Chap 21 Meeting Grandma Vera
In the middle of the desert, the Rust Bucket was driving through the hot, empty landscape with nothing interesting in sight.
Inside were the adventurous family of Tennysons.
Because of the heat, Ben was slumped onto the sofa, nearly melting into it, while Gwen was at the sink, listlessly washing a few dishes.
And Rio?
He was busy finding and digging out boxes he had hidden in various places of the Rust Bucket.
"When Grandma Vera said she wanted to get away from it all, she really meant it. Who actually lives in the desert with summers like this? If you want to be left alone, just go live in a forest like a hermit. At least it's cool there."
Out of the blue, within the silent, Ben commented with his usual sarcasm.
"Oh, man," Ben complained again before sighing in defeat. "This summer was supposed to be about F-U-N. Not hanging out at some old lady's house."
"I like Grandma Vera—not the pinching part, though."
"And who knows, maybe we can get a normal meal when we go to Grandma Vera's place," Gwen countered Ben's words out of habit, but this time she didn't get any resonance.
"Meals..."
The second she said 'meals,' both Ben and Rio reacted, but for totally different reasons.
Ben had an expectant expression as he whispered the word softly; he was hopeful that what Gwen said would be true and did not choose to blow up the matter.
The exact opposite, memory flashed across his mind Rio's as a bittersweet expression appeared on his face.
He coughed, and reported to both Gwen and Ben:
"Sorry to burst your dream bubbles, but Grandma Vera is truly the sister of Grandpa. The last time we went to her house, she served us octopus ink jelly."
The sentence made both Ben and Gwen's faces go pale!
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At the retirement complex, Vera was happily talking to her neighbor, Marty, who was standing outside with a cane in one hand after watering his garden.
"It's been years since I've seen Max and the kids," she said excitedly, smiling and clasping her hands as her plump face made her squinting eyes even smaller.
"I'm not sure I'll even recognize them. Stop by and say hello whenever you've got the chance."
"I'd like that. I still remember the kid named Rio; he was very lively then," old man Marty said, smiling politely before opening the door and going inside his apartment.
There, he sat on his sofa, with a bowl of snacks on his lap as he started watching a movie. Just as his fingers dipped into the bowl for a handful—
A slimy, dirty-green formless mass shot up and stuck to his hand. Before he could even yell, the slimy mass covered his arm and then moved forward to black out his face, making him faint.
The old man, because of his age, was unable to do anything as it attacked him.
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(Rio's POV)
The broken old RV rumbled down a desert road that just… didn't end. Heat waves outside made the air shimmer, making the horizon look like a wobbly mirage stretching endlessly. Nothing but sand, sky, and us.
The AC inside was on full drive but even that couldn't help with the desert heat.
As I dug through my stash of parts, my mind wouldn't stop racing.
The more I thought about it, the more it burned in my chest. After the Kraken mess and even the ATM thieves, one thing became painfully clear:
-My family's way too vulnerable…. -
-Or was it me who was too weak to protect them?-
Shaking off the negative thoughts, I began reviewing the situation.
any situation involving high-level technology. Even simple guns, or some second-rate thug with a decent weapon could pose a considerable threat.
Although they all have martial arts training—Ben and Gwen from training with me, and Grandpa already from his Plumber days—at the end of the day, it's just basic hand-to-hand skills.
They could use some weapons, but do ordinary weapons even cut it against high-tech robots or aliens? For the better part of our forward journey simple tools won't cut it.
If I'd seen all this happen in the show on TV, I would have felt nothing, but when it's your own family sinking in the water, flailing helplessly with their limbs tied up... Reality slaps the truth in my face.
I'd been treating it like fiction, treating this whole summer like some fun road trip arc. Like we were just characters on an adventure.
-Hah… the irony almost made me laugh.-
-Maybe the universe was trying to send a message. Or maybe it's just messed up like that.-
-But then again, does the universe even have a consciousness?-
Still, the timing feels cruel.
Now, back to the pressing question at hand: how to safeguard my family?
The solution is quite simple: I just had to make them prepared and equipped enough to handle most situations, even if I am not around.
My hands worked on autopilot, turning over a cracked power core. I stared at it like maybe it'd tell me what to do next. I need to build something. Something that buys them time. Anything that makes us less helpless next time something crawls out of the dark.
But we were already getting close to our next stop. I could feel it in the way the RV slowed, I could only jam the parts back into the box, frustration settling deep in my gut.
—
[RETIREMENT COMPLEX]
When the Rust Bucket finally turned off the desolate highway and entered the retirement community, the surroundings became noticeably more green and populated. Charming two-story houses dotted the landscape giving the town a distinctly old-fashioned, unlike the city's not modern high-rise buildings.
Even though it was just the beginning of summer, the temperature was already baking past 35°C, though it was somewhat better in the towns as it has a lot of greenery to absorb the heat.
It was comfortable and quiet, with birds singing and flowers blooming throughout the pleasant neighborhood.
Elderly residents walked along the street, along with some rare middle-aged residents.
Some were simply taking strolls, and the town seemed quite harmonious.
Inside the RV, Rio sat by the window, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the "harmonious" scene.
Suddenly, he saw an elderly man on a nearby roof slip. But before anything could happen, he saw the old man somehow backflip off the edge and land perfectly on his feet.
There were a few old people at the road but no one even batted an eye on such a stunt by the falling old man.
Rio narrowed his eyes at the sight, knowing full well what was going on.
The Limax invasion.
He sank back into the creaky seat. His fingers drummed absently against his leg as he tried to recall the details. If I've got this right… there should only be four, maybe five of them out scouting right now.
looking at the town which looked painfully normal now. With Old people still roaming and laughing about something nobody under forty would find funny.
Rio figured, the aliens haven't really had the time to infiltrate yet, after all the infiltration was a gradual process and the town had hundreds of people with just a few aliens, they needed much time.
He glanced at Ben and Gwen, who were busy arguing over a comic book. He looked back outside. Everything seemed friendly. Just kind-hearted folks. He decided to dismiss it for the moment.
I know the script, he told himself, leaning back. Four or five overgrown slugs. Nothing I can't handle. No need to ruin their afternoon yet.
Because Rio didn't stick his head to the window and look outside all the way, he wasn't able to notice a few things that happened just as the RV went past that area.
SPLASH!
An elderly man accidentally triggered a lawn sprinkler, spraying water directly toward him. None of the cousins saw it, and even if they had, they wouldn't have taken it seriously. Getting sprayed by a hose is mundane.
WHOOSH!!
However, what happened next was absolutely eye-popping.
The old man performed three perfect backflips like a professional stunt performer, landing firmly on the ground five meters away, completely avoiding the spray with impossible agility! His expression remained eerily blank throughout the entire acrobatic display.
At that moment, several nearby residents walked past casually, glancing at the backflipping man without the slightest hint of surprise. Instead, they seemed annoyed by the inconvenience.
"Why did you turn on the water pipe?" one neighbor complained.
"Get to work," another chimed in, staring at the water with genuine loathing. "And figure out a way to bury all the water pipes underground."
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The RV slowly came to a stop outside Grandma Vera's place.
As the Group was getting ready to step down the RV, Rio was greeted by the neighbor, as he instinctively looked into the window of the neighbor's house.
Rio remembered the man to be Marty from when he had come here last time. Marty had treated Max and him to some normal sweets.
But now he had his mouth wide open toward them, and stretched his neck rather disturbingly before closing the blinds.
Rio understood, it was probably one of those aliens that have started to take over this town.
"Kids, be sure to watch your cheeks. Heh," at the same time Max told everyone, completely oblivious to the strange occurrences. "Vera's a pincher."
"Don't remind us," Ben groaned, all the earlier excitement of getting the shocker draining from his face.
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Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is to your liking. Sorry if you expected more details. Also sorry if you felt it was still too much detail.
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