“I don’t know,” he said again, dragging his free hand through his rumpled hair. “Maybe they really are smarter than everyone else, because I genuinely have no idea what their goal is here. Sowing discord and taking advantage of the resulting chaos, possibly?”
That sounded too nebulous to her. Too slapdash to match the effort and planning that must have gone into this act of destruction and sabotage.
“The zombies can slaughter any common human they encounter. Any Enhanced human too?” When she raised her brows in question, he nodded. “What about Supernaturals?”
“The creatures can and will kill vampires. Shifters.” He thought for a moment. “Trolls too, I believe. Demons, elves, and the fae can be injured by zombies, but not slain. I’m not certain about the other species.”
With that information, a terrible new possibility stole her breath.
“They…they could…” Bile rose in her throat once more, bitter and choking, but she forced herself to continue. To explain her theory clearly and quickly. “The fae could use the creatures to wipe out humanity, other than a few common humans kept alive for feeding and breeding purposes, all while pretending to be our allies. Any Supernatural species vulnerable to zombieswould die too, and so would the demons, because they’d be blamed for the carnage and murdered in retaliation. And then the fae could slaughter the zombies, along with any other surviving Supernaturals.” Despite the heated leather seat cradling her, she shivered. “Do you think that’s their plan?”
His fingers stilled against hers. “Maybe. The revolutionaries despise all other species. Perhaps to the point where they wouldn’t even want to rule over us, but would rather just have us dead—and they’re certainly arrogant enough to believe they could crush any Supernaturals who survived the zombies.”
He considered her idea plausible, then, and she wasn’t even the slightest bit pleased. In this particular instance, she didn’t want to be correct.
“If we went to common human authorities with that theory, would there be sufficient evidence to convince them?” Because she and Max might be right, but if they couldn’t prove it, their warning would have no impact. “Based on what you’ve told me, the dead-rose scent would be long gone by the time they arrived. The burn marks would remain, though, and there would be enough lingering brimstone smell for a Supernatural ally to detect.”
His leg jiggled, the movement uncharacteristically restless. “The bruises could be blamed on demons too.”
In other words: no. No, there wouldn’t be sufficient evidence. No, the authorities wouldn’t believe them or suspect fae involvement.
Finding a best-case scenario took some effort, but she persevered. “If we manage to spread word of the breach quickly enough, maybe the government-SERC alliance can drive back the zombies again before it’s too late. Like in the Battle forContainment. And while they fight, you can contact your old SERC buddies as soon as possible and persuade them to listen to us.”
“Some of my SERC contacts may owe me favors, but they’re not my buddies, and they’re not going to make enemies of the fae without incontrovertible evidence of wrongdoing.” His expressionless tone belied the tension in his shoulders and his near-painful grip of her hand. “As to whether the government-SERC alliance can drive the zombies back into the compound again: By the time the creatures leave the Containment Zone and face organized resistance, they’ll be fully fed and at peak strength.”
“If the fae truly have left Wall Four impregnable for now, ensuring that strength could be the reason why,” she said slowly. “The delay allows the zombies sufficient time to bulk up.”
He nodded. “Since they no longer have to eat their young for sustenance, their population will swell rapidly too. And unlike the last battle, they’ll have at least some of the fae supporting them. Once they leave the Zone, I don’t know whether they can be stopped this time.”
They’d filled in enough of the puzzle pieces now. The full, terrifying scope of the disaster was finally becoming clear.
“Here’s the thing, Max.” She took one deep breath, and then another. They didn’t help. “Even if the government believed us, even if the alliance somehow managed to beat back the zombies, large swaths of the human population would want vengeance against Supernaturals as soon as word of the incident spread. It wouldn’t matter whether the fae or demons or fuckingspriteswere actually responsible for the breach. All of you would be hunted down and slaughtered. There would be open warfare between humans and Supernaturals.”
After a few seconds of eyebrow-furrowing contemplation,his leg stopped jiggling. “You’re right. Which makes this whole matter very simple, my Edie.”
She clung to his hand and stared at him, confused as all hells.
“Wall Four hasn’t been breached yet. If it were, we’d know.” His brow cleared, and his blue eyes met hers with renewed confidence. “There are too many people living just outside the barrier to keep that a secret. Even if the sirens didn’t sound, we’d hear helicopters and see other signs of a government response.”
“I’m guessing the zombies haven’t even gotten close yet,” she agreed. “Zone C is by far the largest, and the creatures are on foot. Assuming they followed the most direct path and stayed on the access road, it’d still take them a while.”
“And Zone C is far more densely populated than Zones A and B. The zombies will be…” He paused, seeming to choose his words carefully. “Preoccupied. They’ll…have reason to stray from the access road.”
Translation: They were too busy slaughtering her Zone neighbors to move quickly.
When he studied her expression, he winced. “I know it’s horrifying, my Edie, but it means—”
“We still have one shot to prevent a fucking apocalypse,” she finished for him.
She saw what he meant now. The way forward might not be easy or even survivable, but it was relatively straightforward.
“We can’t let the zombies leave the Containment Zone.” The statement was matter-of-fact, and he even managed to offer her a faint smile. “We have to stop them while they’re still contained and before the government finds out what’s happening. Then we’ll use my SERC contacts to meet with someone discreet on the Council. Someone who won’t overreact and can point ustoward an equally discreet human government official whoalsowon’t overreact.”
“Because if word of the breach’s origin spreads, we’re all fucked.”
“Correct.”
“So that’s our plan.” She snorted, giddy with dread and gallows humor. “Easy-peasy.”
