Hunger Read Online Free PDF Page B

recording.
    "Yeah." He reached over and touched her forehead. "And you're sweating. You sure you're feeling okay?"
    "Just fine," she said faintly, staring at the plate where her french fry and lettuce had, apparently, disintegrated.
    That was insane. That was ludicrous. Food didn't just vanish, poof, all gone.
    In her mind, she heard a cold voice whisper from the depths of a nightmare: "
Thou art Famine.
"
    She stared at her plate.
    "Lisa?"
    "Excuse me," she said, then stumbled off to the ladies' room to vomit. Tammy would have been proud.
    ***
    By Lisa's garden, the black horse and pale horse were joined by a white horse. The remaining mosquitoes had learned their lesson and stayed far, far away as the steeds continued to graze.
    The White Rider said nothing as the Pale Rider strummed on an acoustic guitar, playing a soul-rending tune that mixed hope and despair in equal portions. Death sang, the words written by a singer long dead. Soon the music stopped, and the last line was sung. Only then did Pestilence speak.
    "All in all," he said, "is all we are? Does that even make sense?"
    Death grinned at him. "It does if you have the soul of a poet."
    Pestilence sighed. Death, he'd learned long ago, was weird. "So, how fares our newest comrade?"
    "She's having dinner."
    "She's..." The White Rider's words faded, and he stared owlishly at the Pale Rider. "Surely, you're joking."
    "Nope. She's conflicted."
    "You don't say." Pestilence spat; where his spittle landed, the ground sizzled and smoked. "So, what are you doing?"
    "Waiting."
    "Of course," the White Rider said dryly. "You're so very good at that."
    Death shrugged. "Why be impatient? They all come to me, in their time."
    That made Pestilence nod. At the end of it all, even he, finally, would be subject to Death's cold touch. With his luck, that fateful day would be long and long away. He shouldered his bow, one that needed neither string nor arrow. "I have to go; South Africa has another virus brewing."
    "You'll stop by to say your hellos when you're through?"
    That wasn't really a question, no matter how it was phrased. "Of course." Pestilence paused, and the silver crown on his brow gleamed in the moonlight. "Has
she
shown up?"
    Death shook his head. "Not yet. But she will, no matter how much she wants to stay away. It's in her nature to cause trouble."
    "Indeed." The White Rider inclined his head. "Until next time."
    "Go thee out unto the world," Death intoned, granting his colleague the proper dismissal. And then he added, "And try to have some fun while you're at it."
    Pestilence rolled his eyes. Yes, Death was very weird.
    ***
    "For the last time," Lisa growled, "I'm fine. Let's go to the stupid movie."
    "You're
not
fine." James wasn't yelling exactly, but he wasn't talking in his normal laid-back voice, either. They sat in his car, still in the parking spot outside the diner, fighting over whether she should go home. "You just vomited in the bathroom."
    "Something I ate didn't agree with me," she said for the third time.
    "Yeah." He looked at her, his eyes searching, his mouth pressed into a grim line. "You said."
    She couldn't take his silent judgment. "What?"
    "You tell me, Leese. You barely eat, and then when you do eat something, you run to the bathroom to puke. What do
you
think?"
    "I think," she said tightly, her teeth clenched, "I have a stomach bug or something."
    "Or something." He stopped talking as he regarded her, his gaze burning, even though his eyes were sad.
    "
What?
Come on, James. Tell me what you're thinking."
    He looked away from her, staring straight ahead, not answering her.
    Frustrated, Lisa mimicked his posture, staring vacantly through the windshield. Outside, kids meandered in the parking lot, chatting and laughing and high-fiving, all so natural, so easy. None of them had to gird themselves as if for war when they stepped outside, making sure they were fortified with control techniques and visions of perfection to keep them motivated and sane.