[CG]

"Yeah sorry." Mac apologised, and the two continued along across the fields for quite a few hours. They actually found a few trees growing lunch boxes, and it suddenly made sense just how the Scarecrow had found one last time he was here. Lunch box trees! For sure they were in Oz now, so whilst Billina ate up a few worms and grubs, Mac age a tuna fish sandwich that he picked. Unbeknownst to them, somebody was watching them. A rock, just a little bit away, suddenly grew rocky eyes and observed the duo. Its eyeless sockets looked from Mac, to Billina, then vanished back into the rock.

Deep below the ground a face formed in a wall, besides a room of roaring fire. The figure in the room was hunched over something, the flames flickering causing its shadow to dance across the walls. The face spoke, "Your highness. He has returned." it spoke, the voice sounding like rocks being rolled together to make noise.

"Has he now?" the figure answered, sounding old and wheezy. "The Mac of Fosters has returned to Oz. Keep an eye on him."

But the face paused.

"What is it?" came the royal voice again.

"He... he has a chicken with him, sire." replied the face in the wall, voice shaking all the more. The reaction was cataclysmic, fire roared in all directions as the royal one hidden by flames and shadowed yelled in both horror and anger. A chicken, a CHICKEN? How dare they bring a chicken into the land of Oz! That Mac shall pay dearly.

Back on the surface, Mac and Billina, now well fed and well rested began their journey again. This part of Oz Mac had never been, it was probably South given he had been to the North, East and West. What lay in the South he didn't know, so he hoped it wasn't anything vicious like the Extreme-O-Saurs of the East. But swallowing his fear for Billina's sake they continued. At least until he tripped over something.

"Mac!" the hen fussed, hurrying over to him. "Oh dear are you all right?"

"Yeah I'm fine.." Mac sat up, rubbing his knee. But then he saw just what he had fallen over. It was a shattered remains of a brick, and only then did he realise there was a whole lot of them making their way through the trees. "...oh no..." he gulped as he picked up the remains of the brick.

"What's wrong? It's only a brick." Billina observed, eyeing the brick.

"No Billina," Mac stood up, looking at how it travelled from one way to the other through the woods. "This is... this used to be the yellow brick road. I travelled it before, with my friends. I knew it," he dropped the brick. "Something's happened to them, something awful has happened to them and that's why I ended up back here! Come on Billina, we gotta get to the Emerald City!"

He picked the chicken up, and carrying her he ran. The urgency in his heart and head were pulsating now, ever since he had arrived in Oz he hadn't seen a living soul. And he knew for a fact Oz was meant to be well populated in all directions, and when he had found the remains of what once was one of the numerous yellow brick roads his fears had been confirmed. Something had happened. The key landing in Old Man Rivers house wasn't just a coincidence, somehow it was sent to him on purpose.

It wasn't long until they finally saw something man made and green peeking in over a few tree tops. Mac hurried faster, but what he saw made him fall dead in his tracks. It was the Emerald City, but not as he once remembered it. If a city could be gutted, its innards removed and left to dye like a carcass in the sun that is what had happened to the once grand city. The sparkling green colour was gone, the windows shattered, the gateways open and empty. Billina looked at the city from Mac's arms. "...it doesn't look that impressive." she said.

"It didn't always look like this." Mac said quietly as he walked up to the same large gate he and his friends had once walked through. The girl who guarded the door was no longer there, in fact, it seemed like no one was. At least, until his eyes adjusted.

There were people, but they weren't moving. Or human anymore. They were stone statues, all frozen in looks of horror and shock upon their faces. Mac walked up to a few citizens, a woman clutching her child to her side and looked to be begging for mercy from whoever had attacked them. The child was crying, stone tears upon her face. Mac swallowed deeply, and continued on once he let Billina down on the floor. The whole city was like this, every ounce of colour was gone from sight and all remained of those who once lived here was now stone.

"So we come all this way to see a bunch of stiffs, that's luck for you." Billina said as she walked around a corner.

Mac spotted a few bodies of small children, he guessed they were girls from the gowns they wore. But... their heads were missing. He reached out to touch one of the necks when he heard Billina erupt into a squawk of alarm.