Monster - A. Lee Martinez [0]
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Orbit
Hachette Book Group
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First eBook Edition: May 2009
Orbit is an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The Orbit name and logo are trademarks of Little, Brown Book Group Limited.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
ISBN: 978-0-316-07195-6
Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
By A. Lee Martinez
Gil’s All Fright Diner
In the Company of Ogres
A Nameless Witch
The Automatic Detective
Too Many Curses
Monster
Six books. It never stops being weird. How the hell did I get here? Damned if I know. There are a lot of people who deserve to be thanked, but I hate long dedications / acknowledgments. You didn’t buy this book to read about me. So I’ll skip the long list of thank-yous and just get on with it. If you’re not on this list, feel free to use a pen and add a line for yourself. I don’t mind. Really.
To Mom and the many fine writers of the DFW Writers’ Workshop. I may be smart, talented, incredibly cool, and surprisingly humble, but I still couldn’t have done this without you.
To the people who keep paying good money to read my books. You keep shelling out the cash, I’ll keep writing ’em.
And to Henchman 24. You will be missed.
1
The thing was big and white and hairy, and it was eating all the ice cream in the walk-in freezer. Four dozen chewed-up empty cartons testified that it had already devoured half of the inventory and it wasn’t full yet.
From the safety of the doorway, Judy watched it stuff an entire carton of Choc-O-Chiptastic Fudge into its mouth with a slurp. The creature turned its head slightly and sniffed. It had vaguely human features, except its face was blue and its nostrils and mouth impossibly huge. It fixed a cobalt eye on her and snorted.
Judy beat a hasty retreat and walked to the produce aisle, where Dave was stocking lettuce.
“I thought I asked you to stock the ice cream,” he said. “No need,” she said. “Yeti is eating it all.”
He raised his head. “What?”
“Maybe not all of it,” she said. “Doesn’t seem to like the vanilla.”
“What?”
Dave wasn’t the brightest of guys, and the staffing shortage at the Food Plus Mart and the extra hours he’d been putting in had taken their toll. The poor guy got maybe three hours of sleep a night, nine dollars an hour, and two days of paid vacation a year, but it was all worth it to work in the glamorous world of supermarket management, she assumed.
“It’s a yeti,” she said. “Big hairy thing. Belongs in the Himalayas. Except it’s in your freezer, and it’s eating the ice cream.”
“What?”
She sighed. “Just go look for yourself, Dave. I’ll handle the lettuce.”
Dave trudged toward the freezer and returned. “There’s a yeti in the freezer,” he observed. “Mmm-hmm.”
Dave joined her in piling on lettuce. They moved on to bananas, then grapes. He checked the freezer again.
“Is it still there?” she asked. “Yeah. Now it’s eating the frozen chicken dinners.” He rubbed his fat chin. “What should we do?”
“Don’t ask me,” she said. “You’re the manager.”
Dave scratched his head. He was obviously having trouble forming a coherent thought. Judy took pity on him.
“Isn’t there a book of emergency phone numbers, Dave?”
“Yeah.” He yawned. “But I don’t think it has anything about yetis in it.”
“Have you checked?”
“Uh, no.”
“It’s in the office,