Tourist Trap

Chapter 34

"I don't know, maybe because people like Trevor Mastodon want to kill him? People don't have to have illicit reasons for everything they do, you know." 

"I don't know. This Octavius character's been rubbing me the wrong way from the moment I laid eyes on him. I still think he's up to no good." 

"Nah, he's a little crazy but he's a good guy at heart," Zeke said. "I've been working for him long enough to know that." 

"So the two of you are in cahoots, is that it?" Max whirled around and pointed a finger accusingly at Zeke. 

"I wouldn't say that," Zeke scratched his head. "It's more like he's the boss and I do the grunt work. His projects are pretty weird, but mostly harmless I'd say." 

"Hmm..." Max rubbed his chin contemplatively and stared off into space. 

"So what do you think they're talking about anyway?" Zeke asked. 

"I don't know. Maybe she's seeking his approval of you." 

"Huh? Why would she do that?" 

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Max asked nonchalantly as he extinguished his cigarette. "I told her all about how you're hopelessly in love with her." 

"What?" Zeke stared at him in horror. "Are you shitting me? How the fuck could you do this to me?" He grasped his forehead and stared at the ground. "Oh god! This is completely humiliating! How am I going to face her now?" 

"Would you relax?" Max said. "She seemed kind of a little bit receptive to the idea." 

"Really?" Zeke asked. 

"Nah. Actually I'm not positive, but I think she might think you're gay. Regardless, you've got a bad case of nice guy syndrome. Try being more of an asshole, it'll do wonders for your love life."  

"Gee, thanks for the advice," Zeke mumbled. "In the meantime I feel like crawling under a rock right about now." 

"You do that, buddy," Max said cheerfully. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm fucking hungry. You think this guy's got any food around this joint?" 

"I don't know," Zeke said distractedly, still dwelling on the fact that his secret crush had been unceremoniously revealed. 

"Damn it," Max stood up and paced back and forth a few times. "I'll tell you, nothing ever gets accomplished by sitting around. I'm going to interrupt their little parlay and see what the hell the Doc's got to eat." He knocked on the door and then barged in slamming it behind him. 

Zeke found himself sitting alone twiddling his thumbs. He glanced off to the side, pursed his lips, and exhaled loudly. He had half expected Max to come back out immediately, but for some reason he seemed to be staying in the office a long time.  

It seemed as if several minutes had passed and Zeke was getting bored. He walked over to the laser gun he'd been looking at earlier and examined it more closely. There was a bright red switch marked "On/Off." Currently it was in the "Off" position. Zeke glanced around from side to side and then flipped the switch to "On." 

A beam of bright orange light shot out and enveloped him. He felt a strange tingling sensation throughout his body and the room suddenly seemed to get much larger. He soon realized that it was he that was shrinking and at a very rapid pace. His feet left the ground as he shrunk down smaller and smaller and he found himself drifting in the air currents. He began to descend slowly towards the open canister of glow-paint which now resembled a large fluorescent green lake. He disappeared beneath its surface and continued to shrink smaller and smaller until he seemed to be floating in some sort of strange, nebulous protoplasm. There was no solid ground beneath his feet and he seemed to be hovering in the ether.