Heartland Junk (Part II): Sanctuary Read Online Free Page B

the Comeback Kid? They're fucking with us. I don't know why, but they're a hundred and eighty degrees off center."
                  "Excuse him," Jennie said pertly to Abby and Theo. "He was recently diagnosed with asshole disorder."
                  "More jokes. Hardy-har-har. Poor Rivet, he has a disease, let's all make fun of him."
                  "Nobody's making fun of you, Rivet," I said, trying to keep everyone on track.
                  "But he has a point, as much as I hate to say it," said Jennie. "The psychic thing is a little weird."
                  "Ms. Abby talks to me," Theo insisted softly, his head down. "She can talk to you, too, if you'll let her." His eyes shot up. "She says she will."
                  "Just stop it," Rivet said.
                  "You've been through a lot," said Jennie. "It's okay if you have a different way of sorting through it."
                  "I'm not lying," Theo pushed, enunciating each word separately. "The bad people changed her."
                  I didn't know what to say. Was I an idiot for believing him? I'd seen something, but what? Even I couldn't buy it completely. It was too much of a stretch to think that Abby had sent them into my head. Despite the zombies, this wasn't science fiction.
                  "We have to go," I said suddenly, standing up. "You ready Rivet?"
                  "Go where?" Jennie asked.
                  "Ray wants to go shopping. I told him I'd help him. Out of the goodness of my heart and all that."
                  Jennie regarded Rivet suspiciously. "I'm coming, too," she said.
                  "Sorry Jen, someone has to stay here," I said, inclining my head ever so slightly toward the newcomers, hoping she'd get the hint. Theo was watching us talk. Abby stared at nothing. "Ready in five, Rivet."
                  "Aye aye, Rayman."
                  Jennie started to protest, but I left before I heard any of it. There wasn't time to argue about this. I wanted to get out today, and we only had about two hours of daylight left. I ran up to the third floor and pulled my cell phone out of the pile of clothes in the corner. I'd turned it off last week to save the battery, and I was hoping it still had a charge somewhere behind that blank screen. I shoved it in my pocket, pulled on my shoes, and took the steps two at a time back down.
                  Rivet was waiting for me at the back of the kitchen, where we'd lined up our various implements of undead destruction. Jennie was whispering something to him, apparently agitated, but Rivet brushed her off when he saw me enter the room. Theo half-turned in his seat. Abby, of course, didn't twitch a muscle. I was about to brush past them when I had a thought. Squatting down next to Theo, I said, "Any food you miss more than anything?"
                  He grinned sheepishly. "Oreos."
                  "Well you're in luck, because this town just so happens to have the best Oreos in the state."
                  Theo squinted. "You would have said that no matter what I said."
                  "Maybe, but with Oreos, it's true."
                  "Rock and roll, Rayman," Rivet said, hefting an axe. I stood and walked over, picked a crowbar from the counter beside the door. Took a deep breath.
                  "Ready?"
                  "Onward and upward."
     
     

Chapter 5
     
                  LESS THAN a minute later, the park loomed on our left. Rivet drove the Jeep like it would explode if he dropped below sixty. He swerved right to cut around town on Troutman Street, but I told him to keep going up River. I wanted to see.
                  He laid a heavy foot on the brakes a moment later and I hopped out of the vehicle,