LITMIR.BIZ

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      "Poor Harry ... first that terrible experience, then his bike ..." said Helen.

      "... and finally Toby," he added.

      "Why, what happened to the dog this time?" She asked curiously, and then it was James' turn to let her know what happened.

      "It all seems so absurd ..." Helen commented at the end of her story.

      "Yeah ..." James said wearing his thick gardener's gloves. He pushed the mountain bike out and walked up the path to the woods and she followed him right after.

      "That's it, you can be sure no one will find it here," said James satisfied, taking off his gloves. "It's late, it's time to go to sleep," he added.

      "Yes, I think you're right," agreed Helen, but neither of them moved.

      "How much time we spent here, lying on the grass looking at the sky ..." he murmured, raising his head to contemplate the starry night.

      "And how many pranks we did. Do you remember that time we stayed three days hidden in that barn? "

      "If I remember it? Of course, I do, my parents did not let me out of the house for two weeks as a punishment!" He said, they laughed happily, and immediately afterward a slightly embarrassed silence fell.

      "There was a time I believed we would always be together," Helen confessed.

      "I often felt this too, sometimes I even believed that one day I would have married you," said James, looking at his shoes.

      "Yes, but you never proposed to me!" She replied, pretending to be offended.

      "Of course, when I finally made up my mind, you found The Incredible Hulk," said James.

      "It was just to make you jealous, and anyway you immediately took comfort with that fussy one."

      "That grumpy one is my wife now, I won't let you talk about her in this manner!" He joked, and they laughed again.

      "James, what's going on? Here it has always been all so peaceful and so ordinary..." she became sad afterward.

      "God knows how much I'd like to know ..." he replied. The wind gave him her scent and he suddenly felt a slight sense of yearning. He wondered how their life would have been like if they were really married, but soon after he thought that surely he wouldn't have Harry and that certainty was enough to make him stop thinking immediately.

      "Shall we take a look?"

      "To what?"

      "Don't pretend to fall from the clouds, I know very well that you're thinking about it too," said James, pointing to the top of the hill, but she hesitated.

      "I promise we'll just take a look, and I'll also get Harry's fishing rod back. It will take just ten minutes cutting through the forest ... and then we have torches and guns, there is nothing we need to worry about."

      "I do not know..."

      "Come on, it's evident you're dying of curiosity too," insisted James.

      Dr. Hope left the meeting and the President rested his elbows on the desk, propped his chin on the back of his hands and started brooding silently. From time to time he glanced at Ross and Kowalsky, who were visibly devoured by anxiety too, as if in their eyes he could find an answer. In a few minutes, he wondered, at least a million times, if was it really possible that starting from tomorrow there would be such a brutal event that could wipe out the entire humanity from the face of Earth in a flash. He could see it in their eyes too, that was the same question they were thinking about. The President also considered whether he should disclose that news or keep it classified; he was sure that Benjamin would not have done so because he was aware that revealing such news would only trigger a global panic, and this would produce easily predictable negative consequences. He, therefore, decided that he would not make it public, but also that he would not passively wait for events to unfold; he was a man who never gives up, because he had grown up on the streets and the first lesson he had received from his life was that if you want something you have to struggle to get it. Whatever it takes.

      "Immediately track down Professor Hamilton, I want him to be here at ten o'clock tomorrow morning," he suddenly ordered his men to shake off that feverish thought process. He knew that if Dr. Hope saw right, then Professor Hamilton would be his last asset to try to save the world from that catastrophe, or at least to limit its damage.

      "Are you sure, Mr. President?" If I remember well, last time we met him he gave us the impression he was no fit to think clearly anymore" said Ross unconvinced.

      "Why, does this seem to you something for sane people? We don't have much time and we have no other choice, haven't you heard what Dr. Hope said before?" The President replied firmly. "And get me Dr. Abel Parker quickly, I need to talk to her as soon as possible at least by phone," he added.

      "We'll get to work right away," answered Ross, standing up.

      "Obviously there is no need for me to tell you that this meeting never existed," the President pointed out as they left the room.

      "Just a rapid look," Helen said once they were there. "Just a look," agreed James, lifting the yellow tape to make way for her. They went into the confined area throwing glances here and there and orienting the torches randomly because they didn't even know what to look for. James decided to immediately retrieve the fishing rod and went to inspect the creek; he found it exactly where his son was used to place it and noticed that it gave off the usual bluish glow too. He put on his gloves, grabbed it carefully and was dismayed by the fishing line.

      "Helen, come and see!" He called loudly after a few moments.

      "Shhh! Do you want them to hear us up to Hancock?" She scolded him, reaching him. "Damn, what's that?" She then asked disgusted, pointing to the thing hanging at the end of the line.

      "I have no idea," said James. "It would seem that something had taken the bait and that something bigger had tried to eat it. But it's impossible to understand what animals they are, they look like wood."

      "They are mummified, just like ..." Helen started to say, but before he finished the sentence James covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her behind a bush, she stumbled into a root and fell, slamming her shoulder.

      "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" She scolded, rubbing the painful part. "In the last half hour, it's the second time you try to kill me!" She protested.

      "We're not alone," he whispered, keeping his hands on her shoulders to keep her from getting up.

      "It's impossible," she replied.

      "I tell you that there is someone around here, can't you hear this hiss?"

      "No! I can't hear a damn thing," Helen said, freeing herself from his grip and getting up to check. "And furthermore I'm the Sheriff, I'm not the one who shouldn't be here," she said as she stepped out of the bush.

      "Helen, please, get down," James urged her again, pulling her by her arm, but she got rid of him and stepped out. At the same time, James heard a buzzing sound coming from the bush that reminded him of the sound of a generator being activated.

      Instinctively he threw away the fishing rod and threw himself once more time on Helen, overwhelming her and causing her a stifled groan.

      "Now I have really had enough of you!" She exclaimed, and as she struggled to get rid of him, an intense storm of blinding lightning hit them, followed by deafening hisses that terrified them. As soon as they felt better, they heard someone was approaching, they were quickly rummaging, with the help of that powerful light.

      "Stop right there, whoever you are. Stop or I shoot you!" Helen ordered with her arm outstretched, squinting in an attempt to focus on something or someone. In return they heard the buzzing of the generator one more time, James took Helen by force and pushed her into the creek, dived back and dragged her behind a spike of rock near the opposite bank of the stream. A new burst of lightning swept that corner of the forest, she tried to peep out from behind the rock to fire at least one shot, but James pulled her back for the umpteenth time.

      "Damn!

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