Page 5 of His to Burn

It had been three days since the incident now, and my patience was running thin. Only a stubborn and stupid sense of civic duty kept me here. The detective assigned to the case had already canceled two meetings, and as if sensing my irritation, the assistant DA agreed to take my statement and let me be on my way.

Which was good because I was fucking over it.

The bartender overreacted, but the handsy asshole had it coming.

But now I found myself stuck in this fucking city, the sense of unease growing with each passing day. I didn’t pay much attention to the news, but I didn’t have to.

In the three days I’d been here, Atlanta’s notorious traffic was noticeably light, the streets noticeably empty.

But what got to me most was thatfeeling.

I was alert and aware of my surroundings like always, but as the days went by, I couldn’t escape it. The feeling was a twisted kind of anticipation, though that wasn’t exactly the right word, either.

The name I put to it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that I knew that feeling and knew it meant something bad was about to happen.

I wasn’t a big believer in things I couldn’t see or shoot, but I trusted that feeling. It had been with me in more dark places than I cared to remember.

And it was never wrong.

I wouldn’t count on it being wrong now.

I had checked out of my hotel and headed to the airport as soon as I left this place.

I wanted to be as far away from Atlanta as I could as soon as I could. I had halfway convinced myself to skip this meeting altogether.

The bar’s security system captured the entire incident, and the bartender and drunk probably deserved each other.

They didn’t need me.

And the sooner I left, the sooner the anvil that had taken up residence in the middle of my chest would be gone.

Irrationally inpatient now, I jabbed the Up button and then cut my eyes toward a woman walking down the hallway. With every step she took, her body was racked with deep, hacking coughs, and when she wiped her mouth, blood smeared her lips. She noticed me looking and smiled, the blood on her teeth making the expression ghoulish.

I was relieved when the elevator opened before the woman reached me. I stepped onto the elevator and kept my eyes forward, hoping to avoid small talk.

“It’s crazy right now, isn’t it?”

No such luck.

I spared a glance at the man to my right.

Mid-sixties, wearing neatly creased khakis and a sweater vest over a button-down shirt. Had probably come down to renew his hunting license instead of doing it online.

I grunted noncommittally.

“Have you heard the news?” he asked.

Lucky for me, he didn’t wait for an answer.

“They update the deaths, then tell us cases are up 500% only to say the worst has passed. Nonsense.” He scoffed.

“I bet they planned it. I read online that…”

The man droned on as the elevator moved so slowly it might as well have been going in reverse.

I wasn’t interested in the man or his opinions, and could probably guess at them anyway.