Alice in Zombieland

9 A Fiendishly Mad Tea Party

Okay. So. OBWC. Stage one, part A: Kat pilfered a beer from the tray of a passing waitress, took a swig, then handed it to Reeve, who took a swig and handed it to me.

This will relax you, she mouthed.

Without taking a swig of my own, I handed the beer to Poppy, who grimaced and handed it to Wren, who grimaced and set it on a table. The thing smelled like battery acid and moldy bread, and besides that, I too easily recalled all the problems alcohol had caused my dad. No way was I going there.

Stage one, part B: doing a bump and grind on the dance floor. We formed a train as we maneuvered our way to the center. There, Kat somehow forced everyone else to take a few steps back, leaving us in our own private circle. Anyone watching from the top floor would be unable to miss us.

Unlike Emma, I had no idea how to dance gracefully. Or attractively. But I watched the way the other girls moved their arms and hips and mimicked them. I must have succeeded, because all four offered me smiles of encouragement.

After what seemed an eternity of this I motioned Kat over, and when she reached me, I said, “I don’t actually want Cole to spy on me. I want him to talk to me.”

“Oh, he will. But listen, whatever you do,” she said, moving behind me and placing her hands on my hips, “don’t look up. I’m about to enact stage two. Stage three will commence soon after that, with no more action required on our part, so be ready.”

With a force of will I hadn’t known I possessed, I glanced at her over my shoulder rather than at the boys. “I want this to happen, but I have a bad feeling about how we’re going about it.”

“Good. I know I’m on the right track. So, here we go!” Like the sex kitten I was beginning to think she was, Kat spun around me and crooked her finger at a group of ultracute random guys.

Stage two: fanning the flames of jealousy.

The guys eagerly joined our little circle. Within minutes, masculine hands were roaming, and soft bodies were bumping into hard bodies. I was uncomfortable and embarrassed, and actually had to slap a boy’s fingers away from my butt, but I kept dancing, determined to see Kat’s plan through to the end. Not once did I look in Cole’s direction.

When I noticed that Reeve’s expression was as pinched as mine probably was, I twirled my way to her side—yes, I’m lame—allowing us to concentrate on each other.

Even though one of the boys maintained a station behind her, she offered me a relieved smile.

Finally, I begin to lose myself in the music. My arms lifted over my head, and my eyes closed. I swayed, spun—and smacked into a hard chest. Boys! I swear. I peered up, ready to tell whichever guy had decided to come after me to back off. I—

I never should have doubted Kat.

Violet eyes glared down at me, barely leashed aggression in their depths. Hard hands settled on my waist, jerking me closer…closer…until only a whisper separated us.

The words back off never formed. And, shockingly enough, neither did a vision.

“Let’s dance,” he said.

“You dance?” I squeaked. Gotta get that under control, Bell. Adrenaline fizzed in my veins. This boy exhilarated me in a way I’d never before known.

From the corner of my eye, I saw that Frosty had taken over Kat’s personal space. They were arguing and kissing, arguing and kissing. A boy I hadn’t met was positioned in front of Reeve, and when he wasn’t scowling at her, he was scowling at Bronx, who was backing the random cuties away from us. He looked ready to murder anyone who protested.

No one protested.

Other boys from Cole’s group were attempting to dance with Poppy and Wren, but the girls ignored them, turning away.

Cole cupped my cheeks and brought my gaze back to him. “Why wouldn’t I dance?”

Uh, maybe because at first glance he looked like he ate puppies for breakfast and kittens for lunch? As for what he enjoyed having for dinner—that couldn’t be discussed in polite company.

“Because you think it’s dumb?” The words emerged as a question rather than the statement I’d meant them to be.

“Something that allows a guy to put his hands all over a girl isn’t dumb. It’s genius.”

As he tugged me ever closer, I muttered, “I don’t know about this.”

“Then I’ll convince you. Now put your arms around me.”

“Orders again.” But you know what? I obeyed him. I even walked my fingers up his spine and sifted them into his soft, silky hair. I just couldn’t help myself. Touching him was a compulsion.

His pupils expanded, black overshadowing all that beautiful purple. “Most people are so afraid of me they jump to obey the moment I speak.”

Just a guess, but most people hadn’t imagined his tongue inside their mouth. “I’m not most people.”

“I know. What I don’t know is why you’re here.”

His stinging tone told me far more than his words. I wasn’t welcome. “I wanted to try something new,” I said, lifting my chin. I wouldn’t mention my plans to chat with him. Yet. Just then, I had to convince myself there were three things I would not allow him to do. 1) Embarrass me. 2) Intimidate me. Or 3) Send me running.

His frown was less dark and more confused. “What’s new for you? Dancing?”

And so much more, but all I said was, “Yes.”

“And you let some strange college boy grind all over you for your first time? That’s stupid, Ali.”

Not going to be embarrassed, not going to be embarrassed. “First, he wasn’t grinding on me, and second, you’re no better than him.”

A solid minute of silence, then “You are terrible for my ego, you know that?”

I could say the same to him.

“But I can’t seem to stay away,” he added.

I could have melted into a puddle on the floor. “I know the feeling,” I admitted.

His gaze lowered to my mouth, lingered for a moment before snapping back up. But that didn’t stop him from bending down, putting his lips to my ear and saying, “So you’ve imagined kissing me, huh.” A husky note had entered his voice. Something intimate, just for me, and a blush heated my cheeks.

That was part of what I’d wanted to talk about tonight, yet he’d been the one to bring it up. Score one for Ali. I pointed out, “The same as you’ve imagined kissing me.”

“I know. So how are you making me do that?”

“Me? You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Yes, you. I never kid.” He tightened his grip on me, as if he assumed I’d bolt. “It has to be you. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.”

“Well, nothing like that has ever happened to me before, either, so I’m blaming you!”

He lifted his head, studied me, and I wasn’t sure whether to love or hate the reason behind all that intensity. “Let’s tackle this from a less volatile angle. Have you wondered what it will be like for real?”

I…had no idea how to answer that. We continued to move together, rocking, swaying. His fingers flexed on me, lowered, and stopped at the curve of my butt, yet slapping his hands away was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Well?” he insisted.

Only the truth would do, I decided. “Yes, I have.”

“Me, too,” he rasped.

My knees almost buckled. “Are you saying…”

“That I want to discover if reality compares with imagination? Yes.”

Here? Now? My first reaction was panic. My second was more panic.

“Or not,” he added drily. I could feel his arms loosening on me. “I’m used to terrifying people, but not about something like this.”

I tightened my grip on him, forcing him to stay with me. “It’s just that…well, I’ve never…” Be quiet! He blinked down at me with a little confusion and a whole lot of incredulity.

“Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never been kissed?”

I pressed my tongue to the roof of my mouth. He looked so dubious, and his tone had bordered on insulting. “Yeah. So?”

“So, I’m shocked, that’s all. You’re…you.”

In-sul-ting. “Me?” I asked stiffly.

“Yeah. Hot,” he said.

Wait. Me? Hot?

He laughed down at me. “No one’s told you that, either, have they?”

I could only shake my head.

“You’ve clearly been hanging around idiots.” His gaze lowered—and stayed—on my lips, and he lost his gleam of amusement. “I’m going to kiss you, Ali.”

Here? Now? I thought again, my panic returning and my brain short-circuiting. “But I might be bad at it, and we don’t know each other very well, and you don’t— And I don’t— And we can’t—” The words rushed from me, but nothing came out fully formed.

“Apparently I do. And you will. And we can.” With that, he lowered his head, meshed his lips against mine and stole my breath.

In a snap, there was only Cole, this moment, his mouth…his taste. Mint and cherries. His heat, enveloping me. His strength, surrounding me. Caging me as if we were back in that grocery store parking lot, the Jeep behind me. I gave myself up to the sensations, lost track of everything but Cole.

He must have lost track of everything but me, too, because the tone of the kiss changed from eager and curious to flat-out ravenous. He devoured me, and I did the same to him. My hands roamed over his back, my nails scraping at him. I was inexperienced, yes, but just like in the visions he knew exactly what he was doing.

This was consuming…drugging. He made me feel, without any kind of filter. For so long I’d wanted my life to be nothing more than a dream. Now, with emotions and sensations flooding me, I wanted this reality. And I wanted to stay in the safety and intensity of his arms. I wanted to give him everything. Here, now. Want, want, want. Want to touch him, more of him. Want his shirt off. I reached for the hem.

He reached for the hem of my shirt.

Then, suddenly, Cole was gone.

Wait. “Come back,” I demanded, a strange fog filling my head.

Voices, at a distance. Couldn’t decipher them.

My ears were ringing, I realized. Trembling, panting, I tried to focus on what was happening around me. First person I noticed as Frosty. He must have jerked Cole away from me, because he now stood between us, holding out his arms to widen the distance. His mouth was moving. He was speaking, but I couldn’t understand him.

A dancer bumped into me, and I stumbled to the side. A scowling girl shoved me into someone else. I tripped, hit the floor. Watching me go down enraged Cole. He tried to get to me, but Frosty stopped him. Of course, that caused his rage to transfer to Frosty. Cole pulled back his elbow, his hand fisted, ready to smash into his friend’s face.

Bronx moved behind Cole and wrapped big arms around his chest in a bear hug, holding him immobile. Cole struggled to tear free, and would have succeeded, since he was clearly the strongest of the three, but then the other boy, the one who’d been dancing with Reeve, joined the fray.

Thankfully, the fog in my mind thinned and the ringing in my ears faded. The world swooped back into focus. Like a flash flood of heat, my entire body nearly erupted into flames. I’d just kissed a boy in front of everyone in the club. And I hadn’t just kissed him, I’d devoured him.

Another trait I’d inherited from my dad. A few times, when my parents had thought Emma and I were in our rooms, they’d gone at it that intensely—and I’d promptly prayed someone would scrub my corneas with sandpaper and my mind with bleach.

Kat appeared at my side and helped me to my feet. “What’s going on?” she asked, as stupefied as I was.

“I don’t know.” I’d only meant to kiss him back, to compare vision with reality. I’d planned to stop after a minute…maybe two. And now, Frosty was glaring daggers at me, as if I’d stabbed Cole in the heart and laughed while he bled out. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” Inch by inch I backed away from him. Our Q and A could wait. I was gonna pretend I hadn’t enacted three rules tonight and run.

“Ali.” Cole’s attention zeroed in on me. Suddenly I was a target, the gimpy gazelle to his hungry lion. “Don’t you dare take off.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. I had to get out of here. Now.

Shaking off Kat’s hold, I whirled around and pushed my way through the still-writhing bodies on the dance floor. A strobe light tossed out beams of pink, blue and yellow. Where I would go—and how I could get there—I wasn’t sure. I was miles from home, and there was no way I’d walk in the dark.

“This is becoming a very bad habit,” Cole growled, suddenly keeping pace beside me. His arm wrapped around my waist. “You run, I chase.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. His expression might break me. “We can’t do that again,” I said. Ever.

“Why?”

I noticed he didn’t have to ask what I was talking about. “As you so eloquently pointed out in the forest, I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but we almost…you know…in public!”

“You know. That’s what you call it?”

Was that amusement in his tone? “Do you want me to punch you in the face?”

“No, I want you to be still and listen to me.”

“That’s not happening.”

He sighed, a wary sound. “Even if I promise not to you know in public again?”

“No,” I snapped, and I wasn’t sure whether I was happy or ticked by his easy assurance.

“Come on, I’ll take you home.” He linked our fingers and stalked ahead of me, leading the way. Everyone parted as though he was Moses and they were the sharks in the Red Sea.

“I’m not going home.”

“Even better.”

Outside, warm night air relaxed me. Not the heat so much, but the fresh, clean scent. No perfumes or sweat lingered in the breeze, and I was able to breathe deeply, savor. Cole never slowed. He just plowed ahead, toward…his Jeep. He’d parked at the end of the lot, under a streetlight, angled so that he had a straight shot onto the road. The top and doors had not been replaced.

“I’ll leave with you,” I said, “but I can’t be gone long.”

“Fine.”

“So why was Frosty upset with me?”

A pause. Then “You’re a wild card, and we don’t know exactly what to make of you. Plus, I’m supposed to exercise caution when dealing with you, yet several times already I’ve acted out of character and put myself in danger.”

Truth, no evasion, but the words gave me no comfort. He and his friends had discussed me, and they obviously thought I—weird little staring me—was nefarious.

“Maybe we shouldn’t see each other tomorrow.” The words were sharp, lashing out at him. “Things will be easier if we—”

“Oh, we’re seeing each other tomorrow. Don’t even try to get out of our date.”

“Date! You said it wasn’t a date.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to date him anymore. I wasn’t ready for a guy like him. I couldn’t handle him.

“Whatever. We’ve got some getting to know each other to do.”

“And we will, maybe,” I said. “But I’m actually going to the party with another boy.” I didn’t owe him an explanation, but I couldn’t stop myself from adding, “It’s not a date, either, we’re just friends, but I—”

Cole stopped, just stopped, and whirled on me. His eyelids narrowed. “Who?”

No. No way I’d tell him. I might not have any experience with boys, but I knew he’d threaten Justin simply to prove his status as Asher Tough Guy. The problem was, he’d follow through. “You will not hurt him. Promise me.”

Those lids narrowed further. “I’ll promise not to kill him, how’s that?”

Okay, that was taking things a little far. “Why would you want to kill him?”

“I don’t know. I just do.”

How informative. My first thought: I should cancel with Justin, just in case this mood of Cole’s continued into tomorrow night. My second: I couldn’t let Cole’s moods dictate my life.

“Nothing else to say to me?” Cole asked.

I lifted my chin in defiance, a new habit I must have developed. “No.”

“We’ll see about that.” He darted back into motion, dragging me with him. We reached his Jeep, and he placed his hands on my waist to heft me inside. Before he’d lifted me an inch, his entire body tensed. He sniffed the air.

In reflex, I, too, sniffed the air.

Rot.

Panic threatened to consume me. That same stench had permeated my backyard two nights ago when I’d gone tearing out with a baseball bat, intending to confront Bridezilla.

Only two nights. Too soon.

“Cole. We need to leave.”

“You’re leaving. I’m staying.”

I blinked, and Cole had his crossbow palmed. A cold sweat sheened my skin. “Cole?”

“Go back inside, Ali.”

Sounded like an excellent plan, considering I was weaponless, but I stayed just where I was. “Come inside with me.” If he stayed out here, alone…no! I couldn’t let him, wouldn’t leave him to face whatever danger lurked out there. He might know what it was, he and his friends might even seek it out as I suspected, but I wasn’t going to watch another person fall to the monsters. “Please.”

“Tell the boys I need them,” he said, ignoring my plea.

Just then he reminded me of my dad, looking in every direction, stiff, alert, poised to erupt into battle.

“The f-fighting vision I had,” I stuttered, my mind locking on the thought. Our kiss had happened. Why not this, too?

I had to tell him all the details I hadn’t had the courage to tell him before. If I stayed quiet, he would stay out here. He was too stubborn for his own good.

“I don’t know what happened in yours, but in mine, there were monsters all around us, wanting to eat us.” The words gushed out of me. “And the other night, I saw two of them, outside my window, for real and not in a vision. At the time, I thought I was crazy.” Now, I wasn’t so sure. “They were watching me and when I checked on them, there were tracks. The ones you showed me.”

He sucked in a breath, an indication he’d heard me, but he never glanced in my direction. He kept his attention straight ahead, clearly waiting for the threat to materialize. If it did, would he see the monster or not? Would I?

“Do you have any idea what you just—”

A twig snapped in the distance, and he went silent.

Four men trudged into a ray of moonlight, their clothing dirty and ripped. Their eyes sagged, their skin was pitted and their finger bones were gnarled and curled in. Hair had fallen out of their scalps in chunks, leaving them mostly bald.

Nausea hit me with such force I nearly doubled over. “Come with me, Cole. Please!”

“Go back to the club!” he shouted at me—and sprinted toward the monsters.

There was no time to process the surreal fact that Cole did, indeed, see the monsters, that this wasn’t a hallucination, that my dad had always been right, that monsters had eaten him and my mom. That would come later, and I suspected I would scream and cry and rage.

Right now, I had to fight, had to put the skills my dad had given me to use. I couldn’t allow Cole to face the monsters alone, whether I had a weapon or not.

Breathe…in…out…as if I were part of a movie and someone controlled the stage, the world slowed around me. I watched as Cole ran and his—oh, sweet heaven. Cole multiplied. One Cole became two Coles.

The passage I’d read from that journal suddenly boomed inside my mind. We are spirit beings, those spirits our source of power, and we have a soul…our logic and emotions, and we live in a body.

No way. Surely not…but what other explanation was there? Cole’s spirit had just left his body.

There were now two versions of him, and both wore the same clothes. Cole One—his body, most likely—appeared solid while some sort of mist shimmered around Cole Two. His spirit, I would bet.

His spirit.

It was almost too much to take in. His body stood completely still while his spirit continued to surge ahead. I watched as he extended his crossbow and launched an arrow. Midair, the arrowhead grew sharp little arms and those arms sliced one of the creatures across the throat.

There was no ensuing spray of blood, but there was definitely an open wound. The creature’s entire body shook, then he just sort of stopped, his head detaching from his body and both toppling to the ground. And yet, still the monster’s body moved. Still his eyes blinked and his teeth snapped in Cole’s direction.

Even in two pieces, he lived.

How was that possible?

Cole launched another arrow, hit another creature, seconds later meeting the two left standing with his fists. He punched and ducked, spun, went low, reaching for another weapon stashed in his boot. A blade.

A moan sounded from behind me. I whirled. Three more monsters had decided to join our Dance Party Massacre. Two males, one female. I knew their sexes only because the boys wore tuxes and the girl wore a lacy pink gown that belled at the waist. Though they weren’t my stalker bride and groom, they projected the same hungry menace.

My panic grew wings and flew throughout my entire body. These things had killed my parents. These things had killed my grandfather. I couldn’t let them attack Cole while he was busy with the others. He’d lose.

Rage simmered inside me and burned through the panic. These things killed my parents. They killed my grandfather. They wanted to kill Cole.

These things had to die.

Another deep breath, and I, too, launched forward. I had a straight shot, parked cars lined up at both sides, creating a clear path for me. Black oozed from each pitted face watching me, and up close, I saw that their eyes were also black, glazed and shiny with feral yearning. And though one was hunched over and hobbling on what looked to be broken ankles and the other was actually missing a foot, they moved with surprising speed.

Like Cole, I threw punches the moment I reached them—but my fists went through their bodies. I felt only air. Well, air and a wave of revulsion that fizzed in my veins.

The creatures reached for me, too, and they, too, missed, but again that wave of revulsion turned my blood into corrosive acid. I stumbled backward, smacked into a car. The monsters kept me in their sights and closed in on me.

The rage expounded in a starburst of energy, propelling me forward. I’d make contact this time. Nothing would stop me.

And you know what? I was right. I punched and I made contact. The waves of revulsion were replaced by frigid cold. I’d never been this cold in my entire life. Tremor after tremor shook me as the creatures grabbed for me, trying to latch on to my arms, scratching me. I spun out of the way, my muscles stiff, as if I’d never before used them—and that’s when I saw myself leaning against a car.

But I was here, fighting. Wasn’t I? Or…was I like Cole? Was my spirit now, somehow, operating outside my body? But how could that be? Can’t process this, either…

The confusion cost me dearly. Fingers tangled in my hair and jerked me to the ground.

My dad’s advice played through my mind. If you fall, go down swinging.

Yes! I’d trained for this. I could do this. I arched my back, giving my arm more room to fly backward. My palm slammed into the creature’s nose, sending him propelling backward. I lost several strands of hair, but I was freed.

I straightened, twisted, and kicked out my leg, nailing another creature—the female—in the stomach and sending her propelling backward, too. She ghosted through a car, only to stand on the other side and shake off her disorientation. Her gaze locked on me, and I knew she planned to come back for more.

She’d have to wait her turn. The one I’d sent to the ground had turned over, was sitting up and reaching for me. My teeth chattered as I kicked his arm, then his jaw, and though he twisted with the momentum, he remained focused on me.

How was I supposed to disable these things for good? And where was the third one?

Never lose sight of your enemy. You’ll regret it. My dad had also told me that.

As with everything else, he’d been right.

From behind, trunklike arms wrapped around my torso. I felt a humid puff of breath against my neck. Crap! I slammed my head back, hitting the creature with as much force as possible. His grip loosened, even as my brain protested the action with a sharp lance of pain. Spinning, I doubled tapped him in the jaw with so much power, I think I severed his spinal cord.

As he fell, teeth flew out of his mouth like pieces of candy. But when he landed, he, too, seemed unaffected by the damage. He stood, his head remaining at an odd angle—but still he moved toward me.

In the back of my mind, I knew something just as odd was happening beyond our little fight club circle, but I couldn’t yet reason out what it was. Something to consider later, I supposed. If I survived.

I had to survive.

My three opponents converged.

I punched one, then another, while kicking the third. All three extended their arms toward me, and I darted out of the way, still punching, still kicking. The more we fought, the harder my heart pounded, and the more excited they seemed to become. The more excited they grew, the faster they moved.

When one of the males at last managed to shackle my wrist with his fingers, his grip was so strong I couldn’t bust free. He tugged me to the ground. I went down swinging, just as before, but he held on, flashing his teeth at me.

I couldn’t let him bite me. Couldn’t die like this.

But no matter how I twisted or how hard I bucked I still couldn’t free myself.

Both the female and the other monster dropped to their knees beside me. There were only three of them, but it seemed as though they possessed a thousand hands, holding me down, ripping at my clothing, their faces lowering…lowering…when they bit me, I screamed.

Blistering, sizzling pain struck, though it failed to melt the ice that encased me. I was a toxic mix of too hot and too cold, dying…wanting to die. Their teeth burrowed through my skin, their faces seeming to disappear inside me. It was as if they were actually gnawing on my bones without spilling a single drop of my blood.

I fought and fought and fought to no avail. One of them finally stopped chewing, then the other, then the other. Though they maintained a steady grip on me, they peered down at me in horror, as if they’d tasted something disgusting.

Suddenly one of the males seized up, an arrow protruding from his neck. He swatted at it as he fell forward and landed beside me. Without him holding down my ankles, I was able to kick the female in the chin. She stumbled backward. The other monster released me of his own free will.

Cole was behind the woman an instant later, reaching around and flattening his palm over her heart. A white light erupted between them, blinding in its intensity. It remained only for a moment, a single snap of fingers, but when it vanished, Cole’s arms were empty, the female gone.

He raced to one of the males, then the other, producing the same blinding white light. A second later, he was hovering over me, and our gazes met. We were both panting, sweating.

“I…I…” Couldn’t speak. Hurt too badly. Could barely breathe. Darkness swallowed me whole, and I lost sight of him.

Maim… The word whispered through my head, followed by another, just as bad.

Kill…

The urge to do both filled me. Maim…kill…

Destroy…

“Don’t say a single word,” Cole rasped. “Stay quiet until I can put you back together.”

I wanted to tell him to help me, to take me to a hospital, please, please, please, but no matter what I tried I could no longer force my voice to work.

Maimkilldestroy.

Yes, I thought next. Yes. I would. I must. That would make everything better.

Maim—

Something pricked at my neck, stinging. “This will help,” he said.

Kill—

Something heavy fell on top of me.

Des—

I inhaled sharply as my mind blanked and my eyelids popped open. Cole was still hovering above me, looking concerned and beautiful and so wonderfully alive. But the pain, even though it was fading, hadn’t gone away. I hurt.

“That’s the last of them, but more could be on their way.” He grabbed me by the upper arms and hauled me to my feet. My knees gave out, and he swept me up, carrying me to his Jeep.

“My body,” I managed to whisper. I looked toward the car, where I’d left it. And what a strange thought to entertain. Only, I wasn’t there any longer. How…when…

I glanced at my arms. My wrists were nicked and bruised, bleeding, as if they’d truly been bitten.

I glanced at Cole. He was just as nicked and bruised. “Are you…okay?”

“I’m fine.” He got me settled inside the car, claimed the driver’s seat and revved the engine. As he burned rubber onto the road, he made a call. “Parking lot,” he said. “Ten are down. I checked, but there aren’t any more nearby. Yet. I’ve got Ali, she was bitten, so you need to take care of this.”

That was it. The entire conversation.

“What about Kat and the others?” I asked, my voice stronger now, with far less grate. And besides a few minor aches, I was beginning to feel normal again.

“They’ll be rushed out of there and kept safe.”

As he maneuvered down the street, I twisted around to catalog the carnage we must have left in the lot. But…there were no bodies. No blood. There were people, though. Many living, breathing people.

A tremor moved down my spine as the thing that had bothered me while fighting at last crystallized. There were people walking around, talking and smiling, looking for their cars, but they were oblivious to what had happened.

“They didn’t see us,” I said. How could they not have seen us? We’d been right there, right in front of them, grunting, groaning—killing!

That last word echoed through my head. Killing. Killed. Kill. I’d helped him kill those monsters. And I was glad the monsters were dead, I was, but… “Will we go to jail for this?”

“People saw our bodies standing there, not the actual fighting. So no, you won’t go to jail or even to an insane asylum. Plus, no evidence will be left behind.”

I chose to believe him. I would have freaked out otherwise. Would have? I thought as a hysterical laugh built inside me. I’d hoped to talk to Cole about this, but not like this. “I don’t understand what just happened. We left our bodies.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

His gaze jerked toward me then back to the road. “Have you never done that before?”

“No!” I shouted. “Of course not.”

“Well, you’ve answered one question for me at least. You can see them. Therefore, I’ll answer this one for you.” How calm he sounded. “You can’t fight evil in your natural form. What’s in the spirit realm has to be fought in the spirit realm.”

Evil. Spirit realm. So…the monsters were spirits? That would explain how they’d disappeared inside my dad and mom. That would explain why they could move, even after receiving deathblows. That would explain why no one else had seen them. But that failed to explain how I had seen them.

“If they’re spirits, how’d they leave footprints in the forest?” I asked.

“I never said they left the prints.”

“But—”

“I wasn’t saying they didn’t, either. They can leave tracks. But you can’t always assume it’s them. There are always people chasing them.”

Wait. What? “You?”

“Plus a group of others, but that’s all I’m gonna say about that.”

Frustrating! Could he not see how desperate I was for this information?

Still I said, “All right. I’ll drop the ‘group of others.’ But tell me this, at least. If I fought the monsters while I was in…spirit form, why am I bruised? And how did your crossbow hurt them?”

“Spirit and body are connected. What you experience outside always manifests inside. As for the crossbow, I brought it with me, like my clothing. Whatever I was wearing on my body was accessible to my spirit.”

I would never ever be without a weapon again. “So wh—what were those things?”

“You still don’t know?” he asked.

“No.” Well, I had already admitted my father had been right. Evil was out there. Evil was real. My silly belief that we were somehow separate from it had been shattered, yes, but now, I knew those pieces could never be glued back together.

“And yet you knew how to fight them.”

“Not well enough,” I snapped. What my dad had taught me about hand-to-hand had helped, yeah, but he’d had no idea what he was truly up against because he’d never truly fought. He’d always run.

“Tell me everything, Ali. It’s time.”

Yeah, it was. At long last, the things I’d hidden from others and even from myself came spilling out. Maybe because I’d never felt more vulnerable. Maybe because I knew Cole would believe me. Bottom line: I had to trust someone, and for better or worse, Cole was it.

“My dad saw them. He was so afraid of them, he tried to teach my sister and me how to fight them, just in case we were ever cornered. But we’d never seen them, and we thought he was crazy, so we paid very little attention to his instructions. Not that he knew what he was doing. He thought he could take them down with a gun. Then he died one night, all of my family died, and I saw the monsters for the first time. They…ate my parents.”

Cole listened, his knuckles bleaching of color on the steering wheel.

“Why did I start seeing them that night? How long have you seen them? Do the others know about them? If so, can they do what we did?”

“So many questions,” he said. “Give me a minute to decide how to break this to you.”

Tell me now, I wanted to scream. Instead, I remained quiet. I wanted the answers, but I also feared them. They would change my life.

Again.

Was I ready for another change?

What would my dad have said about this? His face twinkled through my mind, his blond hair disheveled, his blue eyes glassy. After all the horrible things I’d said about him over the years, all the times I’d shut him down, he and my mom had been the only ones on the right path.

Daddy, I projected toward the sky, hoping he could hear me. I’m so sorry for doubting you. I’m sorry for every awful thought I ever had about you, and for all the times I wanted Mom to leave you and marry someone else. If I could redo my life, I would take you seriously. I would love you and accept you and help you.

“First, let’s get something clear,” Cole said. “You can’t tell anyone what happened tonight.”

“I know.”

“Not even Kat.”

“I know!” If I had treated my own father like a candidate for a straitjacket, how would my new friends treat me? Yeah, that one didn’t take a lot of thought. I’d be shunned, laughed at and publically humiliated. No, thanks.

Cole cursed under his breath. “Grab the wheel and steer toward the suits. Now!”

“What—” I said, thinking he’d cursed at me. Wrong! Two monsters had ambled into the road, and they were headed straight for us. Right on their heels were five walking hazmat suits.

“Ali!”

As ordered, I grabbed the wheel. Cole palmed a blade, and with his free hand wrapped around a lever on the Jeep’s roof, he leaned out of the open doorway. His other hand, the one clutching the blade, stretched out…and kept on stretching, that part of his spirit rising out of his body.

His blade slashed across several of the suits, a hissing sound filling the air.

I think I screamed. My brain was too busy trying to figure out what had just happened to be sure. “Those are real live people, Cole!” At least, I thought they were.

A second later, he was back in his seat and driving, his blade put away, as if nothing had happened. “I didn’t hurt them, just opened their suits to send them home.”

Okay. I could deal with that. “Next time, do me a favor and go for the monsters.” Wait. Next time? Oh, no, no, no. I didn’t want to do this again. I’d learned my lesson.

“They weren’t the biggest threat.”

“But—”

“If Frosty and the others stumbled upon the hazmats, they’d be in trouble, their attention divided between the humans and the—what’d you call them? Monsters. So to answer one of your earlier questions, yes, my friends can see them.” He flicked me a quick glance. “And now you have another thousand questions, don’t you?”

“Of course not. But what do you call them, if not monsters? Why were those people wearing suits? I mean, if the suits help, why don’t you and your friends wear them? Or do you?” See, only four questions.

“We don’t. The suits protect us from being bitten, but they also prevent us from killing. As for that first thing you asked—”

He cranked up the music.

Message received. A short while later, he pulled the Jeep off the road and I thought he would stop. But, no. He veered into the forest, following no discernible path. My heart started thumping wildly, as if the stupid organ wanted to run away. Cole knew where he was going, though, and never hit anything he shouldn’t. Finally he parked in front of a secluded log cabin, the car lights chasing away the shadows.

There were two other cars parked there, both SUVs. The cabin had two windows covered by thick, dark curtains with cracks in the center of each. Peepholes, some part of me guessed.

He removed the key from the ignition, and the music stopped.

“What is this place, and why are we here?” If he claimed we were outside of town and he planned to murder me because I now knew too much, I think I’d be fine with that, as long as I never had to be in close contact with those monsters—or whatever they were—again.

“You’re here because you can’t go home like that,” Cole said, motioning to my clothing with a tilt of his chin. “You need to shower and change, and your injuries should be cleaned.”

I gave myself a once-over and grimaced. He was right about my need for a shower. My clothes were dirty and torn, with some kind of black goo caked on several sections. I had scrapes and bruises on my legs, and my knuckles were the size of golf balls.

“This is our getaway home, where we go when we need to relax.”

No need to ask who “we” were. His friends. “So it’s not your home home?”

“Nope. That’s closer to the school. We like this place because it’s far more private and monitored twenty-five/eight. There’s nothing here that I don’t want to be here, which makes it the safest place for you.”

The idea of a safe place really intrigued me. At the moment, I had so much acid churning in my stomach I needed to throw up before I became completely toxic. Or maybe that would make me into a new superhero, like Peter Parker and the radioactive spider. Only I’d be Vomit Girl, capable of grossing everyone out.

“I told you, I’m not going home tonight. I was supposed to stay the night with Kat,” I muttered. “Can I stay the night here, and if yes—” no reason to presume “—will you take me home in the morning?”

“Yes. To both.”

Okay. That had been easier than expected. “Thank you.” Permission granted from his end, I pulled my cell from my boot to text Kat. “I’m going to tell her that you and I hooked up.” I simply wouldn’t mention that the hookup had happened over monster bodies. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah. That’s fine. Smart. If she comes to me for details, and she will, I’ll tell her to talk to you, so give her whatever kind of story you think will satisfy her.”

“Thanks. Where does she think we all went, anyway?”

“No telling. Two of my boys would have told all four girls they were no longer wanted at the club and would have driven them to Reeve’s. Those same boys will keep guard at Reeve’s, in secret, for the rest of the night.”

“That’s good.” One less worry. “Okay, here goes.” Took me nearly ten minutes to get my text right—W/Cole. I’m sorry 4 bailing! Don’t be mad, but I’m spending night w/him. Don’t call my grands—but I finally pressed Send.

Even though I knew nothing would be happening between Cole and me—I wouldn’t let it, and from the sound of it, he wasn’t going to try—I felt as though I’d just placed a giant Tramp Stamp on my forehead.

Two seconds later her reply came in: Rock on, dirty girl! Give me deets 2morrow. PS: If U C Frosty, tell him I hate him!

Such easy acceptance from her caused guilt to gnaw at me. She had only ever been nice to me, had accepted me from day one. I owed her so much—even the truth, no matter what I suspected her reaction would be.

“You did the right thing,” Cole said, probably sensing my regret.

I stuffed the phone in my pocket and gripped my knees. “I know.” That didn’t make me feel any better.

He reached over and pried my fingers loose. He brought my injured knuckles to his lips and kissed them. “Don’t worry. You’re part of my world now. I’ll teach you how to survive it.”

Part of his world. What, exactly, did that mean? “The first thing I want to know is what those things are. I’ve asked twice, but you haven’t said. So tell me. Teach me. What did we just fight?”

Only a single beat of silence this time. Then he uttered one word. Just one. But that one word forever changed my life, as feared. “Zombies.”