Night Vale Unsolved

39

Neither Carlos, Ryan, or Shane noticed the entirety of the Moonlight All Night Diner watching them as they left. Nor did they they feel the multiple gazes that followed them down the street until they dissapeared around a corner.
But their ignorance made it no less real. No less hostile.
The staring didn't last long after the three men had gone. Patrons went back to their meals or drinks, waiters went back to work, and the regular bustle of the diner picked up right where it had left off. But the whispers lingered.

A few hours later, Jackie Fierro was sitting in her empty pawn shop, looking around idly at the various objects she'd acquired. Everything was marked "$11". Not everything was worth $11. But there was a way these things were done.
No one had come into the store yet that day. No one had come in the day before, either. Someone had come in the day before that, but they only wanted to get rid of an old bone dug up from their backyard. Nothing interesting had happened in a while.
But recently Jackie had heard rumors. She'd heard from Diane Crayton (she and Jackie were still very close after an...experience...they'd shared a couple years back), who overheard Maureen  telling her girlfriend Michelle that she'd heard it from Laura (who works at the Moonlight All Night, who'd apparently heard it from Larry Leroy) that there were new people in town. Interlopers.
Jackie didn't know why they were here. She didn't know who they were. And she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Carlos had been an outsider, right? And he was cool. Couldn't these people be the same?

Across town, Old Woman Josie sat in her small, plush living room. The Angels had finished putting up the wallpaper (finally) and everything was nice and neat. There were several fresh cups of tea on the coffee table. As Josie sipped from hers, she wondered vaguely about Carlos'new friends - what were their names again? Shane, she remembered, and...Ryan. That's it. Shane and Ryan. Josie tried to guess where else they had gone, but her mind strayed back to the second visit she'd been payed that day. The Secret Police, demanding to know who the two men were.
"How rude," Josie had chastised them, "Don't you know it's almost tea time? I have to go out to the store to get some more, and if I don't go now, I won't be back in time, and the Angels will get cranky. Have you ever seen a cranky Angel?" She asked the officers, who all covered their ears and hummed at the first mention of the Angels.
They ended up leaving without any further questioning, and Josie was glad. Ryan and Shane seemed nice enough, but they were clearly way in over their heads.

Coach Nazr al-Mujaheed was running drills that evening after school. His football team, the Night Vale Scorpions, had been doing well enough in the season so far, but there were always improvements to be made. Like passing. And catching. And running. Otherwise, why hold practice at all?
"Water!" Coach called. The athletes hustled over to the bench and crowded around to drink, their padded shoulders bumping into each other constantly. Nazr stood by and watched them, happy that at least his team was a team.
"Did you hear?" He heard one of them say to another, "There are Interlopers in town!"
"Dude!" The other exclaimed, "Who?"
"Man, I don't know. But I heard they were hanging around with that scientist guy."
"Carlos?"
"Yeah, dude. Him."
Al-Mujaheed frowned. New people?

Lee Marvin sat in a lawn chair in his backyard watching the sun set over the desert. It was his 30th birthday.
So was yesterday.
So will tomorrow be.
Lee sighed. He was sick of returning 30. For just one day, he wanted to just be 30. And maybe one day, even turn 31. But time was weird in Night Vale.
He didn't leave his house much anymore. He didn't really need to. But earlier that day, Lee had convinced himself to go for a walk around the neighborhood. His neighbor, whose name he could never remember and always felt horrible about it, greeted him as he passed by. Lee stopped, and the two talked for a while. His neighbor filled him in on everything that had been happening around Night Vale. As it turns out, not much. Except for some strange rumors floating around.