Exton

The Gate went down after the shooting started - even I could feel it - leaving the Drow with no option but to stand and die.

Sorry, I don't feel up to quips just now. Maybe another time.

What we're doing is necessary. I keep telling myself that as I fire and fire and fire again. Inside, I understand it to be true; but I feel sick at heart as I do what I have to. I swallow it down, keep targeting, keep firing.

From the corner of one eye, I see the priestess edging toward the defunct Gate - and it starts to glow. I snap a shot in that direction, but i'm too hasty; it misses.

"Doc!"

The hooded man raises his blade high - and lightning slashes out of the sky as the ground suddenly rumbles, thrumming with the deep-toned scream of a locomotive.

It's going to be close.

The Gate blossoms into full manifestation as the train bursts into the clearing, screaming like a banshee - tons and tons of steel, rushing right at the priestess. She throws herself at the glowing opening, but one of her men suddenly tackles her, wrapping his arms around her slender waist and hanging on for dear life.

Literally.

It's anything but graceful, but somehow the pair stumble, stagger and fall through the Gate just before the train hits. The Gate winks out of existence, and we're left standing knee-deep in dead bodies.