by Laken Cane
“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.
<
br /> 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 said. “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…”
She met his shuttered gaze. “Thank you. I won’t forget this.”
“I couldn’t let him die. Not if there was a chance you could save him.” He gave a tight smile. “I tried.”
He glanced behind her and she turned to watch Jack as he walked up to stand beside her. “Are we going to fight?” she asked.
“No, Rune.”
“I have to try.”
“I know.”
But she wasn’t sure she even could try. She’d fed Levi, she’d lost half her hand, and now she was running on fumes. She wasn’t sure she had the blood to save Z. But she was sure as hell going to give it a shot.
Z lay unmoving on the cold pavement, his skin greenish and covered with sores. His hair was gone, all but a few stubborn strands. He smelled like infection and death.
“What can I do to help?” Jack asked, kneeling beside her.
“I might pass out. I might try to run.” Yeah, the pain was that bad. “I need you to hold my wrist to his mouth.” Then she transferred her stare to Owen. “And if he can’t keep me there, I need you to.”
He nodded. “You got it.”
She dropped her fangs and lifted her wrist to her mouth, slicing open a vein. She began to bleed at once.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed her wrist against Z’s lips. “Drink, Z,” she ordered. “Drink.”
Of course he couldn’t hear her, but the blood ran into his mouth anyway, just as it had with Levi.
But there was no pain.
Terror squeezed her lungs and she couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t working. She needed to feed in order to heal him. It wasn’t going to work.
“God,” she cried. “I have nothing left to give him.” And weeping, she took her wrist away. He’d taken some of her blood, but it was as though she’d given him a drink of water.
She couldn’t feel it working.
There was no fucking pain.
“Get Lex,” she said. “I’ll feed and—”
“He’s too far gone,” Jack said, gently.
And she knew he was right.
She stretched out beside Z, wrapping her good arm around him and burying her face against his chest. She didn’t care that his shirt had been splashed with vomit and blood, didn’t care that the stench of him was enough to make a person sick.
“You know Z loves you.” Lex’s voice echoed in her mind.
Yes, she knew.
He was her Z, and she couldn’t save him.
“Don’t call me sweet thing,” she whispered.
Her cell began to ring, and one of the guys, Jack, most likely, pulled it from her pocket.
“Yeah?” Jack was quiet for a minute. “Owen brought Z in. She fed him. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
She forced herself away from Z, flinching as her half-eaten hand hit the pavement. Out of habit she lifted her right hand to push her hair out of her face, then remembered her hair was gone. “Tell me,” she said to Jack.
“That was Strad. They’re surrounded by zombies and could use some help.”
She nodded. “We’ll have to…” She gestured at Z, unable to finish the sentence.
Jack stood and drew a long blade. “I’ll do it.”
She wanted to be strong. She wanted to do the right thing, to take the blade from Jack and say no, no. It’s my responsibility and I will do it.
“Okay,” she said.
“Wait.” Owen held up a finger, his voice sharp.
Desperate for anything, any small hope, Rune looked at Owen. “What?”
Owen pointed at Z’s face. “He looks better. You might not have healed him, Rune, but you might have. I’m going to put him in the house across the street.” He met her hopeful gaze. “We can’t take a chance on killing him if he’s going to heal.”
“I’m not going to let him become a fucking zombie,” Jack said, and lifted his blade.
“Jack. No.” She gave Owen a nod. “Take him in and leave him. Be quick.”
When things went wrong, they went wrong in a hurry.
Jack didn’t say a word.
He might live, was all Rune could think. He might. He could.
They waited impatiently until Owen completed his task and climbed into the back with Lex and the children. “What’s this?”
Lex began explaining. Rune stared out the window as Jack sped them away from the site, from Z.
The daylight faded into a cold darkness. It’d bee
n winter forever. Cold, weak sunlight, gray days, frigid nights. Summer was a distant memory and every single part of her longed for it.
Jack’s stomach growled and it took her half a minute to figure out what she’d heard. She rummaged in the glove compartment until she found what she was looking for. “Eat this.”
He smiled. “Gunnar’s Baby Ruth?”
She nodded but couldn’t bring herself to smile. “I remember a time when I was a hard ass, Jack.”
“You’re still a hard ass, honey, but you love your crew.”
“Yeah,” she said, almost afraid to say more. Even she could hear the tears in her voice. “But so do you and you didn’t fall apart.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You call that falling apart? When this is over, Rune, I’ll grieve for the ones we lose. I’ll grieve hard.” He reached over to pat her leg, then took the candy. “If any one of us had to deal with half the shit you’ve dealt with, we’d be insane. Or dead. So yeah.” He ripped the packaging off the candy and took a gigantic bite. “You’re a hard ass.”
“I’d like a burger,” Lex said.
“As soon as we get a chance, we’ll raid a grocery,” Rune promised.
“Want a bite?” Jack asked, waving the candy over his shoulder.
“No, thanks,” Lex answered.
Owen grabbed the candy and finished it off. “Got any more of those?”
“Sorry, baby.” Rune stared out the window once more. Her hand was feeling a little better but she left the bandages on. Her claws would rip right through the gauze when she needed them. It might hurt to use them, but to fight the zombies she’d need all the claws she had left.
Z. Get up.
“Did Strad say anything about Denim?” she asked Jack.
“No.”
Even if Denim noticed that Levi was a little different, he’d be overjoyed his brother lived. Surely.
But there was no more time to worry about it.
“We have to put the kids into a secure house while we’re fighting,” she told Jack. “Let’s try one of those.”
He pulled into the yard and right up to the front door of a small white house, then jumped out of the car and went to break in and make sure it was clear.
But when he came back, his face was pale and he drove them away from the little house as though monsters were hanging from the ceiling. “I’ll find another one. Can’t go in there.”