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 39: The slugs gathered and in a long line left the Golden Meadow’s complex.
The slugs gathered and in a long line left the Golden Meadow’s complex. Bob watched them go and when he could no longer see them, he listened to the drone of their disks. He waited until they faded and he could no longer hear them any more.
‘They are going back in the same direction as they arrived,’ Bob realized. ‘Maybe they are all in one location.’
As he waited he let his heart rate return to normal. He had not been spotted. He had his large container of attack salt and no sign that anyone was actually dead. ‘Still not sure exactly what is going on,’ he though. ‘Maybe some sort of alien invasion.’
The sound of the disks was gone. The area quiet again save for the insects he could hear in the woods. Slowly Bob got to his feet. He brushed off as much of the mud as he could and slowly made his way back up the slope to the Golden Meadows community. He went to Lucille’s cottage first. He moved to the sliding glass door. The slugs had not re locked it and he slid it open. Bob stopped on the threshold, not wanting to step inside.
The front door was closed now and the fallen slug taken away. All of the broken items were gone as well. There were no stains on the carpet and in fact everything looked to be back in it’s place. He shifted and felt the two salt shakers he took in his pocket. He looked to their pepper counterparts. There were spaces for them on the shelf. There were other bare spots on the shelf where the broken salt and pepper shakers were removed.
It was the only thing out of place.
The rest of the cottage was spotless. Even the crumbs from Bob’s quick sandwich making were wiped away. Bob stepped back. He wondered if the other cottages still showed signs of struggle or if they were now tidied.
‘Best get the bag for my salt first, then investigate,’ Bob thought. ‘That way I won’t be going back and forth.’
He had the feeling the more he moved around, the greater the likelihood he would be noticed. Bob slid the glass door to Lucille’s cottage closed and backed away. He moved quickly back towards the woods and over towards his parked car. As he moved the mud he collected when he fell dried and started to flake off. Bob wasn’t clean but he soon stopped leaving a trail of flaky dirt like odd breadcrumbs.
.’Not that anyone is following me at the moment.’
Bob reached his car and opened his trunk. He took the reusable shopping bag with the longest handle out of his trunk and looped it over his head so the bag of sale could sit at his hip. It wasn’t quite like a gunslinger, but it made the salt easy to access. He slipped the two salt shakers he took from Lucille’s collection in with the giant container of salt.
‘Now I have a weapon and my hands free,’ he told himself. His heart started beating fast. He was as prepared as he could possibly be. Bob slipped his keys back into his pocket and turned back to the woods. It was time to go after the others.
Bob went through the woods quickly but couldn’t help stopping to look into some of the cottages he passed. They all had sliding glass doors at the back and he didn’t bother opening any of them., just peeking inside. Books that were toppled from shelves were replaced. Broken glass swept away. It looked as though the residents were simply out for the afternoon.
Ten til Midnight 