Meredith left the keys in the vehicle, the engine running.
Other than the hum of the SUV’s engine, the area was quiet. She shut the door quietly, trying to preserve the calm. Even so, the hinges creaked, and the noise felt like an alarm. Her footsteps sounded like a stampede.
John walked a few steps ahead of her. She raised her pistol and advanced toward the door of the pharmacy, falling in line behind him. She noticed he was still favoring his left leg. A few days prior, he’d been injured in a battle with the creatures, and though he was healing well, he hadn’t fully recovered.
The thought of his injury gave her a shiver of unease. It was a sordid reminder of their mortality. But she didn’t want to think about that. Not now.
She followed John through the door.
The pharmacy was a maze of overturned shelves and prescription bottles. Meredith stepped carefully, knowing one misplaced foot could bring the attention of the creatures. She scanned the store with nervous eyes. Sports drinks littered the floor, their caps torn off, the liquid spilled and puddled. Several packages of chips had been opened and scattered, as if someone had been interrupted while trying to consume them. The air was thick with blood.
In spite of that, she saw no bodies. She continued forward, grateful to be spared the carnage for a change.
John was already on his knees, digging quietly through the bottles and debris.
“Cover me,” he whispered, nodding to the front window.
Through the smashed panes, she saw several creatures meandering on the street, about fifty yards away. Their mouths hung open, tongues darting between missing teeth. Their bodies were pale and scabbed. A week ago, the sight would have been frightening and unreal, and Meredith would have found herself questioning both her vision and her sanity. Now the creatures were as commonplace as the buzzards flying overhead.
It was as if she and John were the intruders, not the other way around. They were outnumbered, and the best course of action was to avoid confrontation.
John was still scavenging the floor when one of the infected glanced at them through the broken storefront window. Meredith went stock-still, hoping its gaze wouldn’t linger. The creature had short gray hair and wore a construction cap. Two others shuffled behind it.
The pistol felt slippery in her palms.
She opened her mouth to alert John, but her fear kept her quiet. The thing’s eyes penetrated the store. She watched its head cock to the side, as if it were an animal rather than a man, a predator in human’s clothing.
“John,” she whispered.
“I’ve got something,” John hissed from the ground.
She let her attention fall for a second—just long enough to see John holding up several small boxes—and then flicked her eyes back to the window. The creature was moving toward the pharmacy. Faster than expected.
“We have to go,” she urged.
John took to his feet. At the same time, the creature broke into a run. It groaned as it advanced, the construction cap wobbling on its head. A crash sounded from elsewhere in the room.
“Come on!” Meredith shouted, no longer concerned with the noise.
She tugged John’s arm, and they darted back through the pharmacy. Meredith raced through the open back door and toward the vehicle, as if the SUV were a magnet, her body a charged piece of metal.
She maneuvered around the driver’s side and ripped open the door. She was about to jump in when she heard a cry from behind her. She halted and spun.
“John!”
Somehow, the creature with the construction cap had caught up to him, and it had latched onto his shirt. He struggled to knock it off. Meredith’s fingers slid off the door handle. She dashed to help him, raising her gun.
Before she could assist, John raised his gun and fired, and the thing tumbled off. The boxes he’d grabbed fell to the ground. Through the open door, Meredith saw several more things careening through the store, clambering over debris and prescription bottles to get to them.
“Leave the medicine, John!” she screamed.
But John ignored her. He hunched to the ground, recovering the boxes.
“Come on!” Meredith screamed.
John scooped up the medicine just as a handful of creatures spilled through the opening. Meredith aimed her gun.
“Look out!”
She squeezed the trigger. The blast rippled through the air, overpowering the creatures’ cries. One of the creatures fell to its knees, tripping up another. But more were coming. The gunfire had bought them time. That was all. John scrambled for the passenger door and threw it open. Meredith raced for the driver’s side. They jumped inside and locked the vehicle, listening to hands pound the exterior.
The creatures piled out from doorways and alleys.
It was as if the things had been in hibernation, waiting for the chance to strike. But there was no time to reflect, no time to decipher where they’d come from. Meredith hit the gas and peeled down the street. A few of the creatures clung to the vehicle—one on the passenger-side mirror and another on the hood—but she swerved until they fell off.
She watched the creatures tumble to the pavement in the rearview. Several more trickled from nearby buildings, as if they were multiplying rather than emerging. Meredith sped past them, relieved to have gotten away.
“That was close,” John breathed.
His eyes met hers, and she felt a flood of relief. Just seconds ago, she’d been in danger of losing John—again. The world was an endless cycle of adrenaline and danger, each day another dodge from death.
John opened the boxes, perusing the inhalers and canisters.
“I hope this is the right stuff,” he said.
“Me, too.”
She focused on the road, maintaining an even speed. There were a few creatures around them, but none in immediate proximity. She took another turn and rejoined the main thoroughfare.
Her heart knocked in frantic rhythm. It’d been another dangerous encounter, but at least they’d gotten Quinn’s medicine.
Her breathing leveled out as she passed the next few blocks. The emerging sun was bright and warm. Aside from the danger they’d just put themselves in, despite the fact that the world had ended, it was a beautiful day. She hoped Quinn was holding up all right. Meredith concentrated on the road, looking forward to putting the trip behind them and getting back to the Sanders’.
Her trance was shattered by a scream.
“What was that?” John bolted upright in his seat.
Meredith glanced in the rearview mirror, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise, but saw only a few roaming creatures.
“Was that one of them?”
John shook his head. “I don’t think so. It sounded human.”
The scream came again.
“Someone else is out there,” John confirmed.
They looked at each other for a split second. The screaming had stopped, but Meredith could still hear it echoing in her head.
“Maybe it was—”
The scream turned into a bloodcurdling shriek. It was coming from one of the adjacent streets. Meredith hit the brake and pulled to the side of the road. They couldn’t leave another survivor behind. Not while the person was within earshot, not while Meredith and John were in a position to help.
She looked at John and swallowed. He nodded.
Meredith did a U-turn in the road.