"Okay guys, the stripper's here. Everyone take a seat."

Dermit stumbled to his assigned seat and plopped down with a stupid grin on his face. He mumbled something about his fiancee killing him if she ever found out. Everyone told him to shut up.

Dermit's seat was purposely positioned off to the side so the stripper had plenty of space in the center of the room to do her routine, but still have room to maneuver around his chair, sticking her boobs and butt, or whatever, into his face.

Rod opened the door and let the stripper and her bodyguard in. She was blond, not naturally, by the looks of her black roots, and pretty enough to do. She wore a coat so he couldn't tell how big her boobs were, but caught a whiff of weed on their clothes and wasn't sure what he thought about that. Stoned strippers could go either way; they could be extra nice or extra lethargic. He preferred drunk strippers: alcohol was more reliable at loosening inhibitions.

She says Call me Misty and Rod says Sure. Whatever. The big and ugly bodyguard said he would not wait outside in the car. Rod scowled but didn't argue. He had a rule not to mess with guys who looked like they could kick his ass.

He dug a wad of cash out of his pocket, three hundred, and gave it to Misty. She counted it and put it in her bag, which she gave to Big and Ugly.

"What's the groom's name?"

"Dermit," Rod said, pointing and grinning. Now that the business had been taken care of, it was time to party.

Big and Ugly stuck a fat finger in Rod's face. "No one lays a hand on her unless she says so."

Rod tried to look insulted, which wasn't hard because he was. "I know the rules, dude."

"It'll cost you extra, too, dude," said Big and Ugly.

Rod nodded and smiled. That the bodyguard had brought the subject up meant it was possible, even likely. Touching often led to other things, which led to even more things, and pretty soon they could have the makings of a real fun time. He turned his back to Misty and gave his boys a lewd grin and a thumbs up.

Misty set up her boom box and Big and Ugly crossed his arms and stared down the drunks. The music came on, loud and jazzy, and Misty started her routine. The guys hooted and whistled as she pranced around the room. Rod had seen better, but Misty wasn't half bad.

The song changed and Misty starting taking off clothes, tossing most of them at Dermit. The guys hooted louder and Misty got bolder. She was down to her bra and over-panties - Rod knew Misty wore something smaller underneath - when she stood behind Dermit and pulled his head back, trapping it between her boobs, which, Rod noted with great satisfaction, were nice and big.

Even Big and Ugly was getting worked up, staring at Misty like everyone else, smiling and licking his lips. Must be a new guy, Rod thought. Old guys got bored, having seen it too many times.

Misty hopped around a while longer before removing her bra and laying it over Dermit's head. She went around the room shaking her boobs, lingering in front of each guy. She lingered longer in front of Rod, the money-man. Their eyes met. He grinned and nodded, holding up two fingers. She smiled and nodded back, the deal done. She would get another two hundred for anything extra she was willing to do, on top of whatever tips she could get out of the other guys. Strippers could make hundreds in tips if they were real friendly.

A minute later the over-panties came off and Misty was ninety-eight percent naked. She gave Big and Ugly a nod and he changed the song. Slow music filled the room and she began gyrating on Dermit's lap, juicing him up.

The scene was hot and Rod was excited, as he was sure everyone else was, even Misty.

Then two things happened: Dermit passed out and fell forward, his face smacking Misty's mostly-bare ass, and something came crashing through the patio door.

The laugh Rod meant to let out at the sight of Dermit's face hitting Misty's ass became a shriek when a black monster with giant silver teeth landed on his dining table, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

The monster leapt at the closest guy, Howie Levy, Rod's least favorite friend, and cut Howie in half with its silver teeth. With Howie's intestines hanging out of its mouth, it leapt at the next guy, Pat Tanszilla, who was too drunk to move. The monster bit off Pat's legs. His chair flipped backward and he screamed.

All of sudden everyone was yelling and running, frantic to find an exit. Rod flattened himself against the wall and Big and Ugly, who was supposed to be looking after Misty, disappeared out the front door. The monster swung its long tail across the floor, taking legs out from under Misty and four guys. It jumped on Misty and bit a leg off. She screamed and flung her arms in front of her face. It bit her arms off.

Guys got up screaming, only to run into each other and fall down again. The monster jumped on one and ripped open his stomach with a long silver nail that popped out of one of its six feet. The guy screamed and guts sprung out of the gash. It went after another guy, knocking him down and biting off a leg.

Rod ran along the wall, away from the monster to the broken glass door. Outside, he slipped and fell, cutting himself on shards of glass. He got up to run but felt a sharp pain in his leg, lost his balance and fell onto the patio. His leg stung like crazy. Looking down to check it out, he saw he was missing a foot.

Screaming, he looked up into the face of something that looked like a smaller version of the monster he'd just run away from, except that it didn't have any legs. Its face was covered with blood - My blood! Then, as if two weren't bad enough, five more of the things came sliding across the lawn.

Rod did get lucky that night, though not in the way he had hoped. The little monsters had yet to learn that eating their prey piece-by-piece was more satisfying that devouring it quickly: Rod died in seconds.

After eating Rod, the smaller creatures crawled into the house where the big one with legs was waiting. Also waiting, though not willingly, were Misty and the boys; they would play a tragic role in tonight's lesson.

The vibrations their prey made with the holes in their heads did not bother the creatures, they couldn't hear the screams. Neither were they bothered when the vibrations brought more prey. It would prove instructive for them all.

Delbert and Susan Morely had lived next door to Rod Pennyworth for four years. They loved their house, liked the location, the big shady trees lining the street, but they hated Pennyworth.

"He's a shiftless bum!" Delbert had told Susan the day Pennyworth moved in. He'd been looking out his bedroom window on the second floor into Pennyworth's backyard, where a loud party was taking place at eight-thirty in the evening.

"A worthless piece of crud!"

Pennyworth had to be trained "Like a man trains a dog" about what quiet time meant. If there was loud music, yelling, or laughter coming out of Pennyworth's house or yard after ten, Delbert called the cops. It had taken six months and eleven 9 1 1 calls for Pennyworth to finally get it.

Pennyworth retaliated by making all kinds of extra racket before ten, but Delbert didn't care. He purchased two pairs of Bose Noise-Canceling headphones, at three hundred bucks a pop, that shut the noise out even when they weren't plugged into a stereo. They came out of their storage cases any time Pennyworth cranked the music or started hollering, and stayed on until ten. When they came off, the neighborhood had damn well better be quiet or Delbert called the cops.

Now, after two-and-a-half years of relative quiet, the screaming started again.

Delbert jumped out of bed and ran to his window in time to see a dark compact car speed away from Pennyworth's house. Nothing unusual about that, cars were always coming and going on the weekends. Even now there were four or five parked in Pennyworth's driveway and in front of his house.

"What's that idiot up to? Doesn't he know what time it is? It's almost midnight!"

It wasn't even eleven-thirty but Susan knew this wasn't a good time to tell Delbert he was exaggerating again.

"Bring me the phone, Suzie. I'm calling the cops. Criminy! Do you hear that screaming? What's he doing in there, having one of those sex orgies?"

"Get the phone yourself, Delbert. I'm tired."

Then she heard the screaming, too, and it was loud. She grabbed the phone and joined Delbert at the window.

She handed him the phone. "It sounds terrible, Delbert, like someone's being killed."

Delbert's hands were shaking as he dialed. The screaming continued and Susan pulled her nightgown tight around her neck.

"Hello," Delbert said as someone picked up at the other end. "I want to report terrible screaming coming out of the house at twenty-two forty-five ... What's that? Well good. I hope they hurry. It sounds like someone's getting hurt in there. Yes, yes. We'll stay inside."

He clicked off. "The cops are already on the way. Someone else called it in." He looked across the street. "Must have been Luther."

Three police cars came speeding up the street, lights flashing and sirens wailing. They screeched to a stop in front of Pennyworth's house and policemen jumped out and took up defensive positions behind their vehicles. Delbert saw shotguns and pistols, and at least one rifle with a scope.

"Oh, Delbert! What's going on?"

"Somebody must have gone crazy in Pennyworth's house. Stand back, Suzie!"

She didn't move, frozen by the drama unfolding in front of their neighbor's house.

"The screaming stopped -" Delbert started to say, when they heard glass break and saw something jump through their neighbor's picture window and land on the lawn; a big dinosaur, twenty feet long, with three sets of legs. It's thick tail flicked back and forth as it stared at the police. Its mouth opened, as if hissing or snarling, revealing teeth that reflected the red and blue revolving lights coming from the police vehicles. Delbert expected it to roar or growl, but it made no sound.

Susan screamed as the policemen opened fire; shotgun blasts roared into the night, followed by the reports of handguns and a loud distinctive clap from the rifle. Bullets and pellets hit the thing's teeth and ricocheted off, throwing sparks that lit the lawn with yellow light, and hit its body and plopped to the ground, bouncing on the grass.

It ran at the policemen, covering the thirty feet to the street in seconds, its mouth open, jaws impossibly wide. It jumped on top of a guest's car, then onto the closest police vehicle. The top half of a policeman disappeared. It spat and lunged at the next policeman, taking his head, then lunged again.

The man with the rifle fired several shots into the thing's body from no more than twelve feet, but the rounds had no effect. Four policemen died in ten seconds.

The three still alive jumped into a car and took off. The thing leapt and grabbed the car with its powerful jaws, and Delbert and Susan watched it throw the police car thirty feet through the air toward Pennyworth's house. The car hit nose-first on the lawn and flipped over, coming to rest on the roof.

Running and leaping, it landed on the upside-down vehicle, pinning it, then jumped up and down, flattening the roof. Arms waved through the windows, followed by the head of a man trying to escape.

Susan screamed and fainted.

Delbert watched the thing look at Pennyworth's house and turn its head a little, then felt something pass through his house, and then him, vibrating the window pane and thrumming through his bones.

A few seconds later several miniature versions of the creature came crawling out of Pennyworth's house, slithering across the lawn like giant snakes, their teeth glinting in the night. He counted six as they attacked the car.

They tore into it with their metal teeth, ripping through the door and pulling out parts of the trapped policemen, going back for more. In thirty seconds Delbert was sure all three men must have been completely devoured, but the things continued to shred the vehicle.

Thinking the nightmare was nearly over, Delbert looked at the big one with the legs, to see what it was doing: his heart nearly stopped and his breath caught in his throat.

It stood on Pennyworth's lawn, staring up at Delbert's window with its three yellow eyes.

The vibration passed through him and his house again. The smaller things stopped shredding the police car and turned to look at him.

They were coming for him, with their long bloody terrible teeth.

Then, a loud whipping, thumping sound, beating through his rib cage. Delbert grabbed his chest and gasped, thinking he was having a hear attact.

A ray of light - from heaven? - lit up the night like an August afternoon. Delbert shielded his eyes from the light but did not take his eyes off the things on the lawn. It was clear the bright light bothered them; they closed their eyes and ducked their heads, his window and bones throbbed with their vibrations.

The smaller monsters made a beeline for Pennyworth's house, seeking refuge from the light. Delbert became giddy, thinking he and Susan had been saved by God himself. He smiled at his good fortune, then screamed when he saw the big thing leap at his house.

The walls shuddered when it hit and the house shook rhythmically until a silver spike pierced the wall of his second story bedroom.

Delbert turned and ran and was halfway across the room when a window shattered and wood splintered and there was a sudden sharp pain in his legs. He fell to the floor with fiery agony and struggled to turn over, made it just in time to see it rip into Susan with its silver teeth, now red with her blood. It tore out her stomach, swallowed, and bit off her head.

Delbert screamed and it looked at him, turning its head; in the madness of his last few living moments he almost thought it smiled at him.

It jumped, landed on Delbert with a foot and jabbed a long silver claw through his abdomen, pinning him to the floor. He gasped and grabbed at the thing's foot. The pain was unbearable.

Bright light filled the room and the monster whipped its head around, snarled, turned back and bit Delbert twice, taking his head and most of his chest, pulled out its claw and tore open his abdomen, shredding his intestines.

Returning to the window, it shut its eyes and leapt out into the light, soaring through the air and landing on Pennyworth's lawn. It ran through the house to the back, exited the yard, the smaller ones trailing behind, and disappeared into the canal that snaked its way through the neighborhood.

The light from the helicopter followed it to the canal but lost it once it went into the water.

Pandemonium broke out on the street. Dozens of neighbors, awakened by the sirens or the screams, watched the terrible events from their windows. Five minutes after the monsters disappeared, they threw their kids in their cars and left.

Photo albums and jewelry were left behind. No one bothered grabbing a gun; they'd seen what little good guns did against the creatures with silver teeth. They took whatever dogs and cats lived indoors but left their outside pets, not willing to risk the time it took to fetch them. They left their clothes and their computers and their video games and their file drawers full of tax returns and stock listings. They left their briefcases and their backpacks and their library books and movie rentals.

They left with their kids and whatever clothes they had on their backs. They took their wallets and their purses and their cell phones, if the cell phone happened to be sitting by the door they exited through.

They threw their kids in their cars and they left.

When they hit 99, some went south and some went north, depending on which direction the nearest relative lived. Those that didn't have relatives in California took whichever on-ramp was most convenient.

They just threw their kids in their cars and they left.

They left Modesto: it wasn't safe anymore. There were monsters in Modesto, they saw them with their own eyes, things that cut through cars made of steel and bit off heads and threw cars around like Tonka trucks and crawled up the sides of houses to get at the people inside and could jump twenty or thirty feet and couldn't be stopped or even slowed down by bullets and shotguns and high-powered rifles.

They threw their kids in their cars and they left. They ran away from the monsters and never returned to Modesto.

Chapter 18.

Baskel was talking to Captain Bozeman on his cell phone in the kitchen; Bozeman had insisted they talk in private.

"Right. I understand," Baskel said as he clicked off.

"Everyone's in shock," he said, moving into the living room and resuming his place on the couch. "We lost seven good people, men with wives and families. We don't have an accurate body count inside the house because no one will go in. Can't say I blame them. Guy who called it in said there were six or seven guys, plus the stripper. Must have been inside himself, maybe came with the stripper."

Then he added, "Pretty nasty way to die."

("I'm sorry.") Jensen's voice said inside his head.

"Yeah, you're sorry, I'm sorry, we're all sorry. Now there's more people sorry."

("I know you're frustrated but there was nothing you or anyone else could have done. You cannot kill them.") All the failures, all the dashed hopes, all the frustrations, all the guilt, all the shock, all the grief, and all the fear came to a head for Dave Baskel, and he exploded.

"Bullshit! Bullshit!" He leapt off the couch, a lamp crashed to the floor. "I'm sick of your psychic bullshit! You don't know anything!"

He was in her face now, shouting and spraying her with spittle.

"You don't know jackshit! Don't tell me we can't kill them! We can kill anything! We can walk on the moon, dammit, take pictures of Mars! We can shoot a missile from a silo in North Dakota and guide it up the nose of a raghead in Iran if we want! You're telling me the most powerful nation in the history of this planet can't kill a few snakes? Go to hell, or wherever it was you came from. What good have you done, anyway? None! You haven't done a goddamn thing except scare the shit out of everyone."

He got out of her face and started yelling at Lawless.

"And you, you goodfornothing crazy sonofabitch, what good have you done? All you and your girlfriend here do is lay around holding hands, spouting spacey bullshit like 'We gotta become.' Tell me one good thing you've done. You don't do shit!"

("Come and see.") Lawless's voice said in his head.

"What?" Baskel shouted.

Lawless, who hadn't said anything unrelated to what he was seeing through another person's, or thing's, eyes in some time, raised his left hand, Jensen still held his right, and said, ("Come and see.") His voice had changed, he had changed, and it gave Baskel the creeps. Still, he was fuming and would not allow himself to be mollified so easily.

"Come and see what?" he shouted, though not as loud.