The Journey of St. Laurent, Chapter 33
Author’s note:
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis. As it ends up, getting to see the boss is pretty easy when you’re willing to assault someone. At least, that’s how it worked out for us.
Thanks be to DarcKnyt for his edits last time, and to Maelstrom, Tyler, Chad, Major, Jordan and Mal for stopping by to say hi. If it weren’t for you folk, I probably would have stopped writing this stuff a long time ago.
Chapter 33 – The Wrong Side of the Bed
Another pounding on the door.
When you’ve had time to wake up and get your head screwed on straight you tend to make better decisions. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking the situation through. All I know is that I wasn’t thinking, I was reacting.
In fact, my whole body shook with rage. I felt the blood boils up my neck and my face tense up. Can’t believe I fell for that. I rushed to the door, tore it open and before I could even process who it was, I swung at the person behind it.
A meaty hand deflected my punch. “What the hell…”
I stumbled off balance into the hallway and growled.
The man stepped back and raised his hands. “Slow down there.” It was Rhett, the tank of a man that worked as producer on Jex’s show.
I balled both my fists and advanced swinging.
The man covered like a boxer and just let my wild blows glance off his arms and iron abs.
I lunged forward and pushed with both hands. “Where is it?”
He hopped back a few feet. “Where is what?”
Like he doesn’t know. It was clear he’d had a lot of hand-to-hand training. I was in over my head and in the back of my mind I knew it, but I was too mad to care. I sucked in a couple breaths then dove at him. “Oh, right!”
He caught me in my dive and slammed me against the wall. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but you’ve got to settle down or you’re going to get-”
“What did you do with it?”
“Corbin!” London burst from the doorway.
Rhett turned his head to the noise.
It was all the distraction I needed. I jerked my right arm free and swung my elbow for his face.
It connected with his mouth.
His head snapped back and he let go of me.
I braced my arms on his wide chest and pushed.
Before I could move him back, he grabbed my shirt with both hands.
I twisted and tried to pull away, but the hallway was too cramped and he was too strong.
He hefted me up an inch or two then flung me in London’s direction. “Calm down! What did I do with what?”
I landed on my butt and immediately tried to get my feet back under me.
London fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around my chest. “Corbin, don’t!”
I scrambled, but couldn’t quite get to my feet.
London jerked me down. “Corbin, stop it.”
Rhett touched his mouth and looked at his hand. No blood. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I flared my nostrils and gave him my best death stare. “Where’s the virus?”
“What virus?”
“Don’t be stupid. What virus would I have brought with me?”
London tightened her bear hug. “What?”
I pointed the accusing finger. “In the middle of the night, these lying scum opened the door, cut the chain lock and stole the cooler with the virus.”
I heard London suck in a breath through her nose. “They stole it?”
Rhett raised an eyebrow. “Cut the lock?”
“Who else would it have been?”
London held me a moment then loosened her hold. “It’s okay, we’ll get it back, we’ll figure it out. Calm down.”
I stopped pulling against her. How is she the calm one? Doesn’t she get it?
Rhett lowered his guard and scrunched up his forehead. “You mean you had the virus? The virus? As in the one that…”
“That killed Oasis?”
Rhett frowned and turned half away. “No way, I can’t believe that.”
“And you want me to believe that you didn’t know he stole it?”
“If he did, I sure as hell didn’t know about it. But he tells me everything.” Rhett strode by us and examined the cut chain.
“He was the only one who knew we were here, plus he had access to the keys.”
Rhett stared at the hanging half of a chain on the door. I could practically see the gears grinding to a halt at the sign of the break in.
“…said you might be grumpy…” He shook his head. “He just sent me to get you before…”
London let go. “Corbin, it’ll be okay. We’ll find it. Trust me.”
“Before what?”
Rhett took a couple of slow steps back in the hallway. “Alan wouldn’t do… Are you sure?”
“We pretty much went through hell to get it here, and I’m pretty sure it’s gone now.” I rolled onto my knees and faced London.
Our faces were closer than I expected. In fact, if I had turned any faster we would have had a collision kiss.
London looked me straight in the eye. “Trust me.”
My lips moved involuntarily but I couldn’t speak. Why isn’t she furious?
“Trust me.”
What am I supposed to do? I pushed up to my feet, then helped London stand.
The initial flash of rage had passed. I guess plopping to the ground on your butt helps with that. As I got my breathing under control, it occurred to me that Rhett wasn’t acting – he really didn’t know about the virus. But where did that leave me?
Rhett was staring at the hallway wall and appeared to be just as lost in thought as I was.
London grabbed my hand. “Come in the room a sec.”
Rhett snapped his head to the side. “We’ve got to get moving.”
London raised a finger. “Just hold it a minute, captain butch. We’ll be right out.”
“We don’t have much time.”
London tugged me inside the room and kicked the door shut.
Why should we go with him now, anyway? I must have looked as confused as I felt. “What was that?”
“Look, when it’s not summer and the world isn’t ending, I teach third graders.” She let go of me and walked to the other side of the bed.
“What are you talking about?”
She reached down and lifted the corner the mattress with one hand and pulled out something wrapped in a washcloth. “There’s occasionally a kid that likes his neighbor’s folder or pencil or something. He gets a certain look in his eye, and within a day or two he’ll try to steal it. Jex had the same look last night when he looked at the cooler. I figured he knew we had the cooler, but didn’t know what was in it. I had to do something.”
“You didn’t touch-”
“I was careful.” She dropped the washcloth on the bed. One of the two unbroken vials rolled out.
I stared at it. The sight of the vial was almost a relief. But there was a lot still bothering me. The fact that I still had that vial only dealt with half of the problem. If push came to shove, I could still try find a way to infect the aliens. But what about the virus juice that Jex now had? Should I go with Rhett, play nicely, then try to get it back?
One thing was certain, I’d never again be bothered with the question of whether or not to trust Alan Jex – he’d proved himself a snake. But should I still try to work with him in order to fight to good fight?
And what about Rhett? He seemed like a good enough guy, but could I trust anybody? Did Jex leave him out of the virus theft plot because he knew Rhett would object? Or was it just the less people that knew, the better?
The deafening noise of a low flying helicopter snapped me out of my daze – was London saying something?
Rhett pounded on the door. “We’ve got to go.”
Might as well go with him for now. I carefully bundled the vial back up and put it in the Velcroed packet of my cargo pants. “Thanks, London.”
She nodded for the door. “Let’s go get the rest back.”
Keep reading! Chapter 34 is here.
The Process of Writing
I love hearing about process of other writers. Novelr pointed me today to an article on slate about the process Agatha Christie used. It makes me feel better about the many many notebooks, text files, 3×5 cards and other stuff/mess I use.
A Little Inspiration for the Authors Out There
Rhiannon Frater just put up a great post about her journey to getting picked up by Tor.
My Journey to Tor – The Story Behind The Deal
Congratulations to Rhiannon!
Fixed chapter.
Ok, the last chapter now has the proper ending. http://www.storyhack.com/2010/04/02/the-journey-of-st-laurent-chapter-32/
The Journey of St. Laurent, Chapter 32
Author’s note:
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.As it ends up, getting to see the boss is pretty easy when you’re willing to assault someone. At least, that’s how it worked out for us.
Chapter 32 – The Hostile Hotel
London punched the guy right smack in the middle of the face. He staggered onto his heels and put his hands on his nose.
The other guard brought up his rifle.
I took a step back and raised my hands. “Whoa there, comrade.”
“Hold it right there.”
London threw up her arms. “You’re going to shoot me for punching him?”
“Well-”
She took a step toward the second guard. “Well, what? We both know you’re not. Just get on your radio and tell Jex he has guests.”
The guard stared at us a moment, then took a step back, lowered his gun, and got on his radio.
The punched guard was a bleeder. It took a good ten minutes before he stemmed the flow.
Sure, he’s ready for an alien invasion, but not a nosebleed.
Five minutes after that, a pickup truck pulled up to take us into town where Jex and a few of his lieutenants or commanders or whatever he was calling them were meeting.
The line of vans, campers, and pickup trucks waiting to enter the field was backing up a good quarter mile down the road.
Where are all these people coming from?
We pulled up in front of the only hotel in town. It was a sleepy little place with only a few rooms, a café with big picture windows downstairs, and a wealth of refined old school personality.
The café wasn’t open for business, but Jex and a couple others were in there sitting around a table and pouring over what looked to be maps.
A shot of anger trickled down my spine at the sight of the talk show host. Perhaps I still felt a little offended by the way he had treated me on his show.
We went in the main entrance to the hotel.
The main lobby smelled like cherry and cedar. The furniture looked like it was at least sixty years old, but still in excellent condition. The whole place was a warm step back in time.
To bad I didn’t find this place under different circumstances.
Our guard told us to stay put then threw open the glass paneled door to the café and entered.
The door slammed back shut behind him. The pane rattled like it was going to flop out and break on the floor.
Through the door we could see yelling. All of it directed at our guard. It was too muffled to hear well, but the idea was clear. The guard was a total moron to bring someone out here. Jex stood and leaned forward to get a look at us through the door. He stopped his tirade mid sentence when he recognized me and pushed back his chair.
He was wearing black fatigues with a red, white, and blue armband. He seemed somewhat taller than he had in the studio and he walked toward us with a definite swagger. Maybe he was feeling the rush of power that comes from leading an army of survivalists and lunatics. Or maybe it was just the firearm he had in a holster on his hip.
London leaned over and whispered, “Wow, from his voice on the radio I expected someone-”
I half turned to her. “Fatter?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
Jex opened the door, shook our hands, and motioned to a sitting area in the back of the lobby. “Can we talk a minute?”
I nearly rolled my eyes. No, we drove the whole way out here just to stare at you. “That’s why we’re here.”
London and I sat on a plush velvet couch.
Jex pulled up a carved wooden chair. “I was afraid you didn’t make it. Word got around about the attack outside of Houston. To be honest, I was shocked that you called. And by the way, that was a really bad idea.”
I crossed my legs and leaned back. “I gathered as much.”
He pointed a finger at me. “Really, you should have known they’d be listening in to my calls.”
“Who, the aliens? How was I supposed-”
“No, the feds.”Jex reached into a pocket, pulled out a pen, and started twiddling with it. “They’ve been keeping the whole alien thing under wraps for years and years, and then I broke the story with just enough detail that they thought I had to have hard evidence. They had no choice but to go public. The thing is, those feds don’t really forgive easily. And of course once the president went on TV, well, why would the aliens operate in secret anymore? So that’s cat’s out of the bag, and they all see it as my fault.”
Man alive, this guy likes to hear himself talk.
London glared at him. “So what is everybody doing in Tennessee?”
“They’ve got a base here with the main entrance one hill over from the camp. As soon as I read where to go in that packet you delivered, I booked the whole hotel and made arrangements for the field we’re using as a camp.” Jex raised his eyebrows pointed to the cooler sitting by my foot. “I take it you’ve got in there what I think you’ve got in there?”
I glanced down. “Yes it is, but go back. You mean a base for the extraterrestrials? Why did we set them up with a base? And why does the government take their side in all these attacks? Why aren’t the Marines here to carry out an attack rather than a bunch of, you know, you guys?”
He stayed focused on the cooler. “You’d better leave that with me until we decide whether or not to use it.”
Unbelievable. “Wait, wait, wait. Not use it? If the aliens are so scared of it that they’ll bomb a neighborhood minutes after establishing a peace agreement, don’t you think we should make their fears-”
“To be fair, I don’t think they know exactly what it is.”
“Well, I didn’t come all this way to hand over the most dangerous biological weapon that has ever existed without knowing exactly how and when it’s going to be used.”
Jex balled up a fist and banged it on the arm rest. “And I’m not going to let someone I don’t trust completely bring something that dangerous into my camp.”
London scooted forward so fast she almost came off the couch. “And didn’t you say that we are already at war? That we needed to fight with everything-”
Jex raised his hands. “Look. I didn’t know if you’d show up. So I started evaluating other strategies. I’m not saying I won’t use it. I’m just saying I want to know where it is in case it comes to that. And we’ll know soon enough if it is going to come to that.”
My nostrils flared. “And how are you going to protect it if they hit the camp?”
“We have more than enough firepower there to take down one of the smaller UFOs.”
“How do you even know that?”
Alan Jex folded his muscular arms and gave me his best ‘I’m in charge here’ look. “It was in that packet you delivered. There was one in China brought down with small arms fire. You just can’t use steel or steel jacketed ammo very well. It gets caught up in the enemy’s magnetic shield.”
“I’m still the only one here that has a full appreciation of what this virus can do. I should be the one to handle it.”
He stood. “Why, because you’ve had tactical training?”
I jumped to my feet. “Oh, and you’ve had medical hazmat training?”
I glared at Jex.
He glared right back.
London grabbed my arm. “Let’s go Corbin. Apparently they don’t want your help.”
I crouched, grabbed the cooler, and took a backward step toward the door.
Jex clenched his jaw and popped his knuckles.
I took another step back. “I could help, you know. You don’t have to control every last thing.”
London gave me another tug and nodded at Jex. “Wish I could say it was nice to meet you.”
We turned and walked toward the door.
“Wait.”
I glanced back.
Jex grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “All right. Hold on, you two. I’m sorry, things are stressful and I’m not quite myself. You got a place to sleep tonight?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay. If you want you can stay here in the hotel. There’s an open room upstairs. We can talk again tomorrow after-” Jex stopped himself and cocked his head to the side. “After we both get some sleep.”
I got the distinct feeling that I shouldn’t trust him blindly. However, it was late and sleeping outside on the ground didn’t really appeal to me. Neither did knocking door to door in this dinky town asking for a couch to sleep on. I nodded.
“Hold on a second.” Jex went behind the counter and produced a key. “Room four. I think it’s on the left upstairs.”
London let go of my arm to take the key. “So why isn’t the president on our side?”
“Good question.” Jex shrugged, took one more glance at the cooler, then turned. “Get some sleep.”
The upstairs fit exactly with the lobby. It was adorned with intricate crown molding and antique fixtures.
Our room was larger than I would have expected, but it still only had the one bed.
I sighed as I closed the door and locked the chain lock. “I guess I’ll take the couch. At least this one has a couch. Better than that chair in the last motel room we shared. You know, or the floor of your Dad’s RV.”
London made a point of looking around the room, then turned to me and pursed her lips. “No, we can share the bed.”
I raised an eyebrow.
London gave me a less than half-hearted slap with a very tired smile. “But don’t be getting any ideas. We’ll divide the sheets and sleep burrito style, with your opening facing one side and my opening facing the other.”
I set the cooler on the nightstand, drank as much water as I could and made up the bed according to London’s directions. “You know, this is really more of a taco than a burrito.”
“Shut up. It’s a burrito.”
I finished getting myself ready then crawled into my side. A tiny temptation in the back of my tired head told me that I should be attempting some kind of hanky panky.
London was still fussing about getting herself ready.
Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for ten minutes first, then see how it goes.
I was still in my burrito and laying on my side when I awoke.
Through the squinting I could tell the sun was already up. An extra weight pressed on my hip.
I turned my head and peeled my eyes half open.
The extra weight was London’s leg. Apparently she had abandoned her burrito, stretched out, and claimed most of the bed for herself.
I slid out from under London’s smooth leg, put my feet on the floor, and stretched.
Something wasn’t right.
I scanned around the room.
Why can’t I put my finger on it? What is wrong here?
And then I saw it. Or rather, I didn’t see it.
The cooler is gone. The virus-
An impatient knock sounded at the door.
I jerked my head around to get a look at the door.
The chain lock had been cut and now dangled in two pieces.
My stomach dropped and I started to sweat. It’s gone.
Another knock hammered on the door.
Keep Reading! Chapter 33 is here.
Here are the problems.
Yes, I know I never got to posting last week’s chapter.
Here’s the problem(s)
- Well, she’s not a problem per se. But her lack of consecutive hours of sleep can be. For the last week-10 days until two nights ago, my six month old decided to sleep for no longer than an hour and a half at a stretch. And if she ever awoke and saw that it was dark outside, she’d become very sad. (I guess that’s why she was screaming.)
But dang it if she isn’t the cutest thing in diapers. - I would have finished last night, but we were watching three of my sister-in-law’s girls last night so she and her husband could attend the Michael Buble concert in Salt Lake. Of course, if there was any fairness at all in the world, I still wouldn’t have finished the chapter – because I’d be at the concert. I was a Buble fan since, like, forever ago, and they just barely discovered him.
- I’ve been reading “Techniques of the Selling Writer” again, and I’m liking it even more this time. (plus, it was already my favorite book on writing.) The problem with that is I’ve remembered all manner of things I should be doing. Just bear with me here, though. Long term, it’s going to make my fiction way more awesomer than before.
That being said, I can almost guarantee a chapter this week. It’s already 1300 words long and it’s shaping up nicely.
Oh,and happy April Fools Day. I wish I could have come up with an amusing trick to play on you all. Maybe next year.
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