Death's Awakening by Sarra Cannon Read Free Book Online

tapped his toes
inside his boot and shifted the stacks of water bottles a little in
the shopping cart so they wouldn’t fall. He leaned over and
counted the people in front of him again.
    Twelve, and he’d
already been standing here a good ten minutes. What the hell was
taking so long? Did they seriously only have two lanes open on a
Saturday? He hadn’t seen lines this long at the grocery store
since that snow storm hit a year and a half ago.
    He glanced behind him
and counted another fifteen people standing in line. The man next to
him coughed into his palm, then wiped it on his jeans.
    Seriously, dude?
    Crash took a step back,
disgusted. He didn’t want to catch whatever that guy had. His
eyes were ringed with dark circles and his skin looked almost grey.
    Someone behind him
started coughing. Then another person. He turned around and looked,
tension building around his eyes. At least three other people in the
line behind him were coughing and blowing their noses. Several people
had similar dark rings around their eyes.
    What the hell?
    He glanced down at the
shopping baskets these people were carrying. Almost everyone in line
was waiting to buy the same types of items. Tissues, cold medicine,
comfort food like chicken and noodle soup, cough drops.
    Everyone.
    He swallowed and
gripped the stack of water bottles tighter.
    Had it just gotten
hotter in there? Crash wiped a bead of sweat from the back of his
neck.
    It was May, right? Flu
season should have been well over by now. Seasonal allergies maybe?
    Allergies that brought
them all in to this one grocery store at exactly the same time?
    No, definitely not
possible.
    Something was going
around. He didn’t know how he’d missed it. Okay, well
maybe he’d been playing that new first person shooter for the
past two weeks straight and hadn’t even bothered to leave his
apartment once. But something this bad? He should have known about
it. He should have seen something come across the boards.
    What if this was the
big one he’d been waiting for? Dreaming about?
    He studied the people
in line again. Almost every one of them was showing signs of some
kind of major illness. One lady even looked like she was one step
away from just passing out right here in the grocery store. She could
barely hold her head up straight.
    If this thing was
airborne, he was already screwed. He was standing in a cluster of
sick people. He stared at the cart full of water bottles. He really
needed these to complete his water stash and the coupons he had
expired tomorrow. If he didn’t get these today, he’d
totally miss out on the deal and might not be able to afford to pick
them up for another few weeks.
    But if he didn’t
get out of here soon, he was going to hyperventilate. He could smell
the sickness in the air.
    Just ahead, some guy
with a name tag walked by.
    “Hey, buddy, any
chance we could get another lane open?” he called out.
    Several people behind
him mumbled in agreement. The manager looked over at him, but shook
his head.
    “I’m doing
everything I can,” he said. “We had five employees call
out sick today. First time in history. I’ve got someone calling
to try to get a few extra hands in here. I promise we’re going
to get you through as fast as we can.”
    Crash leaned over and
counted again. Ten people still in front of him. At this rate, he’d
be here another hour before he got checked out. By then, if he hadn’t
already caught whatever it was these people all had, it would be a
damn miracle.
    He shook his head. So
not worth it.
    He pulled the cart out
of the long line and abandoned it next to some giant display of
peanut butter candies. He pulled the collar of his t-shirt up over
his mouth and walked past the rest of the people standing in line
and, finally, out into the fresh air.

The Witch
    Someone was coughing in
the next room.
    The witch opened her
eyes slowly, the lids sticking together as if she hadn’t opened
them in weeks. Her bones ached, every muscle