The old, downstairs used bookstore somehow was even warmer and stuffier than the stairwell, as though the air had been still for years before our imposition. Nevertheless, our efforts had paid off: we were in the bookstore.
"Oh wow," Tammy said quietly as she took out her camera and made her way deeper into the small bookstore, cutting a line through the thick dust on the floor as she did so. While most of the books save a few odd strewn about pieces were gone, the five shoulder-height, double-sided bookshelves remained stamped in rows across the store. Along the inner walls, larger shelves reaching to the low ceiling surrounded them. A simple desk next to the door we came through seemed to act as an all-purpose sales counter with drilled holes in the surface for where a cash register must have been. Beyond that, the room was bare with only a couple high-set windows along the top of the outer wall, feasibly able to allow some light in were it daytime and were they not boarded up.
Gene brushed past me softly, entering the bookstore. Concerned about the door, I took a large, torn book from the area and set against the door frame to keep the door open; as easy as it was to open the door, we knew better than to take chances of getting ourselves locked into these kinds of places.
Tammy and Gene's cameras flashed constantly, taking pictures of every possible little thing. The pile of books labelled "damaged" in the corner; the line of dust bunnies colonizing the lower shelves; the high, boarded up windows. All were fair game for the three of us as we explored every inch of the store.
"Hey Nate," Gene said to me while I was crouched beneath the desk. I turned to face him.
"What is--" I didn't have a chance to speak before he clapped a large book shut in my face, erupting a massive cloud of dust around my head. The dust in my eyes along with the sudden noise was enough to make me lose my balance. I fell hard backwards onto the dusty tiled floor, coughing and sneezing while Gene snickered.
"See? You can't help it either, can you?" he said to me, again with the wide smile I could only imagine beneath his makeshift mask.
I could see Tammy running over to us as I sat up, the grey dust pronounced on my black pants and shirt. She too was trying her best to hold in her laughter while at the same time telling us to shut up. Again, the apparently giggles began brewing within us while I buried my face in my one clean arm to smother the noise from my never-ending barrage of sneezes. Four more times in rapid succession, I blasted sneeze after sneeze into the inside of my elbow while Tammy slapped what dust she could off my back and shoulders.
As my sneezing eased up, something against the desk caught my eye, like some kind of dark patch on the side of the wood panelling. With my other hand, I fumbled along the floor and picked up my dropped flashlight.
"Hey, check this out," I said to the others as I shined my beam on the spot of interest.
"Oh no way..." Tammy said first, incredulously. "...that's not blood, is it?"
