Read Among the Living for Free Online Page A

eyes study mine, and suddenly I feel shy under her gaze. We have been co-workers for a year, and I won’t say that I haven’t had feelings for her. But she is smart, beautiful, and young, too young to get mixed up with me.
    I take the paper from her, and our hands brush each other. Her fingers are soft and warm as they trail across the back of mine, sending a shiver up my spine.
    “Thanks for checking.”
    She doesn’t say a word. She just stares at me, and I can feel the pity radiating from her like a furnace.
    “No problem.” Again I feel like something passed between us, as if I missed an important moment. I know I should ask her what’s on her mind, but I don’t have the guts, not today.
    There is a picture on my desk of me, Rita, and a very young, very toothless Andy. He was at that age where he seemed to be missing teeth like lost toys. He was smiling, a big cheesy grin that surely came from my side of the family. Rita was radiant in a white dress, shoulder straps hanging over her pale but shapely frame. I’m behind them, arms draped around both. This picture is from a trip to Florida to see the big mouse. It was one of the best weeks of my life. I miss them, both of them, and I don’t know how to get over them.
    I throw myself back at the computer and widen my search to blogs. That’s when I hit the jackpot.
    A guy who calls himself SilverSurfer57 writes:
    It’s a cover-up, folks; I can confirm this for at least as long as this blog stays active. I’m guessing that the guys in suits have some sort of program scouring the web for certain words, so I’m going to keep this as generic as I can.
    There is some crazy shit going down in my neighborhood, which is in the Emerald City. This neighborhood is not for kings, and it was the other sister. Okay, enough hints?
    It’s a pretty clever reference to Queen Anne.
    I have been holed up in my basement (hold the laughter, assholes) for a day and a night. I locked the doors but cops and soldiers have been by several time. They walked all over my property and smashed my wife’s flowers. Bastards. I don’t know what they are looking for but I did see them rounding up some sick looking people.
    I don’t know what the sick guys have but it’s bad enough so that now they have the CDC fuckers in town and they are dressed in white suits that zip all the way up to their masks. I think you know what I am talking about here, folks. Who didn’t see that Dustin Hoffman flick Outbreak? So what is it exactly? I’m guessing it’s bird based, are you catching my drift here, folks? Get it, drift?
    “Fuck me!” I exclaim as I collapse back into my chair. It rolls back a foot and comes to a stop.
    “Smooth talker,” Erin calls over her shoulder.
    I turn and look at her; she has her back to me, so I whisper.
    “Erin, can you help me with something?”
    She rolls back and gives me a serious stare. “Yes, Agent Pierce?”
    I roll my eyes. Our heads are close together, but our backs are still to each other. I can smell her scent again, clean, fresh, like she just showered. I have never known her to wear a hint of perfume, for which my allergies are eternally grateful.
    “If the bird flu hit the U.S., what do you think the government would do?”
    She spins around and stares at me. “I hope you aren’t suggesting ...”
    “I don’t know what I’m suggesting. I hope I don’t.”
    “Well, I think they would go on TV and have the Centers for Disease Control make some statements about safety, what to avoid, what to do, word on vaccines—I think they have some sort of vaccine for that stuff now, don’t they?”
    “But what if they don’t and it hit a certain community hard, so hard that they had to lock it down, make up some bullshit story about a gas leak. Are you with me here?” My eyebrows are arched, and I think my voice may have a hint of hysteria to it, because her eyes have gone wide, but I can’t read her look. It may just be pity since she knows what today is