A killer that targets folks for their livers, Jack said with a sigh. Sounds likes some weird new kind of vampire.

Dont joke, Rachel said. Someone going after people with this specific sort of trait might turn out to be worse than a vampire.

She meant it as a joke, but as they started walking down the quiet hallway to start speaking with the staff of Harbour Medical Group, she couldnt suppress the light chill that crept along her spine.

CHAPTER NINE

It was his lunch break, and he spent it the same way hed spent every lunch break for the past six years. He went to the breakroom fridge, took out the leftovers from last nights dinner, nuked them in the microwave, and took it out to his car. He hated where he workeda small call center for consumer complaints regarding three different brands of furnitureas well as the people he worked with. So the twenty-five minutes he spent in his car, alone, was often the best part of his day.

Sometimes he listened to podcasts, and during Christmastime, hed listen to Christmas songs on the local pop radio station. Sometimes it was YouTube videos on his phone, or doom-scrolling various newsfeeds. This was the only true alone time he had. If he wasnt working, he was trying to care for someone else. He was trying to keep someone happy…and it was a very draining process. So every now and then, a good podcast with a few twists or bits of knowledge that were new to him served as the brighter parts of his week.

But lately, over the past month or so, hed done none of that. Hes scarfed down his leftoversusually a simple pasta dish of some kind or, on a Monday, leftover burgers or steaks hed grilled over the weekendand simply sat in his car in absolute silence. Sometimes hed stare out of the windshield to the parking lot and the small strip of grass that separated it from the highway. Other times, hed slightly recline the passenger seat and lay back with his eyes closed. Hed do one of these things and listen closely for a prompting.

It was not meditation, not really, but more of a relaxation technique that allowed him to see past the chaotic mess of his own thoughts. And lurking behind those thoughts was a very clear voice.