Chapter Text
Dusty Hogg grimaced at the sight of all the medical instruments surrounding him, as his injured arm throbbed beneath the bandages, a lingering reminder of the accident. He tried to retrace the events leading up to the crash, but his memory was hazy. One second he was riding his bike down the highway, the next he was lying face down in a ditch. Whatever the cause, after Mama Hogg found out, she wasted no time dragging him by the ear to the hospital clinic, determined to make sure that her son hadn’t suffered anything worse than a mild concussion and a badly injured arm.
“ Dustan Hogg, let's get you patched up and ready to go.” The nurse walked in holding a tray of gauze to change out the bandage.
He flinched hearing his Government name, but that quickly melted away when he saw the nurse's familiar face.
“ About time…does your doctor actually do his job, cuz he just poked my arm and said it was fine! Shit still hurts.” Dusty gritted his teeth.
“ That is his job…” She smirked, sitting down to assess the tightly wrapped cast.
“ Of course, Jenny is doing everything around the place; nothing has changed since high school.” Dusty teased, holding out his arm for her to fix it.
“ I would argue, but no, nothing has really changed. But I am a nurse now.” She gave him a tight smile before she settled down to remove the odd material encasing Dusty’s arm.
He studied her features as she worked, her brow furrowing while she pulled apart the strange, web-like material. It clung stubbornly to her gloves, stretching between her fingers before finally peeling away in thin sticky strands.
“ Who did this bandage work?” Jenny asked, taking scissors to gently cut it, even though her scissors proved useless against the tough gauze.
“ Hell if I know. Well, I was driving down the road - and then this big owl jumped in front of me.” He shuddered, his other hand gripping his forehead, the image of the weird barn owl shifting into something humanoid. “ Wait, no, it wasn't an owl.”
She glanced up at him after she finally cut through the first layer of gauze. Her eyes lingered on the injury, but her mind was already racing through the possibilities. A man jumping in front of a motorcycle would explain the crash, but not the strange material clinging to his arm like spider silk. And then there was the satellite crash she’d been hearing about all day. The timing of all of these events couldn’t be a coincidence.
“ It was a guy…yeah, he jumped in front of my bike - scared me half to death, and I crashed my Harley! Damn near tore the skin right off my arm!” He growled through his teeth, trying to recall what happened, but his memories denied him
There was a man, a tall man; he swore he saw it.
At least he thought he did?
Everything was a blur, - no matter how much he sat there and replayed the events in his timeline, all he could piece together was the sight of the eerie-looking owl staring down at him, and waking up in Motel Moe’s dingy office with no recollection of how he got there.
“ Dusty, you had a bad accident. It's okay if you don't recall everything. The doctor mentioned a minor concussion on the chart.”
“ Ah- just my luck…are you having a hard time?” Dusty peered down at Jenny, who had been fussing over the bandage.
“No, whoever made this bandage made sure it was going to stay on - this is the work of a doctor.” She raised a brow as she snipped through the final strand of gauze. She gently took his hand in hers, examining the injury, turning his wrist and carefully bending his fingers to test their range of motion. When she flexed his elbow, she paused. There wasn’t a single sign of a fracture
“No fucking way.” Dusty stared at his arm in disbelief before slowly lifting it. He flexed his fingers and bent his elbow back and forth. The soreness was still there, but he had completely healed!
“ And you said you scraped the skin off your forearm?” She sat back, amazed at the sight before her. The healing skin revealed fading lines of scar tissue - but it was nothing compared to what he had described.
“ Y-yeah, yeah, I remember that.” Dusty blinked as he touched over his skin, sticky from the foreign gauze used on him.
“ I don't see anything to stitch or bandage together.” She looked carefully over it again,“ And you didn't see the medic that helped you?” She questioned.
“ No, no, I just woke up with it. Dude patched me up and left!” He scoffed
Jenny nodded as she tried to rationalize this in her mind, but she couldn't help but ponder the whereabouts of this drive-by medic.
“ Well, you're free to go - just take the medication as prescribed by the doctor, and you'll be fine in a week.” She gave him a thumbs-up.
“ It feels like I'm fine today!” Dusty laughed, holding out his arm to give her a fist bump, which Jenny politely returned.
“So, uh-- Jenny, are you doing anything after this?” Dusty smirked, tilting his sunglasses.
“ Yes, and bikers are not my type, FYI.”
“Ah, shucks- well, you can't shoot a guy for tryin’”. Dusty laughed and walked out to leave the clinic.
She waved him off, her mind racing as she cleaned up her workstation. She recalled Dusty being in High school with her, but the man was always causing trouble and would beg her for homework answers right outside their homeroom.
“ Yeah, nothing has really changed since high school.” She heaved a sigh and worked on preparing the room for the next patient.
After her shift at the hospital clinic, Jenny walked past the sliding doors and gazed toward the horizon, taking in the summer breeze as the scorching sun finally sank behind waves of magenta clouds. She drew a sharp breath before she could zone out and decompress. After all, she had plans.
She forced herself to endure the sauna of her sunbaked Chevy, coughing as she cranked down the windows and fanned herself vigorously. Wincing, she gripped the steering wheel before jamming her keys into the ignition, turning it aggressively.
“ Please start, please start, please start,” She prayed under her breath as she turned the key, feeling her engine shake until it finally roared and clanked to life.
“ Thank the watcher!” She wiped her brow before she drove down to the Strangetown Bistro.
After a quick drive to the strip mall, Jenny spotted her friend waiting in the shade, fanning herself with a magazine. She parked as close as she could before hopping out of the car.
She hurried over to Lyla with her arms spread wide, ready to embrace her best friend. Lyla gladly returned the hug, and for a moment, the sweltering heat seemed a little more bearable.
“ How are you, Jen?” Lyla greeted her with a wide smile, her makeup perfectly done up for their girls' date.
“ Sweaty, now let's go inside; the sun is killer!” Jenny laughed as she dragged her friend inside.
The girls settled down into one of the fancier booths overlooking the view of the strip mall parking lot. Lyla got straight to business, telling Jenny all the drama and hardships she was tolerating while living in Buzz’s apartment.
Jenny picked at the salad in front of her, periodically nodding her head, as she rolled the tomato around on her plate. She couldn't deny dinner with her best friend Lyla - and the ensuing rant sessions that came with it. She loved hearing the passionate recount of her daily life and the town drama she missed while she worked.
She admired Lyla's styled fluffy hair and her sparkling blue eyeshadow paired with her deep pink lipstick. Her stormy eyes bore into Jenny as she spoke a mile a minute, plastic bracelets jingling as she waved them around passionately.
“ So I tell Buzz that he needs to be home before six because we need to travel to the other side of town for our dinner reservation today - and you know what he does? Like he always does?”
“ Work late?”
“ Yeah! He works in an office at the military base, for all I know - I don't know- everything is top secret and confidential.” She rolled her eyes.
Jenny laughed at her friend's theatrics, knowing she was sitting in Buzz's place at their dinner reservation. She selfishly enjoyed it when Buzz worked late so she could have Lyla all to herself.
“ Enough about Buzz. How are you doing, Lyla?” Jenny put her hands up to try to redirect the conversation.
“ Me?” Lyla fluttered her blue mascaraed lashes as she thought about herself for the first time in ages, “ Well, I am okay. I feel better now that I am out with my best friend.” She reached over and patted Jenny’s hand, which lingered for a few seconds before pulling away.
“ You know we can always move in together if you want to avoid Grunt family drama.” Jenny smiled, knowing the dream was far from reality.
“ It would be just like university again…,” Lyla thought for a moment before turning back to her “, Jenny, if you want to move in with Buzz and me, that is always another option to get out of your parents’ house.”
Jenny shook her head in protest; she’d rather take care of her little brothers for the rest of her life than live with Buzz for a day. “ You guys…deserve to have your space.” Jenny grinned uncomfortably.
“ Well, Jenny, maybe you just need to meet someone.” Lyla shrugged.
“ Me? No, I am not looking for anyone at the moment. The options around here are limited.”
“ Oh yeah? Well, you just gotta put yourself out there. All you need is someone who is kind of handsome, makes lots of money, and will love you.” Lyla folded her hands as she gave her most logical advice.
Jenny rolled her eyes as she glanced around the restaurant. None of the men around her appealed to her in the slightest. She’d used the excuse that she was focused on her studies to avoid dating them. Now, at 25, society constantly pressured her to find a suitable man, get married, and have lots of children. Her own mother called her a spinster. No matter what she did, she couldn't bring herself to feel any sort of attraction for the opposite sex - and hearing Lyla complain about her conflicted love life had been enough to deter her.
“ I will try, but you know how picky I am,” Jenny laughed, finishing off her food.
“ Please, you don’t even have to try; you’re gorgeous, blonde, intelligent - what more can a man ask for?” Lyla gestured towards Jenny's attributes.
“ They ask for too much, in my opinion.” Jenny shrugged, taking out her wallet to pay her half of the meal.
—
Jenny sat in her car, watching the moon from her driveway while she procrastinated entering her family’s house. Tapping the clove cigarette outside her window, she drew in another puff of smoke. She swore she’d kick the habit, but it was one of the vices she allowed herself after a long day of working. The conversation with Lyla spun in her mind as she thought about a potential future with someone else, but every vision fell flat - she couldn’t bring herself to accept the bare minimum to appease the nagging feeling in her gut that she was losing time.
She sucked in the last bit of her cigarette and tossed it into the potted plants outside the front door. Taking a breath, she straightened her back to face her family.
As soon as she stepped inside, she was hit with the blaring noise of the 8 pm news broadcast - while her father snored loudly in his recliner. Meanwhile, her mother was busying herself in the kitchen, talking on the phone while she dried up dishes.
“ Oh - Jenny, you’re home.” Glarn’s groggy voice called out from the living room, his recliner falling back into place as he sat up straighter.
“ Yep, just got back from dinner with Lyla - Buzz bailed on her again.” She shrugged.
“ Probably bailed on her because the military is running rounds around this town.” Glarn leered over at the TV, the news running the same story about the satellite crash for the last two days.
“ What, they think we’re under attack or something?” Jenny commented, crossing her arms. Getting straight answers out of this man was like pulling teeth.
“ Nah, nothing like that - it’s just space junk.” He heaved a sigh and shut off the television. “If you gotta minute we need to talk-” He spotted Pascal sneaking around past the living room, avoiding his gaze.
“ Pascal! Can you come here for a second!” Glarn called out, causing his other son to flinch before he reluctantly made his way over to the living room couch.
“ Sit next to your sister; this is a serious conversation.” His hand beckoned her brother to sit, and he complied obediently.
“ What's wrong, Dad?” Pascal leaned in at the edge of his seat, hands folded in anticipation. He watched as Glarn reclined while he ran his fingers over his mustache in thought. He leaned forward, brow furrowing as he began his speech,
“ Jenny, Pascal, there is going to be a curfew set in place by the military. 10 p.m. every day.”
“ What? Why?!” Jenny huffed angrily.
“ Because…” He gulped, looking into Jenny's eyes before he scanned around the living room. “Because the military suspects enemy forces targeted the satellite - and um…there could be a spy out there.”
Pascal noticed Glarn's mustache twitch as he avoided eye contact with both of them.
“ Why are you only telling us? Shouldn't Vidcund and Lazlo be here?” Pascal questioned.
“ No. They don't need to hear this. I'm telling you guys because Jenny likes to stay out late partying. Meanwhile, you like to sneak out, which entices your little brothers to follow you like baby ducks!”
Their father bore into Pascal, making him shrink back in fear. What if he found out about his midnight excursion the night of the crash?
“ Anyways… every day I need you home by 10 p.m., no exceptions.” Glarn pointed at both of them.
Jenny raised her hand.
“ No exceptions, Jennifer.” He jabbed his finger towards her. “ Your manager has already revised your schedule for morning shifts.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Despite her busy schedule, she always found time at night to hang out and have fun - but this was throwing a wrench in her plans. Her summer was already ruined!
“ Whatever, I'm going to bed. I understand stranger danger, and I'm not going to run around the desert at 10 p.m.” She stomped away.
“ Okay- you are dismissed.” He waved his daughter off - and instantly snapped his head back to Pascal.
“ We need to talk,” Glarn whispered through his teeth.