I snatched a lemon fruit pie from the display, clutched it to my apron. I peered into the half shadow inside.
Sunlight streamed inside the store about four feet. The only things that moved were the dust motes. I could make out toppled racks of candy and bottles of car fluids. I smelled stale beer spilled on the floor and wrinkled my nose.
"I think we can get in there," I said, gesturing to the broad safety of the stripe of sunshine.
Alex looked inside. "I'll go first, see if it's clear. If it is, you can come in after."
I opened my mouth, closed it. For all of Alex's foreign manner, he did try to be chivalrous, to protect me.
I nodded, gripping my stake with my good hand.
CHAPTER SIX
Alex stepped through the shattered window frame. I held my breath, watching as the sunlight washed through his blond hair and poured over his shoulders. I glimpsed the reflection of sun on his knife. As he moved away from me, into the darkness, the daylight drained away. I could hear his footsteps crunching in the glass, but soon even that soft pulverizing sound fell silent.
I balanced my wounded palm carefully on a shard of glass in the window frame and strained to see beyond the silhouettes of ruined displays. I smelled curdled milk, tobacco, and sour coffee. Lottery tickets had been dragged from behind the checkout counter like streamers. The cash register was broken open on the floor, surrounded by glistening change.
Alex?as My hand tightened on the shard, summoning a trickle of blood. I snatched my hand away, pressed the heel of my palm to my mouth to stanch the flow. I tasted bloodas"warm and coppery. It turned my stomach. How the vampires found sustenance in such thin liquid baffled me.
I heard steps crunching back in the glass and candy. Alexas's lanky silhouette came into view.
It wass clear,as he said, and I could hear the relief in his voice. as And thereas's food.
Ginger and I clambered though the window. I felt a tiny pang of guilt as I scavenged down the aisles, filling my apron pockets with packages of food. I tore open a candy bar, stuffed it into my mouth without really tasting it to quell the rumbling in my belly.
Alex had ripped open a door in the refrigerated section and was pawing through the sticky cans.
No beer,as he mumbled. as I would really like a beer.
Ginger gave him a dark look. as Youas'd have to fight me for it.as She lifted a bottle of clear liquid. as The vodkaas's all mine.
Alex swore. as Damn it. Looks like looters already got the rest of the good stuff.
Funny how we didnas't consider ourselves to be looters. Just survivors.
I paused before a glass door. Behind it was a display of red and white Coca-Cola bottles. I had developed a sweet tooth for Coca-Cola on my excursions to the local English-run general store back at home. I reached in and grabbed a bottle. It was warm. I twisted off the cap and took a slug. It tasted hot and unsatisfying.
I turned toward the counter, stepping through ribbons of lottery tickets. I spied the aspirin, Band-Aids, and medicines behind the counter and figured we would need those.
And as I came around the edge of the counter, it was clear that the occupants of the store no longer needed them.
A rust-colored stain covered the gray speckled tile. It was large, as if someone had bled a great deal, but faint, as if it had happened a long time ago.
I crouched down. There were small swipes and rills in the stain. Sweat prickled the back of my neck. I had seen that pattern before, when Ias'd spilled milk on the floor and the dogs had licked it up.
Theyas've been here,as I said.
There are more in the city than in the countryside. Simple math. Which is why we shouldnas't linger,as Alex said, reaching past me for a bottle of aspirin.
I nodded and retreated. I left my Coke on the counter, having lost my appetite. I stared at a stack of very thin newspapers. They were from six weeks ago, and the headline was as SUSPECTED VIRUS INFECTS EASTERN USas"RESIDENTS URGED TO STAY INDOORS.as Only one page was printed. I scanned the article:
(AP) In a press conference from a bunker in Greenbriar, West Virginia, the president urged residents to remain calm. A highly contagious blood-borne pathogen with symptoms similar to rabies has infected major metropolitan areas in the eastern U.S., while similar reports of outbreaks are developing worldwide.
We are working on a way to control the epidemic,as the president said. as But it is critically important to stay calm. The worldas's top researchers at the Centers for Disease Control are working on a way to identify and isolate the pathogen. In the meantime, stay indoors and do not open your doors for anyone after dark.
When asked if there was any truth to the rumor that the pathogen arose from germ warfare, specifically Tuesday morningas's detonation of a dirty bomb in Washington, D.C., the president said that he could as neither confirm nor denyas such reports. He issued a similar response to rumors that the pathogen developed in Chernobyl, Fukushima, or nuclear testing sites in the Middle East.
The National Guard will be enforcing quarantine orders in the following affected areas: New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. . . .
I tucked away the paper to read later. It was old news, but perhaps we could glean something useful from it. I had been calling the creatures we were fighting vampires. The Hexenmeister had simply called them Darkness. It was useful shorthand for what we saw. But there was still doubt among Alex and Ginger about what they really were, of what fusion of myth and technology blighted our world.
Alex reached under the counter, began fiddling with a black machine with knobs, a radio the size of a large breadbox.
Ginger was beside him instantly. as Is the radio working?
I think the batteryas's about gone.
The two of them began poking and prodding the machine. I heard a low hiss, varying in volume as they changed the numbers on the dial.
Ginger grabbed a handheld device wired to the radio box and spoke into it: as Mayday, is there anybody out there? Over.
Alex continued to fiddle with the dials. Perhaps they could summon a voice out of it, some hope that we were not alone.
Mayday, mayday, is anyone out there? Over.
I heard only the dull, rushing hiss. They continued to try to work the machine. Once, it seemed like there was a garbled human voice at the other end.
I held my breath.
Repeat that? Whatas's your twenty?as Gingeras's fingers tightened on the microphone.
The voice sharpened and then faded.
There are people out there,as she said, her knuckles white on the black plastic. as Probably in the city.