was another doorway that led to a hallway but about halfway down it the roof was colpsed in making it impossible to continue any further. It appeared that the only part of the structure that was reasonably safe to use was the front room. The rest of the building, even the parts that had not colpsed would have to remain unsearched since it appeared the only way to them was the colpsed hallway.

  The couple rolled their cycles into the building and used them to form a barrier, blocking the doorway with them. Soon they had a fire and settled in for a quick meal. When they were finished eating, they id out their bedroll near the fire though they noticed that the jungle did not get cold like the wastends at night. The humidity that had pgued them during the day seemed to persist throughout the night as well. Though the bugs seemed to lessen, Jonah suspected that was because of the smoke from their fire and if they were to stray too far from the fire, the incessant biting would continue.

  Looking Alissa over, he could see dozens of welts where her skin was exposed, caused by the annoying insects that had been trying to eat them alive. With how miserable Alissa looked from the bites on her body he imagined that he looked just as bad, if not worse.

  Jonah went to the bags and pulled out a chest of medicine that Lilly had given them before they left. He lifted out the medicines that Doctor Sliss had given them, which was stored in the chest, and set them to the side. After a few minutes of searching found what he was looking for and held it up for Alissa to see, smiling. Alissa looked at the bottle curiously but said nothing.

  Jonah, obviously pleased at his find put the rest of the medicine away again and brought the bottle back to the fire. He poured some of the contents, a sweet-smelling clear liquid, into his hand, reached over to Alissa and began to spread it on her exposed skin. Alissa moaned in pleasure as the liquid came in contact with her skin soothing the itching of the insect bites that she had been trying so hard not to scratch. When Jonah had finished applying the liquid to her welts, she returned the favor. Soon, with the itching of the bites soothed, they turned in for the night, wondering how far it was to the ruins of Charne.

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  Around midnight the couple was awoken by the sound of something growling outside the structure. The fire had burned down to a pile of smoldering coals that did not provide much light though the outside of the structure was well lit from moonlight that seemed to find its way through the jungle canopy unlike the sunlight. Jonah quietly made his way to the cycles and detached a rifle that was attached to the side of the cycle while Alissa readied her revolver.

  The growling continued for some time but no matter how much he looked Jonah could not see the source of the noise. Eventually whatever had been outside, seemed to get spooked by something else and it wandered off back into the jungle.

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  The next morning when the pair awoke they looked around outside the building to see if they could find some trace of the creature they had heard the night before. The only trace that they found of it was a rge cwed footprint that was embedded into an area of soft earth to the side of the roadway which they now noticed was actually paved with rge stone sbs instead of packed stone and earth like is was in the wastes. Looking at this new type of pavement, Alissa wondered at what point it had changed from the smaller stones to the rge sbs. They returned to the colpsed building, retrieved their cycles and continued on their journey.

  The roadway seemed easier to travel on due to the sbs, though there were still plenty of low hanging pnts and vines that obscured the path before them to make travel slow. The giant mushrooms still grew towering over the jungle below, though the further they traveled, there were less and less of the slimes, molds and mushrooms. Soon the fungi that had seemed to rule the jungle slowly faded out and lush healthy vegetation began to appear. The air itself had lost the scent of decay and now had an earthy smell.

  After what seemed like forever, because of the slow pace of travel in the jungle, the couple came to a rge stone bridge that crossed a deep ravine. On the opposing side of the bridge, it appeared as if the earth fell away into nothingness as the road curved to the right before dropping out of site.

  Cautiously Alissa and Jonah proceeded across the bridge, expecting it to colpse beneath them, since the only support it appeared to have were long rusty cables that were attaches to pilrs on either end of it. As they slowly crossed, they could hear what sounded like a river raging beneath them but the recesses of the ravine were too deep for them to see what y at the bottom due to the dark and gloom that still enveloped the jungle. As they made it to the other side of the bridge, they could see that where it looked like the nd had simply fallen away was actually a steep decline that overlooked a massive valley shrouded in mist like a sea of clouds.