When to Run

“You always run when things get too intense. You just can’t help it.”

Dustin had stopped walking when he heard the words. It was as if the life energy had gone out his body and left him unable to propel himself forward any further.

Now he stares at his friend whose long legs have carried him a whole body length away before he realizes that there is no one beside him on the sidewalk. That distance is like a wide gulf which had just opened up between them in that moment.

As Lionel stops and looks back, there is surprise beginning to form in his eyes. It might even be turning into regret by the time it gets to his mouth but that is hidden by the light blue surgical mask securely fastened from the bridge of his nose to the base of his chin.

Dustin continues to stare at him while shaking his head back and forth. His jaw hangs half open as the implications of the words begin to sink into him. A familiar tensing in his back and stomach makes it hard for him to speak even though there no is no mask on his face.

Lionel tilts his head to one side. “Aww I’m sorry man. That didn’t come out right.”

Dustin takes a step towards his friend as waves of heat flow up his arms. “How did that not come out right Lionel? It was like seven words or something. It is really hard to misinterpret seven words! It’s obvious that you think I am a cowardly piece of shit who doesn’t deserve your lofty attention!”

Lionel hangs his long arms to his sides. “Dude, I’m sorry but please hear me out.”

“Why the fuck should I listen to anything you have to say Lionel after something like that? Why? Just tell me!”

Lionel holds his hands palm up and waist high as he steps closer and towers over Dustin. His mouth is wide open behind his mask but no words come out for a few seconds even as his head shakes helplessly back and forth.“Because… because I love you!” The words burst out of Lionel’s mouth as he shoves his head forcefully forward and downward.

For the second time in the past minute, Dustin’s jaw hangs open. But this time there is confusion in his eyes as well as shock. Once again, he allows the implications of the words to sink into him as Lionel continues speaking. “I love you okay! I think I’ve always loved you, and I mean in that intense way that actually possesses someone.”

Lionel’s hands come up in front of him again as he stabs them downwards for emphasis. “Look it doesn’t matter! Or at least it doesn’t matter for now. What matters is that you know that I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. You are like the nicest, smartest, most sensitive person I know and I certainly don’t think you are a coward!”

Lionel takes a deep breath and draws himself up to his full height. “It’s just that you feel things way more than anyone I know. You are just wired that way you know. I watched this documentary called Sensitive and it explained how twenty percent of animals and humans are biologically wired that way. I mean it’s really interesting. They even did MRIs to show most of the brain lighting up in the twenty percent where in others there’s barely anything!”

Lionel stops, closes his eyes and takes another deep breath. “Okay, the point is that you cannot help but be overwhelmed by feeling things that most of us aren’t even aware of because I swear Dustin, your empathy is off the fucking charts.” Lionel stretches his arm way above his head to emphasize his point.

His eyes widen and he shakes his head side to side before continuing. “You care about everyone. And I mean everyone. I didn’t understand it before but I get it now. I think you would literally have died if you didn’t get out of this town and I am very glad you are alive. Until the world becomes a better place you just have to get yourself out of certain situations or else become some hardened psychotic killer or something and that’s just not you.

“You are a beautiful person so just please, always take care of yourself and run, don’t walk, when you need to because I would much rather you stay alive than die. The world is just a better place with you in it.”

The tension in Dustin’s back had melted while he listened to his friend. The hot waves of anger flooding up his arms have also cooled. All that is left now is warmth in his chest and a slight occasional tremor in his stomach.

Lionel shrugs his shoulders. “Is it okay if I hug you?”

Dustin smiles and wraps his arms around his much taller friend. The hug feels especially good because he knows that Lionel has been obsessively careful for the past few months. Even so, the sickly sweet smell of hand cleaner forces him back after only a few seconds.

Lionel continues to stare down at him. “Okay I know you can’t tell but I am actually smiling right now. I haven’t hugged anyone in like a year! And it’s just especially cool because it’s you. And, you were still willing to hug me after what I said. I was terrified you’d want to run away or maybe even need to run away from me you know.”

Lionel looks down and kicks lightly at some tiny invisible rock before continuing. “And if you had decided you needed space just to breathe and process what I said then I would have been perfectly fine with you just running down the fuckin street and catching up later!” Lionel waves his arm back toward the street from which they had just come.

He looks down before speaking again. “I thought it would be all weird for you. I’m really shocked it’s not more weird for me actually!”

Lionel finally looks up and stares at Dustin for a few seconds. “You’re just a special person man.”

Lionel takes another deep breath before turning away. “I guess we better get going though. Kate will start to wonder if you are not there soon.”

Dustin smiles. The tremors in his stomach remind him that things are a little weird. Am I gay. Is that why Lionel loves me. Does he see something? God I hope I am not gay! I don’t think I could handle it. Could I handle it? If I am really gay then I should find out instead of suppressing it or something.

Suddenly he feels very much like running away and regrets denying that he often does run. How is it that I didn’t realize that I run away all the time? Holy shit I better say something or he is gonna know that I feel weird and he’ll feel like shit.

“Are you excited about the re-opening?” Dustin glances over to his friend as he speaks.

Lionel’s shoulders droop as he continues walking. “I’m kinda terrified actually. I can’t believe that everyone is just gonna take off all their masks in two weeks!

Lionel pauses before continuing “I hate to admit it but it actually does terrify me.”

I should have known better. Fuck that was stupid. Now he is ashamed and terrified!

Dustin scrambles for the words that will help relieve his friend’s anxiety. “You know that both the government and the news outlets are artificially inflating the severity of the risks though right. They both want us more scared for different reasons.”

Lionel hangs his head. “Oh no, don’t tell me that you’re one of those conspiracy theorists. Oh well, at least you and Kate will have a grand ole time. What reason would the government have for lying to us? How is that going to benefit them? I can’t imagine being in their position and having to figure all this shit out!”

Aww Fuck! Now I’ve made it worse. Dustin takes a deep breath before speaking. “It’s not that they are lying exactly. It just that they make it seem scarier so that everyone will stay in their homes so that there is no risk of running out of ICU beds and ventilators.

“They are terrified of looking bad and not getting re-elected. Politicians are the worst ones to be leading the country at a time like this. They could have just tested and traced everybody like South Korea but not enough countries were doing that so they didn’t either. They want to cover their own asses! They still haven’t given us the straight stories on masks. They never talk about how the virus doesn’t transmit outside and how a lot of the people that die are deficient in vitamin D.”

Dustin shakes his head before continuing. “There is no way that anyone in my family or your family gets enough vitamin D living this far north. Our skin is just way too dark for that. So that’s almost like negligence. It’s no wonder some people don’t believe anything the government says now.”

Lionel shakes his head as if mimicking Dustin. “I suppose you are going to tell me next that Trump won the election and that all those wild QAnon stories about mole children are all true too. You know that a guy actually tried to drive his train into a ship because he thought it was full of mole children? How fucking whacky is that?”

Dustin turns towards him. “What? That’s got nothing to do with it. You know what though let’s not talk about that anymore.”

They walk in silence for a minute or so before Dustin speaks again.

“Does Kate still freak out when people are late?”

Lionel snorts. “You have no idea man. She freaks out over everything now. She thinks that the new 5G towers are killing all the birds and she has no phone. Worst of all she swears there’s no virus so I haven’t seen her in like a year.”

Dustin sighs. “Oh that’s sad. We were the only ones that got each other when I was here.”

Lionel tilts his head quickly from side to side before speaking. “Well yeah, that’s so true. But she was more into you though. It’s so funny that you had no idea that she had the hots for you until way after you left.”

Dustin can feel himself blushing even though there is a smile breaking on his face. “It wasn’t a big deal. It was just a couple of times in English class. What can I say? I was a late bloomer. I thought she was just being annoying. Or that maybe I was being annoying or something. And besides she was like six inches taller than me and had a boyfriend.”

Lionel smiles widely before saying “Well, neither one of those things is true anymore. And she is still very hot, so maybe today’s your lucky day.”

They slow down and stop in front of a small brown house that looks like it might be abandoned. “Well this is it!” Lionel says.

Dustin’s hands go into his pockets as he looks at the enclosed porch that is partly covered in dirt stains and mildew. “Are you sure this is the place? I mean, Kate used to be so…”

Lionel tilts his head towards him. “Obsessive and tidy? Well, she’s still obsessive but just not about the same things anymore.”

The house just looks wrong to him for some reason. Long cracks run along the corners of the two porch windows while piles of boxes block most of the view of the inside. The yard in front has sparse patches of overgrown grass and weeds that partially hide what ironically appears to be a rusted and abandoned lawn mower. Even the rickety fence joins in the irony as many of its brown boards lay strewn across the patchy lawn.

Lionel shrugs his shoulders. “It’s gotten a little more run-down but the inside was nice the last time I was in there. Who knows, maybe you’ll find a nice clean place to get a blow job in there.”

The laugh bursts out of Dustin before he has a chance to think about what was said. Lionel laughs with him as they both take turns laughing and breathing to regain their composure.

“I don’t know why that was so funny.” Dustin shakes his head and looks up at his friend. “You’re still an idiot.”

Lionel brings his hands palm up by his sides. “And that’s why you love me! But seriously, you better get going or she is going to blame it all on me for you being late. She said to just walk in.”

As he takes his hands out of his pockets Dustin sees a furry tail wave erratically before disappearing under the porch. He jumps slightly when he feels a light touch on his shoulder. Lionel tilts his head to one side as he looks down. He squeezes Dustin’s shoulder lightly and then says “Oh and Dustin, I gotta warn you, she’s a little more … eccentric.”

Dustin nods then steps past the half open gate and avoids a moist looking pile of dog shit before turning the knob of the dilapidated looking porch. The upper part of the door pulls free towards him but the bottom portion catches on the frame. He bends down and wedges his fingers in between the door and the frame. After a couple hard tugs the door comes free and he stands up again.

Immediately after standing up Dustin forgets where he is. He remembers that he should be moving forward but he can’t remember why. It is only when he hears his name in the distance that he feels the labels for everything begin to flow back to him. This was a dizzy spell and he was having them far too often for a man in his mid-thirties.

A smile spreads across his face as he recognizes the voice calling his name. Lionel’s joke flashes in his head along with naked sweaty bodies and heaving chests. As he steps eagerly forward, he jerks to a halt as if someone had just tugged hard on his shirt. He is relieved when he looks down and sees that his shirt is caught on a nail jutting out from the weathered doorframe.

She is there in the open doorway when he looks up from freeing his shirt. He is shocked that she still looks like a young girl in the thin sun dress she is wearing. His heart flutters when she smiles at him and he is momentarily frozen before rushing forward to wrap his arms around her. She hugs him briefly then leads him into the house before closing and locking the front door.

He is still standing beside the door with a smile on his face when she turns to look at him. Her large nipples are now pushing out against the thin material of the flowery sun dress as she stands in front of him. “You’ve grown a lot since grade ten. We’re the same height now so you won’t have any excuse this time when I run my bare toes up your leg.”

The moment is so perfect that Dustin doesn’t want to ruin it by saying anything. Instead he just continues to smile even though he is almost certain that he must look like an idiot.

She steps a little closer while her eyes dart from his lips to his eyes and back again. “I have always loved that smile and I had always dreamed you’d be back here.”

She places her hand on the back of his neck and runs her fingers through his hair as she brings her face closer to his before saying “It’s so unsettling looking at your skin right next to mine.”

Her fingers are massaging the muscles of his neck through his hair as she speaks. But even though there is care and love in her hands, Dustin feels as if his body is pulling away from her. There is no room to run and the statement is so shocking that he is frozen in place.

She smiles and tilts her head to one side. “Sorry, that sounds a little strange, I know but it’s the truth. It feels almost magical when I hold my cream colored hand next to your dark chocolate face.”

Kate shakes her head slowly. “It’s so beautiful that I can’t even explain it. It’s like I want to eat you up or something. There’s like a flutter in my womb or something when I look at my skin next to yours. It’s unsettling but I fucking love it. ”

Dustin closes his eyes and breathes in as she brings her lips less than an inch from his. A soft smile spreads across his face as the scent of her fills his nostrils. Why does she always smell like cinnamon?

She is staring at him when he opens his eyes again. She continues staring for a few seconds before speaking. “You are so intense! I know this is killing you but you are loving it at the same time. I get so turned on just watching you feel so much. Should I just torture you by keeping my lips just out of range of yours?”

She answers her own question by pressing her lips softly against his. As she kisses him it feels like Dustin’s head is about to explode. He has waited for this moment his entire life and he cannot believe it is actually happening.

She pushes him back against the wall and snakes her tongue into his mouth while holding his arms down against the wall. Dustin is surprised both by how forcefully she is holding him and by how much he is enjoying it.

His arm jerks upward to try and hug her when he feels her firm nipples rub against his chest. He is momentarily surprised when he cannot move but she releases him almost immediately before quickly pulling away.

“I am so glad you are not wearing a mask like all the other sheep in this town! I just knew you were smarter than that. I just knew you’d get it.”

She hugs him and presses her body into him as she grips and squeezes his shoulders tightly. “I am so glad you came back Dustin. I love that we can finally do this and I want to do much more with you but we will have all the time in the world for that later. Right now we have a lot of catching up to do. Come on I wanna show you something.

“Hey whaddya think of the place? Pretty cool don’t you think?”

Dustin arches his neck and looks up at the high ceilings and large living room before looking back towards the door. “It’s actually unbelievable Kate. It’s beautiful and so clean…”

A frown spreads across Kate’s brow. “Heeeyy! Don’t sound so shocked that I keep a clean house!”

Dustin laughs. She was always so quick witted! “No it’s not that.” He looks back towards the front door.

“It’s just that…”

Kate waves her hand as if telling him not to bother. “Yeah I know it looks like shit out there but there is a very good reason for that. I have been a very busy girl. I can’t wait to show you what I am doing!”

She breaks into a wide smile that reminds Dustin of when they were seven years old and getting ice cream together. “I am so excited to show you! Come on!” She grips his fingers tightly before turning and walking briskly to a door on the other side of the house.

Dustin is still looking around at the spacious living room when she opens the basement door and heads down the dark stairwell. He stops at the top of the stairs before saying “Is there a light switch or something Kate?”

Kate looks back up towards him. “Oh no! I had to get rid of all the regular light bulbs down here. They hate them. Don’t worry. Your eyes will adjust. It’s really not that dark down here. We can leave the door open though. It will close by itself after a few minutes. That should give your eyes time enough to adjust. Come on down. You gotta see this. They are sooo cute.”

“What are we talking about Kate? Are you breeding puppies or something?” Dustin says with a tightness in his throat.

Dustin feels the tension begin to spread to his shoulders and back when he gets a faint whiff of damp burlap. A second later, as Kate gets to the bottom of the stairs, an invisible fist clenches in his stomach when he hears loud rustling in the far corner of the basement.

Dustin glances back up at the half opened basement door as the short hairs on the back of his neck become instantly erect. When he looks towards the source of the sounds, the urge to run up the stairs becomes almost unbearable in his body.

A look of concern washes over Kate’s face as she says “On no! Look at you Dustin! You are like a deer frozen in the headlights!”

He jumps slightly when he feels something near the top of his socks but breathes out deeply when he sees that its’ Kate’s fingers. As she slides her hand up underneath his pant leg, Dustin feels his panic begin to recede as it is replaced by images of him in tenth grade English class.

She smiles and squeezes his leg firmly before releasing him. “There, I bet that brought back memories! Is that better? Now you just concentrate on the nice hormones flowing through you while I tease them out of the corner.”

Kate begins to make clucking sounds as she leans her body over towards the dark corner. “That’s it, come on you guys.” Dustin feels as if he is watching the scene from somewhere behind his own left shoulder as three small naked and spindly figures emerge from the shadows. Looking almost like shy ten-year-olds, they approach with the same twitchy unsettling movements that spiders use.

The first lowers its head towards her free hand and Kate begins to stroke it lovingly. “Awwww, you’re okay. It’s just Dustin, he’s one of us. You’ll see.”

The creature turns it head up towards him and the blood feels as if it has suddenly chilled in Dustin’s veins. It has a slit for a mouth and two small holes for nostrils. He only notices the tiny eyes set in a large forehead when it turns slightly to look at him.

Kate turns her attention back to him at the same time the creature does. “Oh no! You’re panicked again! Don’t worry Dustin it’ll be okay. The important thing to remember now is to just stay calm and not to startle them because they have very sharp teeth and can be aggressive when threatened.

“Aren’t they beautiful though? These are the mole children that everyone has been talking about but they have it all wrong! They are actually alien babies that take over a hundred years to mature, well mature enough for inter galactic travel anyway. I am just kind of like a galactic baby sitter because their parents are so busy putting down insurrections and ensuring that upstart civilizations like ours don’t blow themselves up. They will be intervening on Earth soon enough. But they say we just have to…” Kate shrugs her shoulders. “We just have to go through this to learn on our own.”

She gestures with her head around the basement. “This whole place is their creation. It is absolutely amazing. We are actually over a hundred million light years from Earth right now. The porch is sort of a portal that is similar to the event horizon of a black hole. Your body is in two places at once at the same instance in time. Isn’t that cool?

“Your consciousness has actually preceded your body with just enough information to recreate your body here. The rest of you will catch up shortly and you will feel much more yourself then.

“Isn’t that incredible though! It’s the stuff we used to talk about all the time Dustin. I am just so glad that you are actually here to share it with me.”

By now the other two creatures have come further into the light. They are both sniffing the air and making low growls as their mouths open to reveal several rows of large, sharp teeth.

“Oh God, they are picking up on my excitement. Okay you guys, now just settle down. That’s not nice.” She says the words in a calm tone but Dustin has heard this tone from her many, many times. She is stuck in that place between confusion and panic. She always does this in a situation she cannot control. It’s a way of buying time to see if something will change for the better on its own

Dustin however, has long since left confusion behind and is in full panic mode. His legs begin to shake uncontrollably as the door at the top of the stairs slowly closes and his breath stops in his chest.

“You know what Dustin, just freeze right where you are it’s too late. I have to time this just right. I haven’t had to do this in a while. Just stand still so I know where you are and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Her voice has changed again. Dustin can feel some of the tension release in his stomach. This is confident Kate again. She has figured something out and knows exactly what to do. She has never let him down when she is like this.

Suddenly the growling creature closest to him leaps high into the air with its arms outstretched. Sharp claws extend from each of the four digits on each hand while a mucus-like fluid pours over its jagged teeth onto its greyish skin as it descends upon him from what seems like an impossible height.

He knows that he has stopped breathing but Dustin feels little else except a certainty that he is going to die. The attack has happened with such speed and ferocity the there is nothing he can do to defend himself. How could I have thought that Kate would be able handle this?

Dustin’s arms begin to come up towards his head even though he knows that the creature will sink its teeth into his neck long before his hands even get to his chest. He can feel the sharp teeth ripping through the tendons at the base of his skull and neck as the powerful jaws crush the relatively soft bones in that area.

He is beginning to close his eyes when he sees the creature’s eyes close above him. Kate is beside him then with her hand firmly clasped around the creature’s throat. With a disdainful toss she hurls it hard against the cement wall facing the stairs as her sundress twirls almost up to her waist.

She grasps the second creature by the neck as it leaps towards Dustin and vaults with it in hand to land with her knee on the chest of the one she tossed against the wall. As she slams the one she is holding by the throat hard against the floor she speaks in a relaxed but firm voice.

“That’s not nice. You know better than that.”

The creatures become docile almost immediately and begin to lick her arms. “That’s better. But one of you could have really hurt Dustin and that would have really hurt me. Can you feel that?”

The creatures begin to make whimpering sounds as they both bring their hands up to cover their eyes. The one that first approached Kate looks up at Dustin and nods before walking over and rubbing its head tenderly on Kate’s shoulder.

“I know, I know but I have to put them in time out for a bit, just until Dustin can settle down. Can you feel his fear? That’s not good. You know that’s not good.”

Kate slowly rises as the two creatures she subdued lie whimpering on the floor. “Take them to the time-out room and sit with them a while please. Can you do that for me?” The first creature takes the other two by their wrists and leads them off into a darkened corner of the room.

Kate turns back towards him and smiles weakly. “I’m sorry about that Dustin. Are you gonna be okay?”

She has never looked more beautiful to him and Dustin cannot explain why that is. “You were amazing Kate. I mean… I can’t believe I am still alive… you’re beautiful and strong and fucking amazing!”

Dustin can feel the fear in his body turning into excitement as each word tumbles out of his mouth. He points to where she stood on the stairs a minute ago. “How did you… I mean it seemed impossible, I thought I was dead!”

Kate gestures with her palms opening towards him at her waist. “But you’re alive though and it’s because of their science and technology. I am much stronger than Lionel now and much faster too. Faster than these little guys at least. Thank God! But there is much, much more Dustin. Do you wanna see?”

Dustin is silent for a few seconds before speaking. As he scans his body he realizes that the fear has all turned to excitement now as Kate’s reassurances have their customary effect on him. “You said that the aliens are going to intervene. What are they going to do?”

Kate nods at him as she brings herself up to her full height. “That’s the Dustin I remember. They are going to give us telepathic powers over the period of one generation so that we realize that we are all connected. That way no one will try to grab something just for themselves because they will realize immediately that it will inadvertently come around to hurt them and the ones they love.”

Dustin is silent again as his eyes dart side to side. “That’s brilliant! That might actually work because we will all be able to instantly feel the pain we are causing everyone else.”

Kate smiles widely at him. “That’s right Dustin, we will all be like you.”

There it is again! I am not the nicest person in the world. I wish everybody would stop saying that.

Dustin takes a deep breath. “They are going to have to be a lot better than me Kate. But how are they going to do it?”

Kate sighs and shrugs her shoulders. “They will do it in a few different ways but the biggest one is…”

Kate shrugs her shoulders again. “I have to admit. That part’s not the greatest but there is no other way. They have been experimenting on human children for years now and have perfected a fairly harmless method of boarding them with these guys in places like this since these guys actually spread their empathic powers. But in order to do it properly they will need to take a few million children away all at once to suitable galactic nurseries until they become adults.

“Admittedly, some may not survive but the ones who return will all have telepathic, telekinetic and other enhancements much better than mine. They will then take their rightful places to facilitate our transcendence to that wonderful new way of being that is going to save the world.”

Dustin could feel the tension creep back into his shoulders as she spoke. “What?”

The thought of his young niece suddenly being ripped from his sister’s house leaves an ache in the pit of his stomach. “I know I said that it sounded great but what about all the parents of these children and all their relatives. They will all be devastated! They will never forgive anyone who does this!”

Kate sighs again and shrugs her shoulders. “I wish there was some other way Dustin. But Earth is nowhere close to being the top thing on their agenda. It will take a couple of generations for all the hurt feelings to die down but at least we won’t kill off everything on the planet before it’s too late.”

Dustin leans towards her as the blood rushes up his arms once more. “Hurt feelings Kate. Hurt feelings!? You are talking about the lives of tens of millions of people being devastated not to mention all the billions more that will be very angry once they find out what’s going on! You can’t let them do this!”

Kate’s brow furrows together as she leans towards him. “Dustin you just keep that temper of yours in check! There is nothing anyone can do about it. We are like ants to them and most of the world leaders already know what has to happen. So just please calm down.”

Dustin shakes his head. “There has to be some other way! Just give us a chance!”

Kate steps quickly to stand with her back to him at the base of the stairs before speaking in a careful measured tone. “Dustin please just take a breath. For both our sakes just concentrate on staying calm. They have all picked up on your anger. They know that you want to stop their parents and they don’t like that. And this time there might be too many of them for me to handle”

The entire darkened area in front of Kate comes alive with dozens of murky figures shifting around with that unsettled spider-like movement.

The blood chills in Dustin’s veins as his legs begin to shake uncontrollably once more.

“You know what Dustin, maybe you should just step back a little.”

“What?” He had barely heard the soft words as she had spoken without turning around.

The one she had been stroking steps into the light coming from underneath the door, leans its head to the right and speaks with a deep resonant voice. “Just step back a little.”

Why does that creature sound like Lionel? Is it possible that he somehow is Lionel?

He hears Lionel’s voice again, this time clearly coming from behind him. “Dustin! Holy shit man! You’re caught on a nail or something. You’re gonna rip your shirt! Just step back a little and you can pull it right offa there.”

As the labels for everything begin to pour back into his mind, Dustin feels his legs still shaking uncontrollably.

This is a dizzy spell and I am still at the porch door! Or it’s the portal to another place in the galaxy! Holy Shit!

Everything in his body tells him that what just happened was real even though his mind assures him that it was entirely responsible for creating the life-like fantasy.

He throws himself backwards in a lunge and lands with his right foot squarely in the middle of the moist pile of dog shit. His shoe slips out from him almost immediately but he manages to avoid putting his hand in it as his palm jams hard into the ground to stop him from falling any further.

Lionel steps towards him and says “What the fuck Dustin! Are you okay?”

Dustin rights himself and rushes through the gate as he hears footsteps coming towards the door.

The dogshit sticks awkwardly to his shoe and he feels like he is stepping on something every time his right foot hits the ground but Dustin does not slow down.

Lionel is almost frantic as Dustin grabs his arm while rushing by him.

“Dustin will you just tell me what’s going on?”

“No time to explain right now Lionel. But trust me. It’s time to run.”