In darkness, the motor of the automatic garage door jerked to life, moaning as it pulled the paneled door up. The headlights of Alex’s pickup lit the room as they peered in underneath.
Before the door had even come to a stop, the pickup slowly rolled in. It had been a long night, and even the brief wait for the door to open felt too long for Alex.
The car stopped, and Mike and Alex exited the vehicle. Alex headed for the light switch. As the fluorescent glow stammered its way on, both men returned to their unusual cargo.
Alex opened the tailgate and pulled the tarpaulin off the body they had hidden with it. He stood, staring. Now, without the influence of adrenaline, the reality of their discovery was sinking in. Decades of horror and science fiction films had not prepared him for such an event, as he thought they would.
“Whew,” Mike said, waving his hand in front of his face, “what a smell.”
Mike’s interjection snapped Alex from his thoughts. There was a smell, he noticed, but not one of rot and decay as he half expected. It was just… fishy.
“Where are you gonna put it?” Mike asked.
“Just over on the workbench I guess,” Alex said.
“Y’mean we have to lift it again?” Mike moaned.
“Well I’m not leavin’ it in my truck,” Alex said.
He took the tarp over to the workbench, moved the few tools that were sitting on top, and laid it over.
“Ok,” Mike sighed, “let’s do this then.”
Mike reached for the creature’s leg and pulled on it. The corpse slid easily on the metal tray. Once he had it to the edge, he grabbed the other leg, while Alex took hold of the arms.
“Ready?” Mike said.
Alex nodded.
With one final pull, the lifeless body slid off the end of the tray. Alex almost lost grip with the sudden tug of weight, but held tight.
With a shuffling of feet, they moved the creature to the workbench, and with one last lift, they dropped the body down onto the tarp. Alex took the excess and folded it over the creature, for no reason other than it creeped him out.
“So wha’do we do now?” Mike said.
“I don’t know,” Alex said, “I’m too tired to think. Let’s just leave it ‘til the morning. Maybe Karen’ll have some idea.”
“Cool,” Mike said, starting for his car out on the street, “I’ll catch you tomorrow then.”
“Why don’t you just crash here?” Alex said.
Mike turned, secretly relieved at the offer. He was tired, and didn’t feel like driving.
“You sure?” Mike said.
“Yeah,” Alex said. “We can get up early and sort all this out.”
“Cool,” Mike said, “thanks.”
Mike smelled his hand and clothes.
“Do you mind if I have a quick shower first?” Mike asked.
“Sure,” Alex said. “But not before me.”
Both men headed inside. Alex pressed a switch to lower the garage door, followed by the light. As he closed the door, the room returned to darkness.
Alex quietly entered his lightless bedroom wearing only boxer shorts. He was showered and more than ready for sleep. He moved silently around the bed, feeling blindly for any corners that might obstruct his path. It was a path well-memorized, but none less dangerous to his shins.
He sat down onto the bed and slid his way under the covers. Despite his best efforts, Karen still stirred.
“Hey, baby,” Karen whispered sleepily, “how was fishing? Did you catch anything?”
“Sure did,” Alex said, smiling. “One really big one. It’s huge.”
They had caught several fish, but in light of their discovery, decided to release them back into the water before they left. Alex knew this wasn’t the time to elaborate.
“Ah, that’s great,” Karen said. “You’ll have to show me.”
“I will,” Alex said, still smiling, thankful Karen couldn’t actually see it, “don’t you worry about that.”
“Ok,” Karen yawned, “’night, baby.”
“Goodnight, beautiful,” Alex said, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead.
Mike wrapped his damp towel around his waist and left the bathroom.
“Much better,” he whispered to himself.
He flicked the light off and made his way down the hall to the next room—the room he’d be staying the night.
He flicked the light on and closed the door behind him.
Moonlight through the garage window illuminated Alex’s workbench, as if to highlight its covered display.
Drawn by the newly-introduced smell, a curious mouse skittered its way along the floor towards the bench, pondering a way up.
It froze. Was that a sound?
There is was again.
The little mouse ran, with all its might, as an avalanche of tarpaulin came crashing down from above.
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