Jumping the Rails

Neither cat was sure how long Beryl slept the first time, Arnold said it couldn’t have been more than a few hours, but Beryl did not rush to return to his journey.  He took the time to catch a rat he found prowling nearby and then went back to resting near the fallen statue of Sebastion.  He knew that he didn’t have the time to fully recover, but he also knew that he was too weak to continue now.

 The next time he woke up Beryl stretched his back to loosen his weary muscles and then picked up Arnold. As he walked down the tunnel he noted the broken wires along the edges and even breaking through the ceiling.  The cables sparked, letting off a warning hiss of the danger they posed.

 Beryl exited the tunnels and came back to the broken Rail-fields.  In the brown colored skies that had been illuminated by the sun behind it he could more clearly see tracks sprawled across the cobbles and onto homes, and the cables seemed to cover every roof of the dirty city.

 “Do you know where we’re going?”  Arnold asked as Beryl started to walk towards the south east.

“Last time I came to this Babbage, I could not travel this way,” Beryl explained as he reached the road that would lead him towards the Academy of Industry. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this time the road is not completely impassable.”

“You picked our direction just because you couldn’t go this way the last time you were here?” Arnold asked with a flat, displeased tone.  “So I take it that means that you don’t have any idea what you’re hoping to accomplish.”

“I’m going to find Tepic,” Beryl explained. “And I’m hoping he’s retreated to the Imperial Theater.  Hopefully no one will expect me to come this way.”

“Climbing over a sea of wires and electrified metal rails?”  Arnold snorted loudly.  “You’re right.  No one’s going to expect that, because it’s stupid!”

Arnold was wrong however, what he couldn’t see from his angle was that the road to the south-east was at least partially clear.  There were still rails that blocked the path, but the road was clear of wire and they could easily make their way across if he was careful.

Beryl walked to the first steel rail and stepped over it very carefully with Arnold in hand.  The head bit his tongue and didn’t say anything as they crossed carefully, and let out the breath they did not need as they passed over harmlessly.

Beryl grinned down at Arnold, but didn’t say anything as he continued the journey, repeating the process time and time again over rails that were sometimes laying on top of one another or leaning against a building at dangerous angles, while broken cables sparked over Beryl’s head as he passed under..  No matter how many times they did it, Arnold did not relax for a moment.

The journey took longer than it should have, but finally the rails started to thin out and he could see that they had passed Pearse’d and Cuts.  It was starting to look like the road would be clear until he saw a grand stone wall blocking the road into the Academy of Industry.

Arnold shouted with fake glee, “Oh rapture!  Oh joy!  You’ve lead us to a dead end!”

Beryl waited until the cat-head had stopped shouting before he explained, “I knew the wall was there.  The last time I was here the Academy of Industry had sunk into itself and was quarantined along with the Old Quarter.  We’re going to cut south and head past the Brass Monkey.”

“The Academy of Industry sank?!”  

Beryl nodded absently, but he wasn’t really paying attention to Arnold.  Beryl saw a group of dobermans, standing near strange vehicles that appeared to be lined with flesh, at the wall next to the Academy of Industry.  It seemed as if they had just noticed him as well.