Samuel pressed the gun against his head and spun around to see where they all stood. Amanda’s huffing and the John Ripley’s grunts beat either eardrum in succession. They each looked at him like a piece of meat to be devoured. The other townsfolk backed away slowly with their hands up above their heads.
“Samuel, dont!” Marshall yelled.
Samuel turned back toward the stone woman and stared Marshall between the eyes. “Why not? You deserve it after everything you did to me!”
“Samuel, that was a long time ago. Look, I’m sorry for my part in all that. But this is the first time we have seen a real change in this town!” Marshall indicated the strange object atop the statue. “We don’t know where this came from. All we needed to know was if you knew. I didn’t want to do it like this. They wouldn’t let me come find you alone like I wanted. I didn’t think they’d turn violent on you.”
“And why wouldn’t they?”
Marshall spread his palms and said, “I had to try. I had no choice. I’m sorry. Just please, put the gun down.”
At that moment, the lights of town square blinked out. The swirling starlight was blocked by the trees above, leaving the citizens of Rock Ridge in darkness for several moments until their eyes could adjust. A low pitched vibration surrounded them. It ran through the ground and up through their bodies until they could neither stand still nor keep their teeth from chattering.
The lights flashed back on. It burned against their retinas and they rubbed their eyes in discomfort and annoyance. Samuel was gone.
Samuel went running through the woods behind the old town square businesses. The trees didn’t let much light penetrate their leaves, but enough was present to illuminate the path before him. He counted his steps through his panting. “121, 122, 123…” He stopped and looked to his right. He pulled out a small flashlight and blinked it to his left. There was the large old rock that he expected to see. He turned left off the path and walked now, counting his paces. “1, 2, 3, 4…”
When he reached “137” he looked up at the forest canopy. There was a small clearing here and the trees framed the multi-colored sky in lacey silhouettes. At the center of them, was his least favorite constellation–the Jackals. They’re sharply featured heads and disgusting yellow hue turned his stomach. He looked down and counted out seven more paces. He squatted and tapped the ground. It rang metallic and hollow. He felt for an iron handle and pulled as hard as he could to lift it. The ground opened to a pitch black hole beneath him. He blinked his flashlight one more time to get his footing and descended.
In the town square, the search for Samuel had begun. “That little freak!” “We should have never let him go!” “Find him! Find him before he kills us all!”
The crowd spread out into the night. They ran up every building and down every street. Murphey and Ripley got in the truck and peeled out of town to search the outskirts and Samuel’s house again.
Marshall tried to regain control. He stepped on the edge of the fountain and yelled after all of them. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything! Leave him alone!” No one acknowledged him. They continued their mad search throughout the town. Marshall sighed and stepped down. He picked up his notebook and wrote a few more notes. Resigned to a chaos he gave up understanding long ago, he closed the notebook and went back to his apartment.
Over the years, Samuel had made many covert runs into town under the black of the new moons. On one trip, he managed to get into the library and steal some of the town plans. Among what he stole, was a single map that marked an unknown structure. He went looking for it one night and found this old bomb shelter. To his knowledge, no one else knew of its existence. He flipped on the lights and the edison bulbs glowed into life over the grey shelter. A small area of 4 bunks was in the back and a small living area was in front. In the middle was a kitchen and dining area. On the table, Samuel had rolled out the town plans. He’d memorized it all. This was his true hiding place. This is where he’d found his gun and would come here when he felt in danger. If they ever found him in this place, he’d shoot himself and hope they’d learned their lesson with yet another reset. The gun in his holster always gave him that option. He didn’t carry it to defend himself. He carried it to end himself and that brought him comfort. Suicide, here, of course being different than back home.
He sat at the table and grabbed the brownie he had stashed here a few days ago. He unwrapped it and took a bite. He pulled the envelope from before out of his pocket and looked at the picture. The metal bowl with a panel bolted to one side and a random assortment of wires. The picture, itself, seemed to vibrate in his hand.
He roughed up his hair and glanced at the bunks. His house bedroom was trashed by Ripley. He might just decide to sleep here for a while. He wondered if Solomon would find him the next day. He flung himself into one of the top bunks and fell asleep, his gun beneath his pillow and an empty brownie wrapper in his hand.
The next day dawned and Elena Ripley decided to resume her life as normal. “There’s no reason we can’t just enjoy our day, honey.” She smiled at her husband, John, as he came storming in, thundering about how he couldn’t find “the little bastard.” “You just get some rest. When I get back from work, we can go to the gym together. Sound good?” She smiled and turned to her closet. She’d just showered and her hair was styled. She’d even put on some basic makeup. She was aggressively normal today. She chose a powder blue dress that somewhat revealed her figure. She didn’t have the herculean physique of her husband. She looked much like a normal woman of her mid-forties–healthy, to be sure, but with some flab around her middle. She grabbed her purse and tred out the door as her husband began to snore loudly.
She drove her green sedan to the courthouse and showed her badge to the security guard at the gait. “Thanks, Jeff!” She smiled and he smiled back as she rolled through to her parking space, which was marked, “County Clerk.”
She walked in through the side entrance and up the marbled stairs. “Good morning, Phyllis!” she said as she passed an elderly woman who was clearly sleep-deprived. She paused by her. “How are you?”
“Oh, after last night’s hunt, I’m tired.” She sipped her coffee. “How are you?”
“Just swell, this morning! Just swell!” She trod to her office and sat down. A stack of forms was waiting for her. Things to approve, messages to pass on to the judge, checks to go and cash. Just a normal day in Rock Ridge.
She left and ran to the bank, still run by Andrea and Darcy like it was before they all came here. Elena was in a spry mood today, so she went inside. “Good morning, ladies!”
Andrea and Darcy returned her greeting. “What can we do for you today? Here at Blackstone Bank, we want your future to be rock solid!”
Elena laughed heartily. “Oh, I just love how you ladies still say that jingle!” She made her deposits and left.
When the day was over, she went grocery shopping. She’d never touch that all night super store, oh no. She went to the organic market that played classical music and sold foods she couldn’t pronounce the names of correctly. “Can I get some per-choo-toe please?” The annoyed retail worker reached one foot to her right, plucked the package off the shelf, and handed it to her. “Thank you,” she smiled before turning to the produce section.
When she left the store, John was waiting by her car with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. “Oh, sweetie! You shouldn’t have!” She ran to him and hugged him. They enjoyed a nice evening on the town after that.
When the night was over and they climbed into their respective sides of the bed, Elena snuggled up to John’s chest and said, “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Of course, honey,” John replied sleepily.
“When you find Samuel, will you kill him again?”
John smiled broadly and chuckled. “Of course, baby. Anything for you.”
“Good. Good night, dear.”
“Good night.”
Uncertain 
❤️❤️❤️❤️
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