The Reanimation of Edward Schuett Read Free

that if whatever had happened here was years in the past then he should have been much older, but he didn’t sound old. He thought for a second that he wanted to find a mirror and see what he looked like, then remembered the hideous mess that was his arm. On second thought, maybe he wasn’t ready to see himself after all.
    The biggest sign that something had once gone wrong here, however, was the west entrance near the grocery section. Normally there should have been two sets of glass doors, one on the outside of the building leading into an area full of carts, vending machines, and a few video games, and the second leading into the store proper. Neither set of doors remained. Just inside the second set of doors there was a beat-up Hummer, its front windshield cracked and its front passenger-side bumper imbedded in the cinderblock wall. Glass from the two sets of doors littered the ground, sparkling in what light came in from outside. Colors were easier to make out here, and there were several dark splotches on the ground and walls that could only be dried blood. Edward stared at it all, trying to concentrate long enough to put together some scenario that would explain the scene. He was inspecting the Hummer, its driver-side door still open, when he heard a noise somewhere behind him in the store.
    Edward spun around, or at least did his best to spin. His balance still wasn’t one hundred percent, and he tipped over and had to catch himself on the hood of the Hummer. He blinked several times, looking into the gloom further in the store, but his eyes had already adjusted to the light and the darkness farther inside looked deeper now. The noise had been low and light, and now that he thought about it maybe he hadn’t heard anything at all. His hearing was still fuzzy, although his sense of smell was strong enough that he thought he could detect something in the air, a dank and musty odor that still somehow included the lightest whiff of honey. It was possible he was only smelling himself, considering he did had a ripe odor like decaying feces. The odor would have made him sick if it didn’t for some reason feel comfortable and welcoming.
    He had almost convinced himself that there hadn’t been any sound to begin with when he saw someone moving down at the farthest end of the store. There was a wide clear aisle that went all the way from the front doors to what he assumed were the doors to the storage area in back, and he thought he saw a humanoid figure moving slowly in the shadows. Edward stared at the distant figure for several moments, not quite believing his eyes, before he called out.
    “Hey!” he said, holding his hands to his mouth to help project, but he was afraid he still might not be loud enough for the person to hear. “Down here! Please, you’ve got to help me, I think something is wrong with me!”
    For several seconds Edward didn’t hear anything, and he thought the person hadn’t heard him. Then, low and echoing down the aisle, Edward heard the figure moan. The noise was deep with a rattling quality to it. It didn’t sound like a noise a human should have been capable of making.
    Two more moans rose up from somewhere in the store. Whatever the hell this thing was, it wasn’t alone.
    Edward slowly put down his hands and took a step back. He still didn’t have enough control over his feet to do the motion properly and he had to grab hold of the Hummer’s door to steady himself. The figure moved down the aisle, but it wasn’t moving fast. In fact, given its speed and distance, Edward thought most people would have easily been able to outrun it. Edward, unfortunately, did not seem to be like most people at the moment. He didn’t think he could run.
    He wasn’t sure if he wanted to, either. Judging from the moan and the slow inexorable way the figure walked, he guessed it wasn’t something he wanted to meet. A part of him even felt a deep fear as the figure came closer, every step bringing it