[ Kinship ] Saturday Night

Mac, sitting in a lawn chair, watched as the basilisk sizzled on the barbeque.  He had shot the six legged lizard earlier in the afternoon when it tried to claw it's way into one of the rooms.  Basilisks were dangerous,  one bite, and your flesh quickly calcified, turning into solid bone.  Now it was his dinner.  They were delicious.  Luckily he knew how to remove the poison glands.  He figured he would give them to Dr. Trance, or maybe one of the professors at the college.

The modest patio area he had built beside the office suited him.  A picnic table, the brick barbeque, and the awning he had scavenged from the outskirts of Shadowvale, gave him a nice place to relax.  Perhaps he should consider inviting some people from Kinship for a barbeque?  Sometimes it got lonely out on the highway.

Monkey, jumping up on the table, shrieking and waving his little arms around, startled Mac.

"What the heck are you doing Monkey?"

Monkey stopped and pointed in the direction of Shadowvale.

Standing up, Mac shaded his eyes, looking down the highway.  He saw a dark cloud that was coming his way.

"What the? Could be trouble Monkey..."  Monkey shrieked again.  Looking down, Mac saw Monkey had a pair of binoculars.  "Ah good work."

Mac looked through the binocs toward the cloud.  Demon bats.  Mac had never seen so many together before.  They never swarmed in such large numbers.  Something was up.

"Come on Monkey, lets get inside... I need to radio the sheriff.  Looks like this barbeque has been canceled.  We don't want to be outside if the swarm comes our way."

***

Switching on the mic, Locke picked up the notice Three had dropped off earlier in the day.  It was a birth announcement.

"All right!  Great news people.  Three and Eight are glad to announce the birth of their twin daughters.  In fact, they are co-joined twins.  I have been informed that co-joined twins in the number clan's culture are held in high regard.  The daughter's have been named... Eleven.  And now more great music courtesy of The Doors!  I hope everyone is having a great Saturday night.  This is Mr. Sniggles at KZAN, all Doors, all the time!"

Locke lowered the stylus on the record.  He puffed on his pipe, savoring the taste of his precious tobacco.  Suddenly, he heard the voice of Mac coming over his ham radio.

"Locke!  Big trouble coming your way!  A swarm of demon bats.  Some are headed my way, but they won't be able to get into the office so I'm okay.  Just wanted to warn you.  I've already contacted the sheriff..."

Keying the mic for the ham radio, Locke mumbled his response. "A swarm?  They don't swarm..."

"Well they are now, and they are moving fast.  I'm signing off... need to make sure everything is secured."

Locke set his pipe down.  "Umm thanks... stay safe."  Looking at the clock, he saw it was almost 8 P.M.  Standing up he walked over to the window, it was getting dark.  KZAN's  studio was on the second floor of the Kinship town hall.  He looked down on Main Street, and what he saw chilled him to the bone.  There were zombies.  More than he had ever seen before. And then he noticed other things, moving much faster than zombies ever did.  How had they gotten into town without the alarm being sounded?

He needed to alert everyone.  He walked back and grabbed the mic, and was about to sound the alarm when he was startled by a loud thud.  Turning towards the sound, he saw the demon bat trying to claw it's way through the window.

"You ain't getting inside here!"  Well, Locke hoped the protective wards would hold up.  He slid the volume up on his broadcast mic, and lowered the volume on the turn-table.

"Okay listen up people.  This is a RED ALERT!  We have a major zombie infiltration, as well as demon bats, and other unknowns.  All able body members of the defense force need to get armed and armored.  This is going to be a bad one.  I repeat this is a RED ALERT!  If you're not a combatant get to a safe place.  I'll be signing off for now, Mr. Sniggles is coming out to play!"

He ran to his office, and within five minutes he had his armor on, and all his web gear.  His trusty Thompson was strung over his shoulder,  and he grabbed his 12 guage Mossberg shotgun.   Then he placed his necklace of protective charms around his neck.  The last thing he did was light a cigar.  A very fine cigar from Cuba.  Very hard to get, especially in Kinship.  It tasted great and very handy to light sticks of dynamite.  He inhaled and then blew a line of smoke rings.

Running down the stairs, he paused at the door, and chambered a round into the shotgun.  Then he heard the town's sirens going off.

"About time!"  Locke kicked open the door, and stepped out, firing at the first group of zombies he saw.  "Yup, just another Saturday night in Kinship..."