Page 8 of Coven of Corpses

His mind tried to go back to the night his grandmother had died, but he closed his eyes and shook his head. He didn’t have time for that right now. It was too big, too much. He didn’t think he’d ever have enough time to swim up from the bottom of that deep pool of grief.

He returned to work, shoving taped and recently received boxes of household goods onto shelves behind open boxes. It was mind-numbing and brainless, but a small part of him knew it was exactly what he needed. As he restocked the shelves in the wide open space of the ridiculously large warehouse store, Cody had plenty of time to wallow in guilt for the things he hadn’t done for his grandmother, how he’d been responsible for causing them to lose their business, and now, for how he’d treated Jugs.

As he lifted another box onto the shelf, he caught movement from the corner of his eye. He paused, box halfway onto the shelf, and turned to the far end of the aisle. Someone had gone past his aisle at a brisk walk. He’d been employed there for six weeks, and he’d never seen another employee walk that fast. Had to be a customer. But this late at night? What the hell time was it, anyway?

He shoved the box into place. The cardboard scraped along the metal shelf, the gritty sound putting his teeth on edge. Removing a glove, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time: nine forty-seven p.m. The store was open until eleven, which, in his opinion, was insane. But no one had asked him. His mood soured even more when he realized he’d only been there a little more than an hour and a half.

Movement again, but this time the person turned into his aisle. He made a face as he watched Tracey Mumm, assistant director of the town library and another of his ex-girlfriends who still lived in town. She wore glasses and her shoulder-length dark hair was a bit mussed. Her cheeks were pink as if she’d been out in the chill night air for a bit before coming inside. With quick, slightly frantic movements, Tracey made her way down the aisle, looking side to side and up along each shelf. She’d yet to notice him, and he debated whether or not to announce himself, even though he could pretty much predict her reaction.

“Hey, Tracey. Need help finding something?” He leaned back against the handle of the pallet puller. It rolled from under him, causing him to stumble and almost go down on his ass. He grabbed the handle, set the brake, and tried the move again. Much better executed, this time.

Tracey stood in the middle of the aisle, staring as if she didn’t recognize him. Her eyes were wide behind the lenses of her glasses, and her lips were parted. She had a twig or leaf or something stuck in her hair, and a small cut across her cheek. She looked like she'd been running through the woods.

It was a look Cody knew well, because he’d done it himself more times than he cared to remember.

A low grade alarm and wave of concern rose inside him like a dark and icy high tide. “Tracey? It’s Cody. You all right?”

He took a cautious step forward, and she retreated, holding her hand up, palm out, as if to ward him off. She carried a large leather messenger bag over one shoulder. The sides were weathered and soft, and she gripped the strap tight, holding the bag tight against the front of her body.

“Don’t. Don’t come close.” Her voice shook slightly, and she darted a glance over her shoulder. “Just stay back.”

Cody raised his hands. “Okay. I’m not going to come any closer. But are you okay? You look scared. What’s happened?”

“I…” The front doors scraped open again, the sound grinding along Cody’s nerves. The old guy called out his froggy greeting, and Tracey lowered her shoulders a bit before she turned back to him. “Actually, it’s probably good I ran into you.”

Oh, shit. Hearing that from Tracey could not be a good thing. Hearing it from her when she looked like this was definitely a bad thing.

“Oh? I think that’s the first time you’ve said that. Like, ever.”

She didn’t smile, but she did take a step closer. When she spoke, her voice was lower. It shook slightly, and she flexed the fingers of her left hand. The skin looked red and irritated. “Something’s happened.”

His inner voice doubled the shit, and added a fucking hell to his word list of the day.

“I’m going to assume it wasn’t the best thing that’s happened to you all year.”

“You and Demetrius might know about this already.”

“I can absolutely promise you we don’t.” Then, because he was feeling a bit extra bitchy, he added, “Unless Demmy’s keeping secrets from me. Again.”

That one caught Tracey’s attention. Her expression shifted quickly to resemble something like her usual condemning demeanor. She even folded her arms over her big, bulky parka, the material squeaking and rustling.

“You really want to call him out for keeping secrets?” Her eyebrows went up, which apparently was a thing a lot of people did these days when interacting with him. “Really?”

Cody waved her comment aside. He was hoping to be able to wipe away this entire interaction, but Tracey remained stubbornly in place.

“All right, point taken,” he grumbled. “What’s got you so spooked? I can tell you’re on the verge of freaking out about something. Even with your sassy attitude. What’s going on?”

She moved another, smaller step closer. Her voice was low and shook slightly when she spoke, and it sent a chill through him that started somewhere in the center of his gut.

"Heath has been⁠—”

A shout of surprise from the next aisle over followed by the cascade of cans clattering to the floor. They both jumped, then Cody groaned. He was going to have to clean that up. A whiff of something rotten, like roadkill on a hot day, drifted to him and he made a face.

Tracey was suddenly beside him, gripping his arm, digging her fingers painfully into his bicep. "He's here."

"Who?"

“Heath,” she said, eyes wild as she looked from one end of the aisle to the other. “But, it's not Heath. Not anymore." Her voice had dropped to barely a whisper. "Something… something got inside him. Took him over. We weren’t expecting to find him out there tonight. We were just looking around. We had sage and salt with us, but we didn’t get it out in time. And then Rita… and then Heath…”