Commodity Read Online Free PDF

here,” he says as we start up the stairs.
    I have to hold tightly to the handrail in order to raise my leg enough to navigate the stairs.  It takes way too long, but eventually we emerge from the station onto the dusty sidewalk, and my breath catches in my throat.
    Entire buildings are flattened to the ground.  What used to be skyscraper office buildings and hotels are completely razed.  Cars are crumpled together or just abandoned in the street, and they are covered in a thick layer of grey dust.
    There are bodies everywhere: all over the street, in the crosswalks, and up against the buildings.  Some of them are in piles, but most are just strewn about around stopped cars and delivery trucks.  As I look around, I see no one else standing.  Even when I look through a window into a nearby shop, all I see are more bodies.
    For half a second, I stare at the corpses, reminded of every zombie movie I have ever seen.  I wait for them to rise up and start coming after our brains, but none of them move.  I shake my head, trying to clear the ridiculous thoughts from my head.
    Are they ridiculous?
    “What the hell happened?”  My head is spinning.  I can’t think straight at all.  I can’t even make sense of what I’m seeing.
    Eckhart doesn’t answer.  He pokes at his radio and phone but must not get any kind of response since he shoves them both back into his jacket pocket.  I look at my phone as well, but there’s no signal at all.  Eckhart is still looking all around us, taking it all in.  I try to do the same though I have no idea what might be going through his head.  Then something strikes me.
    “They’re all men,” I say.
    “I noticed that.”
    “Where are the women?” I whisper.
    Eckhart doesn’t answer.  He steps up and checks the body closest to us, turning it over.  There’s blood all over the man’s face, and his eyes stare blankly into the sky as he’s rolled over.
    “There were children here before,” I say softly.  “I remember one boy with his mother back at the hotel.  There had to have been children here, too.”
    “I know.”
    Everything hits me all at once.
    All these men are dead.
    The women and children who were here are gone.
    I have no idea what’s happened.
    “Breathe.”  Eckhart is suddenly next to me, his hands on my upper arms.
    “Don’t touch me!” I scream and push him away, nearly falling over one of the bodies.  I scramble away from it and press myself against the side of the nearest building, looking all around me but unable to comprehend what I’m seeing.
    Where did they all go?
    “Calm down, please.”  His eyes implore me along with his words.  “I won’t hurt you.  I’m going to protect you, but I need you to stay with me here.  Stay calm.  I need to think.”
    “They’re….they’re…they’re all dead!”
    “I know.  Don’t look at them.”
    “They’re everywhere!”
    “Don’t look!”  He stands in front of me, blocking my view of the street.  “Turn around, face the building, and get yourself together.”
    I shake my head but do as he says.  I stare at the slight imperfections in the mortar and even trace them with my finger, trying to keep my thoughts away from the bodies all around me.  My finger trembles as I slide it through the rectangular grooves.  I continue the action until my heart slows, and I can breathe normally again.
    “What happened to them all?” I whisper, but I don’t get a response.  I turn my head to find Eckhart and see him examining one of the bodies.  He comes back to where I’m leaning against the wall and hands me a pair of sneakers.
    “Where did you get these?”
    “Don’t ask,” he says quietly.  “Just put them on and don’t think about it.”
    I take a deep breath and do as he says.  My hands shake as I lace the shoes up, but I manage to keep my thoughts off of the previous owner.  The shoes are a little big on me, but I can walk better now.
    “We should keep moving,”