There. She was fully upright again. Her legs still shook a little beneath her, but they were solid enough. They would carry her…well, wherever she needed to go next. Would Euro Reaper Chad help her cross a mystical river? Or guide her through paradisical fields of—
“We don’t have time for this nonsense.” Swiveling to face heronce more, he claimed her hand in a firm, cool grip and began hauling her toward his front porch. “Even you must know that zombies travel as a pack. If we’ve seen one, we’ll shortly see more. We need to seek immediate shelter before we’re overrun.”
“I don’t understand.” If she was already a goner, why worry about more zombies? “Is there some way for me to be extra super double dead?”
“You’re not dead yet. But you will be if you don’thurry.”
Shaking her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, she stumbled after him as quickly as she could. Because if she truly was alive and conscious, Euro Non-Reaper Chad was right. Shedidneed to hurry.
He hustled her through the dark front yard while she dazedly scanned the tree line of his property, searching for movement. If she had a choice, she didn’t usually go out after dusk. Not because the zombies avoided daylight—in the First Breach, they’d murdered hundreds of humans under a sunlit cerulean sky—but because at nightfall the chances of spotting them in time for an escape dropped from unlikely to nearly impossible.
Which another zombie promptly proved by leaping up onto the side of the porch from the shadows below, jaw already stretched wide and aimed for her neighbor’s throat, growling something that sounded very much likebon appétit.
Euro Non-Reaper Chad moved faster than her eyes could track. One moment, he was tugging her up the steps to his house, those impressive glutes bunching and releasing in rolling shifts of muscle that were honestly a little distracting despite the precariousness of their situation. Then, before she could blink, he’d already lunged halfway across the porch. One long-fingeredhand clamped around the zombie’s jaw as the creature growled and snapped at him.
The other hand tore out its heart.
Sans knife. Bare-knuckled.
He tossed the bloody organ to the wooden porch floor, released the zombie’s jaw, and let the creature collapse at his feet, his face a mask of utter indifference.
The whole thing—attack, counterattack, release—took maybe three seconds.
Nauseated, she stared down at the slowing tremble of the creature’s bloody heart. Her own heart, which she hoped to keep safely intact inside her chest for many decades to come, thudded faster and faster, its terrified beat echoing in her skull.
Holy fuck.
Euro Non-Reaper Chad wasn’t a zombie. But he could definitely kill her just as dead.
Slowly, hoping he somehow wouldn’t notice, she backed away from him and down his porch steps once more.
“Where are you going, human?”
Human. Which confirmed he…wasn’t.
Funny, he didn’t sound like he planned to murder her with his bare hands. More patronize her to death, with suffocating condescension his unknown species’ weapon of choice.
She was in shock, though. She recognized that now. Tonight’s terror had resurrected her worst memories from two decades before, leaving her disoriented. Her judgment couldn’t be trusted, so she needed to stick with the emergency plan she and her parents had decided upon during the Battle for Containment, back when she’d been only fifteen. Back when she and the rest of theworld had first learned about the zombies—and also Supernaturals and Enhanced humans, who emerged from secrecy for the first time to help common humans drive the creatures back into their compound.
If you see or hear anything that worries you, go to the attic, sweetheart, her mother had said, and lovingly tugged the end of Edie’s ponytail in emphasis.Bring the ladder up after you and lock the door. We’ll have lots of snacks and drinks there, and you can camp out until we tell you everything’s okay.
Edie had frowned.What about you and Dad? Where will you go?
We’ll come with you if we can. If we can’t, we’ll take care of ourselves. Your only job is to take care ofyou.Do you understand?Her mother had met Edie’s eyes directly, searching for an honest answer.Promise me you’ll go to the attic and lock the door behind you, no matter what, Edie. Please.
When Edie had finally, reluctantly saidI promise, she hadn’t truly understood what that promise would mean. She hadn’t been able to grasp how it would feel to abandon her parents to their deaths, even when that was what they wanted, even though her life meant more to them than their own. It was unimaginable—until the moment it became her reality three years later.
But she’d survived in that fucking attic once, and she could do it again. Shewoulddo it again, zombies and terrifying neighbors be damned.
“I have a safe place in my house.” She took another step backward, away from Definitely Not Human Chad. “I’ll call the emergency number from there. I’ve got enough supplies to last until help comes, so don’t worry about me.” Her forced laugh sounded far too loud. “Not that you would. Worry about me, I mean.”
He stared at her, his face hard and expressionless.
“Good luck, Chad.” Against her will, her eyes drifted to the heart resting on the wooden boards of his porch. It lay still now, curls of steam rising from it like smoke. “Although maybe you don’t really need luck, huh?”
He scrutinized her for another moment before lifting a broad shoulder in dismissal. “Very well.”
He began to turn away. Then his head tipped to one side, and his brows drew together.
