“No? Well I guess’a bunch’a people’uv been hospitalized cause’a some crazy disease.
Doctors think it’s some freaky kind’a rabies. Or… maybe it was a new strain’a flu? Can’t
remember. Anyway, they’re sayin’ cases are springin’ up all over the country.” He secures the
paper with a price tag sticker. “Weird, right?”
“Yeah,” you say, eyes fixated on the gift-wrapped steak. “Weird…”
He hands you your parcel of bloody beef. It’s heavy in your small hand and strangely
comforting. As you stare at it, saliva pools in your mouth, your heart starts pounding, you feel
lightheaded, and beads of sweat start to form near your temples.
“Uh, Mrs. Fowler?”
Your head snaps up to meet the concerned gaze of the butcher. Was he saying something?
How long were you lost in your carnivorous daydream?
“Ss – sorry, what?”
“I was just wonderin’ if there’s anything else I could getcha’?”
You look back down at the steak. The weight of it is no longer comforting but burdensome —
a curse in your hand. A dark cloud of terror settles over you that no light can pierce, nor wind
abate. A hunger grows inside you; it churns and claws in your belly; it corrupts your body like
hellfire, devouring your insides until they’re black and withered and dead.
“Hey…you ok, Mrs. Fowler?”
Reluctantly, you set the meat down in the cart and smile horribly up at the butcher.
“Nothing else. Thank you.”
You walk away in your strange, halting gait, leaving the butcher staring after you bewildered.
As you approach the checkout counters, a young woman about your age beckons to you
amiably. Someone in your head has found their voice again and is screaming louder than ever.
A name floats up through the sludge: Lauren — your best friend since high school. You live
next door to each other. There’s something else too, some memory attached to the shame
you feel when you look at her. Whatever it is, you’re certain it’s connected to the reason you’re
here. You need to talk to Lauren, to tell her something important, to warn her… but warn her
about what?
“Hey, Katie!” she says brightly a ́