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 59: He held his breath.
He held his breath. The light passed over him. Bob counted slowly in his head as he tried to keep his panic from rising. He found his count speeding up in his head and his mouth going dry. The light felt warm on his head and he wondered if his hair was exposed. He tried not to move.
The light passed from him and he felt cool shadows descend in it’s place. He listened to a guttural exchange. He couldn’t make out the words but they did sound like words. The door clanged shut, the light grew red around him.
Still Bob held still. He tried to slow his counting down so that he was not racing through the numbers.
The red light faded and the sound of the disk grew dimmer. He could still hear them moving about, but he did not feel they were on top of him any more. Bob shifted his head slowly and peered through a gap between his arms, trying to move as little of himself as possible.
The door was closed. The lock was on the floor but the hole left behind was being filled in by the filaments in a replica lock. ‘Not entirely closed.’ Bob realized.
The door was left slightly ajar and through the sliver at the side and bottom of the door as well as the rapidly filling in hole left in the door, he could see the slugs still searching the space. ‘At least with the door cracked open I won’t have to worry about the door sealing shut.’
He knew the slugs could replicate missing material but his test with the twig proved it was not fool proof. He didn’t know if it would replicate the lock or simply make it a smooth surface. With the door cracked he didn’t have to worry about it sealing him in. With that no longer a worry, Bob felt his breath come easier and the numbers no longer raced through his head.
Fearful that any movement he made would create noise of some sort, He held in position as he watched the lights flash through the empty restaurant. It seemed like an eternity before they left. Given the restaurant wasn’t that large he suspected his own fear was making it seem longer.
Eventually though, the lights stopped flashing. The slugs seemed to move on. Bob relaxed a little, letting stiff muscles release. He waited quietly listening until he could no longer hear any more of the disks. Then Bob shifted his arm and looked at his watch. ‘I’ll give it another minute to be sure.’
He didn’t know if any of the slugs would be lurking but he decided caution was probably for the best. Bob watched the second hand make it’s way around the clock face. When it reached the minute mark and there was still no sound, Bob began to extricate himself from the sacks of potatoes.
He moved slowly, still trying to make as little noise as he could. He knocked over a few potatoes, but the soft thump they made on the tiles was not the calamitous echo he feared. Still with each shifting sound Bob paused, listening for a reaction. There was none and he kept moving. Bob put the fallen potatoes back in their place.
Ten til Midnight 