Storm Orphans: The Beginning Read Online Free Page A

A pigeon sitting atop a No Parking sign squawked at them as they went by, startled by their interruption of its morning meditation. Curt glanced around nervously at the bird’s noise, worried that even something that mundane might awaken a hidden monster, but still, he saw no sign of the Afflicted.
    They moved past the nearby stores that Curt was accustomed to visiting in his infrequent expeditions for supplies and the tension in him grew. They were too far now to race back inside their apartment building if they were attacked. His eyes darted this way and that, trying to gauge both the most likely hiding spots for predators while also looking for any potential places to hole up in case he and his family had to bolt for cover.
    When he took another look back at Renee and Jenny, he realized his daughter had brought along the same stuffed bunny she’d been holding when she had entered their room this morning. She clung to it like a talisman. Renee was right beside her , their strides nearly identical. Mother and daughter were treading through the remains of the apocalypse and counting on him to keep them alive. Both of them were no more than eight feet behind him.
    The first hint of danger didn’t arrive until they were nearly two thirds of the way to the pharmacy. As they walked past the old Pollo Tropical restaurant, its red and green sign broken into pieces and tilting precariously to one side, an inhuman bellow echoed from some place in the distance. Curt had no way of knowing whether the angry-sounding roar had anything to do with their presence, but he broke into a cold sweat the second he heard it.
    Jenny looked in the direction the animalistic noise came from and instinctively leaned closer to her mother. All three of them moved a little faster, adrenaline pumping through their veins as they fought off the urge to forget caution and sprint the remainder of the way.
    The big, blocky white building that housed the pharmacy was in sight when they heard the rage-filled howl again. This time it was louder and much closer. Renee grabbed Jenny’s hand and almost dragged her down the final stretch.
    The front of the store was a wreck. The sliding glass doors that marke d the entrance had been broken and the metal frame hung awkwardly from the surrounding bricks. The glass glinted on the outside sidewalk, shattered into a million pieces that reflected the bright sunlight overhead. Curt reached the opening first and stepped inside carefully. He took a quick glance around the interior of the store and then motioned Renee and Jenny to follow.
    The inside of the store was even worse off than the exterior. Shelves were overturned. Dented and crushed merchandise was scattered all over the thinly carpeted floor. None of the overhead fluorescent lights were working and several had been pulled loose from the ceiling. A few clung by just one end of the bulb, hanging over the jumbled aisles like strange industrial icicles.
    Curt led Renee and Jenny through the mess and to the back of the store where the prescription counter was located. As he’d feared, the shelves of drugs that stood behind the counter had been ransacked. It looked like half of the stock was gone and what remained was lying in piles of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles that littered the pharmacy floor.  He bent down on one knee and began pawing through the remains.
    “Look for a bo ttle labeled Carbatrol,” he explained to Jenny, knowing his wife was already aware of what they sought. “Chances are, whoever was here before us was interested in painkillers or antibiotics. We might get lucky, but we can’t waste any time.”
    Renee and Jenny immediately joined the search, each taking a different corner of the pharmacy. After 10 minutes, they’d pawed through what seemed like hundreds of medicine bottles without any luck. Curt glanced up to look at his wife and he could see that she was beginning to get frantic. This was taking too long. However many Afflicted