<data>
<p>You dive behind the truck to avoid getting cut down by the hail of bullets that are spewing from the barrel of the clansman<ch.apos/>s machine pistol. Unfortunately, several of the slugs penetrate the side of the pick-up truck and tear into a metal container full of industrial blasting powder that is standing in the back. A spark, caused by one of the slugs, ignites the powder with devastating effect. There is a brilliant flash and you are consumed by a searing blast of heat as the truck and its contents are blown to pieces.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at the Gila River.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at the Gila River.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You dive away from the oncoming clan car, but your reactions are too slow to save you. It impacts into the side of your roadster and you are caught and crushed beneath the trunk of your own vehicle as it is rammed aside.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in Red Rock.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in Red Rock.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>The coarse stammer of the clansman<ch.apos/>s machine pistol is the last sound you hear. Sharp, stinging cores of pain punch you repeatedly in the stomach and fearfully you clasp your hands to your midriff as you tumble backwards into the hollow. Warm blood oozes between your fingers, but although you are incapable of moving, you no longer feel pain. Aware that you have been shot, and that the shock of your wounds has numbed your senses, you close your eyes and slip away into the timeless embrace of death.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Round Mountain.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Round Mountain.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Having dealt successfully with the locked doors, and eager to waste as little time as possible, you rush into the lobby and run straight towards the reception counter. But you have taken only a few strides when a group of clansmen appear in a corridor opposite. They command you to stop as they advance towards the counter. Expecting trouble, all of them are armed and extremely nervous.</p>
<p>You raise your hands in surrender, but when the leading clansmen see that you are not an Outlaw, and that you are armed, they panic and immediately open fire. Pain explodes in your chest as a dozen bullets knock you backwards off your feet. For a moment you see an intense white light, and then it dissolves into a darkness from which you will never emerge.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your life and your journey end here in the lobby of the Casa Grande General Hospital.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your life and your journey end here in the lobby of the Casa Grande General Hospital.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>The brakes lock and the truck no longer responds to your steering. There is a shudder as both the off-side wheels slide over the edge, and your stomach churns as the vehicle tilts sideways. Jaeger screams and hopelessly he tries to open the door and jump out, but it is already too late. The last thing you see as you plummet over the edge is the rocky floor of the ravine rushing towards the windshield.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in the Mohawk Mountains of Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in the Mohawk Mountains of Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Your shot goes wide, tearing a chunk of masonry from the parapet of the roof to the left of the clan group. (Remember to deduct the relevant number of rounds from your Ammo Pouch.) Alerted by the noise and the muzzle flash, the two riflemen swing around and pour a withering hail of automatic fire at you. You try to duck back, but an agonizing pain erupts in the centre of your forehead and you are lifted off your feet by the force of the high-velocity bullet that has penetrated your skull.</p>
<p>Blinded and numbed by the shock of impact, you fail to stop yourself from tumbling over the edge of the fire escape platform. Mercifully, death claims you before you crash head-first through the roof of the clan truck that is parked in the alley below.</p>
- <p>Your journey and your life terminate here at Wellton, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Your journey and your life terminate here at Wellton, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Bullets hit the ground in a line that follows your dive. In your desperation to avoid being hit, you have launched yourself on a collision course with one of the barbecue stands. You smash your forehead against the brick stack and knock yourself unconscious. You rebound from the stack and fall flat on your back, helpless to prevent the clansman from shooting you through the heart.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here in Picacho, California.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here in Picacho, California.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You are frozen in terror by the sight of the whirling metallic disc, and find yourself incapable of taking action to avoid being hit. With a loud crunch, the auto disc cuts its way through your windshield and buries itself deep in your chest: death is instantaneous.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You hear the smash of glass startlingly loud in your right ear, and then feel a searing pain shoot through your head from temple to temple. A flash of white light explodes before your eyes and suddenly you feel yourself falling forward into an all-consuming darkness. One of the clansman<ch.apos/>s bullets has passed through the window and lodged itself in your brain: death is virtually instantaneous.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in Stanfield, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in Stanfield, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You dodge to avoid the gunfire and to present a difficult target for your adversaries, but in doing so you inadvertently run straight into a burst of automatic rifle fire. Sharp, stinging cores of pain explode in your chest and head, bringing you crashing to your knees.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here in Wellton, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here in Wellton, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You are concentrating so hard on deciphering the code that will open the vault<ch.apos/>s lock that you do not notice a group of clansmen appear in the corridor outside the storage facility. Alerted by the open door, the lights, and the sound of you tampering with the lock, they are expecting to find an intruder when they come rushing in through the door, and they are not disappointed.</p>
<p>Caught off-guard, you raise your hands in surrender, but when the leading clansmen see that you are not an Outlaw, and that you are armed, they panic and immediately open fire. Pain explodes in your chest as a dozen bullets knock you backwards off your feet. For a moment you see a splash of bright colours, and then they dissolve into darkness.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in the medicine storage facility of the Casa Grande General Hospital.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your journey and your life end here in the medicine storage facility of the Casa Grande General Hospital.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>With the tyre gone, you find yourself fighting with the steering wheel to keep the roadster progressing in a straight line. But you cannot correct the skid in time and the vehicle slews wildly across the main street. With a tremendous crash, it smashes into the front of a hardware store, hurling you and Rickenbacker out of your seats and into a tangle of shattered timbers and splintered glass.</p>
<p>Stunned and bleeding, you drag yourself to your feet and stumble towards your partner<ch.apos/>s body. You try to reach out to him but your arms, both broken at the elbows, refuse to obey your commands. Then, in the midst of the carnage, you hear a gruff voice cursing and you turn to face it. A clansman stands silhouetted in the twilit street, his features obscured by shadows. There is a pinpoint flash from his hand: it is the last thing you see before you are enveloped by a darkness that is timeless and total.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your adventure and your life end here in Wellton.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your adventure and your life end here in Wellton.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>The grenade explodes with a deafening roar, and you are lifted off the ground and hurled bodily through the air by the force of the blast. Sharp, stinging cores of pain lance through your limbs and body, and fearfully you clasp your hands to your midriff as you come crashing to the ground. Warm blood oozes between your fingers, but although you are incapable of moving, you no longer feel pain. A great stillness descends on you as you prepare to meet your maker.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life come to an end here at Picacho, California.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life come to an end here at Picacho, California.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>The harsh hammering of the clansman<ch.apos/>s machine pistol fills your ears and you feel something sharp punch you repeatedly in the stomach. Fearfully clasping a hand to your midriff, you feel warm blood oozing between your fingers, and yet you feel no pain. Aware that you have been shot, and that the shock of your wound is numbing your senses, you turn and attempt to run from this nightmare.</p>
<p>You have taken only one step when a brief wave of pain drags you to your knees. You fall forwards and hit the ground face-first, but still you feel nothing, save the creeping numbness that eventually robs you of the will to go on breathing.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Picacho.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Picacho.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Blinded and sickened by the tear gas, you fail to stop yourself from falling over the edge of the fire-escape platform. Helplessly you plummet through the air and crash head-first through the roof of the clan truck parked below.</p>
- <p>Tragically your journey and your life terminate here at Wellton, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically your journey and your life terminate here at Wellton, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You reach out to grab the rope, but another wave of debris hits you in the face and knocks you over the edge. With a terrified scream, you tumble more than 100 feet into the Colorado River and hit the half-submerged trunk of your roadster. Death is instantaneous.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here within sight of the Californian state line.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here within sight of the Californian state line.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>The harsh hammering of the clansman<ch.apos/>s machine pistol is the last sound you will ever hear. Sharp, stinging cores of pain punch you repeatedly in the stomach and fearfully you clasp your hands to your midriff as you tumble backwards to the ground. Warm blood oozes between your fingers but although you are incapable of moving, you no longer feel pain. Aware that you have been shot, and that the shock of your wounds has numbed your senses, you close your eyes and wish yourself out of this nightmare.</p>
<p>The urge to sleep overwhelms you. Coupled with the creeping numbness that has spread through your body, you surrender to death<ch.apos/>s timeless embrace.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Picacho.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at Picacho.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Desperately you search through your Medi-kit pouch for an ampoule of snake bite serum, but there is none to be found. Then the piercing agony of your wound begins to fade and a terrifying numbness spreads down through your body and along your limbs. You try to scream, but your vocal cords have been damaged and numbed by the snake<ch.apos/>s bite and you can manage little more than a gurgling croak. By the time Rickenbacker and the others discover your body, it is too late to save your life.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your adventure ends here in Dateland, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your adventure ends here in Dateland, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>There is a loud <onomatopoeia>bang</onomatopoeia>, and you are forced to the floor. The taste of blood fills your mouth and colours swirl in front of your eyes, only to be replaced by a black void. Sounds grow faint, and the urge to sleep becomes irresistible. It is a sleep from which you will never awaken.</p>
- <p>Sadly, your adventure and your life end here in Dateland, Arizona.</p>
+ <deadend>Sadly, your adventure and your life end here in Dateland, Arizona.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>You land heavily on the broken roadway with your arms outstretched, hoping to find something to cling to, but the impact of your landing numbs your hands and you are unable to prevent yourself from slipping backwards over the edge. With a terrified scream, you fall more than 100 feet into the Colorado River, and hit the half-submerged trunk of your roadster.</p>
- <p>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at the California state line.</p>
+ <deadend>Tragically, your journey and your life end here at the California state line.</deadend>
</data>
</section>
<data>
<p>Shortly, you arrive at the medicine storage facility. The elation you feel at having found it so quickly is dampened when you switch on the lights and take stock of your surroundings. Tens of thousands of bottles and containers line the shelves and, to make matters worse, you soon discover that all the drugs classified as poisonous or under FDA control are locked away in a vault-like room, protected by a steel door and a sophisticated combination lock. It could take you a week to search the shelves, and considerably longer to force open the vault door.</p>
<p>Hoping to get lucky, you search through the store<ch.apos/>s card index system, looking for the Atropine listing. You find it, but your worse fears are confirmed when you see that the stock records are printed on a red card. Atropine is classified as a poison and is therefore kept locked away inside the vault.</p>
- <p>With dread, you examine the combination lock. It is an electronic device, consisting of three groups of three numbers, each group arranged in the shape of an <quote>L</quote>. One of the numbers in the last group is missing. When the correct number is tapped in here, it completes the sequence and releases the lock. Consider the following numbers carefully. When you think you know the missing number, <choose test="has-numbered-section-list"><when value="true"><a idref="numbered">turn to the entry</a></when><otherwise>turn to the entry</otherwise></choose> that bears the same number as your answer.<footref id="sect337-1" idref="sect337-1-foot"/></p>
+ <puzzle idref="sect28">With dread, you examine the combination lock. It is an electronic device, consisting of three groups of three numbers, each group arranged in the shape of an <quote>L</quote>. One of the numbers in the last group is missing. When the correct number is tapped in here, it completes the sequence and releases the lock. Consider the following numbers carefully. When you think you know the missing number, <choose test="has-numbered-section-list"><when value="true"><a idref="numbered">turn to the entry</a></when><otherwise>turn to the entry</otherwise></choose> that bears the same number as your answer.<footref id="sect337-1" idref="sect337-1-foot"/></puzzle>
<illustration class="inline">
<meta>
<creator>Brian Williams</creator>
Project Aon Git Repositories / project-aon.git / blobdiff