| Newsworthy Events |
[10 Jun 2008|10:16pm] |
*Rap, Rap, Rap*
Rhiannon waited for a response at Whistler's door. Meanwhile she jiggled her legs and looked around. It was another dry, dusty night in Searchlight. Faint kitchen sounds drifted from neighboring trailers, and she could hear a family watching television.
'This... iiiiis Jeopardy!'
She wedged the collection of newspaper articles between her knees. To pass the time while Whistler plodded around, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and tightened it.
Since his return, Whistler had steered clear from media, both in printed and televised form. Staring at the Weekly Examiner and its questioning 'Do the Dead Walk Among Us?' articles with grainy, (possibly) doctored photographs, was enough to send him into spasms. And sadly, those rags were closer to the truth than he liked. But reading true misery day after day -- wars fought overseas, how base humanity could be to one another -- after a while it got to be too much.
Instead, he started journaling. The Agent wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if his experiences would inspire a generation of future Slayers, or provide insight on how to shine a light into dark corners. This was... personal. He'd tried to fill in over fifty years of backstory in his history with Meg and was sure he'd left out all the best (or worst) bits. And there was much she didn't want to know, either. But someone might. Someday. He didn't like the word that popped in his head to describe his new activity, but Legacy was the one that fit.
The three raps against the screen door caught his attention and, carefully marking the page with the purple ribbon, Whistler closed the book and shuffled to the door.
When it opened, Rhiannon's mouth was already in 'go' position. "Good, you're here." She pulled back his screen door and let herself in. "We need to talk." When her mind was set on a conversation, the Slayer was a tornado bursting onto the scene.
The trailer's interior was lit by sunset and a table lamp. Her eyes adjusted quickly. It was forever since she'd been in there, so Rhiannon nosed around for anything new. All she noticed was a notebook that looked recently attended to. She dropped her bundle of newspapers on top, giving Whistler a none too subtle message. 'Me first'.
( The H-Bomb )
( Family Pains )
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| Rumors Lead to Panic, Protest |
[10 Jun 2008|11:14pm] |
by Logan Guevera | lguevera@ccbeacon.com
LAS VEGAS -- LaShondra Reilly is a scared woman.
But don’t take her word for it, just look at the sign she carried at an impromptu protest on the steps of the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Vegas Strip. “Government Created Vampires – Will You Be Next?”
Ignore her, she dared. Treat her as if she were nothing more than a nutjob. Someone the insane asylum needed to lock up. But Reilly said she has seen some of the things the Beacon first reported two weeks ago, when an anonymous source spoke of a government program called Project: Integration designed to capture and research vampires and demons.
“I know what’s up,” Reilly said. “Everyone’s so … naïve, you know? I see them every night, prowling about, snarling with their fangs and looking for their next meal. The government isn’t researching and kidnapping them – it’s putting them out here to scare us.”
Las Vegas Mayor Gus Franklin is out of town on business, and his office had no comment. Police were on-hand with tear gas and pepper spray in case the protest, which drew roughly 1,000 people, got out of hand. No incidents were reported, but city district attorney Mac Parsons didn’t like what he saw.
“What we have here is the uninformed masses panicking for no good reason,” Parsons said. “Vampires? Demons? Come on … I realize we live in a time of paranoia and fear, but last I checked, the terrorists were our biggest threat, not some blood-sucking hellbeast.”
Between people claming to be vampires appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and the federal government offering little more than a statement calling the existence of demons a fraud, there is little proof or evidence of such creatures’ existence.
But just because no one can see them, 45-year-old Trevor MacCallum warned, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
“We didn’t see the terrorists when they blew up our buildings, did we?” the immigrant from London said. “They’re out there, trust me … I guarantee you at least half the people who crawl about this place at night are demons.”
Parsons refused to comment on MacCallum’s accusation before returning to his office. Parsons, who is seeking re-election later this year, did not return several phone calls left with his secretary.
Reilly used her sign to show other protestors how to battle the vampires should they encounter one. The wood post her sign was glued to was sawed off at the end, creating a sharp point. Reilly, a 22-year-old psychology major at UNLV, told the masses to jam a sharp piece of wood in the “foul beast’s heart, and watch as it bursts into a cloud of dust.”
Though Reilly spoke of instant slaughter when it comes to vampires, it became clear to the protestors this controversy wouldn’t disappear so fast.
“The media spent a week talking about the President’s use of the word ‘thrust’,” MacCallum said. “You know they’re going to latch onto this for at least the next month.
“Maybe longer.”
[Submitted by Jeff]
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