Marcus Riddley's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Marcus walked through the quiet streets before dawn, watching lights flicker on in workshop windows. Other mechanics were already starting their day, fighting the same battles he'd fought for decades. The town felt different now that he knew what gremlins could do. He stopped at a corner where three repair shops faced each other across cracked pavement. Each building showed signs of the struggle—patched walls, replaced windows, reinforced doors. This was Gremlin's Gorge at its core, a place built on broken machines and stubborn hope. Marcus continued past the shops toward the desert edge where an old observation tower rose against the lightening sky. The metal frame stood tall, its boarded windows and cracked glass dome a reminder of government work from the 1950s. He'd heard stories about gremlin studies done there, experiments that went wrong and got buried. The tower had watched over this town for seventy years, keeping its secrets. Marcus studied the rusted structure and wondered what those researchers had learned before they gave up. He walked back toward town as the sun broke over the horizon. A yellow palo verde tree spread its branches near the road, its green bark bright in the morning light. Small leaves rustled in the breeze. Marcus had seen gremlins near trees like this before, darting between the shade and open ground. The town was full of these natural gathering spots, places where creatures and people crossed paths without meaning to. Near the tree's base, fairy duster shrubs showed pink and white flowers just starting to close as daylight arrived. The books said these plants bloomed after dark, marking the hours when gremlins moved most freely. Marcus pulled out his notebook and sketched the location. If he understood where gremlins gathered naturally, he could predict where they'd show up next. Every piece of this desert had something to teach him.