the marching monsters would give him the comfort he needed to start spilling his guts.
“Far fewer than we can account for here,” he said at length, his voice disturbed by the number that he was seeing.
One of them looked our way. The blood film was evident on its face, even from where we were a block or so back. If there had been any doubt remaining in any of our minds, that removed it. Baring its teeth, it howled out, the sound quite audible through the broken window of the driver side door.
I looked over my shoulder, intending to back up, but saw a group of people stepping onto the street behind us. I didn’t need to see their faces to know that they would be covered with the blood film as well. They all had the same gait as the others.
Where had they all come from? Light from the moon flashed off something on one of their chests. Had that been a policeman’s badge? Despite the tension of the situation, the conspicuous absence of the cops made me do a double take. The more I looked the more certain I became. This monster had formerly been a cop.
Had the police responded to an inciting incident and then been shifted as soon as they’d shown up?
“Are you going to do something?” Madelyn asked. Her voice was quiet but laden with enough angst that I looked over at her. A street light lit her face, showing a mix of resignation and fear.
The monsters behind us sprinted forward.
There are times when it’s important to take a second to plan out what you’re going to do next. I’d always been a believer in having a plan to handle difficult situations. Sometimes, though, you just have to move on instinct.
I hit that gas, the wheels of my old Honda squealing in protest as we lurched forward. “Everybody hold on.”
“What are you doing, Buckshot? Just turn around.”
The question barely registered with me because the others in the group in front of us had turned to look our way now, the cursed blood film covering all of their faces. I could see several shorter figures in the crowd and assumed that they were children who had shifted. My anxiety to get out of the situation unscathed overcame my horror of seeing young ones taken by the horrible blutom.
They all looked on as I approached I wondered if they wouldn’t even react as we sped by. At the last second, they ran towards us too.
One of the faster ones ran directly in front of our car and I had to swerve onto the sidewalk to avoid it. My headlights shined briefly onto the face of the monster. It might have been a teenage child or short person before shifting. All of its hair was missing and it roared at us, distorting its face and making it impossible to tell what it had been previously.
I continued to dodge the monster on instinct, fearing it had once been an adolescent, but managing to slam into several others. One rolled up onto the roof and down the back of the car. The other grasped onto the hood.
It had previously been a middle aged man that had probably been bald before shifting because the top of his head was covered with sunspots. He looked up and roared, saliva dripping onto my windshield.
Pete had claimed a person was unlikely to shift through saliva, but I couldn’t help but remember how he’d insisted we not touch the blutom after saying it was safe enough to touch.
Some of the spit landed on a small ball of blutom that had been making its way up the windshield from the last blutom monster we’d had straddled on the hood of my car. Time seemed to slow as I focused on the hood of my car.
The stuff was everywhere. I truly hoped that Pete was right about it dying off if it didn’t get into a host in time because we’d be leaving a trail of the stuff behind us.
I tore the car back onto the street and put the gas pedal to the floor, worried more about escaping from the mob than the monster on the car. It continued to howl at us but it wasn’t able to do anything more than hang on. For the moment, I could tolerate that.
The
“Far fewer than we can account for here,” he said at length, his voice disturbed by the number that he was seeing.
One of them looked our way. The blood film was evident on its face, even from where we were a block or so back. If there had been any doubt remaining in any of our minds, that removed it. Baring its teeth, it howled out, the sound quite audible through the broken window of the driver side door.
I looked over my shoulder, intending to back up, but saw a group of people stepping onto the street behind us. I didn’t need to see their faces to know that they would be covered with the blood film as well. They all had the same gait as the others.
Where had they all come from? Light from the moon flashed off something on one of their chests. Had that been a policeman’s badge? Despite the tension of the situation, the conspicuous absence of the cops made me do a double take. The more I looked the more certain I became. This monster had formerly been a cop.
Had the police responded to an inciting incident and then been shifted as soon as they’d shown up?
“Are you going to do something?” Madelyn asked. Her voice was quiet but laden with enough angst that I looked over at her. A street light lit her face, showing a mix of resignation and fear.
The monsters behind us sprinted forward.
There are times when it’s important to take a second to plan out what you’re going to do next. I’d always been a believer in having a plan to handle difficult situations. Sometimes, though, you just have to move on instinct.
I hit that gas, the wheels of my old Honda squealing in protest as we lurched forward. “Everybody hold on.”
“What are you doing, Buckshot? Just turn around.”
The question barely registered with me because the others in the group in front of us had turned to look our way now, the cursed blood film covering all of their faces. I could see several shorter figures in the crowd and assumed that they were children who had shifted. My anxiety to get out of the situation unscathed overcame my horror of seeing young ones taken by the horrible blutom.
They all looked on as I approached I wondered if they wouldn’t even react as we sped by. At the last second, they ran towards us too.
One of the faster ones ran directly in front of our car and I had to swerve onto the sidewalk to avoid it. My headlights shined briefly onto the face of the monster. It might have been a teenage child or short person before shifting. All of its hair was missing and it roared at us, distorting its face and making it impossible to tell what it had been previously.
I continued to dodge the monster on instinct, fearing it had once been an adolescent, but managing to slam into several others. One rolled up onto the roof and down the back of the car. The other grasped onto the hood.
It had previously been a middle aged man that had probably been bald before shifting because the top of his head was covered with sunspots. He looked up and roared, saliva dripping onto my windshield.
Pete had claimed a person was unlikely to shift through saliva, but I couldn’t help but remember how he’d insisted we not touch the blutom after saying it was safe enough to touch.
Some of the spit landed on a small ball of blutom that had been making its way up the windshield from the last blutom monster we’d had straddled on the hood of my car. Time seemed to slow as I focused on the hood of my car.
The stuff was everywhere. I truly hoped that Pete was right about it dying off if it didn’t get into a host in time because we’d be leaving a trail of the stuff behind us.
I tore the car back onto the street and put the gas pedal to the floor, worried more about escaping from the mob than the monster on the car. It continued to howl at us but it wasn’t able to do anything more than hang on. For the moment, I could tolerate that.
The
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