/* /*]] */ Dlands 38 - Mars Arena Cold talons pinched his skin

 

"Dean" someone said, and he couldn't believe how much it sounded like Krysty.

 

Something shimmered into being on his right. It was impossibly close, near enough to reach out and touch him. He'd have seen anyone or anything that had come that close to him.

 

Then he saw the face, made out the features. She was indistinct, as if he were seeing her through a heavy fog. "Krysty?" Dean said, not believing it.

 

"Your father is coming for you. Look for him." The words sounded as if they were coming from a long distance, then she was gone.

 

Before the boy could puzzle over her appearance and what it meant, the door burst open. Framed in it was a nightmare figure Dean remembered well a giant mutie pig, its beady, merciless eyes nearly buried in wrinkles of scarred gristle.

 

Before he could draw the Browning, the beast started for him, squealing shrilly in anticipation of an easy kill.