"You boys are lost," the woman says dryly, shaking her head.  "Don't you know where you are?  This is the land of the lost, the last chance saloon, the final frontier...save one.  He has stretched his grim hand over this valley and called the lost and the broken to his side, and here we gather.  You should turn around and go home.  But you won't, will you?  They never do."<br/><br/>She lets out a sad sigh.<br/><br/>"No, they never do.  Not from the very first, nor until the very last.  Those are the rules of the game."<br/><br/>+++<br/><br/>The road ahead of Zach is dark and spooky, swaddled in fog.  This alone gives him a reason to slow down...which means it's likely going to be a long, long walk.<br/><br/>After a time, he passes another bloody red smear on the pavement, leading the way into a side street between cheerfully painted houses, their pastel colors washed out in the mist but still looking garish.