Page 29

Progress smells terrible.

We cut through the old pharmacy first because the street is filling too quickly. The front door sticks, swollen from cold and neglect, and Leon shoulders it open hard enough that the metal frame screeches. The sound makes every corpse on the block turn toward us.

“Oh, good,” I whisper. “Subtle.”

Leon gives me a look.

I give him one right back. “You’re the one who made the door scream.”

Inside the pharmacy, the air smells like moldy carpet, old plastic, and spoiled medicine. Shelves lean into each other like drunks. Orange pill bottles scatter across the floor, and a rack of faded birthday cards smile at people who are probably dead.

Something moves near the back.

Leon catches my wrist before I can step on broken glass, then points to the left aisle. His fingers stay around me a second longer than necessary. Rough against the frantic beat of my pulse.

My eyes lift to his.

His gaze drops to my mouth.

My body forgets there are dead things in the building.

Absolutely unacceptable.

A bottle rolls off a shelf somewhere behind the counter and clatters to the floor. The spell snaps. Leon releases me and turns toward the noise.

We move together, shoulder to shoulder, his bow up, my crowbar slick in one hand and his hatchet in the other. The infected is trapped behind the pharmacy counter, bumping into the swinging half door over and over, each thud slow and patient.

Its name tag reads KEVIN.

I hate this town’s commitment to humanizing my trauma.

Kevin bumps the door again.

Leon points to me.

“Sorry, Kevin,” I say, stepping behind the counter.

Kevin lunges.

The space is tight, too tight for a clean crowbar swing. The crowbar catches on the shelf beside me. Pill bottles rain down around my boots. Kevin’s hand clamps around my sleeve, and cold panic punches through me.

But it’s not Kevin’s hand I see. It’s Russ’s.

His voice in my ear.

You wouldn’t have made it far anyway.

Kevin’s broken mouth snaps inches from my face.

Leon taps the counter twice.

I hear it.

I understand it.

I do not move.

Kevin yanks me closer.