Novel Of Followers (Rough Draft)

Days 31-60

THIS IS A ROUGH DRAFT.
THERE WILL BE GRAMMAR ISSUES, TYPOS, PLOT HOLES, AND YES, MANY THINGS WILL CHANGE DRASTICALLY.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND SHARING FIRST/ROUGH DRAFTS TO THE PUBLIC LIKE THIS. I DO THIS SOLELY FOR THE NOVEL OF FOLLOWERS PROJECT.
MY ANXIETY IS PEAKING BECAUSE OF IT SO ENJOY MUAHAHAHA.

"What is going on?" Magnus asked. He set Gideon onto a stool and leaned him forward in an unconscious slump over the bar.

"If you want to stay alive through the night, shut up and listen." April reached under the bar and brought up another handgun. "Can you shoot?"

"Two time twelve-and-under state Arizona handgun competition finalist." Magnus said confidently.

"Good for you." April said as she handed him the pistol. "If you see anything come up from the basement. Shoot it. Don't hesitate. Velexi will gut you before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"That's a lot of time" Magnus mumbled.

"Uncle," April said, ignoring him. "Keep everyone in the dark. No need to let em all know a velex is roaming about."

"Sure." Gainsborough said.

"Time to hunt a velex." April said.

Magnus followed closely behind once more as they descended the stairs into the basement. Two rays of flashlight backed by the barrels of handguns pierced into the darkness. April kept deadly quiet, listening for any sound of a velex.

Velexi were known as shade hunters. Without bright light, their black bodies couldn't be distinguished from shadow. Often, that single attribute meant that once unwary prey knew a velex was close, it was far too late. A twisting mass of jet-black arms, hands and feet that clamped onto prey with bone crushing force and tore pieces off for its countless, tiny mouths. Its compact shape and spindly limbs allows it to imitate the shadow of any thing, and once found, it rolled over hands and feet like a ball.

Once again, they passed into the basement, this time checking in every room to see if the shadows danced with movement. Sweat beaded on April's forehead. She kept deathly silent.

"So," Magnus said in a whisper. "That thing wasn't from no movie. It was real, I saw it with my own two eyes."

"A velex is an alien," April said. The jig was up. Magnus had seen too much. He might as well know the situation if he was going to be executed by the time council. "It's an apex predator. I'll explain everything if we make it out of here alive, deal?"

"I think I might just go." Magnus said.

"Too late for that, cowboy."

"It ain't too late if I'm still breathing—"

April threw a hand to Magnus mouth and froze. Sound was the way to catch a stalking velex. When prey came close to one, the hundred razor lined mouths of a velex chattered with anticipation.

Three hands of long, black fingers reached out from a still shadow and clasped onto April's ankle. It swept her from her feet and onto her back.

"Shoot it!" April screamed.

The velex crawled over her body. Slick wet limbs dripped a viscous slime on to her. Its hundred mouths frothed and drooled. A dozen small hands gripped her arms and legs and held tight. Razor-sharp claws dragged across her exposed shirt under the opening of her leather jacket.

Magnus held his gun and flashlight toward the thing. He couldn't find a clear shot at any single portion of the creature.

Then, a second shadow fell upon April. It passed so close by Magnus and with such speed that his hair swept back. A human shape, nearly as dark as the velex, descended onto it. April's screams were drowned by the shrill hiss of a hundred mouths, mixed with the gurgling of alien blood.

The velex slumped over onto the floor, lifeless and still. April unwound herself from its many arms, then glanced up to meet the gaze of Kiora.

"I thought tonight couldn't get worse." April said.

"A rude thing to say after I have just saved your skin." Kiora knelt by the velex and plunged a long, bronze dagger into its belly. Magnus hovered his flashlight over the scene and gulped.

"Who are you?"

"Kiora is my Traveler name. I am Kekheretnebti of the two lands."

"Kekheretnebti? Like the Egyptian princess?"

"How the hell did you know that?" April asked with wonder.

"Minored in ancient civilizations" Magnus answered.

"April has told me Egypt is the name of my homeland."

Magnus looked at her awestruck. April stood and wiped at the alien slime that stuck to her clothes to little effect.

"What is this?" Magnus asked. At that moment, Kiora knelt and pressed her dagger into the velex corpse once again, carving its flesh.

The blade pared the alien's limbs with ease, then, Kiora began gliding it between the many mouths of the creature.

"Check it's stomach," April said. "Else I'll gut it. It drank our Time Dilation Fluid."

"Its stomach is empty." Kiora replied.

"Impossible. It broke the lumenglass, it has to have the fluid." April knelt down and gagged. The only thing worse than the smell of velex slime was velex innards. Worse yet, Kiora was right. It was empty. Without the fluid, the Time Dilation Unit was utterly useless. "I need to talk to my uncle."

Gainsborough had made a fine show of easing the tension in the saloon.

"Don't mind the yelling," He told everyone. "April gets angry at the breaker box at times."

April wore slime and a scowlas she emerged from the basement.

"How's our rodent problem?" Gainsborough asked.

"It has been taken care of." Kiora answered before April could speak. The two locked eyes for a moment.

"We have another problem," April said in a whisper. "The Time Dilation Fluid is gone. We can't send the Travelers back."

"To their correct times" Kiora corrected. "They can travel, but your technology helps direct them."

"Thanks for the lesson, I know how traveling works."

"He does not." Kiora nodded to Magnus.