Read Online Winds of Change by Jason Brannon - Free Book Online Page B

drawn and her eyes stared at some mystery on the
ceiling.
    “Alastor,” she gasped. “…is here.
Seraphim.”
    “What?” Jesse Weaver pleaded.
    “Please change, Jesse,” Vera whispered as she
took her last breath. “I want you to be in Heaven with me.” Jesse
cradled her in his arms like a rag doll.
    Obviously the threat of dying wasn’t enough
to scare Kenneth and Jake Weaver. They were still goofing off when
they came through the door. However, they stopped at the sight of
their father crying. Undoubtedly, it was something they had never
seen. I’m sure not many people had.
    Soon, all three of them were kneeling in
front of Vera Weaver’s body, spilling their tears onto her
still-warm skin. Although it seemed pitifully inappropriate, we
stood there and watched.
    Chuck, it seemed, was the only one of us who
kept his wits about him. In the ensuing chaos, we had all forgotten
about the broken glass doors that the Weaver boys had destroyed.
Even now, the atmosphere was probably seeping into the store. Who
knew how long it would take to reach us?
    “I know this isn’t a real good time to bring
this up, but we’ve got to find something to seal the doors,” Chuck
exclaimed, running a hand through his thinning blonde hair.
    None of the Weavers looked up from Vera’s
body. All of them, Jesse in particular, were probably regretting
the way they had treated the matriarch of the family while she had
been alive.
    “Leave them,” I said. “They won’t be any help
to us right now.”
    “The longer we wait, the more likely it is
that we’re going to die,” Chuck reminded us.
    “The supply closet,” Steven said. “We can
probably make it there in time.”
    Both of them rushed out without another word,
knowing that time was of the essence.
    They returned a few moments later with a
couple of boxes of garbage bags, some tape, and a bagful of
discarded cleaning rags. Immediately, we went to work, plugging the
space underneath the door with plastic and rags and sealing it all
up with tape. It was a pitiful defense against biological
contagion, but it was all we had. At that point, I was hoping that
this was some sort of Biblical curse rather than something manmade.
Under that scenario our odds seemed slightly better. Still, I
couldn’t help thinking about the way Vera Weaver had spoken in
tongues and all the things Pete had said about angels and plagues
and the end of the world. When you looked at things from that
perspective, it became clear that we had lots of reasons to be
depressed. The fact that one of the doors to the outside world
wasn’t there anymore to keep the atmosphere out didn’t help matters
either.
    “We’ll suffocate in here,” was the only thing
Wayne Richards had to say as he watched Steven and Chuck seal the
space underneath the door and around the jamb.
    I spoke for everyone when I said, “Either
shut up or help.” Wayne turned his back on me, refusing.
    It didn’t take us long to seal up the room.
Once we were finished, we still had enough flashlights among us to
see, but not nearly enough to make us comfortable. We still had the
snack and drink machines which was about the only advantage to
being stuck in the break room. And all of us were still alive. That
was something to be thankful for.
    Nobody really said much after that. We had
said all that we needed to. There was no need to discuss the
possibilities anymore, only the inevitabilities. We were all going
to die. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.
    “Maybe Leland will find some way to rescue
us,” Ashley said at last.
    “He’s the reason we’re in this mess,” Wayne
muttered. “Besides, he’s probably already dead.”
    “I’m going to try talking to Leland one more
time,” Chuck said.
    “Leland,” he spoke into the radio. “Can you
hear me? If you can hear me, please speak up. Tell us what’s going
on.”
    Leland didn’t reply at first. “Something’s
wrong,” Chuck said.
    Then the radio squawked, and Leland’s