mob dwindled behind us.
“Everybody ready?” I asked. “I’m about to slam on the brakes.”
Madelyn grabbed the handle above the door and braced her other arm on the dash. I heard a clicking sound as Pete fastened his belt buckle. He also put an arm on to the back of my seat to brace himself.
I hit the brakes and the monster continued on, hitting the asphalt with a sickening crunch that we could hear from inside the car. Wincing with sympathy, I reminded myself that he was no longer a man and punched the gas again, swerving so that I wouldn’t run over the monster as we sped on by.
Pete swore. “What possessed you to do that, why didn’t you just turn the car around?”
“You didn’t see all the ones behind us?” I asked, flipping on the windshield wipers and spraying fluid to clean off the saliva and blutom balls. It took multiple attempts, before everything was clean. A single ball stuck to the top of one of the wipers so I increased the speed of the wipers until it was flung off.
There were several other balls of blutom on the hood of the car, but they were staying in place for now.
Both Pete and Madelyn checked our rear when I’d mentioned the other group. I didn’t. I knew what I’d seen and didn’t feel like it was necessary to look any further. When neither of them said anything more, I assumed that they’d both seen the second group or just didn’t want to push the point.
We drove in silence for several minutes. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. Was this happening all across the United States tonight? The problem was clearly bigger than any of us had previously thought an hour ago.
“Does your lab have a containment plan for an outbreak at the national level?” I asked. We had gone half a dozen blocks without seeing any other sign of a monster so I finally slowed down. I was beginning to hope that we’d left them all behind and that we would be able to make it to the lab without another incident.
“I don’t know. I doubt they ever saw the need, even after the theft. All of our experiments showed that after a rat had fully shifted it took a few weeks before it had enough blutom in its system that it would start to look outside the host for another expansion point. We never expected it to move as fast as it is.”
“Well,” Madelyn said, “there is clearly something wrong with your data if our little town could be overrun over the course of one night.”
“So it would seem.”
I spotted a gas station ahead and slowed down.
“We’re almost there,” Pete said. “Surely you have enough gas to make it the rest of the way.”
“How’s our buddy doing back there?” I asked. “Has he reached level ten yet?”
I could tell by the silence that all the commotion had caused Pete to forget about our deadly passenger.
“It’s still there,” Pete said after he’d pulled up the plastic container and waited for a passing street light to illuminate it. The relief in his voice mirrored my own. I didn’t like the thought of the stuff getting loose in my car. What were the odds that at least one of us had a wound small enough to escape our attention but large enough for some blutom to use as it shifted into us?
“Think it can wait for the lab,” I asked, “or should we pour some gas in the container and light it up now?”
“Man, Buckshot,” Pete said. “You’re certifiable, you know that? Would you settle down?” He shook his head. “You’re too eager.”
“What else do you want me to be?” I looked him in the eye and he looked away uncomfortably. “That thing could escape and kill any one of us.”
“Can we at least drive away from the gas station before we light the fire?”
“What are you so worried about? Somebody will see us? The only people we’ve seen have been shifted into monsters. With all them about, it would be better if we minimized the risk by staying under the well-lit station and just got it done.”
“What are people going to think if we
“Everybody ready?” I asked. “I’m about to slam on the brakes.”
Madelyn grabbed the handle above the door and braced her other arm on the dash. I heard a clicking sound as Pete fastened his belt buckle. He also put an arm on to the back of my seat to brace himself.
I hit the brakes and the monster continued on, hitting the asphalt with a sickening crunch that we could hear from inside the car. Wincing with sympathy, I reminded myself that he was no longer a man and punched the gas again, swerving so that I wouldn’t run over the monster as we sped on by.
Pete swore. “What possessed you to do that, why didn’t you just turn the car around?”
“You didn’t see all the ones behind us?” I asked, flipping on the windshield wipers and spraying fluid to clean off the saliva and blutom balls. It took multiple attempts, before everything was clean. A single ball stuck to the top of one of the wipers so I increased the speed of the wipers until it was flung off.
There were several other balls of blutom on the hood of the car, but they were staying in place for now.
Both Pete and Madelyn checked our rear when I’d mentioned the other group. I didn’t. I knew what I’d seen and didn’t feel like it was necessary to look any further. When neither of them said anything more, I assumed that they’d both seen the second group or just didn’t want to push the point.
We drove in silence for several minutes. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. Was this happening all across the United States tonight? The problem was clearly bigger than any of us had previously thought an hour ago.
“Does your lab have a containment plan for an outbreak at the national level?” I asked. We had gone half a dozen blocks without seeing any other sign of a monster so I finally slowed down. I was beginning to hope that we’d left them all behind and that we would be able to make it to the lab without another incident.
“I don’t know. I doubt they ever saw the need, even after the theft. All of our experiments showed that after a rat had fully shifted it took a few weeks before it had enough blutom in its system that it would start to look outside the host for another expansion point. We never expected it to move as fast as it is.”
“Well,” Madelyn said, “there is clearly something wrong with your data if our little town could be overrun over the course of one night.”
“So it would seem.”
I spotted a gas station ahead and slowed down.
“We’re almost there,” Pete said. “Surely you have enough gas to make it the rest of the way.”
“How’s our buddy doing back there?” I asked. “Has he reached level ten yet?”
I could tell by the silence that all the commotion had caused Pete to forget about our deadly passenger.
“It’s still there,” Pete said after he’d pulled up the plastic container and waited for a passing street light to illuminate it. The relief in his voice mirrored my own. I didn’t like the thought of the stuff getting loose in my car. What were the odds that at least one of us had a wound small enough to escape our attention but large enough for some blutom to use as it shifted into us?
“Think it can wait for the lab,” I asked, “or should we pour some gas in the container and light it up now?”
“Man, Buckshot,” Pete said. “You’re certifiable, you know that? Would you settle down?” He shook his head. “You’re too eager.”
“What else do you want me to be?” I looked him in the eye and he looked away uncomfortably. “That thing could escape and kill any one of us.”
“Can we at least drive away from the gas station before we light the fire?”
“What are you so worried about? Somebody will see us? The only people we’ve seen have been shifted into monsters. With all them about, it would be better if we minimized the risk by staying under the well-lit station and just got it done.”
“What are people going to think if we
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