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“Right. Gotcha.” I did a slow turn to take in the basement. “So, no one can listen in on us here?”
“On the street, other characters might be able to hear us. Not that any of them would have context or care about our conversation, but there’s no point in taking chances. It’s safer down here. And we need to talk.” He made an unintelligible noise. “Would you please stand still? It’s distracting.”
“Seriously? It’s not like I have to look at you.” But I went ahead and faced him. “And yes, we really need to talk. You know what’s going on here, right? The shambling zombies?”
“I’ve seen the news coverage, but I’m sure there’s plenty I don’t know.”
I gave him the rundown—including Kristi’s offer to help—all the while wishing Andrew’s muscled dude had facial expressions so I could judge how the info was being received. “What is Saberton saying about all this?” I asked once I finished.
“Not a word. And before I address the Charish issue, are you certain those men in the swamp were Saberton?”
“Positive. Rosario identified one of them as a Saberton security dude. Harlon Murtaugh. He didn’t recognize the other one, though, and didn’t get a good look at the divers.”
“Any distinguishing features on the second one? If I have ID on both I can see what project they’re assigned to.”
“Oh man. I’ll try. Redhead, skinny but with muscles. Um. Nowhere near as tall as Murtaugh.”
“You suck as an eyewitness, but I’ll see what I can do. Now, about Kristi Charish.”
“She’s completely vicious, evil, and without morals?” I supplied helpfully.
“Yes, that’s a given. But she’s also a solid forward thinker and not to be underestimated. She’s had spies and informants throughout Saberton for at least the past couple of years. Did you know she’s on the Saberton Board of directors now?”
“Are you shitting me? How the hell did that happen?”
“Part of the deal my mother made with Charish to get her back with the corporation.” He snorted. “Stupid move on her part because Charish all but controls that boardroom now. She has extortion down to an art. And her gift for analyzing situations and exploiting them to her advantage is unparalleled.”
“You mean she knows the best ways to screw everyone over.”
“Well, Charish is a sociopath through and through, so for the most part she doesn’t care if people get screwed over in the process.”
“Sure. For the most part. Except for people she hates. Like me.”
He chuckled. “True. She really does despise you.”
A dark spot on the wall behind Andrew shifted. Or had it? Maybe it was just an effect of the flickering torch.
“You wrecked her plans more than once, Angel. She doesn’t forgive or forget.”
“But do you think she would—” The dark shape moved, leaped. “Shit. Watch out!”
My warning came an instant too late. The camouflaged spider-demon thing pounced on Andrew and chomped its fangs into his head. Blood spurted, then Andrew flickered and vanished, leaving an impressive stain of blood on the floor.
“Dammmmn. The graphics in this game kick ass!” I crossed fingers Andrew would respawn soon so we could continue our chat.
Unfortunately, the spider-demon wasn’t satisfied with killing Andrew and sprang toward me. By some miracle, I remembered which button to push to swing my sword and managed to slice two legs off with one swipe. Plus-six Sword of Deadly Hacking for the win!
Another swing cut a huge gash in its side, but the spider-demon scored a hit to my leg with a venom-dripping fang. My heart indicator went from green to yellow.
“Ha! Can’t kill me that easily, sucker!” I jumped and avoided another fang slash. The spider came back around, and I did a power swing-jump and slash combo by pressing both the A button and right trigger.
It was Andrew’s shitty luck that he chose that moment to respawn—right in the path of my power swing.
“Well, that was a pain in the—” was all he managed to get out before my sword sliced through him. Once again his health indicator went from green to black, and he vanished.
“Hope he has another life,” I muttered and repeated my power swing on the spider—far more effective now that Andrew wasn’t in the way—and the spider screeched and blew apart in a cloud of angry red sparks.
Stupidly pleased, I stalked the perimeter of the cellar to make sure there were no more nasties.
