Alice in Zombieland

7 Out of the Chrysalis and Into the Abyss

Cole ushered me outside, through the sunny parking lot now devoid of kids—and witnesses—and into a brown Jeep Wrangler. Or maybe it was a white Jeep Wrangler. With all the mud caked on the sides, it was kinda hard to tell.

The top was off and the doors were gone. The inside had dried leaves on the floorboards, and specks of something dark. The backseat had been removed, creating a wide-open space.

I buckled into the passenger seat as he claimed the driver’s side. A quick scan of the sky proved—thank God—there was still no rabbit cloud.

“Dr. Wright will—” I began.

“She won’t care that we’re gone,” he interjected.

“How do you know? Did you ask her?”

Silence.

I’d take that as a big fat no. “So where are you taking me?” Whatever his answer, I wouldn’t be scared. Not even if he said “slaughterhouse” or the far worse “karaoke bar.” (I was a terrible singer.) We were going to talk!

He cranked the radio, Since October suddenly pounding from the speakers, and peeled out, smoke rising from the tires and wafting inside the open vehicle. O-kay. Message received. He wanted to play the quiet game first. Prepare to lose, Cole Holland!

As wind whipped through my hair, I studied his profile. There was a slight bump in the center of his nose, as if he’d broken it more than once. The split in his lip had healed a little, and the bruise on his jaw had faded. His chin jutted stubbornly, and I felt sorry for everyone who ever challenged him.

About ten minutes into the drive, the mountains and trees whizzing by, he shut down the music and tossed me a quick glance. “What?”

See? I’d won. “Just looking.”

He popped his jaw. “That boy. Justin.”

When he said no more, I prompted, “What about him?”

“Are you dating him?”

The lunacy! Justin had asked the same thing about Cole. Throw in the reaction I’d gotten from Kat, Reeve, Poppy and Wren regarding my association with both Cole and Justin, and one thing became crystal clear: speaking to a guy at Asher High was the equivalent of picking out wedding bands.

“No, I’m not. Why do you care, anyway?” I heard the neediness in my tone, and cringed. Basically, in guy code, I’d just said something along the lines of, Please tell me how much YOU want to date me. Please. I’m begging you.

Thankfully, he ignored that and asked, “How’d you get home yesterday?”

“I walked.”

He threw me a look that was all kinds of dirty. “Don’t ever do that again, do you hear me? Those woods are dangerous.”

For a moment, all I could do was sputter. “First, you sound like my grandfather. Second, I think it’s absolutely adorable that you believe you can boss me around.” Forget feeling sorry for anyone who dared challenge him. He needed challenging! “Third, how do you know I went through the woods? For all you know, I live behind the school.”

“You don’t.” Confidence practically shot out of him like an arrow.

I had to ask, couldn’t stop myself. “Were you in my backyard last night?” There. Better to get the hard truth so that I could get over myself than to chicken out and obsess about the answer.

A beat of silence. Then, “Yes.”

Wait. What? “Why?”

He cranked the music back up. I considered turning it down myself, but in the end, I acted like Miss Manners, as my mother would have wanted, and kept my hands to myself. This was his car. He could do whatever he wanted. Outside the car, however…

A while later, he pulled into the parking lot of a twenty-four-hour grocery. A handful of other vehicles were there, and people were straggling in and out of the store. Cole removed the key from the ignition, cutting off the music for good.

He thought for a moment, then said, “I’m giving you my phone number.” He faced the front windshield with such a dark expression, I suspected that whatever had snagged his attention was gonna get murdered. “If you ever need a ride home from school, call or text me, and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of.”

Uh, what was that? Surely the bad boy of Asher wasn’t offering to chauffeur me. Me. The weird girl with the staring problem.

“Okay?” he insisted. “Got it?”

He was. He really was. “I had a ride,” I explained. “I simply chose not to take it.”

That dark expression leveled on me, eliciting a shudder. “First, that’s all you have to say to me?”

“Well, yeah.” What had he expected? That’s the sweetest gesture in the whole wide world, and right now I feel like I’m dancing across the stars? There was no way those words would ever leave my mouth. The fact that I was thinking them was enough to send me into a major shame spiral.

“Second, why didn’t you take it?”

“I wanted to walk,” I said, giving him the same partial truth I’d given my grandparents.

“You’d better not want to walk again.”

“Or what?” I asked. I wasn’t meaning to be facetious. I honestly wanted to know.

He was total animal—make that, manimal—as he snarled, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re the most frustrating person they’ve ever met, or have most of the people in your life been too polite?”

“Hey—”

He rattled off his phone number, and I had to scramble to keep up and program it into my phone. “Now give me your number.”

It took a moment for his words to sink in. What kind of bizarre world had I entered? “But Cole, I can’t ever give you a ride. I don’t have a car, so there’s no—”

“Are you trying to tick me off? Give me your number.”

I was torn between feeling delighted by his insistence—and peeved. Peeved won. “Ask nicely,” I said, a day I’d spent with my mom suddenly slithering into my mind.

You’re so not getting a Mother of the Year Award, Mom. You have yet to bake my favorite chocolate cake.

I’ve just been waiting for you to ask nicely, darling.

A wave of homesickness hit me.

“Nicely,” Cole gritted out.

“Well, how can I resist that?” I grumbled, tempted to give him a bogus number just to prove a point. But then he wouldn’t be able to call me, and, well, I really wanted him to call me—though I had no idea what we’d talk about.

“Still waiting,” he prompted.

I rattled off the numbers.

“Thank you,” he said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a note of relief in his voice.

I had to be mistaken. Either that, or those violet eyes had reduced the points in my IQ.

“Stay put,” he said, and got out of the car. He walked around, and…helped me out. Wow. I never would have guessed he would exhibit the classic signs of etiquette. “Tell me you aren’t going to be this difficult for the rest of the day.”

“I guess we’ll find out together,” I said. His skin was warm against mine, his palm calloused and rough. I liked that, even shivered.

“Cold?” He pressed me up against the side of the Jeep, his arms caging me in.

“No. I mean yes. I mean maybe. I don’t know!” Was he going to kiss me? For real? Here, now, in front of strangers? I’d stop him. Right? (Before and not after.)

“I don’t think you’re cold,” he rasped, “I think you’re scared. You’re right to be scared.”

I gulped. “I’m not scared.”

“Let’s see what I can do to change that, shall we? We’re going on a little adventure, you and I. When I give an order, you’ll obey it. There will be no asking politely, no matter how much you bat your lashes at me.”

I opened my mouth to protest. I’d never batted my lashes at anyone!

He shook his head, silencing me. “It’s for your safety.”

Again I opened my mouth to protest.

Again he shook his head. “That’s the deal. Agree or I’ll take you back to school right now, and none of your questions will be answered.”

Peeved all over again, I ran my tongue over my teeth. He was underhanded, sneaky and manipulative, that was for sure. Too bad I still liked him. “What questions do you think I have?”

“Probably the same ones I have.”

No way. Not possible. “Fine, I’ll follow your orders.” Anything for answers. “Just as long as you realize that every time you issue one, I’m beating you up in my mind.”

“Realized,” he said, thrums of amusement suddenly evident. “But please refrain from mind-punching my pretty face. I like it just how it is.”

Now I was the one fighting amusement. Someone so egotistical shouldn’t have been so charming. But then, I loved Kat, so there you go.

His gaze zeroed in on my twitching lips. He leaned closer to me…so close I could feel the heat of his breath trekking over my skin.

“What’s going through your mind right now?” he asked, his lips hovering over mine.

Don’t you dare tell him! I scrambled for a winning reply. “Will Mackenzie be upset that you’re with me? Not that you’re with me. I’m just saying—” Shut up, idiot! That’s enough.

He straightened with a snap, the maybe-kiss moment completely lost. “She shouldn’t be. We’re not dating anymore.” I wasn’t given a chance to reply. “Come on. It’s time for our adventure. I want to show you something.”

At the back of the building was the thick, thriving forest that wound all the way to my grandparents’ neighborhood. I frowned. The drive to the store had taken longer than it should have, then. I replayed the route and realized Cole had doubled back a few times, taken turns he hadn’t needed to take. There was no reason to do that—unless he was as paranoid as I was and had thought we were being followed.

“Are you walking me home?” I asked, not sure how I felt about that.

Displaying even better etiquette than before, he moved limbs out of my way. “Yes and no. Now, not another word out of you until I say it’s okay. You’ll distract me, and I have to make sure we don’t stumble on any trip wires.”

A lovely nonanswer sprinkled with supposed courtesy. Wait. “Did you say trip wires?”

“Distracting me,” he said in a singsong voice.

“Annoying me,” I sang back. But I bit my tongue and stayed quiet as we hiked the rest of the way through bushes, over thick tree roots and boulders, and up and down hills.

By the time we reached the fence to my backyard, my thighs burned and my heart galloped in my chest.

Note to self: start working out today. At least the air I was so heavily breathing in carried hints of pine and wildflowers, the rot all gone.

“See these tracks?” he asked, pointing to the ground.

Dread washed through me as I took in the very tracks I’d noticed two nights ago. I could even make out the indention of my own tennis shoes…but not Emma’s slippers. “Yes. I see.”

His gaze snapped to mine, slitted. “Do you know what caused them? Besides the ones belonging to you, of course.”

“No.” Maybe. I licked my lips. “Do you? And how do you know I’ve been out here?”

“Give me some credit. You’re an eight and a half, on the narrow side, and your shoes have a distinct zigzag pattern.”

That was not something a normal kid would notice. How—and why—had he?

He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you haven’t seen anything out here?”

“Besides you?” I asked, trying to figure out exactly where he was going with this.

“Yes, besides me.”

I couldn’t admit it. I just couldn’t. “First I want you to answer me. Do you know what caused those tracks?”

“Yes.” No hesitation from him.

Unbidden, I took a step closer to him. “What?”

“You tell me.”

I rooted my feet into the ground, too afraid I’d try to press myself against him and shake him. “I never said I knew.”

“You paled. That was answer enough.”

“I…I…”

“But I have to hear you say the words.”

Stubborn, nervous, I shook my head. “No. I won’t.”

Cole stared at me, frowning, a slash of menace in the shadows. “You’re really handicapping me here, Ali. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. And I cannot—absolutely will not—mention anything outright. You have to tell me what I’m trying to say.”

Dang it! Was he implying what I thought he was implying? That he saw monsters, too, but couldn’t admit it until I admitted it? But if I admitted it, and that wasn’t what he’d meant…

“Let’s try this another way,” he suggested. “Your dad is dead, isn’t he? Killed this summer.”

Immediately I spun, giving him my back. “I won’t talk about that, either,” I said. I figured Cole had done a search on me the same way I’d done one on him.

“He died in a car crash at night, in a cemetery,” Cole persisted. “You were with him. Did you see anything…weird?”

“I won’t talk about that,” I repeated, stomping away from him. If I did, I would cry in front of him, and I absolutely refused to cry in front of him.

A scream burst from my lips as my feet were jerked out from under me.

Something tight and inexorable banded around my ankle, lifting me up…up…until I dangled from a tree branch, no part of me touching the ground. Blood rushed into my head, making me dizzy.

“What the heck!” I shouted. As I swung back and forth, I looked up. Thick rope encased my ankle—a rope that had been painted to resemble tree bark.

Someone had booby-trapped the land behind my backyard. Or was this one of the trip wires Cole had mentioned?

He closed the distance between us and crouched down just in front of me. Suddenly we were eye to upside-down eye.

“Let me down!” I demanded.

His smile was anything but pleasant. “You and your commands. Ask nicely.”

How dare he throw my words back at me! “Will you please…let me…down?” I ruined the saccharine-sweet request by trying to punch him.

Laughing, and baffling me with the sincere amusement I detected, he jumped out of striking distance. “Now, now. No need for that. I’d be happy to help you. After,” he added.

“After? What do you mean after? Do it now!”

“After we finish talking.”

Oh, really? I arched back, then curled in, repeated the actions again and again, until I had a nice swing going. He was stretched to full height, the best kind of target.

“What are you— Oomph!” He crouched over, wheezing.

I’d just head butted him in the gut. Satisfaction filled me as I said, “How about now?”

When he no longer sounded like an old man hooked to an oxygen tank, he moved directly in front of me, placing my forehead directly in front of his navel. Brave boy. To keep me still, he settled his hands on my waist. My bare waist, I realized with a flare of panic. My shirt had risen up, catching on the underwire of my bra.

“Stupid gravity!” Motions rushed, I reached up, clasped the hem and tugged.

“Settle down before you hurt my favorite body part. I’m really fond of my…gut.” He shooed my hands away, my shirt falling and once again catching on my bra. “Here. Let me.” He tucked the material in the waistband of my jeans. “Better?”

“Yes, now get me down from here! Who would do something like this, anyway?”

“I would,” he stated simply.

I tried to meet his gaze, but he was simply too high up. “You did this?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it?”

“But why?”

“You tell me.”

Not that crap again. “Cole. Please. Act like you’ve never been to juvie and let me down.”

He sighed, and it was not a patient sound. “Ali has a mean streak. Good to know. And I told you. I’ll let you down—after we chat. So let’s chat. Did your dad ever talk to you about something weird?”

Dread slithered through me, wrapped around my heart and squeezed painfully. “Like what?”

“You. Tell. Me.”

Argh! “I do not know you. I do not trust you. Therefore, I will not talk to you about this.”

Another sigh slipped from him. “The answer is simple, then. You’ll get to know me. Are you going to the game? To Reeve’s party?”

Funny that I didn’t have to think this answer. “No to the game, but I’m considering making an appearance at the party.”

“Okay, let me rephrase. You’re going to the party. But are you going with anyone?”

“No.” Wait. Yes, I was. I was going with Kat, wasn’t I?

“Good. I’ll meet you there.”

My eyes widened to the point I feared they’d fall out of my head. He’d meet me there…for a date?

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not a date. You don’t like to share your story with people you don’t know, and I don’t like to date girls I don’t know.”

Great. I hadn’t meant to, hadn’t realized I’d done it, but I’d asked the date-thing aloud. “We’re on the same page, then,” I said in an effort to recover. “But just to be clear, we’ll be spending time together, chatting about something other than the tracks and weirdness?” With our peers as witnesses, I realized with a groan.

“Yes. You got a problem with that?”

A big one. But I said, “Fine. I’ll do it if you insist, but only because I think we need to continue this conversation. Like, say, on a day when you’re feeling more cooperative. So will you let me down now? I’m about to be sick.”

“You are not. But if you’ll answer one more question, I’ll give you what you want.”

Stupid rope, forcing my hand. “Ask.”

“Does anything unusual happen to you each morning, when you first look at me? Something that doesn’t happen at any other time, just morning, the first time you see me.”

He couldn’t know. He just couldn’t…unless he, too, experienced something. He’d hinted before, but I’d assumed he meant something else. Oh, please, please, please, be the visions.

“Wh-what makes you ask that?”

“Does it?” he insisted.

“Yes.” I’d give him that much. “Wh-what about you?” Seriously, I had to stop with the stuttering. It was beyond humiliating!

“Yes.”

An agreement. So much more than I’d expected. “What do you see?” I whispered as eagerness consumed me. I had to know.

“I’ll tell you, but not here and not now. Write down what you see, and I’ll do the same. After school, we’ll exchange notes. That way, neither of us can claim the other is lying. And if you hand me a blank note, I’ll make you regret it.”

“Scary,” I said with mock-mock fear. He was scary. “But the same goes for you.”

“Good.”

Now that that was settled… “We’re going back to school? You’ll let me down?”

“I told you I would, didn’t I?” He bent down and pulled a small— Oh, dear heaven, I was about to be murdered. He was now holding a crossbow.

His arm extended, and he aimed the weapon at the top of the rope. His finger tapped the trigger. I screamed with blood-curdling force, only to tumble toward the ground when the arrow severed the rope rather than my foot.

I flailed for an anchor, but I never hit. Cole caught me just before I landed. He righted me as if I weighed no more than a bag of feathers, and I swayed. A long moment passed before I felt steady enough to stand on my own. Did I step away from him, though? No. He wouldn’t let me; he held tight.

“Why do you have a weapon like that?” I asked. A weapon he’d obviously taken to school—and gotten through security.

“You tell me.”

Enough! “Never mind.” I hated those three words on his lips, I decided. Absolutely hated. “For now, it doesn’t matter.”

His fingers applied pressure to my waist. “Do I need to tell you that this conversation goes no further, not even to Kat, or do you already know that?”

Yeah, I’d decided to talk to Kat about the visions. But this entire experience had been a wake-up call. No talking. Not now, not ever. Not even about the small stuff. And how odd, calling the visions small. But compared to this, everything was small. “Already know,” I said.

“Good. That’ll do for now.”