Glory (Book 2) by Michael McManamon Page A

away. She supposed that she didn't want to die in the pharmacy. In the back. In the dark. She wanted to go outside, where there was light.
    Marianne took her bag of pills and walked out of the store. Her steps were just as quiet on the way out. This time she wasn't going to worry about it. If that was how she wanted to walk to her death, then that's how she was going to do it.
    She came upon the entrance and could see Darren again, lying out there. She approached him and looked down at his handsome face. She sat on the curb beside him.
    "I don't know if you're married," she said. "And I apologize if you are. But I'm going to do this right here, so we can be together."
    She reached out and grabbed his hand.
    What she felt wasn't love. It was comfort. She knew that it was strange. But everything now was strange. She was too far past that to care.
    With her other hand, she placed the bag of pills on the sidewalk and reached into her purse. She pulled out a bottle of water. She had gotten it from a store on her way here. She had to let go of Darren's hand to twist the cap it open.
    "Cheers," she said, lifting the bottle to the corpse. She took a quick sip, then placed the bottle onto the ground. "Okay. No point waiting."
    She grabbed the bag of pills and poured them into her palm. A few fell onto the sidewalk. It didn't matter. There were more than enough here to do what she wanted.
    She looked down at them. Little blue, pink, white, yellow pills. All different shapes and sizes.
    Just take 'em all at onc e , she thought.
    She raised her hand up to her mouth, telling herself that this would be for the best. It had to be. There was nothing else for her out here . Nothing.
    She pressed the pills against her lips. She stuck out her tongue. The tip of it licked the edges of a few of them.
    It'll be quick. It'll be for best.
    The pills tasted bitter, but that didn't stop her. She kept her tongue on them, like a kid licking ice cream.
    She looked back down at Darren. She looked down the street in the direction where her dead mother lay.
    It made sense. That was all there was to i t .
    Yet she didn't swallow the pills. She couldn't. She didn't know why, but she wasn't ready. Not at the moment.
    She placed them back into the bag.
    "I'm sorry," she said to Darren. She knew that he didn't care what she did. If anything, she was apologizing to herself. But for almost taking them or not, she didn't know.

Chapter 8
    As soon as Julie opened the door, Scooter rushed into the room. He didn't like being out in the hallway. Not where he couldn't see anything.
    Julie shut the door behind him and locked it.
    At least he knew they were safe for the time being.
    Scooter let out a deep breath, feeling better. He looked around the room.
    It wasn't easy to see much because Julie was the one with the flashlight and she wasn't shining it around. She still had it directed straight at him.
    "What are you doing here?" she asked.
    Scooter turned to face her, the light blinding him again.
    "Can you shoot that somewhere else?"
    Julie looked down. She hadn't noticed that she had been flashing it in his face. "I'm sorry." She lowered the flashlight. Its ray cast a small circle on the floor.
    "How about we sit down first?" Scooter said. He needed a rest.
    "Sure. Come over here. There's a few chairs." Julie pointed the flashlight toward the end of the room.
    "This is one of the staff lounges," he said, knowing immediately where they were. It was like a small cafeteria. One with vending machines. He had often eaten here.
    He walked over to a table and went to place Emily down. She wouldn't let go of her grip on him, so he decided not to bother. He sat onto a chair with the little girl on his lap.
    Julie came up and sat down in front of him. She placed the flashlight on the table and it started to roll around. It lit the room as it did. Scooter took a quick look. There weren't any dead bodies in here, as far as he could see. There wasn't even any blood. Which was