Page 17 (1/2)
"Extreed back to the Jeep
"Major geekster," I agreed
On the roof, Big Head turned its face skyward, as if studying the stars, still concealing its features behind thewith this creature Its posture, its very attitude, toldits face out of embarrassment or shame, that it didn’t want us to see what it looked like because it kneould find it repulsive, which meant that it must feel repulsive Perhaps I was able to interpret its behavior and intuit its feelings because I’d lived twenty-eight years as an outsider I’d never felt the need to hidean outcast when cruel kids calledin eekster--and I winced Our pursuit of this creature reminded me of the way bullies had chased me when I’d been a boy Even when I had learned to defend ht back, they were so merely for the chance to harass and torment me Of course, with Orson and Jiood reason to follow any lead We hadn’t been motivated by e dark wild delight hich we had azer shifted its attention fro its face
I directed the spotlight onto the asphalt shingles near the creature’s feet, letting the backwash illu it with the bea Head to lower its arms It did, however, issue a sound unlike the previous screams, one at odds with its fierce appearance: a cross between the cooing of pigeons and the uttural purr of a cat
Bobby tore his attention away froree sweep of the neighborhood around us
I, too, had been stricken by the nape-crinkling feeling that Big Headus from a more immediate threat
"Super placid," Bobby reported
"For now"
Big Head’s cooing-purring grew louder and then became a fluent series of exotic sounds, simple and rhythmic and patterned, but not like roups of syllables, full of inflection, delivered with urgency and emotion, and it was no stretch to think of theh to be defined as a language in the sense that English, French, or Spanish is a language, it was at least a pri
"What’s it want?" Bobby asked
His question, whether he realized it or not, arose fro at us but speaking to us
"No clue," I said
Big Head’s voice was neither deep nor ae band, it was pitched like that of a child of nine or ten, not entirely hunote that aroused sympathy in spite of the source
"Poor sonofabitch," I said, as it fell silent again
"You serious?"
"Sorrowful da"
Bobby studied this Quasimodo in search of a bell tower and finally allowed, "Maybe"
"Certified sorrowful"
"You want to go up on the roof, give it a big hug?"
"Later"
"I’ll turn on the Jeep’s radio You can go up there and ask it to dance, make it feel attractive"
"I’ll pity it froame of compassion, but you can’t play it"
"I’m afraid of rejection"
"You’re afraid of co Head dropped its areline, it raced across the bungalow roof
"Keep the light on it!" Bobby said
I tried, but the creaturesnake I expected it to launch itself off the roof and straight at us or disappear across the peak and down the far slope, but it traveled the length of the ridgeline and sprang without hesitation into the fifteen-foot gap between this bungalow and the next With catlike poise, it landed atop the neighboring house, where it reared onto its hind legs, cast a green-eyed glance back at us, then dropped low, sprinted froable, leaped to a third roof, crossed over that ridgeline, and disappeared onto the back of the house
During its swift flight, captured repeatedly by the spotlight beam but for only an instant at a time, the creature’s face had been less than half revealed in kaleidoscopic glies The back of its skull seeated, and like a cowl, its forehead appeared to overhang its large sunken eyes The luht have been distorted by excrescences of bone To an even greater degree than the head was disproportionate to the body, theits steam-shovel jaws, the creature revealed an abundance of sharp curved teeththan Jack the Ripper’s cutlery collection
Bobby gaveHead "Sorrowful?"
"I still think so"
"You’re nothing but cardiac--its diet isn’t just fruits, vegetables, and whole grains"
I switched off the handheld spot Although the beay froht I had not seenon another Big Head hunt Surfers don’t trade bite for bite with sharks; e see enough fins, we get out of the water Considering this creature’s speed and agility, ouldn’t have a chance of catching it, anyway, not on foot or in the Jeep, and even if we did find and corner it, eren’t prepared to capture or kill it
"Supposing we don’t just want to sit here sucking down beer and trying to forgetanything," Bobby wondered as he got behind the wheel
"Suppose"
"Then as that thing?"
Settling into the passenger seat again, workingof the original troop that escaped fro in the new generation"
"We’ve seen beaucoup offspring before And you saw a bunch earlier tonight, right?"
"Yeah"
"They look like normal monkeys"
"Yeah"
"This eso Head here it had come from, but I wasn’t ready to tell Bobby quite yet Instead, I said, "This is the street where they trappedthe sameness of the houses around us, he said, "You can tell one of these streets fro a seriously psychotic a hot on TV"
"Try sta"
"Couldn’t handle the excitement"
As Bobby drove off the rutted lawn and over the curb, into the street, I holstered the 9-ht
Two blocks later, I said, "Stop Here This is where they were spinning the manhole cover"
"If they take over the world, they’ll probablythan synchronized swi?"
"Pull forward and park with one wheel on the manhole I don’t think they’re still here They’veup behind us while we’re inside"
"Inside what?"