HYPER by John A. Autero

Author:John A. Autero [Autero, John A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John A. Autero
Published: 2017-05-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20 – Did you sign the manifest already?

[Location: Decontamination Depot t3rm1nu5 - Cafeteria]

Charlie lifted his glass and took a drink of lemonade. As the cool liquid sloshed inside of his mouth he felt it was a little too tart, so he swallowed and decided to wait a few seconds and let the ice melt a little. The liquids dispensing machine always seemed to make it that way, but it was synthetic after all so what more could you expect? He thought how Linda had made real lemonade back on Earth and it had always been a perfect mixture of lemon and sugar. But right now he wasn’t on Earth—far from it.

With the data he had, he was trying to put the puzzle together but he didn’t have enough of the pieces to see the entire picture. One of the guys who had arrived on the Elysian Fields had just murdered two people and he wasn’t exactly sure which one of them had done it. Both Tom and Jack had motives and were on the top of his list. Ruben had given him no indications that he was a psychotic murderer so he was a few notches lower, and McCormick was stuck in his cell so Charlie stuck him on the bottom of the list—at least until he had a chance to see the video from the cafeteria.

Charlie scratched his ear and then stuck his elbow on the table in front of him. He rested his chin on his fist and exhaled, staring at the condensation dripping down the glass. Trying to give himself a break from the tragedy on D.D.315, he let his mind relax and wander freely.

The lemonade reminded him of his second date with Linda. They had packed a picnic lunch and drove to the Locked Valley State Park to enjoy the day. It was late spring, the temperature was mild by Alabama standards, and the forest foliage had reached maturity. They ate liver sausage sandwiches and potato chips while they sat on a picnic table, sipped lemonade, and talked.

As day turned to dusk, Charlie said to Linda, “When it starts to get dark, I want to show you something on the other side of the park. My Uncle Bob and I found it when I was a kid; I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“What is it?”

“I’m not gonna tell you. It’s a surprise.”

Linda hugged Charlie and began to tickle him. “You know I can’t wait. Please…you have to.”

“Come on!” Charlie laughed and squirmed as Linda continued to tickle his stomach. “It’s only a couple hours. You’ll just have to wait.”

Linda loved surprises, especially when they came from Charlie. “Okayyyy.” She hugged him close and kissed his neck.

Soon after, Charlie led Linda down one of the wooded walking paths that headed toward Locked Valley. He draped his arm over Linda’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head as she wrapped her arm around his waist. He inhaled deeply and smelled the fragrance of her blonde hair. The aroma reminded him of a mixture of warm cotton candy and spring flowers.

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