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 61: The thought that he could find his neighbors moving around like normal with the giant slugs inside them made his stomach turn.
The thought that he could find his neighbors moving around like normal with the giant slugs inside them made his stomach turn. Bob thought of coming home from work and finding Enid filled with one of the slug monsters, talking to him as usual while the creature was squatting inside her.
‘But would she be talking to me as normal?’ He wondered. The slugs inside the bodies didn’t look like regular people. ‘But then again they weren’t trying.’ He wondered if they could access the person’s memories.
‘Why would they have to,’ he thought. Bob blinked as realization struck. They wouldn’t need to pretend to be the people they were. ‘They took everyone from town so no one would point out odd behavior.’ Once the slugs mastered the people occupying the only people moving around would be the slugs. ‘They wouldn’t have to look like friends and neighbors because they would all know.’
Bob realized that in this mix he would stand out. He wouldn’t be able to hide as they would know he wasn’t a slug. ‘Maybe,’ he thought. He slumped. He had no idea how any of this worked. ‘All I’ve got to go on is bad monster movies.’
While Bob was a fan of the 1950s and 60s era films, he wasn’t entirely certain their logic could be pplied to the current situation. ‘I do know a lot of people will die.’
He remembered the death of the human the slug was wearing. He didn’t know the person but he seemed in shape. ‘And not everyone in town is at the peak of health.’ He suspected there would be many whose bodies could not survive the trauma. Bob looked to his satchel. The box of salt was still mostly full as were the two decorative salt shakers he liberated from Lucille’s collection.
It didn’t take much to take out the slugs. ‘Fewer slugs mean fewer dead people.’
Bob bit his lip. A crazy idea formed in his head. He tried to shake it away. ‘I’m an accountant not an action hero,’ he told himself. He thought of the rows of sleeping people and the fact that he crossed town seeing no one else moving. Accountant or not he might be the only person left moving in Centerville.
‘How many can I take out with what I’ve got?” he wondered.
Bob stared at the bag. The restaurant should have salt. ‘A lot of salt,’ he imagined. ‘So would all of the other restaurants including the Bowl-a-rama.’
Bob glanced at the last of the flickering light on the hole in the door. The hole was no longer the size of the doorknob and it’s attached lock but more of a pinky sized hole. Bob thought about his attack on the slugs as he watched the hole slowly close up.
He knew he only managed to take out these two slugs because he was able to sneak up in them. He doubted that would work for an army of them. ‘They would notice if I snuck in the back and the slugs behind them started screaming as the salt was thrown at them.’ He thought of the salt he put on Enid and Lucille.
Ten til Midnight 