Francine pushed her way in at first (past a pile of Palmolive dishwashing liquid boxes that had toppled against the door) just to see if she could find something for the road-scrapes on her face. When she spotted the pay phone against the wall near the register, though, she hurried over to try it out; after all, whatever was messing with their cell reception wouldn't affect a landline, right? ...Dead air.

Too bad you couldn't say that for the air she was breathing. For some definition of that word that included one cough for every three normal exhales, even with Francine holding her kerchief over her mouth half the time.

Hunh. One aisle over: household cleaners and safety equipment... Francine forgot for a moment about the sting along her cheekbone as she headed over to see if there were any dust masks left on the dirty, half-toppled shelves.