Protect All Monsters Read Online Free PDF Page B

the deck, the sensation of exposure and vulnerability keeping her moving. The ocean was steady and unrolling. Richard had said they had a twelve-hour journey ahead of them. That gave her plenty of time to scope out a place to hide.
    Looking out, there was a food court a short distance north of her position. A man was entering the food court dressed like her: white shirt, black pants, nice shoes.  
    She darted under a set of stairs and discovered a door.
    The door was spray-painted: Crew Only .
    She feared personnel might be behind the door, so she opened it slowly. Darkness met her upon crossing the threshold. Inside, something lent the air a thickness. She could cut the humid net with a knife.
    The door slammed behind her. She raced to it, trapped in pitch. She frantically traced her hands up and down the door, but there was no handle.
    She banged and kicked at the barrier, failing to care about being discovered anymore. “Open this door, please! I’m sorry. I’ll go back to my room. I won’t try and hide again. I’ll read the packet. I’ll memorize it!”
    Expelled breath distracted her from the breakdown. The thickness of the exhalation sounded like a horse. She kicked at straw. Each step, her pumps clopped. She couldn’t sneak up on anybody or make a quick getaway.
    She edged farther into the dark room. It was expansive; she kept her hands out at all angles and had yet to touch a surface. The smell of excrement invaded her nostrils as well as the tang of iron and meat. Taking in the smell, she backed into a hay bale.
    She whispered, “What is in here?”
    Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
    The low rumble was that of a snarling dog.
    She stopped. What could she do now? Every step would alert whatever was in the room. The blinking dot at her foot caught her eye. The tracking device.
    So much for hiding out.
    Without realizing it, she was crawling on all fours.
    Go straight until you hit a wall. Follow that wall to a door.
    She executed the plan. Her fingers were outstretched, extended as far as possible in front of her. She scraped her knees during the daring journey. She felt the wounds form, abrasions turning into torn skin.
    Humphf!
    Hrrrrrrrrrrrr.
    She kept moving. Whatever was huffing and puffing knew of her presence, and freezing in place wouldn’t change that.
    Shrick! Shrick! Shrick! Shrick! Shrick!
    Metal scraping against metal, fiery bright sparks were rendered from the back corner of the room. She had a good distance from the thing that shared the room with her. She crawled faster, almost to a door—and this time with a handle. Her nails broke on four of her fingers when they collided with the door. She pushed in the short bar, opening the access, and dumped herself forward. Instantly, she was colder. A motor hummed above her. A faded lightbulb gave weak definition to the room.
    She was inside a giant refrigerator.
    Her screaming was prevented by her cupping of her own mouth. Taking it all in, she gawked at the steel shelves stocked with glass containers of human heads, hands, eyes, intestines, fetuses and other hunks of meat she couldn’t identify. They swam in brine-colored fluids, pickled and preserved. The collection was thousands strong, enough to fill six semitrucks. It was so vast she sank from the enormity of it.
    Her back was firm against the wall. Where could she go? Certainly not back where she had come from.
    She couldn’t prevent her wandering eyes from studying the random items about the room. Slabs of animal meat hung from hooks, among racks of ribs and pig bodies. Steel barrels were marked “assorted innards”. The rims were blood caked. Tendrils of cold fog parted to reveal new sections of the compartment, and one section stopped her completely. Black body bags were stacked on the floor like cordwood. She counted seventy-five before giving up. She hadn’t accounted for a quarter of the supply.
    Human bodies.
    What do these people really do here?
    She refused to give up on escape. She was