The Book of a Few by Austen Rodgers Read Free Book Online Page B

large mechanical cranes that zip up and down, moving pallets of product to their designated places in the aisles after they have been received into the Warehouse. Metal railing is the only thing that could stop someone from potentially falling a story or two onto the concrete main floor.
     
    Anyways, we headed down a flight of stairs to the main level of the freezer to investigate the sound. Behind a metal fence that keeps unauthorized people from entering are the cranes that move along their single train-like track. Off to the side of one of the cranes that towered three stories above us, we saw a huddled blue mass. Once we got through the gate, which took us a few moments, we realized that this person must have worked here. How else would he have gotten a hold of the blue gear?
     
    I’d recognize that brown curly hair anywhere. We kept our distance from the old coworker we knew as Joey Dellit for a few moments. A trail of blood led to Joey huddled in a small ball on the floor. Even though I was unable to tell if he was still bleeding, or infected, I took a chance and stepped closer. I couldn’t tell if he was bitten as the gear he was wearing only revealed his face. He looked up at me for a brief second.
     
    I figured if he were infected, he would have at least tried to lurch toward me. Since he did not, I slung my rifle over my back and began pulling him by his arms. Branden asked me what I was doing.
     
    “ Probably saving his life,” I answered shortly, grunting as I pulled.
     
    Branden didn’t bother to help me slog him out of the bitter cold. Well, I suppose he did open a few doors. I tugged Joey all the way back to the cage and began removing the heavy gear he was in. His hands, face, and feet were pale and seemingly frozen. I felt sorry for the guy, all curled up in the freezer. His body wasn’t even shivering, and I had heard before that if you stop shaking when you’re cold, your body is about to give out. So yeah, I saved a life today.
     
    Talking about it, Branden and I decided that we were underequipped to tend to Joey’s injuries. We tried speaking to him, but the only response we got from him was grunts and groans. We decided our best course of action would be to go out and search around the local stores for medical supplies. Honestly, neither of us knew what frostbite called for, but we figured any first aid kit would have what we needed. Without wasting too much time, we gathered our weapons and left the Warehouse.
     
    We walked to a nearby area where stores are all relatively close together, thinking our luck would be best there. Also worth noting is that the stores we visited are on Viking Road, therefore, we were decently far away from any housing. It’s just a small area with stores on both the north and south side of the road. If we were going to find a first aid kit somewhere, it would probably be in that area.
     
    On our way, we noticed the bodies of the infected we had hit with my car on our initial arrival to the Warehouse. The bodies lay there on the warming concrete with flies buzzing about them. Just like the woman we had seen the other day in Branden’s condo driveway, the bodies were bloated. All over the bodies, most commonly on the stomach, the skin was stretched outward from center mass. Every single one was like this.
     
    Upon reaching the shopping area and passing a gas station that we thought about poking in, we noticed that this area was desolate, too. There were no people anywhere to be seen, infected or not.
     
    “ What is up with this? I’ve never seen this area so quiet,” I said.
     
    “ Yeah. Same here,” Branden said.
     
    “ Maybe the disease doesn’t have much of a foothold yet.”
     
    “ People have probably left the area or are staying at home, so it’s not impossible.”
     
    “ I’m thinking that it’s not as strong as it is feared .”
     
    Branden nodded.
     
    As we walked down the road, closer to the shopping district, something odd came