90

Gradually the condition of the road improves and you are able to increase your speed. Five miles have slipped swiftly under your wheels when you see the ruins of a town, shimmering on the horizon, and catch a glimpse of the metalled highway that runs through it, heading north to south.

It is the ruins of Tombstone, famed for the swift and ferocious gunfight that took place here at the OK Corral on 26 October, 1881. As you approach the town and see its faded sign, you remember the old romantic Hollywood films you saw when you were young, in which Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers met and defeated the Clantons and McLowerys, their bitter, sworn enemies. The post-holocaust storms have left this place looking much like it must have done to those men when they shot it out over 100 years ago. The historical buildings are sun-bleached and shabby, and the main street is completely empty, devoid even of auto wrecks and other twenty-first century debris.

As you ride along the main street, you notice that the sound of your motorcycle’s engine has grown coarser and louder; it is as if it were filled with loose nuts and bolts.

If you possess some Engine Oil, turn to 154.

If you do not possess this item, turn to 313.