AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Where now?" Claire asked, looking around. She didn't see anything obvious, but then she spotted something shiny, tucked in behind a tippedover rusty trash can. She reached behind and came up with a black leather collar, studded with silver spikes.
The same collar Eve had been wearing. She wordlessly showed it to Shane, who turned in a slow circle, looking at the blank buildings. "Come on, Eve," he said. "Give us something. Anything." He froze. "You hear that?"
Hannah cocked her head. She was standing at the end of the alley, shotgun held in her arms in a way that was both casual and scarily competent. "What?"
"You don't hear it?"
Claire did. Somebody's phone was ringing. A cell phone, with an ultrasonic ringtone--she'd heard that older people couldn't hear those frequencies, and kids in school had used them all the time to sneak phone calls and texts in class. It was faint, but it was definitely there. "I thought the networks were down," she said, and pulled her own phone out.
Nope. The network was back up. She wondered if Richard had done it, or they'd lost control of the cell phone towers. Either one was possible.
They found the phone before the ringing stopped. It was Eve's--a red phone, with silver skull cell phone charms on it--discarded in the shadow of a broken, leaning doorway. "Who was calling?" Claire asked, and Shane paged through the menu.
"Richard," he said. "I guess he really was looking for her after all."
Claire's phone buzzed--just once. A text message. She opened it and checked.
It was from Eve, and it had been sent hours ago; the backlog of messages was just now being delivered, apparently.
It read, 911 @ GERMANS. Claire showed it to Shane. "What is this?"
"Nine one one. Emergency message. German's--" He looked over at Hannah, who pushed away from the wall and came toward them.
"German's Tire Plant," she said. "Damn, I don't like that; it's the size of a couple of football fields, at least."
"We should let Richard know," Claire said. She dialed, but the network was busy, and then the bars failed again.
"I'm not waiting," Shane said. "Let's get the car."
9
The tire plant was near the old hospital, which made Claire shudder; she remembered the deserted building way too well. It had been incredibly creepy, and then of course it had also nearly gotten her and Shane killed, too, so again, not fond.
She was mildly shocked to see the hulking old edifice still standing, as Shane turned the car down the street.
"Didn't they tear that place down?" It had been scheduled for demolition, and boy, if any place had ever needed it . . .
"I heard it was delayed," Shane said. He didn't seem any happier about it than Claire was. "Something about historic preservation. Although anybody wanting to preserve that thing has never been inside it running for their life, I'll bet."
Claire stared out the window. On her side of the car was the brooding monstrosity of a hospital. The cracked stones and tilted columns in front made it look like something straight out of one of Shane's favorite zombiekilling video games. "Don't be hiding in there," she whispered. "Please don't be hiding in there." Because if Eve and Myrnin had taken refuge there, she wasn't sure she'd have the courage to go charging in after them.
"There's German's," Hannah said, and nodded toward the other side of the street. Claire hadn't really noticed it the last time she'd been out here--preoccupied with the whole notdying issue--but there it was, a fourstory square building in that faded tan color that everybody had used back in the sixties. Even the windows--those that weren't broken out--were painted over. It was plain, big, and blocky, and there was absolutely nothing special about it except its size--it covered at least three city blocks, all blind windows and blank concrete.
"You ever been inside there?" Shane asked Hannah, who was studying the building carefully.
"Not for a whole lot of years," she said. "Yeah, we used to hide up in there sometimes, when we cut class or something. I guess everybody did, once in a while. It's a mess in there, a real junkyard. Stuff everywhere, walls falling apart, ceilings none too stable, either. If you go up to the second level, you watch yourself. Make sure you don't trust the floors, and watch those iron stairs. They were shaky even back then."
"Are we going in there?" Claire asked.
"No," Shane said. "You're not going anywhere. You're staying here and getting Richard on the phone and telling him where we are. Me and Hannah will check it out."
There didn't seem to be much room for argument, because Shane didn't give her time; he and Hannah bailed out of the car, made lockthedoor motions, and sprinted toward a gap in the rusted, sagging fence.
Claire watched until they disappeared around the corner of the building, and realized her fingers were going numb from clutching her cell phone. She took a deep breath and flipped it open to try Richard Morrell again.
Nothing. No signal again. The network was going up and down like a yoyo.
The walkietalkie signal was low, but she tried it anyway. There was some kind of response, but it was swallowed by static. She gave their position, on the off chance that someone on the network would be able to hear her over the noise.
She screamed and dropped the device when the light at the car window was suddenly blocked out, and someone battered frantically on the glass.
Claire recognized the silk shirt--her silk shirt--before she recognized Monica Morrell, because Monica definitely didn't look like herself. She was out of breath, sweating, her hair was tangled, and what makeup she had on was smeared and running.
She'd been crying. There was a cut on her right cheek, and a forming bruise, and dirt on the silk blouse as well as bloodstains. She was holding her left arm as though it was hurt.
"Open the door!" she screamed, and pounded on the glass again. "Let me in!"
Claire looked behind the car.
There was a mob coming down the street: thirty, forty people, some running, some following at a walk. Some were waving baseball bats, boards, pipes.
They saw Monica and let out a yell. Claire gasped, because that sound didn't seem human at all--more the roar of a beast, something mindless and hungry.
Monica's expression was, for the first time, absolutely open and vulnerable. She put her palm flat against the window glass. "Please help me," she said.
But even as Claire clawed at the lock to open it, Monica flinched, turned, and ran on, limping.
Claire slid over the front seat and dropped into the driver's seat. Shane had left the keys in the ignition. She started it up and put the big car in gear, gave it too much gas, and nearly wrecked it on the curb before she straightened the wheel. She rapidly gained on Monica. She passed her, squealed to a stop, and reached over to throw open the passenger door.
