Grace Lost Read Online Free PDF

around to react to our announced arrival. 
The lights continued to flicker at irregular intervals.  Behind the
counter, mounted to the ceiling, was a silenced TV with vertical rainbow
stripes.  After a quick walk through the store to make sure the aisles
were clear, Boggs slid behind the forbidden pony wall that was meant to keep
customers away from the cash register and cigarettes.  I gazed around the
store waiting for monsters to come out of nooks and crannies while Boggs rifled
through drawers searching for useful things.  He pocketed something, but I
wasn’t able to see what it was.  I figured if it was important he’d let me
know.  He pointed a black remote control at the TV to change channels.
    “Anything?” I whispered.
    He motioned me over.
    “There’s no sound on the damn
thing but there’s a message on channel four.” 
    I joined him behind the counter
and peered up at the small screen.  The background was red, and in white
lettering there was a scrolling message that didn’t make much sense.
    Code status
fifteen. Northwest/Northeast. Protocols seven and thirty. Full
containment measures.  
    “That’s it?” I asked.
    Boggs sighed and crossed his
arms.  “Let’s grab a few things and get out of here.  I want to put
distance between us and civilization.”
    We walked the aisles, grabbing
random items.  I was always a sucker for Doritos and figured a bag would
be ok.  Of all the things we could have used, I grabbed a sack of chips, a
can of bean dip, and shoved four packs of M&M’s into my pockets. 
Boggs headed back to the counter for a plastic sack and filled it with aspirin,
matches, bandages, and a small sack of BBQ briquettes.  He looked at my
junk food and rolled his eyes.
    “Classy, Zo, classy.” 
    Before he could hassle me anymore,
a loud THUD came from the front window, causing me to drop my
preservative-laced feast.  Boggs dropped his plastic sack and reached for
the Kahr.  The beast that was flinging himself against the windows looked
like he was in his late teens and had greasy brown hair and piercings in his
lower lip, left eyebrow, and nose.  His left cheek hung loosely from his face
and he still had a tourniquet around his right arm with a needle dangling
precariously.  His pants were bloodied and chunks of flesh were missing
from his bare chest, leaving gaping blackened craters that still oozed.  A
large ragged wound ran the length of his left side and around to his abdomen
where loops of bowel hung in a soupy, bloody mess.  I swallowed the vomit
that tried to force its way up my throat and backed farther into the store
while Boggs took a protective stance in front of me.  The druggie was
closer to the Explorer now, having moved toward the doors.  A second and
third corpse emerged from around the corner to join their mutilated and very
much dead friend.  The woman looked older and was naked except for old
tennis shoes that had no laces.  Her right thigh was eaten away to the
bone and her lower jaw was missing.   Her swollen and bloodied tongue
hung stiffly from where her mouth should be.  Bringing up the rear was a
short man who was equally wide as tall.  He wore a bowtie that was hidden
almost in full by his triple chin and his suit jacket looked like it must have
once been beige, but was now covered in dirt and blood.  His chest was
bare, a sickly shade of blue-gray. His boxers were around his ankles causing
him to shuffle slowly on his bare feet.  Around his right forearm was a
belt cinched tight, his arm ending in a bloody stump at the wrist.  
His genitals had been eaten away and bite marks ran the length of his inner
thighs.
    “Zoe, stay back!” Boggs shouted as
he aimed his Kahr at the naked woman who was now pressing into the doors,
causing them to open.
    We heard the telltale ding! ding ! again .  The bell
announcing new customers was joined with unholy moans and followed by the sound
of a gunshot from outside.  The fat man fell, the back of