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He strolled nearer, preening as he closed the distance between them.
Keep coming, old man. She just needed him a little closer. “And the story of one last adventure for a dying man?”
“Oh it’s definitely my last grand exploration in the cloud country, but I have many years–if not decades–ahead of me to enjoy the fruits. I’ve spent my life groveling for the mystical scraps, ignored by the academic journals and the large treasure hunting companies. I deserve this.”
“You bastard.”
Just outside her reach, he stopped and narrowed those icy blue eyes at her. “Come back to me when the world has taken away your love and your livelihood and then see if you can label me as the bastard.”
Veronica gathered the last bits of her strength and leaped at him.
Antoine sidestepped her attack and fired the gun at point blank range.
The impact sent her flying backward, and oblivion blackened her vision.
Chapter 11
A wet splash hit Veronica right between the eyes. Gasping for breath, she whipped up into a sitting position, agony exploding in her chest. Her hand went to the pain’s epicenter in front of her heart. She pulled her scarab beetle from the pocket. It clasped a small lead ball that hadn’t been there before in its golden arms.
Another huge drop of rain hit her shoulder, and she realized the force field dome had disappeared and so had Antoine. The beanstalk’s tip shook. Crawling closer to investigate, she spotted him making his way slowly down the vines. The temptation to grab the stalk with both hands and shake until he went flying into oblivion hit her like a Mack truck, but she had more important things to do.
After giving the lucky bug a quick peck, she slid it back home. Her breastbone throbbed, but she was breathing. Now to find Jax and make sure he stayed alive too.
She grabbed a pinch of pixie dust from a pocket on her tool belt and sprinkled it on the hole in her upper arm. It burned like a bitch and smelled like she’d just fallen into a vat of sulphur, but it did the job. By the time she’d risen to her feet and plucked her sword off the ground, the wound had vanished. Only the dime-sized hole in her jumpsuit remained as a reminder of Antoine’s betrayal.
A zombie giggle blasted through the silence, and she charged toward the sound. If there were zombies, she’d bet her last Pegasus feather there’d be Jax. Bounding through the cloud trees, she dodged mammoth raindrops and ducked below low-lying branches.
She found him on the other side of a particularly massive cloud tree. Relief rushed through her like a tornado in Kansas, sweeping away the fear and panic.
Then she noticed the blood. Not a lot, but a steady flow from his left arm, which dangled at an awkward angle at his side.
His back was to her as he faced off against the hungry mob getting ready to rush him.
The zombies lifted their faces to the dripping sky, noses twitching in response to the metallic scent of fresh blood. There had to be fifty of them, all starving for their long-denied meal, judging by the way their fat tongues rolled from their open mouths.
A short one in front giggled, the sound transforming into a low, ugly cackle.
Terror jabbed her heart, spreading in waves across her skin and immobilizing her.
The skies really opened up then. As the rain pelted the zombies, their limbs expanded. Their torsos elongated and widened with breathtaking speed. The short one now stood sixteen feet tall. His glassy eyes locked on Jax, and the zombie smiled, revealing pointed teeth as sharp as talons–perfect to sheer flesh from bone and crack skulls open with one bite.
The horror snapped Veronica out of her daze, and she dashed the last ten yards to Jax. She’d die beside him before she’d leave him to face down a hungry mob of giant-sized zombies.
They stood back to back, knives and swords drawn. Her breath came in short bursts as her heaving lungs tried to replenish the oxygen she’d lost on the sprint here.
“What are you doing?” He hissed over his shoulder.
“Saving your ass.”
“Get down that beanstalk, I don’t need your help.”
She scoped out the gathering horde encircling them. “Sure you don’t.”
“You’re a real pain in my butt.”
“Yeah, I love you too.” She swiped one of the three throwing stars she had left out of her tool belt. “Now, let’s do this.”
She flung one of the razor-sharp weapon at a zombie leading the charge on her side. It whizzed through the air, connecting near his jugular. The metal ripped through the sinew and bone in his neck. His head bobbled for a second then rolled down his body, landing with a thump on the cloud ground.
