Heartland Junk (Part II): Sanctuary Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking around in wonder. Jesus, they weren't lying. All the bodies were gone. I slid the toe of my tennis shoe against the asphalt, seeing the sun-blackened blood smeared over the street's surface. But the bodies had disappeared. I was standing as close as I could figure I'd been when I blacked out and tried to kill Jennie. I could see the thick, puddled patch where Mr. Collins had dropped under my axe.
                  All the blood had dried to a crust. It was difficult to see on the graytop; if you didn't know that more than twenty people had died here a week previously, you would have never guessed it.
                  A thick flock of crows flew over our heads, cawing loudly. There were at least a thousand of them, wheeling simultaneously to some instinctive signal, the whole flock twisting and turning like a scarf blown into the sky. I watched them pass, craning my head in a long arc until they shrank to a point under the low western sun.
                  "Animals are coming back from wherever they went," Rivet observed. I gave the street one more cursory glance, then climbed back into the passenger seat of the Jeep. Rivet gunned the engine and we shot off through town.
                  "Told you," Rivet said, giving me a sidelong glance.
                  "They could have been taken by animals," I said, although I didn't believe it.
                  "Not likely. They would have left bones, pieces. Scavengers never take all of it." He was right, of course. I think I just wanted to hear him say it again so that I wouldn't feel crazy. As long as one person shares your delusion, you've got a belief system.
                  Rivet was driving so fast, and Joshuah Hill was so small, that by the time we finished our little conversation, we were already at the supermarket. The store was a fairly recent addition to Joshuah Hill, completely out of sorts with its surroundings. The walls were white and glass, gleaming in the sunlight, and the sprawling parking lot was larger than the entire park on the other side of town. Rivet made the tires squeal as he turned off the road, then rocketed diagonally across rows of painted parking spaces to the front door.
                  He left the engine running, looked both ways for zombies, then pulled the axe off the back seat and leaped out of the vehicle. He spun in a slow circle holding the axe out to ward off attackers. I clambered out more slowly and watched him.
                  "Dramatic, much?" I asked him. He laughed.
                  "Gotta do something to keep busy. Figures we get the only zombie apocalypse without any zombies." He tossed the axe back into the Jeep and began walking nonchalantly down the face of the building, away from the sliding glass doors at the front of the store. "Front doors don't work with no power, but Jennie and I found a side door over here," he explained.
                  Rivet stopped at a swinging glass door with an iron pull-par about twenty feet away and waited for me to catch up. "You're going to like this, Ray," he winked, and tugged on the door. A nauseating stench of rot came through the open door on a wave. I gagged. Rivet pulled the collar of his t-shirt over his face and stepped inside.
                  The supermarket was one of those modern conveniences that has more than just food. Most of the store was devoted to groceries, both fresh and preserved. Flies buzzed thickly over the deli and fresh meat section to the left of the registers, which is where the awful smell seemed to be the strongest.
                  "Jesus," I choked. I followed Rivet's lead and began breathing through my shirt. It didn't help.
                  "It was bad before," Rivet said. "But it's a shit ton worse now. Let's make this quick."
                  Aside from the cloud of rank air that had settled