Chapter IV . . .

...It wasn't long before the landscape around me began to transform again in an astonishingly abrupt manner. It was as it had been when I first walked into the blizzard from the desert.	This time, though, the snow became puddles and the blinding--but beautiful--white became gritty and gray. This Place, I noticed, was dismal and dreary. And in the distance, I could almost make out what appeared to be some sort of mill..or Power Plant...	"The thing is..I know it's rotten. This place is hell. The air is hell. It smells like...them. When my shift's out, sometimes I scrub so hard to get the smell out...I scrub so hard that I bleed. And I have to tell my little boy that I fight for a living. It's less shameful than the truth. Someday, though, I'll have to tell him. ...everyone's gotta learn about the power supply."
"Oh it's not so bad. Some people like to complain, but no one complains come payday. No one complains about their televisions when they get home neither. Heck, I leave mine on all day, just so I can see it when I walk in. Happier to see that screen than my own wife and kids!" *chuckles	Day: unknown... I found a clearing off the road, which afforded me a good shot of the power plant...	...After a few minutes, I realized I was being sniffed. Someone knows I'm here...
...Also, still not sure what they're burning in there...	"Used to be everyone in the town had a heart...and dreams too! I know it sounds corny, but I'm tellin you, somethin ain't right with the air here. Maybe it's some sorta karma. Who knows. All I know is when I was growin up we did things. I mean meaningful things. Now it's like no one comes outta their houses, 'cept to clock in and out of that rotten place."	Early this morning, I got a glimpse of the local freight. Apparently, the town gets a regular delivery direct to the power plant...of what, I'm still not sure.
"I advise you to stay away from the tracks, and the plant. You're muddlin' in the wrong town. And frankly it's none of your damn business."	Clearly I wasn't getting any answers back There. I don't know what's going on in that town, but it creeps me out. Still, a part of me has to know. So I'm following the tracks out. Whatever they got burning in that plant, it's coming in from outside the city...	There was a split in the tracks about a mile ago..I must've followed a discontinued path.
It looks like somebody might live here. Maybe more than one... <br/><br/> ..I think I hear someone coming...	"We jumped every freight from There to Here. The resta the gang spreads out along the track and we wait till it gets real dark--that's when the biggest freights come through. And they never suspect a thing. We throw it all to the dirt and jump off just as fast as we came. And on our way back, we collect."	-"I'm just glad you didn't kill me."<br/> -"Don't give us no reason to."
-"What kinds of things do you usually find on these freights?"<br/> -"Mostly junk. Lotsa couches..."<br/> -"Nothing...peculiar?"<br/> -"Well we did find these maps one time--a whole bunch of 'em. They musta been pretty old 'cause you couldn't hardly see the names of the Places. The ones you could see, though...I never heard of 'em. But I ain't been far anyway."<br/> -"What'd you do with the maps?"<br/> -"Burned 'em. It gets damn cold out here at night."	-"There's a freight passin' through here tonight."<br/> -"How do you know?"<br/> -"It's just a feelin' I get."	"Now's your chance, Photographer."
-"You're not coming?"<br/> -"No, this one's headed Out. But you'll find what you're looking for. Can't guarantee you'll like it though."	I must have dozed off. The train appears to have stopped. <br/><br/> And there's nobody here...	Day: unknown<br/> ...exploring a bit, until the sun comes up. This place is giving me the creeps...
		"It's so much grayer than normal. Do you think this could be like the Great Fade?"<br/> "Pure hogwash! That's all fiction. You believe everything you read?"<br/> "I do not. But I believe Mr. Sleeve."
"They criss and they cross and they stretch to the distance where pockets of light still exist...<br/> But a Fade, by its nature, knows no competition, and nothing, as yet, could resist."<br/> - excerpt from 'Of An Account of the Great Fade', by Andrew C. Sleeve