Outside , the ice storm was only a harbinger of what was to come . This was a very different sort of storm , and local news channels warned the residents of Penshaw and the surrounding areas to stock up on supplies for the long haul . Even the electrical grid was in danger of failing .
The morgue ( the townies called it “ the dead place ”) was formerly the old high school which ceased operation in 1983 , its tacked-up bulletin boards and creaky lockers now long gone , the once-glossy tiled walls now grimy and cracked with spider webs inhabiting the corners . Callie never imagined that she ’ d end up working at the same place in which she feared for her life every single day as a teen . She resented the fact that it was lack of money , politics , or simply disinterest which prevented the powersthat-be back then to renovate this run-down place and turn it into a “ respectable ” mortuary . Instead , they left it pretty much as it was , the principal ’ s office now serving as the reception desk , and each classroom split into quarters for the deceased and their visitors . As Callie pushed the corpse out , the basement ’ s heating unit whistled then grew strangely silent . No surprise that it had stopped working due to its age and the relentless storm , but the dead didn ’ t need warmth . The concrete floor was littered with cigarette butts and candy wrappers despite Callie ’ s constant complaints to the owner . As the temperature dipped , Callie noticed her fog-like breath swirling out of her nose and mouth as she filled out the forms on Mr . Lloyd Bennett , the heavy heart attack victim she ’ d just brought down . She parked him alongside Mrs .
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