Page 45 of The Red Rider
I really should have had my eyes open to see if this was working, but this was kind of like a night where the softball team hit up Taco Bell at midnight, and the night didn’t end there. We were crass, rude, and vulgar, but we held in our farts because we were stillgirls.This was like four hours and several rounds of beer after Taco Bell level of trying to hold it in. How the hell did my angels even do this?
“Focus on your breathing, Ariel,” Aeron said. “Just let out a little bit with each breath, then try to turn it off.”
Oh, sure. Easy for him to say. I just ran through every little thing that had ever pissed me off, and now I needed a place to put it. Like Taco Bell, you couldn’t just let it rip, or you might end up with a surprise.
I felt Aeron wrap his arms around my waist and press his chest to my back.
“I got you, Speedy. You can do this. I know it must feel totally overwhelming the first time. Breathe in with me. Now, let it out slowly and just let a trickle out. Good! Now, do it again and let out just a little bit more—one more time. Now, I want you to take everything you’re feeling and tell it to just go away. Tell yourself to hold and focus on your happy memories. Open your eyes now, Speedy. You got this.”
I cracked my eye open, and Costco was a lot brighter. I was fuckingglowing.What a neat trick.
Aeron kissed the top of my head.
“Watch out for stray Rage Heads and go find you a Costco sized box of tampons, Speedy.”
I started to wander off, totally jizzed I was fucking glowing. I knew what I wanted, but I wouldn’t have been mad about finding a Costco sized box of tampons either.
Chapter 23
S
ince I slept through it, I guess I hadn’t considered the sheer magnitude of the Rage Mutation. I’d seen the ghost towns, and zombies had surrounded me, but walking through this Costco just made it real. All the food was rotten, but the shelves were pretty much still stocked.
It was like everyone in New Jersey just turned, died, or left the state in such a hurry, there was an entire Costco full of supplies still left. They had abandoned New Jersey. No one tried to come here to clear out the Rage Heads and forage for supplies either. It was like every single state that surrounded it recognized the Rage Heads now owned this state, and they left them to it, even if there were a ton of supplies in just this store alone.
I ran into Leif at the pharmacy. That was where I went first because the rest of the shelves seemed full on my way back. I seriously thought I was going to start openly weeping when I saw tubes of toothpaste, mouthwash, and toothbrushes. I didn’t care how expired they were, I grabbed a four-pack of deodorant, ripped it open, and applied it.
I had running water at the hotel and handmade soap, but most of the deodorant in Florida was gone, and I felt ripe by the time we went home, and I had to take another shower. I was hugging the deodorant display when Leif came running out of the pharmacy like a kid in a candy store.
“Can you believe this shit? This pharmacy still has all the good stuff.”
“Leif, it’s seriously shitty that all this is still here. That means everyone is dead and couldn’t get this stuff. But everything here could seriously help the people in Florida, and it’s not going to fit in that RV. I want things so I can brush my teeth and not stink, but there are medication, shelf-stable foods, and clothes in here that people could use.”
Leif just pulled me into a hug.
“Our horses can carry a lot, and what do you like to call it? Angel pockets? Aeron will have to do most of the work since Dice and I are working on vaccines and the Rage Head problem, but all of this will get brought back to Florida.”
“If I’m glowing, can I do the whole angel pocket thing?”
“I have no idea, Ariel. You’re more angel than any Nephilim that came before you. None of us know exactly what you can and can’t do.”
“If I get fucked out of angel pockets like I did pockets in women’s clothes, I’m going to get upset, Leif.”
Leif squeezed me and kissed the top of my head.
“I do love you, Speedy. Even if you don’t end up having angel pockets. I’ve already started moving some of the pharmacy back to an empty room at the hotel. I’d move it to my lab, but people should still be there working, and they’ll freak out if opiates start randomly appearing.”
“Some bad shit must have gone down in New Jersey if no one took the opiates. I know if I wasn’t in a coma and my neighbors started eating people, I’d want to get a little high before I properly dealt with that shit.”
“Um, these are for pain, not recreational purposes, Speedy.”
“I don’t mess with opiates, but I sure do miss Miss Mabel’s weed stash. She always managed to find the good stuff.”
Leif just laughed.
“Ask Dice. He probably knows who is growing in Florida, but seeing as how no one has offered at any of the gatherings, they might not share their stash.”
I threw up my hands.
