A Hazy Shade of Winter

[Brian]

Most of your goal is accomplished quickly.  No one at the bank seems to be aware of the fact that you're dead (which is a good thing), though you don't really know about your parents yet.

[Dracos]

Dracos glances about for a nearby post office.

Dracos

[Brian]

You're in a large city.  There are several, should you pause to locate one.

[Dracos]

Dracos does that then: writing a quick letter of summary level explanation (no names, a 'yes, I'm in trouble, but alive, no phone calls, pretend I'm dead, don't be surprised my accounts are locked to any access but my own and that the 'in case of death' are currently locked out), puts it on a stamped envelope, no return address, labeled to his mother using her middle name so it'll catch her attention on top and gives it to the post office with a small tip and the cost of protected and ensured overnight mail.  Paying their assuredly outrageous fee for it he heads back out to the car.

"fuck...  I hate this shit."

Dracos

[Brian]

The letter has been sent.  It's now morning, early-ish, and you're still not yet in Arkansas.

[Rezantis]

Rez, in the meantime, has been looking around for an internet cafe or the like.

[Brian]

This is harder to locate than a post office, but after consulting a phone booth, possible.  The town looks like it has four of them, two in locations that may as well be fairland for all the sense the street names make, one with a quarter-page advertisment, and one on a street that you remember driving past on your way to the post office.

[Dracos]

"Let's go to the closest one."

Dracos

[Rezantis]

Rez promptly drives to the closest one.

[Brian]

Which one is closer turns out to be the advertised one, which is huge, crowded, and packed with Counter-Strike fans.  Even on a day and at a time when people should probably be at work.

There's a few 'net access/e-mail' systems that couldn't handle the rigors of serious gaming (or proper usage) availible, and the proprieter only wants 10$ for 30 minutes, if you don't have a membership card.

[Rezantis]

Rez hands over $10 - reluctantly, bloody gouger - and sits down at a system for a few minutes, checking his email . . . and checking news sites to see what he can find on the apparent terrorist attack on Drac's house.

For that matter, he googles himself, and sees if he finds anything out of the ordinary.

[Brian]

For yourself, you find nothing new or unexpected.  The news on the terrorist attack (from what you can see) makes it pretty simple.  Dracos was apparently having a friend over when terrorists detonated an explosive on the site.

No one is yet certain why it happened, however.  The terrorists are still at large.  An ariel view of the neighborhood shows that little (if any) evidence will be recovered -- the entire house is demolished, along with major sections of both the neighboring houses.

[Rezantis]

Apart from this, Rez also drops an email to the parents from another hotmail account, speaking in vague terms of some contract work, and claiming that he'll be out of contact for a while, so not to worry.

Then he logs out, grabs Drac by the ear, and drags him back to the car.

[Rezantis]

Hustling Drac back into the car, Rez got settled back int he driver's seat . . . and after a refill of gas, yet again, the crew kept on heading towards their destination.

[Brian]

It's not long after the pause for internet cafe that you cross the border into Arkansas, and it's now just after 11:00 AM.