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SMNTY Fiction: SMNTY Fiction: Terminus, Part 2 (Chapter 8.1) · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you productive I hurried you, and welcome
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to another edition of Sminty Fiction, which just a once
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a month thing we do. It's lightly edited on my end.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Christina puts amazing sound effects in there, so huge shout
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: out to her. We love doing these And if you
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: have any suggestion for something else we can do in
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: this realm that's in the public domain, we'll get us
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in trouble please, that's fine, we can't afford it. We
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: can't afford it, but that would be fun, especially because
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: we're moving into Halloween time. But that being said, this
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: is the final chapter of Terminus. This is part two
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of Terminus, which is also called Big Things Start Small,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And this is the chapter you get where the title
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: came from till the end.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: My ex boyfriend used to hate that. He was like,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: that's how you can tell a piece of media is
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: bad if they say the title in it. I was like, wow,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the title is in here. It's had a lot of
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: opinions that you did. Really very unhappy. I can go yes.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: But yeah, So this is the final chapter we are
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: splitting it into because again, I'm terrible at chapter length,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and I'm really really excited. I'm really really excited because
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the ending is a cliffhanger and I'm just happy because
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I'm a monster, I guess, and I like torturing people.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: But we'll move into Part three soon after, and Part
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: three is much shorter, and then we'll get to the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: end of the terminus. Sokka. This is something I wrote
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: for National Novel Writing Month, I believe in twenty eleven.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: But I have got to tell you, Samantha. I know
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I said, I say this and everyone, I swear to god,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I wrote this before I played The Last of Us.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: But there is literally a place called like Firefly Winery
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: in here. It's wild to me, like what was going
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: on Firefly? Oh yeah, what was going on in my brain?
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: Which I'm mistaken to be like a mixed drink fire vodka,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: but it's just straight vodka.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: And I just gave it to in front of the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: show case.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: She took it like a She was like, do you
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: mind if I get a mixer?
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: This is when we were doing our Last of Us
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: watch parties and we were doing theme drinks and Fly
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: vodka which we brought. Yeah, yes, somehow don't know or remember.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Firefly is a big It's like a big It's like
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the Resistance in the Last of Us. So I was
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: reading this, like what predictions? She just knew predictions or
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: maybe I'm just way off about the date. That is
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: entirely possible, But I could have sworn I wrote the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: first one in twenty ten, and I wrote the next
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: one the next year. Oh no, someone's gonna come and
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: like debunk this. She wasst this is like my worst fear,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and I'm so embarrassed by it that I'll say something
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: minorly wrong and someone we'll be like, we can't trust anything.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: She said, anyway, Yeah, I mean the game came out
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in twenty thirteen. I don't know, Okay, okay, whatever. Anyway,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: it's it's so content warning for disease aftermath of violence
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: into the world, stuff, internalized shame, and discussions of infertility.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Here is a brief summary. There is a disease called
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: HSV five that has decimated the human population, has made
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: having children incredibly difficult. The state, which is essentially the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: government institution, alongside the religious organization, arm to control of
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: every part of reproduction. Our protagonist, Tilda escaped with her
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: illegally conceived child, Madison. They've been on their run from
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: enforcers of the government for seven years. She encounters the Resistance,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: who claims that there is a vaccine, only to be
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: betrayed by them, and learns that there is a vaccine,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: but ARM has destroyed all but two samples of it.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Tilda ventures with Madison into the heart of DC and
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: learns that the leaders of ARM are Madison's grandparents. In
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a violent confrontation, Madison receives the last vaccine. Untilda broadcast
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: out over the national system what ARM and the state
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: has done. They then flee and have been on the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: run since then, not knowing who to trust. They have
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: braved harsh Weather, heard a broadcast from the leader of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the resistance trying to convince them to come back to DC,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and survived a brutal attack. After a tense conversation and
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: some recovery, they are setting out once again. So that
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: is where we are. Let us get into both she
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and Madison rose.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Early.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Tilda felt like a set of badly screwed together bones
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: in a much abused suit of skin. They followed their
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: regular morning routine pop tarts. This day strawberry flavored and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: bottles of water. Tilda found a pan and poured some
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: water for Scalp, who drank it thirstily. The pop tarts
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: stuck painfully, and Tilda's throat she fought valiantly to keep
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: her pain from showing on her face. Without much said
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: between them, they packed up, collected the flashlight from the table,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: zipped jackets and tied boots, adjusted hats and gloves, and
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: exited the farmhouse, Madison leading Scout by the reins. Tilda
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: passed a mirror, her step faltering at the sight of
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: her face, her throat decorated with hues of reds, purples, blues, blacks,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: her eyes bloodshot, her face puffy in red, angry red
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: welts and specks of red cuts, purple bruises, wringing her neck,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and red scratches from fingernails. A cocktail of anger and
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: shame flared up within her, and she looked away, unable
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: to face the ugly, damaged creature wearing her face. The
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: air outside was brisk and chilly, but not the brutal
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: cold they become accustomed to over the past few weeks.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: She shut the door behind them, and they stepped down
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the stairs where they both mounted Scout, Tilda struggling more
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: than usual with the soreness of her joints. The sun
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: was still middling near the horizon, so early was their start.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: As they passed through the rows of papery dried out
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: corn husk, they took the right on Seneca Hollow Road,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: heading southwest. A few rusted skeletons of cars were abandoned
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: on the side, one of them with little sprouts growing
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: out the hubcaps. Not too long after they had left
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: the farmhouse behind, they crossed over a small river on
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: a rickety wooden bridge that Tilda was afraid would collapse
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: underneath them. Though it creaked and wriggled with each of
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: scouts steps, the wood held. Tilda released the breast she'd
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: been holding. When they reached the solid ground on the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: other side. She was just as relieved that Scout kept
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: up the quicker pace Tilda had been pushing her to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: maintain the road. Beard sharply left and Tilda followed it,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: her eyes darting from side to side, the pain pulsing
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: through her body making it difficult to focus. She needed
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: something else to anchor her. What were you dreaming about
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: last night? Mouse, She felt him tense. Did I wake
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: you up? Was his response. A moment later, Recognizing the
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: diversionary tactic, Tilda responded with I was already awake. I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: had a bad dream myself. What did you dream about?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Tilda chuckled humorlessly, I asked you first? Another pause. I
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: don't remember. You don't have to tell me if you
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: don't want to, but I think it might help. Tilda
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: new talking about these things wasn't easy for either of them,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: but she didn't want Madison to suffer in silence if
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: she could do something to help. Madison waited for another
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: long minute, his shoulders tense. I jumpte couldn't find you,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: he relented quietly. I didn't know where you were. I
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: was all alone. Tilda didn't press, even though she could
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: tell there was more. She was sure that that was
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: what it boiled down to. Most of her nightmares, reduced
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to the bare bones of the fear that they played on,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: were essentially that as well. I don't know what i'd
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: do if you weren't here. I think i'd die, he
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: admitted quietly. Tildo's heart clenched. You're stronger than you think,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: she told him, just as quietly. He shook his head,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: but she spoke over him before he could say anything. Yes,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: you are. You're stronger than you know. He didn't respond,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: but it was obvious he didn't believe her. What'd you
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: dream about? He asked, the same kind of thing. Tilda
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: tugged on the reins, pushing Scout to speed up, but jumped.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I'd lost you and I didn't know where I was.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: All I knew was that I had to find you again.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Did you find me, Madison asked, No, she thought to herself,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: she never did. It was just a dream, she intoned.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Scanning the tree lines a head, she could make out
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: what looks like a major highway intersecting the one they
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: were following. But if I ever lost you, Mause, I'd
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: never stop looking for you. I would never stop until
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I found you. You know that, right, Madison sniffled. I
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: know you won't be alone, not as long as I'm alive.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: She couldn't be sure why these words were tumbling from
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: her lips, but she felt it was important for him
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: to know. Okay, Madison said, in a watery voice. You
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: believe me, she pressed. Yes. Madison's whisper was almost lost.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: You'd find me. That was different than she'd never stop looking.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: But she wanted to believe that too, that no matter
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: how lost Madison was to her, no matter how well
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: she was to herself, she'd find him again. She'd never
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: stop looking. She wouldn't know how. Signs begin to pop
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: up for Interstate eighty one. The closer they came to it,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the more nervous Tilda grew six thirty six road they
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: were on ramped over it the inner state, passing under
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Scout gambled up the cracked slope, and the tree line broke.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: They were out and open. Tilda hunched in on herself,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: glancing down the length of the highway from their vantage
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: point above it, a jungle of abandoned trucks, RVs, sedans, SUVs,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a maze, crammed into each other at different angles, stretching
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: as far as her eyes could make out. In the
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: distance to the north, she could make out pinpoints of
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: figures people making the journey to DC. Tilda hoped they
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: were too focused on the hardship ahead of them to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: look behind them and see the woman and child crossing
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: on horseback. A chunk of the bridge had crumbled away
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: on one side, slabs of asphalts of varying sizes hanging
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: from cables, and bent metal rods dangling like vines. Tilda
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: gave the gap a wide berth, afraid it collapsed if
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: they put too much weight near it. The highway sloped
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: down and back to solid ground, once again, ensconcing them
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: in pine trees. Tilda relaxed the tiniest bit, glancing over
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: her shoulder, suddenly afraid she'd see the corpses of Ellis
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and Jake mindlessly shambling after them. It was a brighter
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: day than it had been in a long time. The sun,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in sharp contrast to the crisp blue sky. Six thirty
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: six curved to run parallel with the interstate, but a
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: clump of trees shielded them from view, giving them a
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: small measure of security. Six thirty six forked, branching off
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: into eight twenty one. Tilda slowed scouted, but quickly decided
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: to skew right and thus more westerly on eight twenty one,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in order to put more distance between them and the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: highway and the bodies they'd left behind in Lafayette, along
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: with a camp of people surely looking for them. Eight
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: twenty one was an even smaller highway than six thirty six,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: all the back roads connecting to it containing hollow and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: knee Ginger Hollow, Dark Hollow, Apple hollow. The stream ran
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: on either side of them, gurgling water. When they reached
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: another fork, Tilda coaxed Scout into a convenience store parking lot,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: avoiding a string of street lights hanging from a post.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: She and Madison dismounted. A quick perusal of the convenience
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: store returned nothing useful. Scout meandered over the short distance
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to the stream for water. Tilda kept an eye on her,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: but doubted Scout would run from them. Now can I
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: feed her? Madison asked, as Tilda pulled out two granola
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: bars and two small bottles. Yes, after we eat. Madison
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: nodded his consent. Munching on his granola bar. Tilda took
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: a bite, then immediately regretted it as it grated down
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: her throat. Madison watched her like a hawk, so she
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: forced the rest of the unappetizing, dust tasting bar down,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: chasing every bite with water. Scout had wandered back and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: was watching them alternately. Madison popped up and gathered a
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: handful of the pellets from her pouch and fed them
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: to her. She ate them hungrily and tilted neew a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: flash of guilt. She'd been pushing Scout harder and harder,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: but there was not much to feed her with or
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: in the way of water either, But she'd just have
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: to make de like the rest of them. They packed
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: back up and set off again following eight twenty one.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: At the fork, a roaring sound grew gradually louder. A
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: river ran along the road, white capped with melted ice.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: They traveled against its current for a couple of miles
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: before they crossed over it, the white noise loud in
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: their ears. The road continued north for another mile and
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: then turned sharply south, dead ending into six zero three,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: which followed closely along the river in the opposite direction
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: they'd just traveled.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: This time.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Tilda didn't even hear the click are the static, just
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, her mother's voice, quiet and close.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: At first, she thought she was hallucinating, but Madison alted
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: as if electrified, telling her he'd heard it too. Till
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the my child, it's your mother, she implored wetly. She
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: was near tears, her words textured with emotion.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Again but this time under very different circumstances.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: A pause and the transmission. Tilda looked around wildly, causing
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Scout to stamp in a semicircle. Confused, you understood.
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: The code I gave you in my last transition.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: You must have another laugh. A lump lodged and tiled
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: his throat.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: I reminded you where you came from. I told you
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: to fight, and you did. You were stronger than I
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: ever did have imagine it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Tilda's vision was blurry with tears. She corrected course, determined.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Masen tried to spin and look at her, but couldn't
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: on Scout's back.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: You don't have to fight any more, baby, You've done
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: your part.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: We're working on manufacturing vaccine a mass pucing it from
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: the one.
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: We recovered from the vaults of arm Headquarters, members of
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: Armor and custody. As a leaders of the state, we
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: have formed a transient governments with members of the existence
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: other civilians.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: We hoped to hold elections soon.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: More and more people flood in every day, more than
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I thought was still a lot.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Children will too, It's been so long since I've seen one.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Tilda wondered if her hair was gray and her face wrinkled.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: The image she pulled up of her mother was blurry,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: fuzzy edges she could barely remember.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: I want to meet mass, my grandson. I want to
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: see my daughter again.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I want you to know how her voice broke, how
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: proud your.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Father and I am with you, and how much I'd
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: love you. But I know that the last time I
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: sent a message like this to you, it was a chap.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: I know he'd been betrayed and hunted and almost killed.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: Right here.
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: And DC, your child was always taken from you. Trust me,
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: and I know what that's like.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Tilda remembered suddenly herself screaming for her mother as the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: enforcers led her from her child at home. The look
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: of shock and horror on her mother's face. She'd always
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: assumed it had been due to the realization that her
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: daughter was pregnant. She'd never thought about how her mom
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: must have felt afterwards, barred from seeing her daughter, her
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: only child. Her mother continued, the day they took you.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: From me, if I could go back, i'd fight harder.
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: I fight everything I had to keep you, just as
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: you've done, per son. I understand you can't come back now.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Trust comes with time. And the healing of blues.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: But just know your father will be worried for you
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: when you're right. We're building a better world for Madison,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: wherever you are.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: I hope that you can hear this and that you're safe.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: That you know that I love you and Madison.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Madison whipped his head around so quickly she was worried.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: He twisted right off his shoulders.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I love you too. I can't wait to see you.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: On other pause and then please stay safe. The transmission
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: cut out. Tilda stared at the speakers as if she
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: could see through them to their origin, if she could
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: see her mother's face. A tear trickled down her cheek,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: and she took a gasping breath. She was more confused
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: than ever. She turned her mother's words over and over
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: again in her head, clanging around in her skull, unable
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: to suss out if it was another trap. The words
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: behind the words, her mother understood, though they were remembers
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: of the same club now, the club where your needs
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: were almost exclusively tied up in the needs of someone else,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: in the need to keep them safe. Her mother understood.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: It was strange, but she never thought that her mother
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: must view her in this way as well. She never
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: imagined she could feel the level of love she felt
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: for Madison, much less that someone could feel such an overwhelming,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: powerful emotion of love for her. Tilda wiped at her
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: cheeks and pulled at their reins, pushing scout forward. What
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: do we do, Madison asked? We keep going, Tilda said, roughly,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: marveling that this was the second time her mother had
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: sent her a message over the universal broadcast system. But
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: your mother will understand, Tilda cut in. Madison waited, restless.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Will I ever meet her? I want to meet her
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: and your dad. You will one day. Mouse. We just
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: have to let things settle down and become safer. Then
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: we'll go back and I'll introduce you to my parents. Deal.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: After considering the terms, Madison agreed. Deal. Do you think
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: they'll like me? Tilda laughed, kissing the top of his head.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: They'll love you, baby, and they'll like you too, I hope, so,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Madison said, wistfully. I know. So. They lulled into silence, Tilda,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: still on edge that they were being watched. Hearing her
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: mother's voice had sent her heart galloping, electrified her nerves,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: but she was so tired that it was morphing into
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a pounding headache in a sort of adrenaline. She couldn't
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: keep still, which aggravated her soer muscles. She could tell
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: she was putting Madison on edge with her nervousness. Every
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: time they passed a speaker mounted on a pole, she
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: stared at it as if it could see her, at
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: being waiting to speak to her, to tell her that
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: they were coming for her. A train whistle blew in
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the distance. Untilda badly jumped, startling scout into a brief
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: running start. It was some ways away, by the sound
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: of it, north, but Tilda felt as if it were
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: chasing them, the howl of a ghostly specter bearing down
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: on them, refusing to let them forget the machinations of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a dying race. As the sun sank lower and lower,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the river sneaking along next to them, Tilda spotted a
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: wood wash sign that read firefly Vineyards. By the looks
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of it, there was nothing else for a good thirty
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: minute by horseback. What's a vineyard, Madison asked, stuttering over
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the new word. Tilda corrected the pronunciation and then explained,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: it's a place. It used to be a place where
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: people grew grapes to make wine. What's wine, Madison followed
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: up innocently. Tilda smiled, it's sort of a juice made
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: from fermented grapes. Fermented, Madison parroted, bewildered, it's an aging
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: process that turns the sugar and foods to acid, or,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: in the case of wine, into alcohol. Alcohol, Maison repeated,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: it's a chemical that makes people feel funny. Adults used
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: to drink it as expected. Madison asked, why for fun
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: to feel better? To make things easier? Sometimes forget it
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: makes things easier for some people. It makes you less afraid,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: are easier to talk to other people. Madison shook his head.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: She knew that he had a lot more questions, but
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: was refraining from asking them. Tilda was sure the topic
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: would re emerge later. The road up to the vineyard
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: was steep and unpaved. Scout had to labor carefully up it,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the dirt and gravel treacherous beneath her hoofs. Large twisted
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: trunks lined the winding path whethered stone statues peeked through
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the trees, Bears and hawks and other wildlife. Elaborate cursive
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: letters carved into the stone are rendered illegible with time.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: The light dimmed rapidly as they reached the top, a
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: mansion looming on the hill's peak. All around them, grapevines
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: had grown wildly from their trellis, dead with frost, but
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: waiting to bloom again. Did they still grow grape? She
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: wondered from the spring, with no one here to eat them,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: was there still wine? A quaint stone bridge crossed over
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: a small stream and passed a crumbling fountain. Tilda hopped
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: off on the stone path on the other side, helping
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Madison down and letting Scout drink from the stream and
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: graze on the grass. Hand in hand, she and Madison
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: approached the large oak double doors with ornate handles. They
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: looked at each other before Tilda reached out and grasped
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the handle, leveraging her weight to pull it open. The
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: wooden panel was thick and heavy. Tilda grunted, ushering Madison
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: inside and slipping between the gap behind him, doing her
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: best to keep it from slamming heavily into place. What
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: would have been allowed bang was muffled to a quieter
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: one little victories. Inside was a wide open space, windows
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: making up the walls on all sides with the one
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: behind them, so that they could see the blue mountain
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: range to their north and a lake nestled in the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: vineyards below them. At one time time, firefly cellars as
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the plaque above the mahogany bar red, must have been beautiful.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Now it was gloomy in the dusk, orange and pink
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: smuted through the windows and against the dull wood and cobwebbed,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: dusty empty A place like this needed to be full.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: A wooden porch lined at the mansion, with an outdoor
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: seating area. This must have also been a restaurant as well.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: A double staircase spiraled around both edges of the open room,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: leading to a second story. The lights were industrial lanterns
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: and wooden candle holders. The floor was dark stained wood,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: but mostly covered with dusty heavy rugs and shades of
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: bread and purple colors of wine. Tilda guest. A quick
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: check behind the bar revealed nothing other than glasses and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: empty containers, some corkscrews and bottle stoppers. Tilda continued her inspection.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Two bathrooms and a wide open door descending into the darkness.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: From the pink light of the quickly fading sunset, Tilda
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: could make out an iron candle holder mounted into the wall.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Tilda fished out her lighter from her backpack's side pocket
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: and lit it. It flared to life, only managing to
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: light about half the staircase. Tilda glanced back toward the door,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: deciding to check on Scout before descending into the creepy basement.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: She braced herself and yanked the door open. Madison slipped
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: out and grabbed Scout's reins, leading her inside. Thanks mouse,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Tilda stroked Scout's neck. Scout looked around, seemingly bored. As
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Tilda and Madison returned to the staircase. Tilda took the
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: first few stairs, listening intently. Each stair whined loudly in protest.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: She lit the next candle at the mount halfway down,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: which illuminated the rest of the way. At the bottom
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: of the stairs was a floor made of stones. A
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: chilly draft made Tilda shudder. She lit the final candle,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and its orange glow painted the cellar. Enormous wood oaked
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: barrels lined both walls, fitted with spouts. The wood was
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: rotting in some places, giving the room an earthy, sweet smell.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: At the opposite wall was a wine wrack, a diamond
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: patterned wooden apparatus holding what Tilda estimated to be over
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: one hundred dusty bottles of wine. Curious, Tilda inspected some
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: of the bottles, looking for vintages. She vaguely remembered that
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: wine was supposed to get better with age, but she
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: doubted that wine this ould would still be good or
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: even safe to drink. Nevertheless, she turned the bottles in
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: her hands, looking at the labels, off white with black ink,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the mountains and bobbles of light fireflies. Is this wine,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Madison asked in a hushed tone, Yes, Tilda answered equally soft.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Can we drink it? He asked eagerly. No, I don't
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: think so. Why not want to make us feel better?
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Tilda smirked, No, or dehydrated, and this is really old.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: It would probably make us feel much worse. Madison frowned,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: sliding the bottle of wine he'd been eyeing back into place.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: A loud thump reverberated from above them. They both froze. Scout,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Madison asked. Untila shook her head silently, she didn't know
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: another sound, creaking, Gesturing for Madison to be quiet, she
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: crept toward the stairs. Knowing there was no way she
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: could ascend them without making creaking sounds of her own.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: She weighed their options. They could wait down here, hiding
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: and hoping that it was just an old creaking house,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: or scout, and if it wasn't that whoever was here
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: would not find them. But this option seemed highly optimistic,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: with Scout resting upstairs. Yes, if this was people making
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: these noises, they come looking for them. Tilda spared to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: glance from Madison, pulling the rifle from where it was
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: slung across her shoulder and adjusting it in her grip.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Her hands were shaking. What was she becoming? Were events
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: like these going to become a regular thing? How many
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: tally marks was she going to earn? How many bodies
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: would she leave behind? If her mother knew, what would
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: she think? Could she still love Tilda the murderer? Would
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: she still welcome her home with open arms? Tilda crept
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: up the stairs, pausing at each one, listening, wincing with
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: each creek. The gun pointed out in front of her
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: much too long, she could hear something from upstairs, something
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: so soft it could be a figment of an anxious imagination.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: All the stretching and warping of wood and pipes. At
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the top of the stairs, Tilda took a deep breath
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: that somehow felt like more oxygen than she was used
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: to and made her light headed. She blinked back stars.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Steadying herself, she rounded the corner, her weapon aimed. She
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: looked left, pivoted, squared her shoulders right. Nothing. She edged
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: along the back side of the wall, her heart and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: her throat. The floor above her creaked, and she caught
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: someone whispering. Tilda's finger instinctively tightened on the trigger. Hello,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: someone called, a male voice from the second story. Someone there.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Tilda trained her gun on the foot of the stairs footsteps,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: patting down the right staircase. Her nostrils flared, her eyes narrowed.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Everything else fell away, but the foot of the stairs.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Is that a horse? A female voice quiet? From above?
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: A man appeared at the foot of the stairs, tall
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: stained khakis and orange bubble jacket and blue beanie pulled
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: tight around his head, big brown boots. His back was
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: to Tilda, surveying the open room. She had the perfect shot.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Her face broke out in a cold sweat, her breath quickened,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: her finger twitched over the trigger, but she couldn't pull it.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: She couldn't. Her aim jerked, the butt of the gun
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: jammed painfully against her shoulders. The man turned slowly around,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: coming to face her and Madison. He shouted at the
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: sight of the gun aimed at him, almost dropping his
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: electric torch. He stumbled back several steps, almost falling, but
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: managed to regain his footing wide eyes with specs of
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: blue light bright, never leaving Tilda. What the what is it?
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: What do you see? A woman shouted frantically from the
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: second story. The man's mouth worked silently, Tilda using her
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: peripheral vision to seek out Scout. His eyes darted to
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the second story. Shaking his head fiercely. He held his
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: hands up slowly, Tilda following his every move with her gun.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: We don't mean you any harm, he said, his voice steady,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a deep, oddly comforting rumble, but Tilda did not waver.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Madison huddled behind her, trembling. No stay up there, the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: man called, his gaze, sliding upstairs and then back down
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: to focus on Tilda. Scout wandered into the front room
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: behind him. Look, we didn't know anyone else was here.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: We can leave, we can, he broke off, catching sight
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: of Madison his brown furring, Tilda steadied her aim, preparing
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to pull the trigger once again. Wait are you Tilda?
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Tilda and Madison, And that brings us to the end
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: of this penultimate addition of Spinty Fiction, Terminus Part two,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Dun Dum Dum cliff a lot of the cliffhangers, Oh
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: my gosh. Also, as I said, this is very time
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and place. I can tell where I was when I
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: wrote this. This is when I was discovering Dalanago wineries.
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: That like the description of the winery at the end,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: what you were doing. I know where you were at
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I remember, I remember, you know, it's quite possible there
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: is a firefly winery. I don't know. Also, the names
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: are definitely references of this group that they encounter at
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the end, are deffinitely references to my survivalist neighbors. So
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: take that as you will. And yeah, this message that
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Tilda gets from her mom, I've always this is apparently
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: something I really like to do when I write. I
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: still do this, but kind of feel like dramatic, it's
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: broadcast to everybody message, but just this sort of heartfelt like,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: please trust me and please come back. This was inspired
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: in part by a story I read that really impacted
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: me when I was a kid, where, uh, the child
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: in question just goes off and parties and causes all
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: this trouble and all this stuff, and then at the
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: end he returns home and he thinks his parents are
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: going to be so angry with them, and they're just
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: happy he's alive. So that's definitely what the inspiration was
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: for that that section. That is something else going on.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, but we will find
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: out in the last chapter of part two coming next month,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: so please keep a lookout for that. I'm really excited
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: for that one. As always, you can contact us if
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: you have any theories about this, or if you have
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: any suggestions with something else that we could do in
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the fiction realm. You can email us a Stephanie mom
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Stuff at iheartmeta dot com. You can buyse on Twitter
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: stuff and we Never told you for us on YouTube.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: We have a Tea Pup bookstore, and we have a
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: book you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Christina, are Expected producer Maya,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: and our contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: for listening. Stuff Never Told You is production by Heart Radio.
• 35:17
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• 35:19
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• 35:21
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