3.2 As the World Dies Untold Tales Vol. 2 by Rhiannon Frater Read Free Book Online Page B

frowned deeply, his hands in his jean pockets. “Say what you will, but this is the kinda thing that always turns out wrong. City people coming out here and making up their own rules and--”
    “ Carlos, help me!” A woman’s shrill scream sent Lenore’s skin crawling. “Something is wrong with the kids!”
    A man rushed to open the door of one of the cars and the gathering crowd surged forward to see what was wrong. Mr. Cloy pushed the door to the shop all the way open and the three of them took several steps out side to see what was going on.
    The highway patrolmen hurried forward and told everyone to step back as the Sheriff helped the distressed parents lift one of their kids out of the back of the car. It was a teenage girl and she was having a n appalling seizure. Blood gushed from a wound in her neck. A second child stumbled out of the car, clutching at the older girl . A s everyone watched in terror, he leaned down and took a large bite of flesh from her forearm.
    “ Ramon , no!” His mother grabbed the boy and wrestled him from his sister.
    “ Oh, shit!” Ken seized Lenore’s arm and squeezed. “Did that just happen? Did that just happen?”
    Lenore felt queasy. “Uh huh, that baby just went crazy and tried to eat his sister.”
    The highway patrolmen pushed the gawking spectators back , then turned their attention to the girl on the ground. Her father was cradling her in his arms and sobbing. Meanwhile, the little boy who had taken a hunk out of his sister was chewing as his mother and several other people tried to drag him a safe distance away.
    “ Get it out of his mouth!” his mother screamed.
    One of the people trying to help her reached toward the boy’s mouth.
    “ This is gonna get bad fast,” Lenore said in a low voice.
    “ Uh huh,” Ken agreed.
    Together, they started backing toward the door to the beauty shop.
     
     

 
     
    4.
    Things Getting Worse Faster
     
    Ken’s grip on Lenore’s hand tightened as they backed toward the open doorway of the beauty shop.
    “ Hey, don’t touch that kid,” Mr. Cloy called out, stepping into the street.
    The man reaching out to pull the chunk of flesh from the child’s bloodied mouth hesitated. The kid swallowed what he was eating and lunged forward. The man and the mother of the child screamed as the kid’s hard teeth c l amped on the fingers paused before his face.
    At the same time, the teenage girl on the ground stopped convulsing and her father let out an anguished cry. He attempted to throw himself over her, but one of the highway patrolmen shoved him back.
    “ Hold on! Let us work on her,” the patrolman said in an authoritative tone .
    Screams and shouts filled the morning air as one group of people tried to wrestle the child off the screaming man while the other group gathered around the girl lying bloodied and dead on the road.
    “ Get inside, get inside ! ” Ken whispered urgently to Lenore.
    “ I ain’t arguing . ”
    They both slipped into the shop, shut the door, and stared through the thick glass.
    Mr. Cloy hovered near the edge of the crowd watching with a shocked look on his face.
    “ Why doesn’t that damn fool get inside?” Lenore muttered.
    “ Why don’t any of them?” Ken clutched her arm tightly. “This is not good! So not good!”
    A tug of war continued as the mother pulled on her child and two men pulled on his victim. The boy’s hard little teeth rent most of the skin off the two fingers as they were ripped from his mouth.
    Clutching his bloodied hand, the man howled in pain. He ran along the street with several of his friends behind him.
    “ Oh, crap,” Ken exclaimed as the kid wiggled around in his mother’s grasp and tore into her chest.
    “ Okay, Damian needs to be put down,” Lenore decided firmly.
    The boy’s seemingly - dead sister sat up and people applauded with relief even though ten feet away the other child was taking huge bites out of his mother. The insanity of the moment made Ken’s