Atom Town Book 2: Hands of the Swamp!

by Jason Scott Nebel

  "How'd I do that?" he asked.

  "You turned into a gator," Eve reminded him.

  "Oh no… Again?!" Adam began clawing at his face and mouth to find signs of becoming gatorized again.

  "I meant before," said Eve. "Now you changed back into an idiot."

  "Oh thank heavens!" Adam sighed. "You really shouldn't toy with my emotions like that, Eve."

  "So, why are you normal… -ish?" Eve added.

  "Oh, I simply thought about what you said," he explained as he walked to shore.

  "What I said?" Eve questioned whether Adam ever listened to a word anyone else said to him.

  "About beauty being skin deep," he continued. "Turns out…" Adam struggled as he lifted something from behind a log. "It's actually two layers of skin deep. You might want to take note the next time you give someone advice."

  Eve studied the clear mass he was holding. At first it looked like cellophane and torn bubble wrap. Then she recognized it. It was his alligator skin.

  "You just shed it off?"

  "Yeah," said Adam. "Thanks again for the advice!"

  "Wait," Eve stopped, turning back towards the alligator standing in the middle of the water. "What is that, then?"

  Adam squinted at the animal, then nodded. "That's called an alligator."

  "The pants!" Eve yelled back at him. "He's standing in pants!"

  "Yeah, that's Lenny for ya'," chuckled Adam. "He's a card."

  A spotlight exploded from the distance nearly blinding them.

  "You two done playing in the mud?" It was the Sheriff. He'd found them after all.

  Off to his side, aiming the patrol car spotlight, was the Deputy, still very much alive.

  "You seen Pete?" she hollered as she walked towards them, blocking the light from her eyes with one hand.

  "He was hiking back along the shoulder," explained the Sheriff, nodding down the road. "Said he was fixin' to get his cab. Ain't too far back, well, by land anyway."

  The Deputy wandered over to Adam's alligator shedding and began poking at the pile with a pen.

  "I suppose I can turn this off now that we found ya'," said the Sheriff, flipping the power off of the spot light.

  "Thanks," said Eve, lowering her hand. "About earlier…"

  "Pay it no never mind," said the Sheriff. "Not sayin' you were right, but you weren't wrong."

  Eve smiled. She liked the old man, even if he did frustrate her with his lack of involvement in the mysteries of Atom Town.

  "Where'd he wander off to?" asked the Sheriff.

  "Adam?"

  "Nah, that Deputy of mine," said the Sheriff as he scanned the shore.

  The Deputy had stopped at the same Shadow Rock encrusted car that Eve had unearthed, busily making notes about what was inside. The spotlight no longer illuminating his path, he stumbled on a rock and fell backwards.

  He stopped midair, a hand having saved him from falling. It was Adam!

  “Whoa! That was a close one!” smiled Adam. “You see that colloid of silt and muck there? We call that Quickmud, and it would have swallowed you whole!”

  The Deputy stood up and watched as his hat sunk slowly into the black mud near the bank of the water.

  “Hey, you survived!” said Adam with surprise. “Sheriff! You’re not going to believe this!”

  As Adam headed excitedly back towards Eve and the Sheriff, the Deputy searched for his notebook.

  There, by the shoreline. As he bent down to pick it up, he was greeted by a pair of hollow black eyes and a gray, scaly snout.

  "How about that Sheriff?" hollered Adam. "He lasted the day! Might be a new record!"

  Eve smiled. They’d broken the pattern! No longer would the Sheriff lose deputy after deputy. Things in Atom Town had changed!

  "What’d you say his name was, Sheriff?" began Eve, but she was interrupted by a scream and a splash of water echoing through the night air. It was too late. There was no sign of the Deputy or his notebook. The pattern had been restored.

  "Never mind," sighed Eve.

  "Dagnabbit!" said the Sheriff, yanking off his Stetson hat and smacking it on the car. "That was a new shirt, too!"

  Eve glared at him.

  "I mean it's awful and all, but they cost three and half dollars apiece, not to mention the stitching," he tried to explain. "Aw, forget it," said the Sheriff as he headed toward the sound of the scream to see what was left.

  The three huddled around but all they could see were the circular water ripples bouncing off of the shore and dissipating into the distant darkness.

  Eve plunged her hand into the murky water.

  “I wouldn’t…” began Adam.

  “Miss…,” began the Sheriff.

  Eve didn’t listen.

  Her hand splashed out of the shallow water, having fished a silver star. She handed it to a hesitant but grateful Sheriff.

  Adam stepped back, took a deep breath, “A Perfect Evening!”

  “Perfect?!” yelled Eve. “A man just died-“

  “A Deputy,” corrected Adam, clearly indicating he regarded Deputies as less than human. Sure they were D’s Agents, single-mindedly seeking out how to stop and destroy Atom Town, but then again, so was Eve.

  “How…” Eve struggled for words. “You burned down your lab, I was attacked by hand, you were turned into an alligator man, and then we lose another Deputy! How is any of that ‘Perfect’?!”

  “You’re right, Eve,” agreed Adam. “It’s not perfect. Not yet. Yes, only one thing that remains that could truly make this evening perfect… We BOWL!”

  As Adam turned away, Eve strangled the air where he once stood.

  “Well, Miss Adams,” said the Sheriff, tucking the Deputy’s star into his pocket. “Guess you get to bowl after all.”

  Eve heard the creak of metal and turned back around to see Adam opening the trunk of his car, now parked among the weedy swamp flora.

  "Wait," said Eve, not having noticed the car previously. "How did your car get here?"

  "Well, I'm not going to swim back, am I?" pointed out Adam.

  A hand extended from inside the trunk, holding a hanger with a bowling shirt on it.

  "Thanks, Steve," said Adam as he took the shirt and slammed the trunk closed.

  "Why? How?" started Eve, then she stalled out. She could only try to make sense out of so much in a given day, and the day wasn't over yet. "You know what? Never mind."

  "Now you're gettin' it, kid," said the Sheriff, patting her on the back.

  Maybe that's how the Sheriff felt as well. Nonsense overload.

  "See you at the Atomic Bowl!" shouted Adam as he started up his car. "Hey, Pete!" he shouted and waved out his window as he drove off.

  Pete waved at Adam as he walked towards Eve. She saw the familiar cab with card boarded window parked along the road.

  Pete stopped walking when he hit the edge of the shoulder, so Eve headed over to meet him.

  “You went all the way back for your cab?" she asked.

  "I got fed up with runnin' all over creation chasin' gators," said Pete. "B'sides, in this life, all you can count on is yourself and a good vehicle, like my cab there…"

  As they turned, Pete's cab suddenly drove off!

  "Or just yourself," said Pete, amending his statement.

  Eve looked twice. She had to, she wouldn’t have believed it otherwise. There in the driver's seat of the cab was a large, gray gator with dark, almost non-existent eyes.

  "Did you see who was drivin'" asked Pete.

  "Not sure I believe the answer," said Eve. "And I'm certain you won't want to hear it!"

  “Where's the Sheriff," started Eve, but she quickly found him. He was back at the downed tree. The car. But he wasn't investigating, he was covering up the holes in the bark with fallen branches and grass.

  As he finished, he just brushed past Pete and Eve without eye contact.

  "You two done yammerin'?" asked the Sheriff
, tossing the Deputy's hat and a bag into the trunk.

  Eve looked at him then back at the tree.

  The Sheriff stopped her before she could ask.

  "You leave it alone," he said. "Some of us folks just ain't ready. B'sides, it ain't none a’ your business.”

  "Then who's is it?" asked Eve suspiciously

  The Sheriff didn't answer, he just changed the subject.

  "Looks like you two could use a ride. Don't want to be late fer bowlin'," he said. "The Doc’s likely to start without us."

  "Can’t start without me," smiled Pete. "I gots the key."

  “You work there too?" Eve asked, wondering how many jobs Pete was working in Atom Town.

  “Night manager,” explained Pete. “Be invisible or be indispensable. I'm the latter.”

  "Can I skip the bowling?" Begged Eve

  "Nah, it’ll be good for ya’,” said the Sheriff as he started the patrol car. “B'sides, what harm could come from bowling?"

  19

  Pinned Down

  Most of the drive back was awkward silence as the patrol car made its way back to civilization.

  Pete stretched out in the back seat, tipping his hat back with a grin.

  "Don't usually see the world beyond the steering wheel," said Pete

  "Figured it wasn't sittin' easy with ya'," said the Sheriff.

  "At least it's over," sighed Eve.

  "Ain't too sure about that," said Pete leaning forward.

  "Why do you say that?" asked Eve.

  Pete nodded out the window, "I gots a bad feelin' about this."

  There in the road, with one tire half way onto the sidewalk was Pete's cab.

  "It gets worse," said Eve, opening the door before the Sheriff had come to a complete stop.

  Something dark was lying in the road by the driver's side door.

  They filed out of the police car and walked to the dark mass in the road. It was the gray alligator that drove off in Pete's cab, now dead as a doornail and limply stretching from the driver's seat, its tail caught in the door.

  "Now, there's something you don't see every day," said Pete, nudging the corpse.

  "What do you make of that?" asked the Sheriff, kneeling down to get a better look at a large hole ripped open in its belly. "It's tore open. From the inside."

  "Must've been something he ate," said Eve, knowing exactly what the gator had for dinner… Lefty must nearby.

  "Tell me, Miss Adams," Pete whispered softly. "This look like the same gator that you was followin'? In the swamp, I mean?"

  "You think…"

  "I'm saying we playin' somebody else's game this whole time," said Pete, scanning the empty streets.

  "How about it, gentlemen?" It was Adam, leaning out of the Atomic Bowl doorway. "Who's game for bowling?

  Pete pulled the key from his pocket and looked at Adam.

  "It was already opened, lights on, alley ready to go!" explained Adam.

  "It don't usually get into town," said Pete quietly to Eve. "We go in there, we playin' by its rules, not our own."

  It was true. They'd been lead through the swamp by a gator Lefty controlled, and now clearly Lefty was waiting in the Bowling alley to do who knows what. Maim, murder, could be anything.

  "Only one way to find out," said Eve.

  They entered the bowling alley.

  20

  Armed Assault

  As Pete hit the switches, the soft glow and neon of the Atomic Bowl entryway was quickly overcome by the amber hues beaming off of the lacquer of the hardwood lanes.

  Eve scanned the giant room for any signs of Lefty, but the crawling menace was nowhere in sight.

  As she stepped around the wall of balls onto the wood floor, Adam thrust his arm out in front of her.

  "No one bowls without shirts!" he shouted, holding several Shirts on hangers.

  Pete and the Sheriff grabbed shirts embroidered with “Pete" and "Bob" and then headed to the locker rooms.

  A lone bowling shirt hung in front of her.

  "Deputy?" Eve read.

  "Yeah, but it's brand new!" Adam offered. Clearly the deputies never lasted to bowling night.

  "I'll pass," said Eve, brushing the bad omen of a shirt aside.

  "Well you have to wear shoes," said Adam in a stern voice. "It's the law!"

  "The law?" questioned Eve. "Somehow I doubt that."

  "Sevens?" he asked.

  "What?"

  Adam pulled a pair of women's bowling shoes out of his medical kit.

  Eve looked at her feet. She had no memory of buying shoes, she only wore what the agency had provided her. It was a little unsettling that she didn't know what size she wore. Slightly more unsettling that Adam did. The sevens were a perfect fit.

  She looked from her feet to Adam. He was grinning with pride that he'd guessed correctly.

  Her eyes fell to a darkened shadow behind him… Lefty!

  "Adam," she whispered, nodding behind him.

  He turned to find the little arm reaching around the ball return.

  "Lefty!" he shouted with a mix of surprise and excitement. “Why, I haven’t seen you since…”

  Adam’s sentence broke down into silence. He was staring off into the distance, frozen.

  “Adam?” asked Eve, realizing where he was. “You’re in a flashback again, aren’t you?”

  “You have no idea of the power of the flashback,” said Adam. “It’s invigorating, you really should try it!”

  Eve punched Adam across his jaw as she had done in the grade school hallway!

  “You’re right,” smiled Eve as Adam staggered backwards. “It is invigorating! Now how about addressing the here and now?”

  “Right,” agreed Adam as he rushed to his bag. “Wait. Where's my gun?" he stopped, finding no firearm in his medical kit.

  "You always bring a gun into a bowling alley?" Eve asked. Admittedly it wasn't a bad idea. She'd seen firsthand what Lefty was capable of, so she began eyeballing her surroundings for a weapon of some kind as well.

  A loud gunshot echoed through the lanes!

  "Never mind," said Adam, looking at a bullet hole in the bottom of his right shirt sleeve. "Found it."

  The Sheriff and Pete ran up in their bowling shirts and then froze.

  Eve's eyes fell to Lefty, now brandishing a shiny black pistol.

  "I assure you all he means no harm!" said Adam, holding up a hand so they all remained behind him.

  Another gunshot rang out, reverberating off of the metal lockers behind them.

  "…To the rest of you," he continued, clutching a spot of blood in his right arm.

  "Clearly this is personal," said Eve as she began to slip backwards towards the row of bowling balls.

  "Quite," agreed Adam. "I get it. I know why you're upset," said Adam, addressing the crawling hand.

  "You know you're talking to a hand?" Eve pointed out.

  "And?"

  "He doesn’t even have ears," argued Eve.

  "No," said Adam, "but he does have feelings!"

  "Isn't that right, Lefty?" Adam asked the hand. "You're jealous! Exacting revenge on your replacement!"

  Adam gripped his bleeding arm, then pointed accusingly at Lefty. "Well remember it was you who walked out on me!"

  Lefty lowered the pistol. Was he actually communicating with it?

  Lefty raised the pistol at Adam again.

  "Adam, I don't think that's what he's here for," said Eve as she reached her hand behind her and felt for the holes of a bowling ball behind her back.

  "You're right, Eve," said Adam, his eyes glazing over as internal processes took hold.

  "Less of a limb, more of a prophet," Adam muttered to himself. "Is that it?" he shouted to the hand. "Man pitted in battle against himself can never win! But man who embraces himself can overcome! So… How about a hug?"

  BLAM! Another shot bloodied Adam's right shoulder!

  "I was wrong," gritted
Adam as he clutched his wounds. "He's not a hugger."

  Eve seized her window. Her fingers locked inside a bowling ball and she whipped it around her back as she stepped forward and released it directly towards Lefty!

  The ball struck the little arm, launching the gun across the lanes while Lefty and the ball rolled into the pins, knocking them down in a perfect strike!

  They all looked at the school teacher who had claimed she didn't bowl.

  "Beginner's luck," she said hesitantly, hoping Adam and the Sheriff would buy it. Again she was in danger of blowing her cover. She couldn't let them know that she was an agent. Of course, even she wasn't sure what she was capable of. The way she was able to control the ball, had she bowled before?