Off to the Races

I never did trust Dane, and now I knew why. He clapped his hands, and a dozen human impersonators lurched toward me in perfect unison.

With a dozen doppelgängers marching towards me, my only option was a hasty retreat. I threw a smoke bomb to the floor, then zigzagged away. In the confusion, I made it out of the factory, and halfway to my flying machine.

I ran through the tall grass until my legs gave out. I could scarcely make out the tail lights of my getaway ship far in the distance. I reached into my pocket one last time to confirm I still had the artifact. I didn't have a second to lose.

"STOP THE BOAT!" I screamed, but the lights faded away. As I started losing hope I heard something. Peeking out of the tall grass I saw an old couple having a glass of wine in a pontoon near the shore. Maybe there was still hope to bring the artifact to its rightful owner.

“HELP ME! Follow that boat!” I screamed. The old couple looked quite taken aback, but moored their boat next to me and invite me aboard. “Would you like some wine, honey?” Never one to refuse wine, I took it. It was delicious. The Pontoon slowly made its way toward my target.

Maybe it was the heat, maybe the wine, but I suddenly grew delirious. Forgetting my mission altogether, I felt myself being drawn toward the floor of the boat, my vision growing cloudy and my hearing muffled. As I hit the floor, I noticed the old couple smiling at me.

I opened my eyes, and tried immediately to get my thoughts together. My limbs tingled as though they’d been asleep for ages. I was sprawled out on a bed, in a room I didn’t recognize. Directly above me, there was a weird water stain on the ceiling. It looked like a horse.

My brain immediately put the pieces together. Water stain, uncomfortable bed, tingly limbs. After the journey of a lifetime, I had finally made it to the Kentucky Derby.