The Fifteen Minute Novel 2025: Day 43

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 43 He didn’t know if the slugs would use them or if the disks they rode were too wide.

He didn’t know if the slugs would use them or if the disks they rode were too wide. He suspected they were a bit too wide.  Either way, using the alleyways made Bob feel a little less exposed as he made his way down the street.  He followed the path he saw the departing slugs going when they took the people from Golden Meadows hoping he could find some sort of trail and find where they were keeping the others.

‘Hopefully they are keeping the others.’

Bob shook the thought away.  He had to think of the others as still alive or he would lose focus and let the fear win.  Bob took a deep breath and made his way steadily forward.  He made it a few blocks when he heard the distinct whine of the disks the slugs used for transport.  He hid behind a dumpster, crouching down so as to remain out of sight.  With the way the sound echoed off of the bricks around him he wasn’t entirely certain where the sound was coming from. 

He froze in his hiding place hoping that by not moving he would just be a strange lump in the shadows.  ‘No one pay attention to the strange shape by the dumpster,’ he thought.  The sounds grew louder.  ‘I’m just an odd shaped bundle of trash that didn’t quite make it inside the bin.’

Bob tried to radiate trash-bag-ness.  He had to take shallow breaths through his mouth as the stink from around the dumpster was pungent and unpleasant.  The dumpster was full and a bit overflowing.  The sign painted on the back door let him know he was behind a bar and restaurant that was quite poplar on a Friday night.  He suspected the bulk of the trash came from that Friday night crowd. 

‘And either they get a Saturday garbage pick up or have a second dumpster for the Saturday night crowd,’ Bob thought.  He doubted much more trash would be going into this bin.

‘Not that there is really going to be a Saturday night crowd.’

As he waited he wondered if everyone in town was now laid out on one of those floating stretchers.  ‘They have to be somewhere,’ he thought.  Thus far he had seen no one wandering around.

The whine of the disks grew louder and Bob thought they were coming closer.  He let his thoughts slide as he waited.  Then after a time the sound faded. 

‘They passed me,’ he realized.  Bob waited until the sound was faded almost away.  Deciding he would risk it, he moved forward, cautiously sliding out from behind the dumpster and towards the mouth of the alleyway.  He placed each step carefully, moving as silently as possible.  It was a relief to be away from the pungent dumpster.  His heart thudded in his chest as he walked. 

Bob saw no movement by the alley mouth which gave him courage.  When he reached the edge, he waited and listened.  With an open area the sound was less bouncy and he could tell the slugs moved back towards Golden Meadows.  He wondered why.  Cautiously he peered out, exposing as little of himself as possible.  He was down far enough now that looking back towards the hole in the street was looking up.  Bob swallowed realizing just how exposed he had been when crossing that open expanse.

‘Not going back until after dark,’ he told himself.  As exposed as he was then, the slugs were now.