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Unfortunately, walking through a nice and calm store pretty ot itself cleared fast and I ran straight into a hard thought One way or another, I had to get rid of the dahaka I had zero ideas about how to do it

No matter how I turned it around, Arland was my best bet He had all the answers However, the rules of hospitality dictated that I treat hiranted it Our verbal contract was binding and could be broken only under very specific circuuest had lied about the severity of his situation, if his presence inside the inn posed a risk to other guests beyond the innkeeper’s ability to counteract, or if the guest willingly and knowingly aided in breaking the concealment provision

Arland hadn’t lied about the severity of his situation His uncle was truly near death and both of theer The second clause was usually invoked when a guest was a violent uests within the inn Not only did Arland not fit that description, but invoking this clause al your inn marked down It was an admission of failure on the innkeeper’s part If an innkeeper knew she couldn’t handle a violent guest, she shouldn’t have let hiuest or she had no business running the inn in the first place It was like holding a sign that said "Hi, over here, I’m incompetent" I reminded myself that Gertrude Hunt could not afford to lose a uest who deliberately and knowingly co the inns Every planet and every world whose citizens sought refuge at the inns had sworn to conceal their existence and that of the innkeepers Our planet at large wasn’t ready for the big reveal of the universe People had tried to test the waters --in October of 1938, for example --and the results weren’t positive However, Arland showed no inclination to approach randoers on the street, declare that he was a vaalaxy, and offer to let thes Back to square one

I took some paper towels and stuffed them on the lower shelf of my cart Maybe on my way out I’d treat myself to a slushy Not that it would help me find my way out of this mess, but it would make me feel better

I rounded the shelf Sometime soon I’d need to make an excursion to a home-improvement store and buy so to expand, I’d need to help out by providing soe --the inn had really deep roots, but it had stood abandoned for so long Even though the flurry of recent activity wasn’t really straining it, I’d rather be safe than sorry

A plump, dark-haired woman ahead of me stopped dead in her tracks and I allanced at me, her eyes wide "Did you see that?"

"I’m sorry, see what?"

"Over there" The woman pointed to the seven-foot-tall freezers

I studied the units Bright square packages of frozen pizza, bags of corn, peas, and Noruess I’ crazy" The wo noise cut through the quiet So across metal I looked up Above the freezer on the white wall sat a stalker, fastened to the drywall by its huge claws

The woht

No broom Security cameras A carnivorous alienpeople I took a split-second inventory of the shelves in front of me and my cart Shelves: paper towels, paper plates, napkins Cart: ten three-liter bottles of Mello Yello, big bag of dog food, plastic bags filled with bunches of s of Clorox, olive oil

The stalker swiveled its head, its evil, vicious eyesthe distance between it and us

"What the hell is that?" the wo its body as if it were boneless

"Run," I barked and grabbed theTheand into the floor

God, this place was huge I pushed harder, the h the wires under the floor and in the walls

"What?" The woaped at me

The stalker’s muscles bunched

"Run!"

The woman planted herself "Like hell! This place is full of old people and kids"

The one tiht in the open andaway

The ht set of wires The security cameras died

The stalker leaped, claws poised for the kill I yanked the gallon-sized jug of bleach fro it like a bat The jar connected with a solid thud, knocking the stalker aside It flew, righted itself like a cat, and landed in the aisle, sliding back Claws scraped the concrete

The beast charged ed left The dark-haired worabbed a six-pack of Del Monte canned corn from her cart and hurled it at the creature The blow took it on the shoulder The stalker stumbled and shied toward me I smashed the bleach over its head The stalker jerked back and raked the bottle with its claws --the plastic held

A huge jar of tomato paste crashed into the beast’s side The stalker snapped at the wo with its claws The tips of its talons cut across the worabbed a bottle of olive oil froht it down like a hammer The stalker leaped back I threw the bottle at it

The stalker rowl that raised every hair on my body The woman swiped cans from her cart and threw thee of cans, baring ugly red teeth Step, another step The shelves looht up, scuttled over the plastic-wrapped inventory on the shelves so fast it was a blur, and leaped straight at ht h the fabric Pain lanced my shoulders The impact knocked me back and my spine hit the metal shelves The red teeth snapped an inch from my face Fetid, sour breath washed over me