Page 19 of Dead Vengeance

He’s standing. Raul’s standing now, right in front of me, and he’s looking at me. Eyes open, head tilted to the side, a weird smirk pulled wide across his face. Blood all over him. His head caved in. Brains spilling out and sliding down his cheek.

I’m rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to do a thing.

Then his right arm lifts. It’s half disconnected, dripping, muscle and tendon poking out, but he raises it anyway. It flops up, and he does a little… wave?

They say some people are polite to a fault, and I think that must be me. Because this man is dead. He’s dead, and he’s bleeding, and he’s not breathing, and logically I know this can’t be happening.

Even so, I raise my arm and give him a little wave back.

The grin deepens, Raul’s arm drops, then he starts forward.

And that smile. It’s turned evil. I know it. Every atom inside me is screaming, this thing is dead, and this thing means you harm, and that smile is pure evil.

But just as quickly as the thought registers, I hear my name again, spoken so close, but sounding so far away.

Then the warm and real press of a living human hand.

Archer.

Archer’s got me. He’s pulling me. Turning me away from this thing, and he must know a way out because his strides are determined, fast, and even though I can hear that thing moving behind me, following me, I chase after Archer blindly. Around the table, through the kitchen, around a corner, and from there I’m thrust into a bright and mockingly cheery sitting room, all pink and flowery wallpaper and shining sun and no hint of a haunting. No hint that someone just got ghost-squashed out there two minutes ago.

Archer’s fast with the door, slamming it behind us, and he has some pretty old-fashioned key that he slips into the lock, clicks it. Immediately, his two hands are on my chest, a welcome and gentle pressure. “Breathe.”

My fingers shut tight over his, clasping them, and I stare up into his eyes, practically begging, “We need to get out of here.”

I move straight for the window without any thought beyond not getting ghost-squashed, but Archer doesn’t let go of me, and I’m flung back to him with the momentum of my own desperate attempt to escape. In half a second, I’m closer now than I was before. So close that on top of all the urgency there’s a new panic. Something I can’t put my finger on.

“Listen,” he says, still maddeningly calm, “I want you to stay here.”

Time stops as I try to make his words make sense. Stay here? “Stay here? What do you mean? Mr Gravely, we have to go!”

“No. Liam, I promise you’re safe.”

The blinding panic, the blood rushing in my ears, all but block out his words. His words that make no sense. “We’re not safe!”

Low, like I’m a hurt bird he’s picking up off the road, he says, “I need to go back out there.”

Before I even know what I’m doing, I’ve grabbed hold of his wrists with both hands, crushing the well-pressed shirt I could never have imagined even touching just ten minutes ago. “Please don’t do that.”

“It’s all right—”

“It’s not all right! He’s dead! He’s dead, and he’s fucking walking! Archer, this is some creepy zombie shit going on right here. If you get bitten—”

My words stop dead at the laugh that rips out of him. Rich and deep, like I’ve just told a really good joke.

He’s mad. He really is mad.

My hands slip from his wrists with the realisation.

He must understand how much he’s scared me because the smile drops from his lips in just the same way. Almost. There’s still a hint of it there, but it’s turned apologetic. His head drops to the side, and he sighs out a soft breath. “I’ll be back in two minutes.”

“You won’t!” And just like that, I’m grasping for him again. But he’s already out of my reach, my fingertips barely scraping his shirt as he pulls away, opens the door between us, then he’s gone and on the other side.

The lock clicks. It clicks!

I’m locked in some posh, sunny parlour, all alone, while the madman who owns this place has left me so he can go consort with the resurrected zombie version of my dead asshole colleague.

Are you serious right now?