In The Valley - 18 PART TWO (read part one FIRST)(duh, right? right...)

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Jodie was holding a white rag that had two safety pins attached.
Rob rushed into the door with his hands up by his face, they were covered in a mixture of shining red and dirt. He found the bathroom and slammed the door shut. The sink blasted.
Jodie didn't look surprised, "Wash your hands well. The last thing I need is blood everywhere."
A loud scream came out of the bedroom.
"Oh my GOD! I'm coming already!"
Jodie stomped down the hall.
-------
(Back in The Valley. Three days ago.)
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"Yeah, we can go now."
Jodie grabbed a kiss from Rob before they walked, crouching, through the woods surrounding the cabin. If this were a war, then I would tell you that they were flanking the house. Because, well, they were.
The sun was almost gone from the horizon. A gray mist hung in the atmosphere and the light was almost completely gone from the valley. There was a light on in the cabin. Only one. The rest of the windows were black.
Rob led the way. They walked slow, but not too slow, to the back door of the cabin. It was a screen door (because this was a modern cabin). The glass behind the screen was gone, the only thing keeping them out of the house was a thin sheet with holes. Sounds so simple, but it was nerve wrecking.
"We don't have to do this." Rob said in a whisper. He put his hand on Jodie's shoulder.
"I know. But you know how badly I want this. And besides, you owe me."
"Yes I do."
Jodie walked forward, upright now, and slid the screen aside as if she lived there. Rob waited in the yard and saw her disappear into the dark home.
A crash.
A yell.
Another crash.
Then Jodie burst outside, sprinting, with a small bundle in her arms, held close to her face over her shoulder.
Running up hill is exhausting. But with that kind of adrenaline, the time flies.
-------
(back at their home, three days later.)
Rob was falling asleep on the gun stock of a hunting rifle in the window.
Jodie woke him when she walked into the room.
"Anything" She asked.
Rob blinked and stretched his face. "No, no. Nothing for hours."
"Ok, well I made macaroni if you want some. That damn baby wouldn't shut up until I fed it something.
"Alright I-" Rob was started by a red hoody moving through the trees. "There he is." His face settled on the gun and he let of three shots. The figure fell. Then there was another man in a red hoody coming from the left out of the woods. Two more shots from the rifle. Two men dead on the ground.
There was a wiz and soft thump as a bullet entered the home and planted itself in the wall behind Rob and Jodie.
"Dammit, I have to got out there." Said Rob. "They've got a sniper int he hill and I can't find him from this angle."
They rushed to the back door of their home. Rob opened the door.
"Becareful. Don't let them take my baby."
"I won't Jode. You know I never lose."
"I know."
They Kiss.

In The Valley - 18 - PART ONE

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Rob could see that she wasn't kidding.
"Ha! Of course I'm kidding! Get inside."
Rob thought, 'That was close'. (But why...)
"Baby you know you're my world. I couldn't be angry with you!" Jodie smiled large.
Rob chuckled nervously, shifting his eyes. Jodie led him into the family room, where the lights were low and the television was showing and infomercial.
"What do you want to do, watch tv? I made your favorite snack; peanut butter pretzels" She held the tray up like a waitress.
Rob loved peanut butter pretzels.
"Is there something wrong?" Her shoulders slouched and she almost frowned.
Rob was sweating bullets. He took a peanut butter pretzel and sat down on the couch, staring at the tv, not eating his pretzel.
"So that's how it's going to be, is it?"
There was a glass of wine on the coffee table in front of Rob. He picked it up and took a sip because his mouth had been dry.
"Jodie, there's something that I have to tell you.. or rather, show you."
His speaking caught her by surprise. "yes..?"
Rob got up, grabber her wrist, and led her towards the door.
"Just c'mon."
Out the front door.
Down the path.
Out the gate.
Up the Hill.
Over the hill.
Down into the valley.
In the Valley.
Behind a tree.
Rob pulled a tree branch back that had guarded their view. In the distance there was a house visible. A cabin, really.
"We have neighbors." Rob said, quiet and looming.
"I knew that this day would come." Jodie's eyes lit up with tears and her red lips curved up into a smile. "Thank the gods!"
"And I think they have what we want."
Jodie kept on mumbling about the gods and her thanks. Then she spoke more definitely.
"Well then...Can we check?"
"Yeah, we can go now."
They kiss.

In The Valley 17

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Rob's macabre expression caused her to cease her tirade and carefully inspect her man. He was pale, and his lips were peeled back into a grimace. His pupils were shrunk into pinholes. Jodie grabbed his hand: it was clammy, but still warm. Rob stepped inside.
"Let me fix you a sandwich." Jodie directed Rob to the couch, "When did this start up again?"
Rob held up four fingers excluding his thumb, who felt left out and didn't talk to his fellow fingers for a week. This was okay because the thumb always got to play video games and the other digits were sick and tired of hearing about it.
The thumb learned his lesson about humility, and soon the entire hand was cooperating and laughing and getting along grandly. They forgot completely about all the arguments of the past, and were better because of it.
The thumb turned to the index finger; his favorite finger. So slender, so purposeful. He sighed.
They kiss.

In The Valley XVI

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Rob apologized and stepped inside, taking off his hat and placing it on the hat rack next to the door.
He handed her a flower. It was very nice smelling. Jodie sniffed it, and smiled at Rob.
She beckoned him into the kitchen, where she had prepared their dinner; meatloaf and green bean casserole. She poured him a glass of lemonade.
Rob sat down at the table and began eating. He drank a bit of lemonade to wash down a bite of meatloaf.
The meal passed silently, and they cleaned off the table together. Later, in the living room, Jodie and Rob sat on their couch together and read some books.
Jodie looked at Rob, and noticed that he had reddened a little bit. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"I pooped." He said.
They kiss.

In The Valley - XV

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
What Jodie didn't realize was that Rob had had a very long day himself, and wasn't about to take any crap.
So he Bitch slapped her, because she was being a bitch.
Jodie fell to the floor and held her face where he had bitch slapped her.
"Now say you're sorry." He commanded.
She just lay on the floor crying and looking at him out the corner of her eyes.
"Say you're fucking sorry!"
"Get the hell out of here Rob!"
Rob walked over, picked her up by the shoulders, and placed her up against the wall. Rob had been working out and this was easy.
"I won't ask again."
"Rob."
"WHAT."
She grabbed his forearm.
"All this forcefulness, it's..it's really turning me on."
Rob paused, this was unexpected. "really?"
"Yes... take me!"
"..uh.." his voice cracked."Ok." Rob was very embarresed about his sexuality, and they had never had sex. You see, Jodie had always said that she wanted to 'save it for marriage'. They had fooled around and all, but never had they gone the full mile. Rob was very nervous but of course he was already hard a tree.
"Come on! Take me now! I want you inside of me!"
Rob grabbed her neck with his left hand and wrapped his other arm around her lower back. His mouth was dry.
They kiss.

In The Valley XIV

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Jodie looked at Rob; it was not Rob.
The man she did not know looked her squarely in the eye. She gasped; she did know this man.
"Hello, Jodie." The man looked insatiably irritated. His eyes rolled in their sockets as he pressed in closer to her. As she retreated from him, it allowed the man to enter the house and calmly close the door behind himself. Jodie backed against the wall, her hands clutching at the wall, her eyes wide with terror. The man turned towards her, his pristine smile glinting in the gathering dusk.
"Weren't you expect-t-t-t-ting me?" His crazed laughter echoed off the walls of the house, "I t-t-t-t-told you I was coming."
He began lurching towards her, and she saw that he had but one leg. His right was a prosthetic, and it shuddered across the floor as he dragged the foot sideways towards her.
"You shouldn't-t-t-t-t have run away, Jodie. My feelings were very hurt-t-t-t-t-t-t."
Jodie bolted for the door, but found the man's arm clasped around her waist. He drew her in, their faces almost touched.
"You know what-t-t-t-t's going t-t-t-t-to happen now, don't-t-t-t you." It was not a question, and Jodie couldn't have answered anyways. She was terrified speechless.
The man clicked his teeth together and closed his left eye, peering at her from his deeply sunken right. "I hope that-t-t-t-t you remember what-t-t-t happened to the last-t-t-t-t-t-t runaway." She did.
Suddenly, the man's arm went limp. Jodie buckled, heaving for air as the pressure from the crushing grasp lifted from her ribcage. She heard the man gasp, and the quick shuck of a knife piercing flesh. She looked up. It was Rob. He had the man in a chokehold, and she saw the gleam of a knife in the center of a rapidly growing red stain on the man's shirt. Rob let the man from his grasp, and clutched his shoulder, whirling him around. "I think you owe the lady an apology, my good man." The man looked perplexed. Rob leaned in.
They kiss.

In The Valley - XIII

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been all alone all day thanks to you."
She still had her sleeper mask on. If she had taken it off (like any smart person answering the door at night) she would have seen Rob standing on the porch holding a bloody chest with shaking hands and buckling knees.
"E...l..pme.." Rob whispered through a slew of bloody saliva that was soaking what white was left on his shirt. He began to fall forward, but pulled his arms from his chest and grabbed the door frame to stop himself. His head knocked into Jodie's shoulder.
"What are you doing? Get in here." She was a annoyed.
No answer.
So she took off her sleeper mask.
It was easy to see.
There was a giant hole in Robs chest, right over where his heart should be.
A gasp, maybe a quiet scream, came from Jodie's mouth.
Two green eyes appeared in the bloody hole.
"..ohshit.." Jodie mouthed.
"Jode..you gota...hel..pme" Rob was whispering again.
She began to back away slowly with her hands over her mouth.
The green eyes turned into a green head. The eyes now glowed red.
It was faint, but she could make out a smirk on the little face.
Two tiny green hands came out of the hole and grabbed the edges of the wound.
Rob just stood there leaning in the door frame. His eyes rolled back and blood drooling from his mouth.
The green form made a lightning leap out from Rob's chest. Before she had time to think, it landed on on Jodie's face.
They kiss.

In The Valley XII

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
She looked at the bag in Rob's hand.
"You didn't" She gasped, her boobs heaving.
"I did." Rob stepped inside and threw the bag on the table.
Jodie followed behind Rob and opened the bag.
"You know I love the Whopper."
"Yes I do."
They kiss.

In The Valley 11

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been alone all day thanks to you."
Rob pulled a greasy twenty out of his pocket and slapped it into her hand.
"That's the rest of it." He turned and began tramping across the yard, his sweatstained shirt clinging to his frame.
Jodie looked at the crumpled picture of Andrew Jackson in her hand. He looked at her with knowing eyes. She imagined him winking, and it made her smile.
Rob stopped in the grass before he hit the street He crammed his right hand into the appropriate pants pocket and started back, his left arm swinging lazily as his hand hung limp.
Jodie held out her hand, she already knew what was coming.
Rob placed a .45 slug in her palm, its nose smashed in from a previous impact. He kissed her fingers, and stood on the porch. He was a full head taller than she, and she stared at his scruffy throat.
"Do you still have the scar?" He asked, placing his hand in the small of her back.
"You know I do, you saw it this morning." She nodded her forehead into his chest and sighed.
"Do you need anything from the store? I was just going." He looked at her ponytail, and kissed the crown of her head.
She entwined her fingers in his, the bill still in her palm.
"A jar of mayonnaise"
They kiss.

In The Valley - Day X

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been all alone all day thanks to you."
"Well dear we all can't lay around the house the way you do, now can we?" Rob smirked and flashed his eyes as he passed her. He was carrying a large gym bag and tossed it on the couch.
The look on Jodie's face was quizzical and unsure. She was in a pink bathrobe and still held the front door open. "What's in the bag?"
Rob didn't answer. He walked through the kitchen and out of the back door.
The bag began to beep. It was loud and fast. Jodie looked at the sound with shock and panic. Without time to react, she was enveloped in the explosion.

If you had a bird eye view, you would have seen Rob walking into the woods behind their house and down into the valley as the house was engulfed in flames and shot pieces of glass and furniture into the yard.

---

We catch up with Rob as he enters the lower valley. He enters a campsite where two men sat next to the fire, cooking sausage and wearing cowboy boots.
"Is it done?" one of the men asked.
"Yes, it is done." said Rob with a sigh.
"Good, then our need for you is null." The second man said quietly, pulling a ray gun from his vest pocket.
"You've got to be kidding m-" Rob was silence in laser beams, crumbling to the ground.
The two men chuckled and one pointed at his dead body. The older looking man, out of the two, said with a smile:
"That stupid boy should have seen that coming." He laughed again, and looked the younger man in the eyes.
They kiss.

In the Valley - Day IX

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've alone all day thanks to you."
Rob lifted his left arm and pointed at the sky above their heads.
"Let's go."
Silently, they entered the house and packed their belongings; they had been prepared for this, but had never thought the day would actually arrive. Jodie began weeping, the tears dripping off the end of her nose onto the clothes the was packing away in the suitcase that she never wanted to use. Rob stood behind her and solemnly held her shoulders, offering silent comfort.
"When?" She sobbed, turning to him.
"About an hour ago. They took Chris first, I don't know if he's still..." Rob's voice hitched and the end of his sentence was never said. The unspoken few words he had choked on were noted by his subconscious and filed away for future reference.
"Are you sure it's time?" She already knew the answer.
He already knew that she knew the answer. He didn't answer.
Instead, he picked up his suitcase and slung it out onto the lawn. Jodie did the same with hers, and together they began pushing their furniture into the dank air outside. Their sweat beaded on their brows, mixed with their tears, and fell to mingle with the dew forming in the late hours of the night.
Once they had made their house an empty shell; a body with no organs, a mummy, they stood in the kitchen holding hands. Rob looked out the window.
"Not much time now." His face displayed his exhaustion; he had been awake since dawn the previous day.
Jodie nodded, and pulled her hand from his. She stepped to the pantry and pulled the lever concealed behind the box of month-old Cheerios.
As their house lifted silently into the sky Rob walked to the front door and beckoned Jodie to his side. They stood parallel and watched their possessions grow small in the distance.
They kiss.

In The Valley - Day VIII

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been all alone all day thanks to you." She kicked him in the groin.
"I thought you loved me!" Shouted Rob. He turned around and ran into the front yard full speed. Jodie pursued him (she was a sprinter in high school) and overcame him quickly.
Jodie yelled: "Rob, I found the pictures!" and then took him down kicking his knees. Rob's pants were badly grass stained in the fall. He turned over on his back in an unassuming position.
"You think it will make a differen-" His words were cut off by Jodie landing on his gut.
"Periods are a bitch."
They kiss.

In the Valley - Day VII

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been all alone all day thanks to you."
They kiss.

In the Valley - Day VI

Jodie answered the door; it was Rob.
"Where in the hell have you been? I've been all alone all day thanks to you."
Rob beckoned for Jodie's immediate silence by clapping his hand over her mouth.
"Shut up." Rob looked tense.
Jodie's muffled protests began as Rob arched his head over his shoulder, seemingly searching for something in the darkened hills around them.
"Get down." Rob lifted his hand from Jodie's mouth and dropped silently to the grain of the front porch.
"What are you doing?" Jodie hissed. Rob punched out the back of her knee, collapsing her in a heap next to him. "Dammit, that hurt!"
"Will you shut up, woman?" Rob glared at Jodie, as if to will her mouth shut. "Follow me."
Rob rose to a crouch and slunk inside the house; Jodie followed slowly, as the back of her knee still hurt. She followed Rob's huddled form until they reached the kitchen.
"What is going on Rob?" Jodie rubbed her bruised calf.
"They saw me." Rob was pale, and his eyes fervently shot around the room, avoiding hers.
"Who?" Jodie's calf thudded with dull pain.
"The bats." They locked eyes.
Rob whooped and sprang up from the kitchen floor, laughter bubbling from his smiling mouth as Jodie began yelling from her prone form.
"You half-witted, good-for-nothing, egotistical asshole!" Jodie shrieked. "I was actually worried that something had happened to you." She rose from the floor, but immediately buckled from the pain in her leg. Rob's rampant laughter ceased. He latched himself onto Jodie's ankle as her held her leg to inspect it.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that." He winced at the sight of the bruise.
"You dumb fuck. I should leave you and sue for domestic abuse." She tried to look mad, but was unsuccessful due to the sight of Rob's concern.
"You can't afford a lawyer." Rob kissed the bruise. "Better?"
"Not in the slightest." Jodie chuckled. "And it won't work on me, either."
They kiss.