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Post by Matt D on May 22, 2022 16:14:47 GMT -6
The Altered - Prologue
Far from Earth, past the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn and even Pluto lies the Kuiper Belt filled with asteroids. Even further, much further, is the Oort cloud, 30 to 50 light-years away consisting of various asteroids and icy comets. A very long time ago, a comet slammed into an asteroid that had some ice, some rock and some substance that could be called biological. This collision altered the trajectory of the asteroid. Over a millennium, the asteroid fell into our Solar System. Not from the orbital plane, but from above.
Scientists spotted the asteroid, now dubbed Comet 1056-7, when it was ten years away. Tracking showed that there was a very high probability that the comet would come very close to Earth. As it got closer, the tracking of the comet became more precise. When it was a year away, they declared that it could be closer to earth than our moon. Some tracks had it further away, a few even declared that it could impact our earth. Three months before the comet would brush by the Earth, a comet tail formed. This effect was due to the Sun heating up the icy parts of the comet. Due to the angle that the comet was approaching earth, it seemed that the comet was heading away, but this was an optical illusion.
Scientists and astronomers agreed that the comet was going to be a million miles outside of the moon’s orbit, but due to the length of the tail, there was a high probability that Earth would pass directly through the tail. By now, using radio waves and other tech stuff, they had determined that there was an unknown biological aspect to the comet.
Doomsday cults sprang up around the world, citing the end was near. Economies were shattered by the masses being panicked over the brush with the Comet. The world held its breath when the tail passed over and through the Earth. The first part passed over on the North Pole and then rapidly to the south.
The biologic part of the comet’s tail affected the DNA of approximately 2% of the world’s population. But it wasn’t evenly spread, in some areas there were no cases, but in others the percentage jumped to 25% to 30%. In southwest Georgia of the United States and in a small town in western Romania, it affected approximately 75%. They became the Altered and this is their tale.
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Post by crookeds on May 22, 2022 16:34:12 GMT -6
Don't stop now. Sounds like a good start.
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Post by Matt D on May 22, 2022 16:38:42 GMT -6
Thanks!
This is going to be a huge story. I plan on five parts. Currently I have Part 1 done and almost finished with Part 2. I plan on posting chapters once or twice a week, more than likely once a week.
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Post by Matt D on May 22, 2022 17:35:43 GMT -6
The Altered - Part 1, Chapter 1
“The smug bastard just sits there and won’t talk at all,” said Detective Guzman.
I looked through the two-way mirror at the suspect. He sat there staring at the mirror as if he could see through it. With his shaved head and black beady eyes, he looked evil. He wore a conservative suit of dark blue and kept his hands flat on the table that were handcuffed.
Detective Mason said, “Want to take a crack at him, Leann?”
Nodding as I looked through his file the detective had wrote up, I noticed that his name was William Becker and he was a tall man at 6 foot 3 inches. No priors were noted, not even an unpaid traffic ticket. It was only by dumb luck that at a traffic stop, the patrolman had noticed a peculiar knife on the backseat. It was curved in an S fashion with ridges on the top and bottom. Forensics had determined that it probably was the type of weapon that had slashed Rose Sherman’s throat. We had discovered the body a week ago dumped on the side of the road.
I entered the interrogation room carrying the file and checked to make sure the camera was on. “For the record, my name is Detective Leann Johnson and it is 10:47 am on the 12th of November, 2030. This is the questioning of William Becker in the death of Rose Sherman.”
I paused looking at William directly in his eyes. He kept his gaze focused on the mirror. I sat down on the chair facing him and put the file on the table still closed.
“It says you have been read your rights. Do you wish to have a lawyer present,” I said.
“Hell no”
“Well in that case, I need to ask you a few questions about where you were on the night of October 30th.”
“None of your damn business.”
I’m surprised that he is answering me after no less than three senior detectives had attempted to question him and had gotten nowhere. Taking a minute to gather my thoughts, I opened the file folder and looked through the paperwork. I closed the file and tapped my fingers absent-mindedly on the table. He briefly glanced at my fingers and it seemed he smiled slightly.
“What can you tell me about Rose?” I asked.
“She was a fine piece and had a wedding ring just like you are wearing.”
Surprised that he was being open, I decided to get more aggressive in my questions.
“Why did you kill her?”
“Why not, it’s what I do.”
Blinking in surprise, I asked, “Have you done this before?”
“Seventeen times counting Rose.”
I’m thinking I’ve cracked the case and almost have a full confession, but I needed to know one more thing before wrapping up this case.
“What did you do with the bodies?” I asked.
“Buried them in Jackson Park, just didn’t have a chance to take Rose there.”
My mind was spinning, Becker had just confessed and said where the bodies were. I picked up the file folder and said, “This concludes the questioning of William Becker. Time is now 10:58 am.”
I couldn’t help grinning as I walked out of the interrogation room and went next door to the observation room. I expected to get high fives from the other detectives, but they all just stood there staring at Becker including my partner Karl.
“Guys, we need to do a search of Jackson Park and bring the cadaver dogs. I can’t believe he confessed so easily to me.”
The detectives turned and looked at me with confused expressions.
“Have you gone completely mad? What confession? From what we saw, he never said a word.”
This confused me, I know I heard Becker talking to me. He clearly confessed. "You guys are messing with me right? Play the tape and you’ll see.”
Detective Mason shrugged his shoulders and hit play. We watched on the monitor as I walked in and started talking. I expected to see and hear Becker talking back, but there was only silence. This stunned me. How could that happen?
Angrily I said, “I swear he talked back to me, play it again and make sure the sound is up.”
Detective Guzman chimed in and said, “His lips never moved, he wasn’t talking, maybe you imagined it?”
I turned toward Guzman and opened my mouth to blast him when Mason loudly said, “I got it! Leann might be one of the Altered that we have been hearing about. I bet she can read minds.”
The three detectives widened their eyes and backed away from me.
“Come on, this is me, guys. You know me, I couldn’t possibly be one of the Altered.”
“Okay,” said Mason, “How about you tell me what I’m thinking of?”
I looked at him and said, “I don’t know… wait, you just said you need to stop and buy flowers for your wife on your way home.”
The other two guys looked at him as his eyes widened in disbelief.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking of, you are a mind reader Leann.”
Karl said, “So in that case, we not only know this guy killed Rose, but that there are others that he buried in Jackson Park. How many did he say he killed?”
“Seventeen including Rose.”
“Holy Shit! We need to see the Lieutenant about this right away. Let’s go.”
We entered Lieutenant Bowman’s office and the three guys all seemed to congregate as far from me as possible. The Lieutenant looked at us visibly annoyed and said, “This had better be good.”
Karl said, “We got a confession, sort of.”
“A confession? That’s good, but what do you mean ‘sort of’?”
Karl kept speaking, “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain, but it seems that Leann read his mind. He confessed to killing sixteen other women and burying them in Jackson Park. We need to go search it with cadaver dogs and find them.”
Lieutenant Bowman slowly turned to me and rubbed his eyes. With a scowl he said, “Is this true Detective Johnson?”
Meekly, I nodded, “I don’t know how to explain this, I didn’t even realize I was reading his mind until we looked at the tape. I’ve never been able to read minds before.”
Lieutenant Bowman put his head in his hands and yelled, “Everybody out! Except you Johnson.” The guys rushed out almost getting stuck in the doorway. I would have laughed but I knew from the tone of Lieutenant Bowman’s voice that this was serious. He bade me to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk. He shook his head and then turned and looked up at the ceiling.
“I had hoped that none of my detectives were affected by the Comet, but it looks like I’m unlucky in this as I’m unlucky in love.”
“Lieutenant, I can explain, I think…”
“No, no, no, I don’t want to hear any explanations. If this is true, you have screwed this case seven ways from Sunday.”
This shocked me, I couldn’t believe that the Lieutenant was going to throw away all that I heard, okay, all that I had read from the suspect. I was speechless.
“We just had a meeting about the possibility of this happening upstairs. With all the reports of people being Altered and some have mind reading capabilities. Not to mention all the other weird stuff like moving things with their minds.”
“I’m still me, Lieutenant. It’s not like I can hear people’s thoughts all the time. I think I have to concentrate on someone in order to hear their thoughts.”
“Be as that may be, by reading the suspects mind, you have violated his right to remain silent. So anything and I mean anything you read from his mind is not only inadmissible, but we can’t even use any information you gleaned to go after him. This means, we have no probable cause to search Jackson Park.”
“But…”
“No buts about it. The District Attorney himself was pretty adamant about this. In fact, I’m going to suspend you with pay right now until we can figure out what to do. Give me your badge and gun.”
I stood up abruptly, pulled my badge wallet out and tossed it on his desk and placed my gun on the desk also.
“This is not right! I’ve been a detective for ten years and to be suspended for this is screwed up.” I angrily slammed the door on my way out of the office. Everyone looked at me and slowly shuffled away. I stared in anger at all of them.
“This is bullshit! I’m still the same person who has worked here alongside each of you for ten years. I’ve had your backs and now you are going to treat me like a damn leper!”
No one said a word, a few looked down in embarrassment. You could hear a pin drop in the bullpen. I stormed through the office muttering, “The hell with all of you.”
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Post by texican on May 22, 2022 18:42:30 GMT -6
The fear and hate of The Altered will only worsen.
Thanks Matt for starting The Altered.
Texican....
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Post by CountryGuy on May 22, 2022 19:52:10 GMT -6
Loving it so far, can't wait to see where you take us!
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Post by 9idrr on May 22, 2022 21:16:27 GMT -6
Interesting beginning. Glad there're no characters named Manic and ModGirl. Maybe we'll get to see an end to this one. ;^)
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Post by misterjimbo on May 22, 2022 21:37:56 GMT -6
There was no violation of civil rights. She made sure he was advised of the rights. She asked a question and he voluntarily responded with presumed facts she could not have already known without him telling her. Failure to record the replies would not disqualify the info. The Dept. already had knowledge of the possibility of an 'altered' presenting with that ability. This is just a new twist like the use of fingerprints and DNA.
Still, its going to be a good story.
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Post by phwoarchild on May 23, 2022 6:58:52 GMT -6
This is going to be a good one.
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Post by Matt D on May 23, 2022 18:35:07 GMT -6
There was no violation of civil rights. She made sure he was advised of the rights. She asked a question and he voluntarily responded with presumed facts she could not have already known without him telling her. Failure to record the replies would not disqualify the info. The Dept. already had knowledge of the possibility of an 'altered' presenting with that ability. This is just a new twist like the use of fingerprints and DNA. Still, its going to be a good story. I considered this. Ultimately I decided to go with what I wrote as it will become important later in the story. Good eye, catching this. Wasn't sure if anybody would.
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Post by Matt D on May 23, 2022 18:36:52 GMT -6
The fear and hate of The Altered will only worsen. Most assuredly! Best part of being a writer, you get to be really mean to your characters.
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Post by texican on May 23, 2022 22:37:49 GMT -6
The fear and hate of The Altered will only worsen. Most assuredly! Best part of being a writer, you get to be really mean to your characters. Matt, Now just how mean? Guess we will have to wait. Texican....
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Post by Matt D on May 26, 2022 19:19:48 GMT -6
The Altered - Part 1, Chapter 2
I drove my car and parked in the driveway of my home of thirteen years. Sitting there fuming about the injustice of being afflicted with this curse of mind reading. My gaze eventually looked toward the house. A three bedroom ranch house and a lawn that my husband, Jack, lovingly maintained. We had recently had the house painted in a light shade of grey with white trim. I glanced to my left at our neighbor’s house. A single old guy lived there and was universally considered strange by the entire neighborhood. I momentarily thought that if he didn’t also become one of the Altered, then life was definitely unfair. I got out of the car and heard children playing across the street. It was a great neighborhood and we were friends with everyone but Darrin, out next door neighbor. As I opened the door, I saw Darrin peeking out his front window through the blinds. I was tempted to give him the finger, but thought better of it.
“Leann, is that you?” Jack called from our kitchen.
“Yes, and I have bad news. I’ve been suspended.”
Jack said, “What the hell for? You are the best detective they have.”
“You might want to sit down for this, it’s not good.”
Jack came up and gave me a hug and a kiss. He had to bend down a bit as he was just over six feet tall. His muscular arms from his days in pro football were comforting.
“Hey, whatever it is, we’ll get through it together babe.”
Where should I start, I thought. How do I explain that apparently I can read minds? I gazed into Jack’s eyes and was suddenly startled to hear, “No matter what it is, I’ll always love you.”
He raised his eyebrows in concern at the expression on my face. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad, but once he learns that I can read minds, will he reject me like everyone else did down at the precinct? Is this going to be the end of our marriage of seventeen years? We had our ups and downs but deep down I still adored Jack. Even when we discovered I couldn’t have children that we both wanted, he stuck by me.
“Jack, you heard about the comet and that some people have been as they say, Altered?” He nodded and I continued, “I found out today that I have the ability to read minds.”
I cringed when I said that, expecting him to recoil from me. He started laughing instead. I did not expect this reaction from him. I gazed at him and heard, “Finally, she’ll have no doubt about my love for her if she can read my mind.”
“Yes! I can and I don’t doubt for a second that you love me and I've never had any doubts.”
“Can you read minds all the time? Oh my gosh, can you read Darrin’s mind right now? That would be horrible.”
“No, I have to concentrate to hear anything and I think I have to be near. But, let me see if I can read Darrin’s mind even if it is going to disgusting.”
I closed my eyes and faced toward our neighbor’s house. All I could hear was my inner voice saying that I hoped I wouldn’t be able to read Darrin’s mind. After a few minutes, I shook my head and looked at Jack. He thought, “Hmm, so there are limitations. This could be good or it could be bad.”
I turned from Jack and said, “I’ve got to quit reading your mind. This is not right or fair for you. I read the mind of a suspect, but was told that it violated his rights.”
Jack said, “That’s okay, you are the only person in this world where I don’t mind if you read my mind. But if it makes you feel better, maybe we should work not only on you being able to control your mind reading, but also for me to be able to block it. Besides that, with you being suspended, we will have lots of time to work on that.”
This was true. I didn’t have a job to go to and Jack worked part time from home as a financial analyst. The money he made when he played football had bought our house outright and he turned out to be a shrewd analyst. We had plenty of money in savings. We spent the next couple of hours working on testing my mind reading abilities. If Jack was further than six feet from me, I couldn’t read anything. He kept thinking of funny things like a ball bouncing on his head or a troupe of monkeys tearing through the house to make me laugh and forget that I had been suspended.
Then we tried to see if I had any other abilities. I tried moving things with my mind to no avail. I concentrated on making myself invisible. Jack laughed so much at my grimace I had to quit. We tried all sorts of superpowers that we remembered from our childhood days of reading comics. Seems I only had the ability to read minds.
My cell phone rang and I saw it was from the precinct, I showed the caller ID to Jack and put my finger to my lips to keep him quiet.
“This is Detective Johnson.”
“Detective Johnson, this is Lt. Atkins from Internal Affairs and I’m doing a follow-up on your suspension. This is routine for us to do so. Are you available to speak?”
“Yes”, I replied trying not to giggle as Jack started making funny faces. I turned my back to Jack.
“I understand that you may have been one of the Altered as they are calling it and that you can read minds. Is this true, can you really read minds?”
“Unfortunately, it seems I can.”
“I see”, said Atkins, “Is it a fair statement to say that your ability is limited in range?”
At that, I started to get a bit suspicious. His tone seemed off. I decided to not outright lie, but to stretch the truth a bit. “Well, I’m still determining the range, but if I concentrate, I haven’t found a limit yet.”
“So it takes concentration. That is actually good for you. We have had reports of people that have become mind readers and they are flooded with thoughts of everyone around them. Several of them have already committed suicide. You’re not suicidal are you?”
“Hell no, I’m pissed. I don’t see why I had to be suspended.”
He paused and then said, “This is a new situation for all of us. Besides mind reading, we had a patrolman that when he got angry somehow blew up his patrol car with a fireball. Then there was a woman that was causing things to float in the air. At first, everyone thought it was a magic trick, but even she was surprised. Just to be safe and to cover the Departments legal liability, we are doing a full investigation of anyone in the Department who shows signs of being Altered.”
I sighed, “Okay, I guess. What do I need to do?”
“Nothing right now, I just wanted to appraise you of the investigation and basically I’m also doing a welfare check.”
“Besides being mad, I’m doing okay. My husband is here and is helping me deal with it.”
“That’s good,” he said, “Having a support system is definitely good for you. I’ll be calling you tomorrow to let you know what path we have decided to take as far as your situation. Please take the day and evening to relax and feel free to call me if you notice any other Altered ability.”
“I will and thank you for not keeping me in the dark.”
I cut off the conversation and whipped around to look at Jack, “That bastard is lying, but I’m not sure about what.”
Frowning, Jack said, “You don’t think they will do something to you, will they?”
“I don’t know, just a general feeling I got from the IA prick. Maybe we should double check our bug out bags.”
Both Jack and I had prepared our bags when they first announced the coming comet six months ago. After it passed, we had breathed a sigh of relief, just like millions of others that had also prepared for the comet. We now realized that we may have to be ready to go on an instant notice.
“Let’s eat first, and then check them,” Jack said.
He had prepared dinner and it was as usual as gourmet’s delight. Fresh cod, lightly buttered and grilled with asparagus that had been brushed with garlic butter. Double baked mashed potatoes seasoned perfectly rounded out the meal. For dessert, he had made his famous carrot cake with real cream cheese frosting sprinkled with crushed pecans. Enjoying the meal, we talked and laughed and forgot all about our current troubles.
After cleaning up the dishes, we trooped down the stairs to our semi-furnished basement. Jack opened the gun safe and we did a quick inventory of our bags. $5,000 dollars in twenties, a change of clothes and of course, a Glock 17 for me and a Glock 19 for Jack with extra magazines. We loaded up the magazines and cleaned and oiled the Glocks. Jack had bought some MRE’s from a prepper website and we saw that we had three days of food. We had already tried an MRE dinner previously and while it wasn’t the gourmet dinners that Jack made, they were enough to fill our stomachs.
Finally done, we retired to bed, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day, but knowing we were prepared for the worst.
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Post by texican on May 26, 2022 21:52:21 GMT -6
So Matt,
Things will be turning dicey.
Thanks for the chapter.
Texican....
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Post by imahic on May 27, 2022 15:35:25 GMT -6
Thanks for what appears to be a very good story.
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Post by Matt D on May 30, 2022 12:19:27 GMT -6
The Altered - Part 1, Chapter 3
Waking up to my cell phone ringing, I glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:14 am. I looked at the caller ID. Same number as last night, the IA Lieutenant that had talked to me. I wondered why he would call so early. Alarm bells went off in my head.
“Good morning this is Detective Johnson.”
“Good morning detective, sorry to wake you up so early, but I will need you to come down to the Department this morning.”
Since when do Internal Affairs get up so early? This was getting more and more suspicious. I nudged Jack awake and mouthed “Go bag” at him. He instantly was up and grabbing clothes for both him and me.
“I’ve been awake as usual, about to go on my morning run. Why do I need to come down this morning?”
“Um, well, it’s been requested that you complete a psych eval. How long do you usually run? We would like to see you as soon as possible.”
Now the alarms in my head were shrieking. Something was definitely off as the only reason psych evals were done was after a shooting incident. On a hunch, I tried to concentrate on the Lieutenant’s mind. I was momentarily stunned when I heard, “If she already up and about to leave, I need to notify the SWAT team. We need to get there now and remind them to shoot to kill.”
Waving my arms frantically at Jack, we ran out of the bedroom and down to the basement. He had my clothes in his hands and my running shoes. Stalling for time, I said, “Well, um, if you want I can just hop in the car and head right there. It’s only a 15 minute drive.”
The lieutenant paused. I heard, “It might be better to stop her in her car with the SWAT team.”
“That would actually be good for you to come down now so we can get this formality over with.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon, bye.”
Jack threw my clothes at me and got our go bags out. He started toward the stairs but I grabbed his arm first. “SWAT team is on their way, but I told them I would be jumping into the car. I think they plan on stopping me on the way. This should give us a bit of time but I’m afraid they might just raid the house anyways.”
Jack frowned and stuck his tongue out slightly. He always did that when he was thinking hard about something. I continued to throw my clothes on and finish tying my running shoes.
Jack looked up at me and said, “Plan A is out the window. They will know about our cabin in North Georgia. Also, we can’t take either car because they will be tracking it.”
“I know, I know. What’s Plan B?”
“Cripes, there is no Plan B, who knew we would be running from the cops. But, I think I have a Plan C, only you aren’t going to like it.”
Slinging my go bag over my shoulder, my questioning look at Jack made him chuckle.
“Since SWAT probably has eyes on the house, we can’t go out the front or the back. The only other way out is through the basement window and we crawl over to Darrin’s house and break into his basement.”
“You have got to be kidding me? I already don’t like Plan C. What happens after we are in creepy Darrin’s basement?”
Jack shrugged, “I don’t know right now, but that will give us some time to figure out what to do.” Even though I didn’t like it, Jack had a point. He opened our basement window that was small, almost too small for Jack to get through. He boosted me up and I crawled through and then turned around to help him up. Jack got stuck for a second, but did a little wiggle and managed to get outside. Thankfully, we had hedge bushes between our house and Darrin’s house. They also blocked the view from both the front and back of the house. Jack hated these bushes as he was always having to trim them three or four times a year.
“Wait”, I said. “We need to ditch our cell phones. It’s a cinch that they will be tracking them. Turn them off first and throw them as far as you can into our back yard.”
He grabbed my cell phone and pulled out his. After turning them off, he rose from the ground slightly and heaved them almost to the back fence. I tested Darrin’s basement window and was surprised that it was unlocked. Pulling it open, I peeked inside but it was dark.
“Jack, give me a flashlight from your bag.”
I took the light and quickly turned it on and off. I wasn’t sure what I just saw. I shook my head in disbelief. It looked like a whole bunch of people were in the basement. I turned the flashlight back on and slowly trained it from right to left.
“Holy shit! Darrin’s got about a million dolls in his basement.” Jack moved next to me and stuck his head in the window to see, “Unreal! Darrin’s definitely a weird one. Point your light down and let’s see if we can get in without making too much noise.”
Looking down, there was a table with some doll heads and parts laying on the table.
“Hold my legs and ease me down.” I said as I crawled inside. Once down, I slid the doll parts to one side of the table. Jack turned around and slid feet first and placed his feet carefully on the table. Crouching down and he then stepped right on a doll head causing him to lose his balance and fall right into a pile of doll parts. We both froze at the sound and holding our breaths, we waited to see if the noise had woken Darrin. After a minute, we started breathing normally as the house stayed silent. Jack went back to the window and grabbed our bags. Just as he was pulling them through, the overhead light came on and the basement door to the rest of the house opened.
“Who’s there?” growled Darrin, “I’ve got a shotgun.”
I looked at Darrin and concentrated on reading his mind. ”Damn, I forgot the shells. Maybe I can bluff whoever is down there.”
Softly I said, “Darrin, it’s your next door neighbors, Jack and Leann Johnson. We aren’t here to hurt you or rob you. We need help. I know you aren’t going to shoot us so how about putting down your shotgun.”
“You need help? From me? I’ve heard the whispering in the neighborhood about me.”
I put on a friendly smile and said, “Darrin, a SWAT team is about to bust down our door and we need to hide. Jack get the bags in and close the window.”
“A SWAT team! Wait, you’re a cop, why on earth would a SWAT team be after you?” Darrin exclaimed.
Jack was still frozen at the window with our bags half way in looking between Darrin and me. I turned toward Jack and with my back to Darrin, I mouthed the words, “No shells”. Jack looked at me with confusion. I sighed and said aloud, “Darrin doesn’t have any shells in his shotgun, now hurry up and close the damn window.”
Jack complied and pulled the curtains that he had just noticed across the window. With a muffled bang, we heard the SWAT team break down our door and do an entry. We could hear the team members shouting as they went through our house. I looked at Darrin and put a finger to my lips. He stared at me and looked at his shotgun and then looked back at me with a questioning look. I pointed my finger up to indicate one minute. Then I beckoned him closer so I could whisper, “Darrin, we are desperate and am willing to do whatever it takes to be safe. Do you understand?”
He nodded and whispered back, “You didn’t kill anyone did you?”
I shook my head and said, “No, but the SWAT team was ordered to shoot to kill. They are afraid of me because I can read minds. That’s how I knew your shotgun was unloaded.”
Darrin grew visibly afraid and whispered, “Are you reading my mind now?”
“No, I have to concentrate to do that and quite frankly I wish I couldn’t read minds. I really hate hearing people’s thoughts. I know this is a big ask, but is there any way you could help Jack and me?”
With a quivering voice, Darrin said, “I don’t want to get into any trouble. I have enough problems as it is.”
I looked around his basement at all the dolls and doll parts. Then I looked at him. I hated what I was about to do and really wished I didn’t have to but I had no choice. “Darrin, I don’t know what you are doing with all this here in your basement, but it sure doesn’t look good. If you don’t help then I’ll make sure everyone knows that you are doing something creepy with these dolls.”
Darrin’s eyes got wide and then he laughed quietly. I didn’t expect this reaction from him. I couldn’t imagine anything but the worst about the dolls.
“I rather you wouldn’t let anybody know about what I’m doing, but I assure you it is innocent. I refurbish these dolls and sell some of them online to support myself. Most of them I send to children hospitals anonymously.”
I saw he was telling the truth by reading his mind and it stunned me. All this time, the neighbors and even Jack and I had gossiped about Darrin, never once believing anything good about him.
“Why do you keep this a secret then?” I asked.
He smiled and told me to read his mind for the answer. I saw a man who was devastated by the loss of his child years ago from cancer. His wife had ended up divorcing him in their grief. Fixing dolls and giving them away was a way to chase away the devastating grief that he felt each and every day. Tears came to my eyes and I reached up and hugged him.
“God bless you, Darrin.” I whispered, “Forgive me for thinking the worst of you.”
Jack cleared his throat behind me and I turned to see his questioning eyes. Out of respect for Darrin, I decided to not tell Jack what I had learned.
“Jack, trust me, we had it wrong. Darrin is a very good man.”
Jack, my sweet giant, nodded and went over to Darrin to shake his hand. “If Leann says you are good, then I absolutely believe her. Is there any way you could possibly help us? We have been thrust into a situation not of our making.”
Darrin put his hand on his chin, lightly stroking it. We waited to see if there was anything he could come up with. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know if I should get involved. Even if I do, I’m not sure how I could help.”
Jack said, “Well, first thing is that we need to get out of town. They are looking for Leann and presumably me also. Right now, I think we just need to sit tight until the SWAT team finishes ransacking our house.”
“That’s true,” I said, “They may be going door to door looking for us. Can you keep them from finding us down here?”
Darrin nodded affirmatively, “I can do that. Also, I can make you breakfast while you two decide where you are going to go.”
Darrin headed back up the stairs and closed the door. We both looked at each other and sighed. This was turning out to be a nightmare of a morning. We cleared a space to put our bags and found a couple of chairs to sit on.
“I would kill for a cup of coffee right now.” Jack said.
“Getting a cup of coffee will get me and probably both of us killed. Think, Jack. Where are we going to go? By now the whole department is searching for us. Maybe it would be better if I go alone. This is not your fault and I would hate that anything would happen to you because I am a damn mind reader.”
“Leann, there is no possible way I’m leaving your side. We are in this together no matter what happens. It’s not your fault that you can read minds, it’s the comet that caused this and people’s fear of mind reading. I can’t believe that this happened so fast.”
The door to the upstairs opened and we froze. Darrin came down the stairs holding two cups of coffee.
“I don’t usually use cream or sugar, so I don’t have any. Hope black coffee is okay.”
Jack jumped up and took the cups from Darrin, “I could kiss you right now.”
Darrin recoiled at hearing that.
I quickly said, “Jack is kidding, Darrin.”
With a sigh of relief, Darrin said, “I turned on the news upstairs and you two are all over it. They say that you and your husband are armed and dangerous. That you are a suspect in the killing of William Becker. They say you killed him with your mind.”
“Holy shit! I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t kill that bastard. I interrogated him yesterday and read his mind. He killed seventeen women and buried them in Jackson Park.”
Darrin nodded, “They are digging up the women now, but they didn’t say how many, just at least ten. They are blaming you for this too. Also, there are reports of a guy in Romania that can control the minds of people and has overthrown the government there by having people go and blow up the leaders. Everybody is afraid of the Alties, which is what they are calling them now.”
“Dammit, they are framing me for the murders. No wonder there is a shoot on sight order.” I fumed, “I hope you know I didn’t do any of this.”
Both Jack and Darrin nodded that they believed me. I knew then that my life had changed irrevocably for the worse. With a mad man going wild in Europe, there wasn’t a chance in hell that we would ever be safe.
Jack must have been thinking the same thing. “We have to get out of the country, maybe down to South America or some island where we can hide out and figure out how to clear your name. No chance in hell of getting that done here.”
The doorbell rang and startled us. We looked at Darrin and he put his finger to his lips and then grinned. I hoped that my trust in him wasn’t misplaced. Then I remembered I could read minds and got a quick glimpse into Darrin’s mind. He had good thoughts about us and I knew he wouldn’t betray us.
Jack opened our bags and handed me my Glock and grabbed his own. I shook my head no and whispered, “No way are we going to get into a shootout. I won’t shoot a fellow officer.”
Jack whispered back harshly, “What the hell are you thinking? They want to kill you. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going down without a fight.”
I sighed and took the Glock and nodded. We took positions on either side of the door. If it was a fight that the SWAT team wanted, then we would oblige them. I felt like Bonny and Clyde about to be shot to pieces.
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Post by 9idrr on May 30, 2022 12:35:48 GMT -6
Is now the time she learns that she can use Jedi mind tricks to plant suggestions in the minds of the cops?
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Post by Matt D on May 30, 2022 13:52:34 GMT -6
Is now the time she learns that she can use Jedi mind tricks to plant suggestions in the minds of the cops? Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking I need to go back to Chapter 2 and make clear that she can only read minds.
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Post by Matt D on May 30, 2022 15:53:47 GMT -6
Is now the time she learns that she can use Jedi mind tricks to plant suggestions in the minds of the cops? Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking I need to go back to Chapter 2 and make clear that she can only read minds. Revised Chapter 2 by adding a paragraph showing that Leann could only read minds.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on May 30, 2022 17:37:56 GMT -6
Thanks. Aquick visit to a plastic surgeon who is also altered is in order for Leann maybe both of them.
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Post by 9idrr on May 30, 2022 18:03:50 GMT -6
Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking I need to go back to Chapter 2 and make clear that she can only read minds. Revised Chapter 2 by adding a paragraph showing that Leann could only read minds. That was already clear, sir. I just wondered if she was still learnin' about her power.
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Post by texican on May 30, 2022 18:25:23 GMT -6
Matt,
Got the party starting quickly which keeps the moar hounds happy and hungry.
Thanks,
Texican....
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Post by Matt D on May 30, 2022 18:30:45 GMT -6
Revised Chapter 2 by adding a paragraph showing that Leann could only read minds. That was already clear, sir. I just wondered if she was still learnin' about her power. I see. The rules I’ve set down is that each Altered has only one power. At some point I make that clear. Maybe I should introduce that earlier?
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Post by iamnobody on May 31, 2022 8:43:31 GMT -6
I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.
I only have the best intentions for you.
I would never lie to you or hurt you...........
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Post by 9idrr on May 31, 2022 17:40:55 GMT -6
That was already clear, sir. I just wondered if she was still learnin' about her power. I see. The rules I’ve set down is that each Altered has only one power. At some point I make that clear. Maybe I should introduce that earlier? Your story and your rules, and if you wanna change 'em without notice we don't worry. We're just happy to have another good writer on the Board. As for me, I just sit here and run my mouth... uh... keyboard. Feel free to tell me to buzz off. You authors are what keep the site goin', and I thank you for your work.
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