In the Lone and Level Sands by David Lovato Read Free Book Online Page B

sound.
    “Hello?” Jordan said. “Are you okay?” The
woman didn’t reply. Jordan looked at the other express checker,
clueless.
    “What’s wrong with her?” the checker
asked.
    “No idea,” Jordan said. He waved a hand in
front of her face and called out to her again. “Hey!”
    The woman’s eyes didn’t even follow his
hand. The customer behind her slid his cart forward and tapped her
leg with it. The woman lost all balance, tumbled to the ground, and
lay by her fallen groceries. The man’s eyes widened, and his face
instantly turned red.
    “What the hell?” he said. “I barely touched
her. What in God’s name is wrong with her?”
    Jordan shook his head, and went around the
counter. Several other customers surrounded the scene. Evelyn
rushed across the front of the store as Jordan called for help.
    “I called an ambulance, they’re on their
way,” another customer said.
    “Jessica, Calvin,” Evelyn said to the
checkers on nine and ten. “Let’s get these customers through the
line. Bradley, come sit with this woman until the ambulance gets
here.”
    Jordan fetched two chairs from the area in
front of the First Bank of Gladstone. Not long after Bradley sat
down beside the woman, she turned her head slowly toward him and
made a small sighing sound.
    “Huh?” Bradley said, startled at first, and
then he smiled. “Ma’am?”
    “Ahh,” the woman said. Her eyes were wide,
as if she were surprised. She leaned a few inches closer to
Bradley.
    “Hey, I think she’s okay,” Bradley called to
Evelyn. The woman opened her mouth, lunged toward Bradley, and
latched onto his neck. He screamed as she pushed her teeth into his
skin and muscle.
    A nearby customer came to help. “Get the
fuck off him!” The customer grabbed the woman, wrapping his thick
arms around her flabby torso and heaving with all his might. The
woman began grunting irritably, with blood spewing out of her
mouth. She released Bradley’s neck and dug into the man’s forearm,
and he screamed, throwing her down. Panic spread through the front
end, and then a scream from some pocket of the store made its way
up to the front. Some people turned around to see where it had come
from, but some couldn’t take their eyes off the scene ahead. Evelyn
was helping Bradley with his wound. The big man’s wife had rushed
up, dropping a loaf of bread on her way.
    Some customers that had been walking the
front end decided to abandon their carts and flee the store. People
ran through the lines as quickly as possible, and some sprinted out
with their groceries, not having paid. Tony Greco, the manager of
perishables, ran after a man who was trying to steal a cartload. A
few checkers left their stations, and one was knocked over by a
crowd of customers. They didn’t seem to care as they trampled him
to get through the lane and toward the exit. A small group of
people surrounded another customer near the greeting card aisle and
began to tear into him with their hands and teeth.
    Jordan thought of Ashley. Where was she in
this mess? He didn’t know what to do as he scanned the area.
Frightened people ran toward both exits. Jordan saw Evelyn move
away from Bradley, screaming. He fell out of the chair, trying to
grab her, the same vacant look in his eyes.
    “H-he’s one of them, too!” Evelyn said.
    An announcement for the coming July 4th sale
blared over the intercom, managing to combat the screams. The man
behind the voice, John Kensington, had ducked behind the customer
service counter.
    The big man who’d been bitten was standing
with his wife. She used a part of her elaborate outfit as a
tourniquet, but screamed when her husband began biting into
her.
    “What the fuck is this?” Jordan said. He and
Evelyn joined John Kensington behind the customer service counter,
away from the main flow of people, which was starting to thin out.
Some of those who were fleeing the store had blood on them. After a
moment, Erin ducked behind the counter as