2nd chapter

Part 3 At the Lab


Captain Monarch in the army jeep races around the bend of New Providence Road up toward the professor's partially destroyed laboratory on the Watchung Reservation hill, where the professor previously had gone back inside to save his papers.

Captain Monarch slams his jeep to a stop, jumps over the side board and races through the unhinged front door of the lab. From amid the dust, the Captain calls: Professor! Professor, we must get out. Ceiling debris is falling and we don’t know when the structure will collapse. Professor! I hear you making a noise, keep up the noise so i can find you. There you are, let me push those beams off you, you’re trapped bad. Let me help you up, we need you at Command HQ. What? What are you saying?

Duh!...I...can’t….concentrate….duh…..can’t…think…..duh…must have got too near the LHS… and got some……strange LHS emitted substance…on my….forearm…duh……..do not touch it….scrape it away with a ruler…..duh…..duh…..

Professor, we do have reports this substance may be dangerous. There you go, I got the LHS substance away from you, you’re safe now, can you think?

……..duh!.......

My god, there’s lingering after-effects from the LHS substance. Professor, we’ve got to get you back into reality. I got it; maybe your progress ledgers and textbooks over there hold the answer. I’ll bring one over and see what’s written in it. Professor, which of these books may hold the answer? Wow, when I hold up a textbook near you, your eyes start to clear, is this good?

Yes…..Captain…somehow…..I…..feel…..suddenly....stronger, hold ..those books closer to….me, I’m starting... To get my consciousness back, …starting to think better. The affects of the LHS substance are subsiding; I feel I am coming back to normal, Captain.

The Professor gets up and says: Thanks for saving my life, and my intelligence, from that LHS. The professor peers at the captain’s badge. Captain Monarch is it, I owe you one. Now let’s get out of here to HQ and figure out a way to stop that fungus footed, spewing LHS.

The army jeep with the professor and with Captain Monarch at the wheel flies back down New Providence Rd into the outlying destruction around Onion County and to face the creature they call the LHS.


Part 4 Airborn and Evening


In a cloud of dust, the army jeep commandeered by Captain Monarch and carrying the Professor screeched to a stop on 2nd avenue in front of the Lincoln- Franklin school complex in Garwood. As they climb out, a slight sickly sweet aroma fill their nostrils. The General from the main operations tent calls to them to quick, go to the dispensing tent and get fitted for a gas mask. Once inside the operations center, a muffled but serious discussion ensues.

Why the gas masks, General?

General Renna replies: We are in a dangerous situation, professor. The LHS is emitting a green substance which is being distributed by winds. This substance appears to affect anyone’s common sense that comes in contact with it. And we cannot allow key coordination strategies to be compromised by possible blithering. We must take precautions.

The professor deliberated to himself on the substance and came to a sudden awareness.

"That substance that the LHS is emitting must be a byproduct of all the campaign slogans and rhetoric that I had constantly been feeding it. Political rhetoric as it stands is just useless blather, but the LHS somehow reversed the properties of the rhetoric and has created a solid substance to be used against us. This solid blather is affecting any infected person’s common senses, making them like zombies with no independent thought processes."

Then he had a sudden realization: "The LHS may be creating its own army of those affected by the solid blather material. A blithering idiot zombie army!. If this is so, all life in Onion County, New Jersey and possibly the earth is in Peril. Can the giant LHS and its spewing blather be stopped?" Furthering his thinking, he believed it would not be wise to not tell the general of the possible impending doom.

The Professor turned to the General and spoke: General this substance is to be considered solid blather, dangerous, and no one should come in contact with it. As to being airborne, my quick analysis of the blather purports that it is probably comprised of part hot air, part moisture and an unknown substance that is carried aloft by the vehicles of the hot air and moisture. This allows some residents to be affected by the blather by inhalation and turn into some sort of blithering zombie. This is a terrible turn for the worse as it’s now airborne. I strongly suggest sealing up the tent airtight and setting up dehumidification of the ingress air that we breathe. We would need portable fans and dehumidifiers, 6” hosing, visqueen plastic, tape, cotton, powder shields and dust spot testers; here, I’ll make a list.

The General turned to his trusted Captain Monarch and gave him the instructions: Two towns over, we are lucky to have a company that has this type equipment for maintaining strict cleanliness and rigid air controls. Take Corporal Bean and Private Delio and go with haste to Schering Plough in Kenilworth to retrieve the equipment on this list. Be aware, this may be a most dangerous mission in this campaign against the onslaught of the LHS. Do not breathe deeply, and stay away from anyone that may be affected by the blather and turned into blithering zombies. It is getting toward evening so be back before midnight.

The Captain and his two subordinates jump into the jeep and head down North Avenue thru Cranford. The General and the professor turn inward to determine any further strategies to contain the giant LHS causing this Peril in Onion County. Dusk of the first nightfall slowly inches over the compound. Black out lights in the camp turn on and shine dimly in the various tents. The major comes down from his high observation point atop Franklin school to retrieve a cup of coffee. The Garwood streets around the army HQ complex are desolate, the minor electronic bizzing of the nearby blinking light at Orchard and Brookside making an odd noise thru the silence.

Miles away, the racing jeep passes thru Cranford into Roselle Park and now corners down Faitoute toward the Kenilworth Boulevard. As the three men progress down Michigan Avenue, the corporal turns to Captain Monarch to remark: Captain, this may sound strange, but it sure is eerily quiet and I saw no residents in sight from Cranford all the way into Kenilworth.

Before he was able to finish his sentence, the Captain had to hold up on his speeding jeep because in the dimming evening light between the Dunkin Donuts and the Post Office on the Boulevard, it appears that a wide heavy obstacle of some sort comprised of overturned cars stayed their route, almost like a makeshift roadblock. The Captain slowed to a stop.