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“You crazy bitch!” he spits through his pain. “I told you. I gave you the entrance.”

Carlos answers before Joanie can. “She never turns down a chance to learn something new.”

Joanie beams at him. “Thank you, Peaches.”

Carlos rolls his eyes, but his mouth twitches.

Trish exhales hard. “We’re all going to hell.”

“Probably,” Lyla says. “But not before we get our people back.”

Carlos steps toward the man, focus snapping back into place. “That gets us close.”

“How close?” Trish asks.

“To the north corridor,” Carlos says. “If he’s telling the truth.”

The man nods frantically, tears leaking down his dirty face. “I am. I am. There are two guards at the bay. Maybe three if Rhea pulled extra after the truck came back. The door sticks. You have to lift before you pull. There’s a chain inside, but it doesn’t latch right anymore.”

Lyla steps closer, eyes sharp. “Patrol timing.”

He hesitates.

I lift his injured hand again.

He breaks.

“Every fifteen minutes,” he rushes out. “Longer if the roof crew is cooking. Shorter if Bryant’s pissed.”

“Bryant?” Lyla asks.

“The one in charge.”

Joanie’s smile turns sharp. “And where does Bryant sleep?”

Trish mutters, “Of course that’s your follow-up.”

The man shakes his head, breathing hard. “He won’t be sleeping. Not tonight. He likes the fights. If new people came in, he’ll set one up.”

My entire body goes still.

Fights?

The man sees my face and starts talking faster. “Not the kid. They don’t usually put kids in first. The woman, maybe. If she killed someone, they’ll make an example.”

The alley drops away beneath me.

Clair in a cage. Clair hurt. Clair standing in front of Poppy because that’s what she does.

My sweet, vicious girl.

Another undead groans from the street. Its shadow crawls across the mouth of the alley, long and crooked in the dying light.

Earl steps into the alley behind Lyla, a pack slung over one shoulder, face grim beneath the ridiculous rainbow readers perched on his nose. He doesn’t look at the man on the ground. He looks at the mall.

We are out of time.

I step closer to the man.