Page 41 of Grave Danger

“Yeah, I’m fine. But I hit someone.”

“Fender bender?” Jugs asked.

“No. Someone walked out in front of my truck.”

“Jesus Christ.” Jugs looked at Demmy then back at him. “That’s awful. What happened?”

“I was driving along 118 and all of a sudden this guy stepped out in front of me. Scared the shit out of me, to be honest. And I can…” Cody couldn’t help making a face. “Still hear the sound of it.”

“Son of a bitch. I’m so sorry. What… How is the guy? Who is it? Or was it?”

“That’s the crazy part. It was the mayor.”

Jugs frowned and pulled his head back. “The mayor of this town? The one who died?”

“That’s the one.”

Jugs’s eyes widened, and he looked from Cody to Demmy and back again. “Zombie. Oh fucking hell, it really is a zombie?”

“I didn’t say that,” Cody said.

“It’s most likely a zombie,” Demmy added.

“Hey,” Cody protested. “That’s not helping.”

“It’s true, though. Most likely.” Demmy made an adjustment underneath the chair, his hand out of Cody’s line of sight, and then stood up. “There you go. Check my work.”

Cody approached his desk and cautiously lowered himself into the chair. It was set to the perfect height, and he slowly sat back. The chair held its position, and he smiled at Jugs and Demmy who stood watching him expectantly.

“How’d you do this?”

“The height adjustment has a knob that needs to be tightened a bit to keep from lowering on its own.”

“Why didn’t I know about that before?”

Demmy shrugged. “I dunno. I put the user manual on your desk.”

“Excuse me,” Jugs said, looking between them. “Zombie?”

Cody let out a heavy breath and put his face in his hands. “Fine. Yes, it’s zombies.”

“Wait, zombies plural?” Jugs said.

“I hit the mayor a week after we attended his funeral. When I went to check on him, he got up and came after me. I got away and called 911, but he went off into the woods before Deputy Zellmer arrived.”

“He’s still out there?”

“Yes, he’s still out there.”

“He could be biting more people and turning them into zombies.” Jugs gestured toward the door. “Is that why you said zombies? You gotta get Lucia back here and get her out to those woods to hunt him down.”

“We tried to convince her of that, and she wouldn’t even consider it. And, yesterday, after you and I cleared out that raccoon, I drove past the spot to see if I could find any trace of him.”

Jugs leaned in. “Did you?”

“No. But I ran into Ollie, who had hiked through the woods from the cemetery.”

Jugs pointed at Demmy. “The cemetery you went to today?”