Then he collapsed.
The sound of his body hitting the tile echoed through the aisle.
For a moment, everything went still.
Derek set the cough syrup down and walked toward him. “Sir?”
The man didn’t move.
Derek crouched beside him. “Hey, buddy?—”
The man’s head jerked upward.
His eyes were wrong.
Clouded gray like fog over glass.
Before Derek could react, the man lunged.
His teeth sank into the arm of the woman kneeling beside him.
She screamed.
The sound ripped through the store.
For a second, the entire building held its breath.
The woman screamed again.
The sound cut through the store like a siren.
Derek jerked back as the man clamped down harder on her arm, teeth tearing through fabric and skin. Blood splashed across the tile.
“Get him off!” someone yelled.
Two customers rushed forward and grabbed the man by the shoulders.
The man bit one of them too.
Another scream ripped through the aisle.
Someone shoved Derek from behind.
People started running.
Carts slammed into shelves. Medicine bottles crashed to the floor. A child began wailing somewhere near the checkout lanes.
“Call 911,” someone shouted.
The woman who’d been bitten staggered to her feet, clutching her arm. Blood poured between her fingers.
She took two steps.
Then collapsed.
The man who’d been helping her started coughing violently.
Derek watched him wipe his mouth.
