|
|
|
|
| |
| Signed up: |
8 years ago (10/03/04)
|
|
|
Last signed in:
|
5 days ago
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Unseen - part 73Part 1
Chapter 19
Steven made his way east towards Candice. With the moon making its way up he'd been able to read a street sign and figure out where he was. Now he was on the slow pilgrimage towards Candice's house, because as much as he desperately wanted to get there as fast as possible, he also knew that if he hit something at high speed, it would all be over.
For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about the way Rachel had asked him to stay with them. She really sounded like she wanted me to stay. Does she think Carl's going to do something? He thought for a moment, and then something frightening occurred to him: do I think Carl's going to do something?
He momentarily slowed down even more as he pondered this, and then decided yes, I kind of do think so. All of a sudden his speed was twice as vital, because not only was he rushing to find Candice, but he really didn't want to leave Rachel and Eric alone with Carl for too long, especially with Amando there to back him up; Amando had been asserting himself more and more recently, and the two of them together could be a dangerous combination. Steven knew he now had to rush to Candice, then hurry back to the Army base with almost the same amount of urgency. He returned to his proper speed, and added a little bit more for good measure.
* * *
Amando sat quietly in the back seat of the truck, looking at the passing silhouettes out the side window. Every so often the truck would angle left or right to avoid hitting something, but other than that it was all extremely boring.
There was almost nothing to see, but he had more than enough to think about; he'd done the math too, and he knew that Carl was still convinced he was ready to back him up in all things. In Carl's mind, that would make it two against two. Carl had no idea that he was on his own; if there was one thing Amando knew for certain about tonight, it was that he was not about to back Carl up on anything that might be important. He'd taken to heart Eric's advice about keeping a close eye on Carl, and the things he'd noticed had been enough for him to decide once and for all that Carl was not at all fit to be in charge of them.
What he wouldn't do, though, was ask Carl why he was kicked out of the Army. He was starting to suspect it was because of some kind of mental instability, and if he was right then the last thing he wanted to do was ask probing questions about an embarrassing time in his past.
He felt the truck slow down and turn right, and Carl said from the front seat "Good, now keep going until there's a left turn but no right. It's a while up there."
Man, how much longer does that mean? This is taking forever. Amando decided this was as good a time as any to try to get people talking again, but he couldn't think of anything to say. With nothing else to really go with, he asked "Does anyone have any idea what we should do when we get there?"
"I've been thinking about that," said Eric.
"I'll bet you have," interrupted Carl.
Eric paused for a moment, then continued. "The things we know for certain are that it has a body that casts a shadow, and that it's attracted to light - it doesn't just kill people in it, it's actually drawn towards it."
"Yes, we know all of that already."
"We should use that knowledge to our advantage. If it has a body, it can be destroyed. And if it's drawn to light, we can bait it; get it where we want it to be. Then once it's there, we hurt it."
"How do we do that?" asked Amando. He figured Carl was going to ask anyway, but in a rude way, so he may as well ask first. More than that, though, he actually wanted to know too.
"We're going to an Army base; there will be weapons there. We just need to figure out which one causes it the most harm."
"If we're going to try to attack it," started Carl, "we need to be far enough away that it won't attack us back. And we need to make sure we get it the first time around, because there's no telling what will happen if we miss. We should use explosives."
Eric seemed to think for a moment, then said "That's a good idea, Carl."
"Damn right it's a good idea. It's what we're going to do."
Man, even agreeing with each other they're butting heads. Amando tightened his grip on his broom and hoped for the best.
* * *
The further he went, the more surprised Steven was at just how little there was on the street. While they were going north, Rachel had to dodge something fairly frequently, but he'd hardly had to turn the wheel at all except to keep himself on the road. It didn't make any sense - but then, very little from the last 24 hours had made sense, so he decided not to let it worry him.
I'd sure like to know what time it is. He knew he still had several hours before the sun would even think about coming up, but after having to race it to safety this morning, he found that not knowing exactly how long he had until it reared its head made him uneasy. Nevertheless, he had only a single task to do while he was out here, and he was damn well going to do it. He reached Pemberton Street and turned north, towards Candice.
Part 74
|
|
|
Watch
Invite to Group
