Story so far as a downloadable PDF: (Right click to save)
Her name was Lucy Williams and she was saving a man’s life.
“We’ve got a pulse!” Biff exclaimed.
Lucy, sweaty and exhausted, leaned back on her haunches and glared down at the old man she’d just revived. “What the HELL was he thinking, running in this weather at his age?”
Biff grinned at her. “He’s thinking this is the first time he’s had a pretty girl touch him this century.”
Good old Biff. He was a decent guy and she liked him, but he was one of those people who could make anything dirty. He was like a sex prospector who could pan down any comment, any observation, truly anything any person said until he got down to one grain of sexual insinuation which he would pull out, shine up, and display for the world to see ... whether they wanted to or not. (most often they didn’t want to)
Lucy found herself double, triple, even quadruple checking everything she said in order to sanitize it against his ability to turn it sexual ... but most often she failed because he was better at finding it than she was at eliminating it.
So she’d taken to either ignoring it or subtly changing the subject. But the whole thing got exhausting fast.
“I’m twenty-six, asshole. I’ll ‘girl’ you!”
That worked to change the topic to the subject of age, which chaffed Biff because while he was older than her, he had less seniority. It bothered him, so she used it to get out of awkward conversations with him.
They continued bickering as they loaded him into the ambulance and all the way to the hospital.
By the time the paperwork was finished, their shift was up.
“Wanna catch a drink with the guys?” Biff wanted to know.
Despite Biff’s irritating obsession with sex, this actually wasn’t him coming on to her. They’d had a frank talk their first day or working as partners and Biff made it clear he never dated or slept with women he worked alongside with. Lives were at stake here, after all. This was a big reason that, despite her constant irritated with the man, she liked him.
“All I want to do is go home and curl up with Cold Case.”
Biff grimaced. “That’s a stupid TV show.”
Lucy thought about explaining that it was, in fact, the latest Harry Dresden novel, but didn’t bother. He was more of a Jack Reacher type anyway. So instead, she waved her partner off and started for her car.
A young looking black man was lounging on the hood of her Crown Victoria.
“What did I tell you about sitting on my car, Raisin?”
Raisin grinned at her, his perfect white teeth reflecting the street lamp ten feet behind her. “You’re an attractive lady. Long blonde hair, slightly above average height, maybe ten pounds overweight.”
“Yeah, I have a mirror, thanks.” Lucy snapped.
“Not my point, my dear.”
“Then what the Hell is your point?”
“The Doomsday Killer struck again. Another tall, average build, lady with long blonde hair.”
“I watch the news, thanks.” That was a lie, strictly speaking. Lucy couldn’t stand the local news. But the Doomsday Killer was all anybody was talking about in the break room so she was up to speed.
“So have you reconsidered my offer to provide you with protection?” Raisin asked.
“Raisin, I have a better chance of having a heart attack in line at Golden Corral than I do at running into the Doomsday Killer. Oh, and speaking of Golden Corral, if you ever call me overweight again I’ll KICK YOUR ASS.”
“My most humble apologies, my dear.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t make me regret saving your life last year.” As Lucy said this she swung behind the wheel of her car and fired up the engine.
For a second, as her headlights whipped past Raisin, he looked like an old man ... no ... an ancient man. A tiny, twisted male crone with a missing eye, no hair, and a thick red plastic tablet gripped tightly in two gnarled, twisted hands. At the same time, she heard what was unmistakably his voice in her head.
We’re not just talking about this ship! We’re talking about everything, everywhere!
The image was so strong that Lucy actually hit the breaks and shot her head to her side to look at Raisin again.
But he was just Raisin. Young, handsome, well dressed Raisin.
Upon seeing her stop to look at him, Raisin grinned and waved.
Lucy, unsettled, waved back before driving on.
***
Her brother Simon wasn’t home when she got there, but that was no surprise. It was a Friday night. Simon and his boyfriend always caught a movie every Friday night, like clockwork. Lucy didn’t imagine there could possibly be 52 theater ticket price worthy movies coming out each year, but Simon always said it was more about just “getting the Hell out of the house” than anything else.
She could relate to that.
Monster was home though. Monster was a 130 pound Golden Retrieve/German Shepherd mix, though Lucy always joked that he also had some elephant mixed in there as well because very little of that weight was fat. He was just a BIG dog. And gorgeous with the Golden Retriever colors over German Shepherd looks. It was an odd combination but really worked.
Lucy hadn’t so much adopted Monster two years ago as he had adopted her. He showed up in her yard as a half grown puppy, right back leg bleeding from what turned out to be several shotgun pellets. There was probably an exciting story about how THAT came about but Monster was never going to tell it. He had no collar and the vet had been pretty sure he’d never gotten any shots or seen a vet before. After a cursory internet and local coffeehouse billboard search to see if anybody was looking for him, Lucy took him in. He’d immediately made a wonderful addition to her family.
Monster, as always, waited until Lucy had her shoes off and her purse on the end table before rushing over for his opening dose of affection.
It was as she was petting her dog that Lucy got the unmistakable feeling that the two of them weren’t alone in this house. But that was impossible. Monster wasn’t ironically named, he didn’t play well with strangers. Exactly four people were allowed past the threshold without a whole lot of noise and tears.
Lucy brushed past her dog and stepped into the living room.
Raisin was lounging on her sofa, legs stretched out and hands folded under her neck. He flashed his trademark smile at her.
“You saw me, didn’t you? The real me?”
“W-what?” Lucy sputtered. Monster was standing to her right, wagging his tail enthusiastically and looking from this uninvited guest to Lucy and back again. She’d never seen him allow anybody in this house without permission, a fact that was even more disconcerting than Raisin knowing where she lived and getting in here past her locks and alarm system.
“I thought as much.”
Raisin sat up and faced her, his face getting serious for the first time since she’d met him while saving his life.
“This means you’re ready.”
“What?” She asked again.
“And that means you’re their next target.”
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