If you’d care to start our story at the beginning:
Part One: Desert Stray
Part Two: Fragile Hosts
Part Three: The Final Ride Of Joe Pesci
Part Four: Hunter and Prey
* * * * *
Blake & Summers Building
Street Side Bus Stop
4:01 pm
“Oh my God,” Sarah screamed again, her hand quivering toward the remnants of Joe Pesci. “What the hell happened?! Bobby, what could’ve -”
She saw that her brother was gone.
“It’s like the little guy just . . . blew up.” Heikes pointed out, a comfy blanket of cheap bourbon helping him to state the obvious.
“Where’s Bobby?” Sarah asked. “Heikes, where’s my brother?”
“I -” Heikes looked bewilderedly toward the building behind them. “You think he went inside?”
“Bobby!” Sarah yelled, looking up at the building. She ran toward the entrance.
“Hey, Sarah! What about your car?” Heikes wondered. “Guess I’ll have to park it.” He said when no answer came from his friend.
Blake & Summers Building
Inside The Walls
4:09 pm
The mouse contorted in pain. The creature within it knew there were seconds left before the inevitable explosion of flesh would leave it hostless again. It needed to move quickly, formulate a better stratagem, but a larger host would need to be unconscious for it to feed upon, and the manforms, while plentiful inside this building, stayed awake in the sun.
It took a brief second, one that it didn’t have to spare, to locate its previous manform feeding trough. No, that host was too far away presently.
It drove further down the wall’s innards as the mouse’s side began to split.
J.J.’s Garage
4:12 pm
James knew that J.J. would calm down, would cave and let him keep his job if he could just get back to work. Get her mind settled on something else. Damned if he didn’t have a strong buzz going, though.
“Sure thing, J.J.,” he said, making his way back to his work bay. “Let me just get the Silverado done. Won’t take two shakes.” He picked the long handle to his floor jack up from the top of his toolbox and slung it over his shoulder.
Jason walked over and went to grab James by the arm. “Look, J.J. said to -”
Startled, James spun quickly, swinging the handle to his floor jack. It struck Jason in the side of the head, hard enough that the big man went down.
“Jesus!” J.J. yelled.
“Oh my God, are you all right?” Samantha said, getting out of her car.
“He was coming at me!” James explained. “You all saw!”
“He’s out cold,” J.J. said, checking Jason’s pulse.
“I’m calling 911.” Samantha dialed her phone.
“You tell ‘em I was defending myself!” James dropped the floor jack handle.
“James shut the hell up.” J.J. looked up at him. “You’re done here, you hear me? Done. Pack your shit and get out of my garage.”
“What? You can’t – for this?”
Samantha covered her other ear to hear over the argument. “Yes, I’m at J.J.’s Garage and there’s been an accident. There’s a man down and -”
Jason sat bolt upright so quickly that Samantha screamed.
“I feel amazing!” he said. He jumped up to his feet.
“Jason, take it easy. You were out -” J.J. took him by the arm.
“Nah,” Jason said, walking over toward James who was putting his hands up in an “I don’t wanna fight” pose. “It was nothing.”
“I – hold on just a sec,” Samantha told the 911 operator and she took in the scene.
“Still, maybe slow down.” J.J. tried again.
“Yeah, I’ll nap,” Jason said, throwing a friendly smile over his shoulder to J.J. “Just one thing first.”
James tried to speak but Jason moved with inhuman speed, taking James by the throat and choking any words back that had been coming.
“Jason!” J.J. ran to stop what was about to happen. She failed.
“You’re just so rude,” Jason began, slamming James down unto a workbench and holding him there. A car battery lay next to James’ head. “And I feel as though we’ve had enough of you.”
With his free hand, Jason picked up the car battery. He managed to land four blows before J.J. got to him. James’ head had caved like an overly-ripe melon upon the first.
Samantha dropped her phone in stunned silence.