Monster - A. Lee Martinez [39]
The morning-news segues kept everything in check. Twelve people dead, but that didn’t stop seventy-seven-year-old Anne O’Grady from making her shiny masterpieces of crumpled foil. He fell asleep on the couch.
He awoke a few hours later as something rattled around in the other room.
Rubbing his sore neck, he noted his new color: golden. He didn’t have to check in his book for that. When he was golden, he became invisible when his eyes were shut. There was no way to control it. Every time he blinked, he’d vanish for an instant.
There was a clatter, as if the medicine cabinet was being emptied onto the floor.
Still drowsy, Monster rose from the couch and checked the noise.
“Liz, is that you?”
A low growl issued from the bathroom. Monster stopped.
A goat stuck its head into the hallway. The crypto turned its eyes toward Monster and bleated, then stepped into view. It had a goat’s head but a humanoid body, naked and hairless. It wasn’t very big, only about four feet tall, but its squat frame was powerfully built.
Monster kept his cool. “Where did you come from, little fella?”
The goat monster launched itself forward, ramming its horns into Monster’s gut and knocking the breath from him. He fell to the floor, gasping.
The goat grumbled as Monster vanished before its eyes.
“You little bastard.”
Groaning, Monster stood. The goat creature charged forward.
Monster turned to one side and took a glancing blow to his ribs. The goat hopped onto the couch and bleated, baring its teeth.
Monster clutched his aching side. “Look, you little shit. Don’t make me hurt you.”
The goat shifted its weight back and forth in an unfriendly manner. Monster closed his eyes. The goat grumbled. He heard it sniffing for him.
He didn’t know where this thing had come from, how it had gotten into his house. He wasn’t sure what it was. He’d never seen one of these short, goat-headed beasts before. Monster had been handling cryptos for years now, and it was rare for him to run across unfamiliar specimens. But it seemed to be happening more and more lately.
This one didn’t seem that dangerous, but his ribs were aching and he hadn’t caught his breath yet. Having no familiarity, he couldn’t be sure how to handle it. Some cryptos could be scared by a show of force. Others were provoked to attack. It was trying to sniff him out, but he didn’t know if that was because it was aggressive or scared. Probably both. He tried to put himself in the goat’s place, finding itself in a strange environment, confronted by a large, potentially hostile animal. It was probably just panicked.
He opened his eyes again. Just a little squint, which made him semi-visible. The goat was glaring at him. It clicked its long, pointed teeth together with a staccato clicking, but it didn’t attack.
“I don’t want to hurt you, little guy,” said Monster, as softly as possible.
The goat bleated softly. It twisted its head to one side, nostrils flaring, teeth chattering.
“Can’t we be friends?”
The creature’s ears fell flat. It squared its shoulders. Its legs tightened to spring.
Monster shut his eyes, and the goat started sniffing.
He ran through his choices. There was an annoying creature in his house, and he was unprepared to deal with it. He could feel his way through the living room to the front door, then lock the thing inside. Then he could call for backup and have the city send someone to pick it up. It’d be the smartest thing to do.
He wasn’t about to do that.
The goat thing was irritating but not tremendously dangerous so far. As a professional, he should be able to handle this without any help. If he called the CCRS for assistance, he’d end up catching hell from the other freelancers for months. Worst of all, somebody else would get the collection fee, and if this thing was rare, it had to be worth something. He wasn’t sure the world needed angry, naked goat-headed beasts,