Shimmer by Dallas Reed

Author:Dallas Reed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

21

“Lock the back door!” Kit Urban yelled.

Russ didn’t ask questions but ran as fast as he could through the kitchen. He skidded to a stop by the door and cranked the lock just as a gaunt face floated into view beyond the glass. It was a woman with stringy brown hair. Her mouth was smeared with a greasy paste, and bits of food clung to it. She snarled at him and punched her hand through the window before Russ could back away. Her fingers clawed at his coat, trying to get a grip on him. Russ turned and struck out with his hand, knocking the woman’s arm to the side. A shard of glass cut her elbow, but she didn’t even seem to notice.

“I’m hungry,” she cried. “So hungry. You have to give me something to eat.”

Russ didn’t reply. He backed away and ran into Kit.

“Dude, we’re trapped,” Kit said. “They’re going to be coming in through the windows before we know it.”

Russ looked around the room and saw a loaf of bread on the counter. He snatched it up and returned to the back door, where the woman was trying to unfasten the lock. He held out the bread, and the woman forgot the lock and yanked the bread out of his hands. She tore through the wrapper and began shoving one slice after another into her mouth, grunting and breathing heavily through her nose as she devoured the loaf. A man walked up behind her and the woman spun on him, raking her nails down his cheeks and clutching the loaf tightly to her body in a protective, greedy stance.

The first freak to show at Kit’s house had been a grocery clerk from Mableson’s Supermarket, and he’d all but leaped through the door at Kit when he’d opened it. The man, Charlie, according to his name badge, had demanded money. He was hysterical in his command for cash. Every penny. Every damn penny!

Then others had come. They fought each other in the yard, and one woman had stabbed another without the least bit of provocation. She’d just walked up behind the woman and driven a knife into her shoulder.

It went downhill from there.

The freaks congregated in the street. Many of them were screaming for money or food or simply shouting obscenities at the different houses. Initially, they’d attacked one another, but now their attention was focused on homes, which included Kit’s house and the two boys inside.

In some small way, Russ was relieved. Not because so many people seemed to have lost their minds, but because now he felt certain that his father—for all the ugly things he’d said—was afflicted by this same mania. Russ had to believe his father had meant none of the terrible things but had simply been sick like all of these others.

Still, that didn’t exactly help Russ’s current situation.

Glass shattered from the front of the house. Russ spun toward the sound. A bright orange light burst on in the living room, followed by a wisp of smoke.

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