“Thank you all for coming in this morning,” Beatrice said. “I know you’re all anxious to get on the road, so I won’t keep youlong. Firstly, I wanted to thank all of you for your hard work during Fashion Week last month. I’ve heard from several of you how lucrative that week was for you. I’ve also heard back from the coordinators, and they had nothing but good things to say about all of you. You represented Speedy B’s, and you did it well. Thank you.”
Beatrice picked up a stack of envelopes and began handing them out to us. “This is a token of my appreciation and an encouragement to keep up the good work because we’re officially contracted for all Fashion Week events for the next five years. This bonus represents a percentage of the revenue your deliveries brought in. With Speedy B’s continued success, I hope to be able to offer this type of bonus more regularly.”
I accepted my envelope and tore it open. Six hundred and twenty-three dollars. Pretty damned good. Every little bit counts. I wasn’t close to my goal yet, but every day I got a little closer. “Thank you, B. And congrats on the contract. That’s going to be huge.”
“Yes, it is,” she grinned, “and I couldn’t have done it without all of you. Now get out there and do what you do best.”
While everyone else continued to loiter around the donut table and catch up, I scurried back outside with Justin hot on my heels. I didn’t have time to hang out and shoot the breeze. I had to fit in as many deliveries as I could before I had to get back to Sunny’s for the dinner shift.
“Emmy, what do you say we grab a quick lunch together before we head out?”
“Justin, I had fun with you after the Christmas party, but that was all it was ever going to be. I don’t have the time or the interest in a relationship, not even a casual one. You’re a nice guy, but it isn’t going to happen.”
Disappointment flashed across his face before a sly smirk replaced it. “We’ll see,” he said with a wink before he turned and walked back inside.
I shook my head. The man was incorrigible. I unlocked my bike, pulled up the app on my phone, and selected my first job of the day. I liked being a bike messenger. Not only did it keep me active and out of pricey gym memberships, but I got to see the city in all of her nitty-gritty glory. The city was so diverse, and my job allowed me to see it all. I could be delivering a diamond tennis bracelet from Tiffany’s to the Waldorf at one, and baby formula to an overstimulated mom with three kids hanging off of her in a third-floor walk-up in the Bronx at two. No two days were the same, and I loved it.
When I got back to Sunny’s before the dinner rush, Sal wasn’t in his makeshift shelter like he usually was. I’d told him before I left this morning that I would be back for the dinner rush, and Sal has never missed a chance at a free meal. I looked up and down the alley, but didn’t see any sign of him. I’d have to check back before the end of my shift to see if he’d come home yet.
“You’re late,” Tony growled when I went inside.
“You know, Tony, a simple hello would work just the same and sound more appreciative,” I said sweetly as I put my belongings away.
Tony snorted dismissively, but I saw the twitch of his lips as he held back a smile.
Big old grump, I thought to myself as I grabbed my stuff and headed out onto the floor. About an hour into the shift, one of my regulars stumbled into the diner with his shirt soaked in blood.
“Oh my God, Kenny! What the hell happened to you?” I asked as I rushed to his side and helped him onto a stool at the counter.
“Old Man Sal is going nuts out there!” Kenny replied as I grabbed a towel and applied pressure to the wound on his neck.
“Someone call an ambulance,” I shouted as I ran outside to check on Sal. In all the years I’d known him, Sal had never been a violent man. If he was attacking people, something had to be wrong with him. Hopefully, I could calm him down so that no one else got hurt. I scanned the street and spotted him on his knees, bent over something on the sidewalk about ten feet away.
“Sal?”
I approached him cautiously, aware that he’d just attacked Kenny. When I got closer, I realized that the something he was bent over had legs. It was a person!
“Sal?”
This time, he seemed to hear me because I saw him freeze before slowly turning toward me. I gasped at his appearance. He had never been the cleanest man. Living on the street does that to you, but he had tried. Now, he was covered in so much blood it looked black. Blood poured from his mouth from what I suspected was his feast of the human lying before him. Everything about his appearance was... wrong, but it was his deadened, cloudy eyes that were the most unsettling.
Time seemed to slow as we regarded each other. My fight or flight senses kicked in seconds before Sal lunged toward me with an inhuman growl. I turned and ran back to the diner, not daring to look behind me to see how close he was. As soon as I made it back inside, other customers were beside me to help me hold the door closed as Sal slammed into it. I threw the lock on the door into place and stepped back as Sal continued to slam into the glass in a rage.
“He’s going to break through!” someone yelled behind me.
“Emery, drop the gate!” Tony yelled as he came out from the back.
I ran back to the door and slapped the button that released the heavy metal security gate that dropped across the front of the diner. As it fell, it hit Sal, sending him to the ground andpinning his hands beneath it. I watched through the metal bars in horror as Sal struggled to free himself. His face was smashed up from hitting the pavement, but the true horror was watching as he pulled his hands free, leaving his fingers trapped beneath the gate.
“What the fuck is happening?” I asked to no one in particular. Eventually, a person ran by the diner, and Sal’s focus switched to them as he chased after them.
I turned to survey the diner and met Tony’s eyes. We couldn’t stay here, and we had a packed diner. “Ok, everyone, listen up. Grab your belongings, we’re leaving through the alley,” Tony bellowed.
My attention shifted to Kenny as everyone started bustling around, not wasting any time. He had his head resting on his arms on the counter and didn’t look like he’d be able to get outside without help. One of us might have to stay behind with him until the ambulance comes. Just as I took a step to check on him, he sat up, turned to the woman standing beside him, and attacked her. The woman’s scream filled the diner, and I watched in horror as Kenny ripped flesh from her body with his teeth.
Chaos erupted in the diner as the customers stampeded toward the back exit. I wanted to follow them, but I felt rooted to the spot, unable to believe what I was seeing with my own eyes.
“Emery! Move!” Tony shouted.
