Glory (Book 2) by Michael McManamon

in filth. There was a big hole in his chest. It looked to her as though someone had torn everything out of him. Which maybe they had. Regardless, it wasn't what she wanted to see. She wanted to see his face. She wanted to look a t hi m .
    He was a good looking guy. Or had been. He had dark features. A strong build. Now he was dead.
    She bent down beside him to get a better look. Something about him seemed different than the other people she had come across. He looked … peaceful.
    "You didn't change, did you?" she said to the corpse. "You didn't become one of them." She knew that in her heart. His face didn't have the features of all of the other people she had seen. Nothing like her mother . Those angry black eye s .
    She reached out her hand and ran it down his cheek. It felt soft. She pressed her fingers into his skin.
    If only he had survived.
    She wished that her thoughts stopped at that first one, but they didn't. They started to spiral.
    They could have found each othe r. She could have told him how she felt. Maybe he would have felt the same way. It was possible. Not likely. But possible. He had laughed at her jokes. He had even said that she looked nice on occasion. It was definitely possible.
    She pulled her hand away. Her fingerprints were left on his face in his blood.
    "This isn't fair," she said.
    She stood up and looked down the street. There were more bodies. More destruction.
    She turned to look at the pharmacy. The door was open.
    Without any hesitation, she knew what she had to do.
    She'd go into the pharmacy and get a bunch of pills. She could die with the rest of them. An overdose. It was the only thing that made sense.
    She looked back down at Darren. He seemed to be smiling at her, telling her that it was okay. She knew that that wasn't the case. He wasn't thinking anything. But still, it was nice for her to think that she had his support.
    She stepped over the body and walked into the store.
    The store was quiet. And it was dark. The curtains had been drawn. They were usually open . Unless Darren had been trying to hide from what was going on outside.
    Then why would he have opened the door ? she wondered . Why would he have gone out?
    She didn't know.
    She walked further into the store and glanced around. It wasn't messy. She didn't think that anyone else had been in here.
    So why would he have gone out?
    She shook her head. There was no point in thinking about that. She'd never know the answer.
    Marianne made her way toward the back to where the pills were . In the back, where it was dark . She walked down the aisle. Slowly.
    It wasn't because she was worried about being attacked. Death didn't bother her; especially since she was planning to do it to herself. If one of thos e thing s came along, it would only make it that much easier for her.
    She was walking slowly because this was how she always walked in this store. She never wanted Darren to know that she was heavy. Sure, he could see it on her. She wasn't the thinnest thing around. But she didn't want him t o hea r her coming. Like an elephant.
    It was silly, really. She knew that. She wouldn't have made much noise while she walked. At least not enough for Darren to notice. But she had worried about it, anyway. Now, when it didn't even matter, it still played on her mind.
    She came upon the medicines. There were pain medications, allergy medications, cold medications. Everything and anything. Yet what she really wanted were the things in the back. The pills behind the counter. The strong stuff.
    She made her way to the counter. There was a little step she needed to go up to get behind it. She searched for the pills.
    She came across several tiny drawers of them all lined up against the wall. She didn't know the names of the pills that she should take. She figured that it wouldn't matter. Too much of anything would do.
    She grabbed a few and threw them into a little bag. Then she took some more.
    She wasn't sure why she didn't swallow them right