All Fall Down by Annie Reed Page B

her nose, and he laughed at her.
    They were having so much fun, they didn't
hear the sick man until he was almost on them.
    Tommy had picked up another pair of
sunglasses, this pair with glittery stars for frames, and put them
on his own nose. The sunglasses were too dark to wear inside, but
Tommy had no problem seeing the sudden look of terror that stole
Jessie's smile when she looked over his shoulder.
    Tommy dropped to the floor and rolled toward
the front door. That was something else Leon had taught him. Don't
stop to think. Just drop and roll and then get to your feet and
run. The sick couldn't bend over to reach you, their bodies were
too stiff, and they couldn't outrun you if you were small and
fast.
    No one had ever taught Jessie that
trick.
    She stood rooted to the spot, her silly
sunflower sunglasses perched on her nose, and screamed as the man
reached for her. He'd been sick for so long that he looked like a
shambling skeleton. His skin was rotted and leathery, his eyes dark
and mean like hard little marbles. His hand looked like a claw
covered with jerky. His clothes were stained and dirty, and he
smelled like rotted food left in a refrigerator after the
electricity stopped working.
    "Run!" Tommy screamed.
    She didn't run, and Tommy realized she
couldn't. She seemed brave all by herself, but maybe she'd never
seen a sick person up close before. He didn't think anyone had been
that lucky.
    Tommy didn't have a gun. Leon never had one
either. Leon had a bat, a big one, that he said was better because
it didn't make as much noise as guns so it didn't let any other
sick people know you were there, but Tommy hadn't taken the bat
after the sick man came out of the ocean and bit Leon. Tommy had
run, and he just kept on running until he couldn't hear Leon's
screams anymore except inside his head.
    Tommy didn't have anything he could use for
a bat except for the display rack with all the postcards. It was
taller than he was, but it was the kind of rack that spun around a
center pole, and it had metal spokes to hold the cards. Tommy
didn't think it would be all that heavy.
    He picked up the rack and used it like a
spear. He jabbed at the sick man with the base of the rack, yelling
at Jessie to run, screaming at the man to leave them alone, like
the sick could understand anything you said to them. The spokes of
the rack shuddered each time Tommy hit the sick man. Tommy kept
hitting him, over and over, until finally, Jessie snapped out of
her trance and she ran toward the front door.
    Tommy dropped the rack and turned to follow
her, and that's when his feet slipped on the postcards strewn
around the floor.
    He fell, and his chin hit the wooden floor
so hard his teeth hurt. "Wait!" he called out to Jessie, but she
didn't turn around. Tommy saw her scramble through the opening in
the front door and disappear down the boardwalk, and then he felt
the sick man pull on his backpack.
    Pure terror shot through Tommy. He was going
to get bit! He couldn't roll and get away. He couldn't do any of
the things Leon had taught him. The sick man held on too tight to
the backpack. Tommy would have to turn and fight.
    That's what Leon had done, and Leon had
lost.
    If Leon couldn't fight them, how could
someone as small as Tommy?
    Tommy tried to wriggle out of the straps.
His head ached and his teeth hurt, and it was hard for him to
think, hard for him to get his shoulders to do what he wanted. The
straps from his backpack dug into his shoulders, and he felt like
he was tied down just like his mom used to tie the legs of the
turkey she made for Thanksgiving dinner. Tommy didn't want to be
anyone's dinner.
    Because he couldn't go forward, he finally
tried scooting backward just enough to loosen the straps, and then
he shrugged and squirmed, and the straps slid off his
shoulders.
    The sick man made a guttural noise just like
a hungry animal. Why did he have to be hiding here? He'd ruined
everything! The sick ruined the entire world. The sick had