---
layout:          post
title:           "MAG140.1 - The Iron Gate (Rusty Fears Winner)"
date:            2019-06-13 12:00:00 -0400
categories:      incomplete
tags:            [Non-Canon, Rusty Fears, Contest Winner]
episode_title:   'The Iron Gate'
episode_number:  '140.1'
summary:         "This week's episode is the winner from our latest Rusty Fears competition. <br/><br/>\"The Iron Gate\" is written by <b>Cailyn Toomey</b>, read by Jonathan Sims and directed by Alexander J Newall. <br/><br/>Thank you everyone who submitted stories and spread the word! <br/><br/>Note: this is a stand-alone piece of fiction and not part of the Magnus canon."
content_flags:   [Bullying]
acast_url:       https://play.acast.com/s/themagnusarchives/mag140.1-theirongate
formats: 
official:        false
unofficial:      http://www.youtube.com/
unofficial_name: YouTube CC
unfinished:      true
wiki_url:        
---

hi everyone Alex here with a quick

introduction to today's episode firstly

I just wanted to thank all of you for

your patience during this midseason

hiatus we tried to keep them as short as

possible so thanks for bearing with us

we'll be returning to our normal release

schedule from next week in the meantime

we recently ran another rusty fares

competition inviting people to submit

their own statements for the Magnus

treatment and today we are happy to

present you with the winning entry as

with last time please remember that

today's episode is a standalone work and

shouldn't be considered part of the

Magnus archives Canon so congratulations

to the winner and we hope you enjoy

today's episode I just like to take a

moment to thank some of our patrons Alex

Rob Young Jen man Mita Jeffery dbrainard

Alex Antilla Lowe Kevin Lovecraft

Margery Claire Andrew Hall porkchop

Crandall Alex Rose Rosalyn John Lozano

Rowan McBean Mildred Amelia Stevenson

Mike vice Finn Gaza

Tommy Parker corn flake of doom thank

you all we really appreciate your

support if you'd like to join them go to

www.petland.com forward slash rusty

quill and take a look at our rewards

rusty quill presents the Magnus archives

[Music]

the iron gate by talen to me

[Music]

the order I get the more I realize how

much I've forgotten

do you remember being a kid on a long

car ride how the road would stretch on

and on and your grandparents house was

only 20 minutes away but it felt more

like two hours some kids would watch a

movie or play a game on some half-broken

old tablet but I get carsick

so sometimes all I could do was look out

of the window and imagine it was easiest

to play the game at night do you know

the game I'm talking about I don't know

if it has an actual name but I just used

to call it the car chaser game when I

first started playing it on car trips I

felt like the smartest kid alive I would

imagine the chaser a little differently

every time but no matter what it was it

followed alongside the car as the trees

and houses sped by it would jump

effortlessly from power line to power

line across street lights the chaser

would follow along beside the car and

the game was to see if it could keep up

the whole trip my friend Joey got

carsick too and on the bus we weren't

allowed to use devices anyway so I guess

it all started because we were bored I

told him about the car chaser

when I finished though he just looked

smug said he already knew that game and

that I wasn't doing it right when he

looked out the window

the OI sore a white dog we started to

argue and some of the other kids sitting

next to us leaned in to listen when they

heard what we were fighting about some

people said that they pretended it was a

cheetah and some said they just saw a

really fast man when we realized we had

all played the same game though everyone

leaned back into their own seats to look

out the window Joey and I talked about

what path we thought the chaser would

take as it ran we pressed closer to the

window and imagined the chaser jumping

across the cars we passed long legs

stretching out behind it

when we passed a gated driveway though

we got in another find I said the chaser

would jump from one side of the iron

gate to the other Joey said the gate was

its base though and since the car chaser

had made it to the base before us it had

won the game this time I told him I

thought that was a dumb rule

but Joey stopped playing after that we

talked about video games the rest of the

trip I thought that was the end of it we

all got off the bus me and Joey and a

few other kids and we started walking

home but when we passed the big iron

gate

Joey stopped picked a leaf off a nearby

tree and placed it on the ground in

front of the gate he said the leaf was

really money for the kart racer from the

game to say thank you for playing with

us the rest of us thought it was funny

and being kids we would pretty much take

any excuse to pull the leaves off a

train so we each picked a leaf and left

it in front of the gate too and we just

started doing that it kind of just

became a habit we all rode the bus

together and so whenever the group of us

passed by the iron gate we would always

end up leaving something in front of it

it didn't always have to be leaves just

anything interesting we found sometimes

we would leave plastic bottle caps

sometimes Joey would even leave a small

piece of candy if he had one and then

there was the time we made Nico leave

some of the money his mom had given him

I still feel bad about that Nico had

been given a couple of coins by his mom

and he had been talking all day about

how if he brought the money back to her

at the end of the day she would take him

to get some ice cream it was supposed to

teach him about responsibility or

something Nico and I were sitting next

to each other on the bus ride home that

day we were both looking out of the

window

Nicko told me that this time he saw a

long white dog running next to the bus

and when it was running it picked up all

its legs off the ground like a horse its

body scrunching together and stretching

back out as it followed we got off the

bus and when our group came across the

big iron gate we all stopped beautifully

picking leaves off the nearby plants

only this time Joey didn't put his leaf

down instead he looked at Nico and told

us that Nico had to leave some of the

money his mom had given him Nico didn't

want to he said he was going to leave a

leaf like he always did because that was

the rule but joey said that that wasn't

good enough he said that the chaser knew

Nico had something better and if it knew

you had something important you had to

share and because Nico played the game

on the way home he had to give up the

money or else

the rest of us didn't know what to do

but Joey seems like he knew what he was

talking about so one by one we left our

gifts and waited to see what Nico would

do he goes cheeks were red his chubby

fists clenched at his side Joey looked

serious he seemed reluctant to say

morbley said if Nico didn't leave the

money the chaser would start chasing him

and it wouldn't stop not until it caught

him I still wish I had said something

but that was a long time ago nowadays

Joey lives across the country and I

commute to and from work on the bus to

be honest I hadn't thought about the

game in a long time

but then last Friday I missed my stop I

think I just spaced out my company's in

crunch right now so everyone's working

long hours to meet the latest upcoming

impossible deadlines so running on two

hours of sleep I must have missed when

they announced my stop by the time I had

realized what happened we were ten

blocks away

I knew this route looped around though

and I didn't want to walk that far at

night so I decided to just ride it out I

stared out of the window into the

darkness my tired eyes appreciated the

lack of scenery

I don't know when exactly I noticed ed I

was just about to drift off I think when

I realized there was something moving in

the dark alongside the bus I assumed it

was some reckless cyclist their long

legs pumping the pedals as they matched

the busses unhurried rumbling in the fog

I watched the pale legs going up and

down in a fluid motion somewhere in the

back of my mind I think I even noticed

the cyclist must have been really

hunched over their handlebars their

torso almost parallel to the ground my

eye is closed there was a gentle tapping

on the bus window and the vibrations

knocked against the side of my head

irritated I opened an eye glaring at the

other passengers to see who was tapping

along to their music there are only five

other people is far along the route and

everyone was facing forward either

looking at their phones or sleeping

themselves open my other eye look at the

window outside it was so dark that I

could hardly see anything past the

lighted interior of the bus the window

rattled again they looked flower

down by the pavement running alongside

the bus was a dog

it was a greyhound I think at first I

thought it must be a lost dog and I

looked at the back of the driver's seat

considering how to tell her to stop I

was worried if she stopped suddenly she

might over it then I realized the dog

was keeping up with the bus I looked

down again and the pale dogs stretched

out its neck wrapping its nose against

the bus window its eyes sparkled orange

in the light it's long long snout opened

and ii thought the tooth cleaned in the

dark too many more than any dog has

the bus driver announced the final stop

and as I watched the thing started to go

faster its long gangly legs stretching

out behind it its head staying in place

the whole time its eyes didn't blink its

mouth hung open jaws gaping in a dumb

toothy doglike expression then I saw

what it had seen coming up further along

the road an iron gate I act the cord but

the bus didn't stop of course not there

wasn't a bus stop to get off at I sat

frozen as both the bus and the dog raced

toward the gate the bus slowed as it

approached an intersection the dog did

not the bus stopped shortly after the

doors opening with a hiss the bus driver

looked back told me I had to get out I

didn't move I asked her didn't this

route loop around apparently not on

Fridays I got off the bus

I wanted to walk the other way I really

did but as I turned to walk away I could

feel the gate on the road behind me lit

a muddy yellow by a streetlight I walked

towards it

I didn't remember any of it that night

especially not what Joey had told Nico I

tried I really did but all I remembered

was kids putting leaves by the gate so I

picked a leaf and I stepped up to the

gate I bent to set my offering down my

fingers brushing against the cold metal

I looked up at the gate as I stood in

the darkness behind it just out of reach

of the streetlight a pair of I is

gleamed back round and shiniest coins

they were at eye level

for a moment the only thing that moved

was the heart

wet hair across my face I ran I ran down

the block didn't stop running till I ran

out of breath must have gone for an hour

before I finally called a cab to come

pick me up I don't think it followed me

I swear if I had remembered I would have

left something better I haven't taken

the bus the past few weeks I have to

work again on Monday it's going to be

another long night this episode is

distributed by rusty quill and licensed

under a creative commons

attribution-noncommercial-sharealike 4.0

international license for more

information visit Rustique Welkom

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Rustique world.com

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