by Laken Cane
She stood in the middle of a nice size living room, which contained small pieces of furniture and an enormous flat screen TV. She cradled her injured hand to her chest, her gaze on the stranger.
He had straw colored hair and shy blue eyes. He wore a pair of faded overalls, his feet stuck into boots almost big enough for her to sleep in. But she was accustomed to big men.
He smiled a little vacantly and twisted his hands together. “Hi.” The zombies continued to torpedo themselves against the exterior of the house, but he no longer seemed to notice. “My name is Benjamin David Arco. Everyone calls me George.”
She was unable to contain a groan when she glanced down at the bloody stumps where her fingers had once been. Now that there was no immediate danger, the pain roared over her. Nausea rose when she saw the tiny, bloody bones standing sharply at attention.
The fingers would regrow, and so would the claws.
They would.
“George, I need some ice and bandages. And coffee, if you’ve got it.” Coffee made everything better.
“What happened to your hand?” He walked a little closer and peered down at her, his eyes wide.
She showed him. “There are zombie Others out there. I was fighting them when one—”
He wobbled back a few steps then crashed to the floor, out cold.
She sighed. “For fuck’s sake, dude. It’s just a little blood and gore.” She guessed she’d have to go find her own damn ice.
But he’d know how the whole mess had started. Once she took care of her hand she’d get his story.
As she headed for the bathroom George moaned, then called weakly, “Lady?”
“I’m here.” She could see a bathroom at the end of the hallway. “Can you make some coffee?”
There was an open door on her right and as she started to walk by, she glanced into a small bedroom.
“Fuck me,” she whispered. She pulled a shiv with her right hand and stepped into the room.
On the bed sat a very large female zombie, holding the hand of a very little girl.
Chapter Twelve
The child’s face was slack, her brown eyes unaware, but suddenly she focused on Rune and gave a startled scream.
The zombie lurched toward Rune, teeth snapping.
Rune was so focused on the kid and the zombie she was slow to react when she heard George behind her.
He rammed her, his big body knocking the breath from her. She lost the shiv but immediately shot her claws out. Her damaged left hand screamed with agony.
“Fie,” George yelled. “Steffie!”
Rune shoved the young man away and went for the zombie when once again George grabbed her. Kid was a pain in the ass.
She snarled and turned on him, but the look in his wide eyes made her hesitate. She knew that look. It was the look a parent had for a child who was in danger.
“Wait,” he begged, holding up his hands. “Just watch.”
The little girl—Fie—had already regained control. She stared at the zombie with such concentration there was no room in her head for anything else. Her eyes were blank, unaware.
But she controlled the zombie.
Once again, the two sat on the bed, side by side, hand in hand.
“What the hell?” Rune looked at George. “Dude. Explain.”
He twisted his hands together, his face screwed into lines of remorse. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She withdrew her claws, her entire body throbbing with pain as the jagged claws scraped against her raw, bloody flesh. “You didn’t.” She gestured at the bed. “What’s going on?”
“Stefanie is my little sister. She’s special. Everyone calls her Fie.”
He was probably around nineteen, but seemed a little closer to seven, mentally. She patted his arm with her good hand, hoping he’d relax before he burst into tears. “Go on.” She stood beside him and watched the zombie, just in case it moved.
“Fie brought mother out of the graveyard,” he whispered, as though the girl didn’t already know and he didn’t want to be the one to tell her.
“I see that.” Fie had called the zombies and started the whole disaster. When the wolf alpha had asked her for help, he’d said there were two children in trouble.
Why he hadn’t told the truth she couldn’t have said. She’d been given nothing but lies the entire time.
“She’s a necromancer?” she asked George. “Can you call the dead as well?”
He frowned then went silent and blank for a second, like he was trying hard to figure out her questions. “Mother died,” he said, finally. “She died and we needed her back. Fie brought back our dog when he died, so she brought back mother. They were going to take us away from each other.”
She softened. “How old are you, George?”
“Fourteen. Fie is six.”
She was small, even for a six year old. George didn’t have that problem. He was big—he took after his mother.
“Do you understand the zombie is not really your mother?” She flashed suddenly to the day she’d discovered her own mother was a vampire. Her adoptive mother. The mother she’d thought dead, the mother she’d killed…
The mother she’d turned.
She shook off those grim memories and concentrated on George and Fie.
“She is, too,” he shouted. “Fie says she is.”
“This zombie will kill your sister if it gets the chance. You have to be the big brother now, George, and help me protect her.”
The only thing Shiv Crew could do was get the children out of town, to safety, and let the military clear Rock County.
If they could get out of town.
She pulled her cell out of her pocket then realized she’d missed some calls. She was standing in a bedroom with two kids and a zombie. She was pretty sure that was a good enough excuse.
Raze had called twice. She called him back, wincing when he roared her name. “Calm down, baby. I had my phone on vibrate and didn’t hear it.”
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you, Rune. Where the hell are you?”
“I’m a few blocks from the yellow house. I fought some zombies and ended up having to run from the sons of bitches.”
“We just saw where you’d fought them.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. “I thought you were dead.”
She looked at her hand. “I’m fine. Did Strad and Jack find our boys?”
“They found Z and Owen. Owen is okay.”
“Z?” She held her breath.
“He wouldn’t come back.”
“Owen promised he’d bring him back,” she said, like a child would.
“Z said the last thing he wanted was for you to see him like that. Owen is staying with him to destroy him when he…”
“No,” she said. “I can heal him. Just like I did Levi.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “Just like you did Levi.”
He said it like healing Levi was a bad thing.
Oh hell, she knew it was.
If she did that to Z, he’d hate her.
She leaned against the wall, suddenly exhausted. “Where are the berserker and Jack now? Denim? You?”
“I’m heading back to the house to check on Levi and Lex. I left them to search for you when I couldn’t get you on your cell. Denim still isn’t back. Strad and Jack have gone to search for you.”
“Did you try to call Denim?”
“Lex tried. He won’t answer.”
Fuck. She turned to George, who’d become bored with the conversation and was tracing patterns on the wall, humming quietly. “George, do you know this address?”
“1143 Cedar Street,” he said proudly.
She repeated it to Raze. “I need you to put Lex and Levi into the car, find Jack and Strad, and come to this house.”
“What’s going on, Rune?”
“I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
“We’re on our way.”
He called back in two minutes. �
�We can’t get Levi to wake up. I’ll put the phone to his ear.”
“Dammit.” Levi just needed some time. She hoped. God, she hoped. “Levi, wake the fuck up.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
“Raze is bringing you and Lex to me.”
“Okay,” he agreed.
“How do you feel?”
He thought about it. “Better. I feel better.”
Yeah. “See you in a while.” She hung up. “George, I need you to get me a big bowl of ice and some bandages while I watch your sister. Can you do that?”
“Yes. I used to help Mother all the time. She was a vet.”
“Good. Find me what I need. And when you hear my crew at the door, let them in.” She wasn’t about to leave Fie alone with the zombie. One lapse in concentration and the child would be dead.
She kept her post, watchful and ready for anything.
When she heard George opening the door for her crew, she sighed with relief. She was part monster, but she was also part human.
And the human part was in need of some major attention.
Chapter Thirteen
The crew gathered around, staring at the child and the zombie she controlled. George pushed his way through them, his arms full of ice and first aid supplies.
He was slow getting what she needed, but he was thorough, and he did indeed know what he was doing. He wrapped her mangled hand, stuck it into a bucket of ice, then handed her two white pills.
“Aspirin,” he said. “It’ll make you feel better.”
She grinned and swallowed the pills. “You fainted when you saw my hand a little while ago, George. How are you able to doctor me up now?”
He frowned at her and then put his nose into the air. “I didn’t faint, I went to sleep for a minute, and it wasn’t because of your hand. It’s because my brain has to have a break when it gets too excited.”
He sounded like he was repeating something he’d heard his whole life. Rune believed him. He’d been too matter-of-fact as he’d tended her hand to faint at the sight of blood.
“What,” Jack asked, staring at the zombie, “is going on here?”
“Are you okay?” Strad asked her.
“Where’s Denim?” asked Levi.
“Denim took off when he thought you were…gone, Levi. I’m fine, Strad. And that is a little girl controlling her zombie mother.”
“That kid started it all?” Jack asked, trying to whisper. He didn’t whisper very well and got a baleful look from George.
“It would appear so,” Rune replied. “She’s a baby necromancer. She went to the graveyard to call her mother, and must have called…all of them. She’s barely able to control this one.” She shook her head. “She’s too young.”
“What are you going to do to our mother?” George’s eyes were too wide. He knew what they were going to do.
“George, I need you to take your sister out of here.” She softened her voice. “Your mother wants to go back into the earth and rest.” She didn’t bother telling him again the zombie wasn’t his mother.
“Fie will be mad.”
“She’ll be upset,” Rune agreed. “But it’s the right thing to do. Will you help us?”
He nodded, but a big fat tear ran down his cheek. He walked to Fie and the zombie. “Goodbye again, Mother.”
“Grab her and run, George,” Rune told him. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Her crew would destroy the zombie and get the body out of the house. That was as far ahead as she could think at the moment.
The boy looked at her and she gave him a nod. “Do it.”
The very second he grabbed Fie, she began to scream and struggle. He folded her into his big arms and ran out of the room, Rune on his heels.
She heard the door slam behind them.
George carried his sister to the living room and sat down on the couch, still holding her. Her arms were restrained but it didn’t stop her from biting him.
Rune sat down beside them and took the girl’s face between her hands. “Fie. Listen to me.”
But the child just screamed.
“She wants our mother.” George looked at Rune, silently begging her to make it right.
“I know, baby.”
“That zombie would eat you, Fie,” George said, surprising Rune. “Mother wouldn’t have hurt you, not ever.”
Fie buried her face against her brother’s chest and began to sob.
“I helped,” he said.
“You did great.” Rune stood and blocked his view as her crew came into the room. Jack was carrying a sheet wrapped package. Strad opened the door for him and they hurried outside to dispose of it.
“We have to find Denim,” Levi said, standing beside Rune. He put his hand on her shoulder and it took everything she had not to shrug him off.
Let’s tally this up. I’ve addicted Strad to my bite, Lex to my blood, and made Levi a mutated zombie slave—who may also be addicted to my blood. Way to go, Rune!
“We’ll find him,” she replied.
Denim needed to see that his brother was still alive.
“What can we do with the children?” Lex asked. “We can’t haul them around while we search for the crew and destroy the zombies.”
Rune sighed. “Lex, would you stay here and—”
“Nope. I’m not a babysitter.”
Rune didn’t argue. “We’ll find the crew and work our way out of town. The military can deal with the rest of the zombies.”
Fie and George were quiet. Fie still hid her face, but George watched them with his wide-eyed stare. Rune had no idea what would happen to them. She’d give them to Elizabeth once she got them to River County. Elizabeth would contact Children’s Services.
But when the wrong people got wind of what little Fie could do—and they would—the child would be in demand. And not in a good way.
Necromancers weren’t exactly common.
Strad and Jack reentered the house, and Strad went straight to Rune. “How is your hand?”
She ground her teeth. “Don’t baby me, Berserker.”
He ignored her and lifted her throbbing hand, as though he could see through the bandages. “You fed Levi and you’ve been hurt. You need blood.”
“I’m not going to feed from you twice in one day. It’d kill you.” She pulled her hand out of his grasp and turned to the crew. “Strad, you and Levi—”
“I’m going with you,” Levi interrupted, then frowned and glanced uneasily at the others. “Forget I said that. I don’t care who I ride with, as long as we find my brother.”
“Fuck,” Rune said, under her breath.
The berserker squeezed her arm, his face expressionless. “We’ll find Denim. But I can’t take you to Z. I gave him my word.”
She pulled out of his grip, narrowing her eyes. “I don’t give a fuck what promises you made, Berserker—”
“F word,” George said.
Rune rubbed her good hand over her face. “Sorry, kid.”
“I’m going with you,” Strad said. “Just in case you need to feed.”
“She can feed from me,” Lex told him. “She’s right. It’ll kill you if she takes blood from you again.”
Rune nodded. “Lex can come with me. Raze, you go with Strad in his truck.” She didn’t want him tempted. If things got desperate, she’d have a hard time resisting him when he offered up his blood.
In the end, Raze, Strad, and Levi climbed into Strad’s truck, and Jack drove Rune, Lex, and the children in Rune’s SUV.
Rune knew she’d never get Z’s location out of Strad, but she didn’t need him. She had Jack, and he knew where Z and Owen were. He’d tell her.
Only he wouldn’t.
“Rune, he doesn’t want you to see him. He doesn’t want you to try and save him, either.”
She hit the dashboard, hard enough to dent it. “Why the fuck not, Jack?”
“He didn’t tell me that.”
“He thinks it’s unnatural,” Lex sa
id. “Being brought back from death is horrifying to him.”
“God. I have to try to save him. I have to.” Her voice was hoarse and desperate but she didn’t care. Let them see her pain. She needed Z.
And he needed to live.
“He would never forgive you if he ended up like Levi,” Jack said. His face was pale. He hated to go against her wishes, but he wouldn’t back down. Just like Strad, he’d given his word.
“Levi will come out of it,” she said.
“I’m sorry, Rune. I can’t.”
“Jack—”
Lex growled and reached around the seat to grab Jack’s arm.
“Lex,” he yelled, and jerked his arm out of her grip.
But not fast enough.
Rune looked at Lex. “Did you get it?”
“He’s in Shalegrove high school.” She shuddered and sat back, saying no more. She didn’t have to. The horror on her face as she’d read Jack told Rune all she needed to know.
Z was fading fast.
Jack sighed. “I can’t take you there.”
“Then stop the car and get the fuck out. I’ll drive.”
“F word,” George yelled.
Lex calmed him. Rune heard the blind Other murmuring to him, but she couldn’t worry about George being upset. She had to get to Z.
“Take me to him, Jack.”
“Rune, I—”
Tired of wasting time, she yanked her door open and without hesitating, jumped out of the moving car.
“Dammit, Rune,” Jack yelled.
She heard George shout and Fie break into fresh sobs, and held her good hand to her stomach. She had to get away from all of them, and she had to get to Z.
But then she heard the sound of a car engine.
It was Owen, driving Raze’s truck.
Oh no. Z.
He slammed on the brakes, jumped out, and pulled someone from the truck.
As she stood there, frozen in dread and fear, he jogged toward her.
And Z was in his arms.
Chapter Fourteen
“Hurry,” Owen panted. He gently laid Z—or something that resembled Z—on the ground. “I don’t know if even you can save him now, Rune, but if you can…”