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 58: He passed through the kitchen and looked into the dining room.
He passed through the kitchen and looked into the dining room. The chairs were up on the table and one of the tables looked as though salt and pepper shakers were getting ready to be refilled and silverware wrapped. Thinking this wouldn’t be a bad place to check out, Bob started forward. The sound of the slugs disks grew louder and Bob heard the door in the back rattle. It rattled once and someone moved on. He suspected that some of the back entrances to the buildings were locked and some weren’t.
The front of the restaurant had glass windows looking out onto the parking lot and street beyond. The parking lot was full of stretchers but Bob could see several slugs on their slow moving disks circling through the parking lot. Not wanting to give them a reason to investigate the restaurant, Bob retreated towards the pantry.
The pantry was large and lined with shelves. The shelves were full of dry goods as expected. Bob slipped inside, pleased that there were no windows in the dry goods pantry. He was also thrilled that the interior of the pantry had a twisting lock. He slipped inside. Locked the pantry door behind him and moved towards the back of the door to block any sound of his movement.
There was a slim crack under the door and Bob saw a light go past. He didn’t know if it was a search light simply shining through the windows or not. Then he heard glass break. He was certain it came from the front. Bob shifted to the back of the pantry and reached the end of the shelf. There was a gap between the shelving unit and the back of the pantry. He slipped into the corner and ducked low, hiding behind Potatoes and dried beans.
He saw more lights flash under the doorway and wondered if hiding in the restaurant was a good idea or not. ‘It is the closest building to the dead floating slugs,’ he realized. Odds were it would be searched. Bob heard the sounds of the disks getting closer and the lights flashed wildly. He didn’t think he left a trail from the back door to the pantry but in the dark he hadn’t been able to check.
He heard various guttural sounds, muffled by the closed door. Lights shifted as they searched and Bob tried not to breathe. The sounds continued. He heard the door rattle. The lock held. Bob saw red light around the doorknob and pushed back hard against the wall. He closed his eyes lest their shine give him away and covered his face with his arm, hoping his shirt sleeve looked more like a sack of potatoes than anything else.
He felt the air shift as the door swung open. The sound of the disk was loud and even through his closed eyelids he saw the world brighten as the light was passed over the space. He held his breath.
Ten til Midnight 