\u00a0Part 32 of my increasingly incoherent novel from years ago.<\/p>\n
———-<\/p>\n
Molly didn’t hesitate.\u00a0 She raised her gun and a screaming, rattling barrage of bullets tore into creature.\u00a0 Azizi and Martin had joined in.\u00a0\u00a0 Molly slammed backwards while Daryl stumbled to his knees, covering his head.\u00a0 The creature\u2019s head cracked backwards, a spray of grey-green blood exploding into the air behind it.\u00a0 Then it was over, the rocketing gunshots bounced across the mountainside and into the distance.\u00a0 In the silence, Daryl listened to his heart pounding in his head.\u00a0 Azizi, breathing heavily, stood in place.\u00a0 Molly was on her back, unmoving but eyes wide open.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Martin said,\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s better than a cup of coffee.\u201d\u00a0 He turned towards Molly, “Sister, you took a tumble.”<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Back in the mansion, in the office off the kitchen, Martin stood with his back to his friends, looking out the window at the Jeep idling in the ditch.\u00a0 Daryl and Molly sat together on one side of the desk while Azizi perched on the windowsill, watching the road, sipping from a can of root beer.<\/p>\n
Molly shivered, leaning close to Daryl.\u00a0 Almost without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, the armrest of the chair biting into his side.<\/p>\n
There were as many answers lying dead on the lawn as there were in this office, but one thing\u00a0 was certain.\u00a0 The creatures knew where they were.\u00a0 Daryl focused on the feel of Molly\u2019s body against his, her warmth, but it was doing nothing to fix the morning\u2019s madness.\u00a0 It was doing nothing to set his mind at ease, or calm the chattering voices.\u00a0 Who was this Dr. Whittier, now?\u00a0 From the beginning, he had felt that there was more to this situation than they knew.\u00a0 Now this message, if it could be called that, had landed on their doorstep.\u00a0 But, friend or foe, there was no way to tell.\u00a0 What step to take next was impossible to judge.\u00a0 They were all well out of their element and as far from sanity as they could possibly get.\u00a0 If this was some crazy dream world, then they were firmly locked into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want those things to attack us again.\u00a0 I watched them kill all those poor people from the subway.\u00a0 They\u2019re too strong.\u00a0 They\u2019re\u2026\u201d Molly\u2019s voice was faraway, pitched low, shuddering in the room. \u201cIf they know we\u2019re here, then we need to be somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin nodded.\u00a0 \u201c\u00a0 All this does is convince me, girl.\u00a0 I want to see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBethesda.\u201d Azizi muttered.<\/p>\n
The large, affluent suburb of DC.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the creature had said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re serious?\u201d\u00a0 Molly moved away from Daryl, staring incredulously at Martin\u2019s back.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to get out of here.\u00a0 Go to an island or something\u2026these things are hunting us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s more to this.\u201d\u00a0 Martin said, turning. \u201cWhat if this Whittier is trying to help us?\u00a0 If so, why?\u00a0 How do they all know us?\u00a0 If there\u2019s something bigger going on here, do you think an island will really save us?\u00a0 How did they know we were here?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll matter if we\u2019re on this mountain or under a stone in Guam.\u201d\u00a0 He sighed deeply, \u201cLook, I\u2019m not crazy.\u00a0 You\u2019re right.\u00a0 An island sounds good to me.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think we can run from this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin shrugged, \u201cCall it boy\u2019s intuition.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can at least look,\u201d Azizi said.\u00a0 \u201cWe can slip through the cracks and see what\u2019s what, then run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Molly shakily reached into the pocket of the jacket Azizi had given her and pulled out a bottle of Aleve.\u00a0 She shook three pills into her hand, dry swallowed them, then put her hand against the bruise on her head.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe should run,\u201d she said softly. \u201cWe can\u2019t go to the city and sneak around.\u00a0 These damn things are watching us,\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin cleared his throat and continued, \u201cI\u2019m going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daryl was feeling shaky and nauseous.\u00a0 \u201cIf they\u2019re shadowing us, watching us, then why are they screwing around?\u00a0 Why not just come and get us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re either fucking with us.\u201d Azizi\u2019s voice was low, \u201cOr they\u2019re afraid of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Molly said, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cFine.\u00a0 We check it out.\u00a0 Just that, backroads in, stay low, then we get the hell out of there.\u00a0 What happens if we run up against a bunch of them?\u201d<\/p>\n
Daryl jerked and stared incredulously at her.<\/p>\n
Martin laughed, \u201cWe\u2019re not just going to go down there with pea shooters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSemtex.\u201d Azizi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll mess up their day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, hold on!\u201d Daryl said, standing up.\u00a0 \u201cYou just said we should get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going!\u201d she replied, finally.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you going to do, drug them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we don\u2019t need plastic explosives.\u201d He said to Azizi.<\/p>\n
Azizi grinned, \u201cWe\u2019ll make a show when we get there.\u00a0 Make sure they\u2019re really afraid of us, just in case.\u00a0 Make them think there\u2019s more than four 20-something slobs wandering around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, you just went from observing them back to Martin\u2019s stupid offensive plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, did I?\u201d Azizi played innocent.\u00a0 \u201cLook, we can set a timer.\u00a0 Have it happen hours after we leave.\u00a0 Bethesda, without people, is a maze of buildings and alleys and crowded streets.\u00a0 A dead city of a million can easily hide four of us.\u00a0 We observe, then we make a statement.\u00a0 A statement that can have the same effect even though we\u2019ll be several hundred miles away.\u00a0 It has to be done.\u00a0 These things aren\u2019t out to mindlessly rip out our insides.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn life,\u201d Martin said, \u201cYou are either the hammer or the anvil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGoethe?\u201d Azizi asked.<\/p>\n
Daryl shook his head, \u201cThe Prisoner<\/em>.\u00a0 Episode 10.\u201d<\/p>\n Molly looked from Martin to Daryl, finally she sighed and rolled her eyes, \u201cOkay. We stay together, we go well armed and we take notes.\u00a0 Then we clear out before they surprise us again and we keep going.\u00a0 Deal?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe girl\u2019s on board!\u201d Martin said triumphantly.<\/p>\n Daryl sighed.\u00a0 Death was inevitable, he supposed.\u00a0 Why not go ahead and enjoy the last days, then?<\/p>\n \u201cAgreed, yes?\u201d Azizi said, leaning towards Martin, \u201cDo as the girl says.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Part 32 of my increasingly incoherent novel from years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[404],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nachos-lousy-novel","tag-nachos-lousy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588\/revisions\/723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}