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 63: Slowly and cautiously, his eyes scanning the parking lot for movement, Bob moved down the row of stretchers.
Slowly and cautiously, his eyes scanning the parking lot for movement, Bob moved down the row of stretchers. Each person he passed received a handful of salt. He made certain that the salt was placed over the body in such a way that the slugs could not avoid it. As an extra insurance he placed a little extra on the lips of each person.
As he worked, Bob tried to think of the people as sleeping. Their sleep, if that was what it was, seemed so deep that their breathing was barely detectable. He thought about stopping to check for a pulse to be certain a few of them were still alive, but decided it didn’t matter. He would, if he could, sprinkle all with salt for protection.
‘No need to find out if they can cause dead bodies to walk around.’ Bob shivered at the thought. ‘Just sleeping, all just sleeping.’ He repeated the phrase over and over.
Some of the people he recognized, others he didn’t. Fearful of the slugs returning, he worked fast, keeping his attention partially on the stretchers and partially in the opening in the greenery between this parking lot and the next. Thus far the slugs came through the gap rather than along the street.
Looking out for approaching slugs kept him from paying too much attention to the sleeping bodies. He was grateful for the distraction. The strangers weren’t bad, but he was find it difficult to leave those he knew in such a vulnerable position.
In less time than he thought, Bob finished with the people strtched out in his parking lot. While he still had a bag full of Lucille’s salt and the two decorative shakers, The restaurant’s supply was nearly exhausted. He took a handful of salt and crept to the opening in the planter bed. Keeping low, Bob looked through the gap. The parking lot was full of stretchers but there was no movement and no sound of the slugs disks.
This too was the parking lot for a restaurant. It was rather high end and Bob had never visited it before. ‘But they should still use salt.’ He slipped through the gap and keeping to the shadows by the plantings, Bob made his way to the restaurant.
While Bob thought the back door might give him easier access to the salt supply, he was close enough to the front door that he thought he would give it a try. To his surprise it was unlocked. Bob slipped inside. The Hostess stand was directly across from the door and the dining room blocked from view by a wall. It had a door in the wall to access the dining room and Bob swiftly moved though it, eager to be away from the large glass windows in front.
The dining room didn’t look as though it was quite as ready for closing time as the first restaurant he went into. ‘Open later,’ he thought. Many of the tables had plates on them showing meals that were half finished. On many of the tables there were desert plates. The chairs weren’t on the table tops, but a few had been knocked over.
Looking over the room, the fallen chairs looked incidental and not like they fell in a mad dash to escape an attack. Purses were still hooked over many chairs as though their owners just stepped away from the table for a moment intending to be back. The sight was one Bob found creepy and he slipped through the dining room quickly, heading for the kitchen.
Ten til Midnight 