This year I am working on a story called Bob vs. The Alien Slug Monsters. Instead of an outline I have a basic list of plot points I want to cover between meeting Bob and sending him off to fight the king of the slugs. There is more of a cast of characters than an actual outline, so we will see how the story develops. And with that intro we continue with Bob Versus the Alien Slug Monsters…
Day 36: His mind flashed on an image of Lucille defending herself with her collection and found his anger growing at the thought.
His mind flashed on an image of Lucille defending herself with her collection and found his anger growing at the thought. Bob grit his teeth and moved forward. The creature, up close, looked much as he expected it would. It was a giant slug. It was wearing some coat that was composed of a shiny, slick material. Thee was insignia and what he thought might be letters of some sort on the jacket. They were raised as though stamped on and half melted into the material.
If it was an alphabet it was not one Bob was familiar with. ‘Not that I know any place where giant slugs live and form armies who ride electronic disks.’
Remembering his cell phone was in his pocket, he took it out and took several photos. He took pictures of the slug as a whole and then details of the insignia and then of the slug itself. He captured images of hits three fingered hands. He didn’t know what might happen but he wanted to make sure he could study the details, or show them to someone else better informed, later if need be. When he recorded as much as he could, he put his phone away.
As he took the pictures he realized that there were places where the slug looked like it had been burned and melted. Looking at the slug as a whole, Bob could see black powder coating it. As he was trying his best not to sneeze, he assumed the black pepper came from the pepper shakers.
‘She always kept them filled,’ Bob remembered. He had even taken her to the Cosco once. Lucille didn’t buy salt and pepper often but when she did she bought in bulk. He had helped her fill all of the salt and pepper shakers. She kept them filled and then rotated through their use. She would use one set until it was empty and then put it back on the shelf to use another.
Bob looked at the broken porcelain. Several different sets were broken. There were broken bird, shattered clowns and smashed frogs. ‘She threw sets,’ Bob realized. He looked at the shelves and could see Lucille grabbing two at a time and hurling at the invader as he tried to enter her home.
Looking back to the slug, Bob saw the sets shattered and he saw the pepper, but he didn’t see any salt. He did see burned spots and no sign of any other weapon.
‘Salt can be used on garden slugs,’ Bob thought. His Aunt Margaret drew a line in her garden around her cabbages to keep the slugs from them. Bob backed away and took one of the salt shakers from the shelf. He shook it and realized it was one of the fill ones. He unscrewed the head of the decorative peackcock and tipped a little of the salt down onto the fallen slug.
The flesh of the slug started to bubble and burn as though he was simultaneously melting and burning. ‘I guess these slugs don’t like salt any more than garden ones do.’
Bob looked at the salt shaker and then looked around at the filled shelves. Salt could be his weapon. It may not have helped Lucille much but she had just been throwing the objects and got lucky with the salt.
‘I’m staying hidden,’ Bob thought. While he hoped to go after the others and remain hidden, Bob didn’t think having a weapon for defense was a bad idea. “I wonder if she recently restocked her salt supply.”
Ten til Midnight 