Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) by Jennifer Martucci, Christopher Martucci

all did.  She tried to dismiss the claims Jack had made based on the company he was currently keeping, but something still nagged in the back of her mind, something more than her affection for Jack and what had happened.  She sensed something else.  She could not pinpoint whether it was a true gut feeling or her succumbing to automatic negative thoughts. 
    “You don’t sound convinced,” Yoshi commented. 
    “I will be tomorrow, when they show me some regular town they’re convinced has been overrun with Terzini’s creations,” Gabriel said.
    His confidence that Jack was wrong about what was happening buoyed Melissa’s spirits somewhat. 
    “I don’t know why this is even a debate,” Alexandra said.  “Those guys are batshit crazy.”
    “I don’t know. They’re veterans.  It just feels wrong to make fun of them,” Daniella said wringing her hands. 
    “Oh give me a break!  Just because someon e’s a vet doesn’t make them off-limits.  I appreciate what they’ve done for our country as much as the next person, but seriously, Daniella, these guys are batshit crazy.
    “I hate to say it, but I agree with Alex ,” Melissa added.  “That guy Ed, he seems really out there.  And his house!  I’ve never seen filth like that in my life, ever .”
    “Yeah, what was up with that?” Ryan asked.  “There was crap piled everywhere.”
    “And mountains of plates in the sink with molded food stuck to it,” Yoshi added.  “I’m not the neatest guy on the planet, but that guy makes me look like a neat freak.”
    “As someone who’s lived with Yoshi, I can back that sta tement up one-hundred percent,” Gabriel said and smiled a sincerer smile. 
    Whenever Gabriel smiled, Melissa’s insides warmed immediately.  Even standing in a run-down barn that smelled of damp hay, urine and manure, and a general stench of rot, she was happy, just to be near him.  She was hopelessly in love with him.  She lowered her eyes to her feet and smiled to herself.  She would be his wife in less than a year.  He’d asked her to share his life with him.  He wanted her, forever.  The thought of him reciprocating even a fraction of what she felt for him made her throat tighten with emotion.  She glanced up to see if anyone had noticed that she had tuned out briefly and had gotten misty-eyed.  No one had been paying her any mind, except Gabriel.  Gabriel had been watching her.  Her heart leaped and she felt the fluttering of innumerable butterflies flittering about in her belly.  She wondered whether it would ever stop, whether she would ever get used to how he made her feel.
    “I guess we’re better off out here then,” Daniella continued.  “ By the way, was I the only one who saw a furry little critter scamper across the living-room floor in Ed’s place?”
    “Uh, well, that depends on which one you’re talking about,” Melissa answered.  “I counted four.”
    “Really?  I counted six,” Yoshi said.
    “I thought I saw more than that,” Ryan said.
    “Maybe it was the same one,” Daniella said with a glimmer of optimism in her gray-blue eyes.
    “If you need to believe that , babe,” Ryan said affectionately and rubbed Daniella’s shoulders.  “Then it was the same little mouse running laps around Ed’s living room.”
    “Yeah, right, mice need to do cardio, too,” Alexandra said and laughed at her own joke.  “Oh shit, I kill me.  So which smelly heap of hay are the engaged lovebirds calling?” Alexandra asked and Melissa assumed she had been addressing her and Gabriel.
    “The one farthest from you,” Melissa said and smiled innocently.
    “Oh shit!” Yoshi called out.  “She told you.”
    “Whose side are you on?”  Alexandra stood and spun to face Yoshi.  Then she clutched her breasts with both hands and said, “If you ever want to see these again, you better stay on the right team,” and winked mischievously.
    Yoshi stood with his eyes riveted on Alexandra’s chest