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My body glazes with a deathly chill, goosebumps sprouting across my arms.
“Run.” Zombie Guy tugs on my arm as he takes off running down the alleyway toward the street.
I run with him, clutching onto his hand, my heart thrashing in my chest. My mind is racing a million miles a minute, questions flooding my brain. Who was that? What was that? But most of all… “That wasn’t my mom,” I whisper, my heart feeling as though it’s splitting in two.
For the briefest moment I thought she was alive, that somehow she’d come back from the dead. But I should’ve known that wasn’t possible. People don’t just come back from the dead, do they?
“No, that wasn’t your mom.” Zombie Guy quickens his pace as we near the end of the alleyway.
“Then what was it?” I talk loudly over the hammering of our footsteps.
He peers over his shoulder at me and for a split second, I swear I see fear in his eyes. “It was—” He grinds to a sudden stop as a figure materializes in front of us, blocking the end of the alley and our only exit.
I squint through the darkness, trying to see who the person is. Since they have a hood pulled over the top of their head, all I can make out is that they’re freakishly tall with broad shoulders and gleaming red eyes.
What the shit? Red eyes…
I blink several times, trying to erase the hallucination away, but nothing changes. So either I’ve lost my damn mind and I’m not coming back from crazyville, or this shit is really happening.
“Fuck,” Zombie guy curses, then flips a bitch, towing me with him. But again, he screeches to a stop as the figure with red eyes appears in front of us again.
Zombie guy whirls around, but again the figure is there. Over and over again, the same thing happens until finally we’re backed into a corner. Zombie Guy refuses to let go of my hand, moving me closer to him.
The figure stands in front of us, eyeing me over with his glowing red eyes. “Ava, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve been waiting a long time to collect your curse.”
“You won’t be collecting her curse,” Zombie Guy growls. “Not tonight. Not ever.”
“And who’s going to stop me? You?” The figure takes a measured step toward Zombie Guy. “Besides, you couldn’t stop me even if you were able to. Your Leader needs Ava’s curse to be collected.”
“Wait, what?” I eyeball the two of them, fear pulsating through my veins. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is you’re about to give me what I’m owed.” The figure reaches for me.
But Zombie Guy smacks his hand away. “Don’t touch her.” Then he lets go of my hand and inches toward the figure. “Here’s what’s going to happen. Ava is going to walk out of here, alive, and everyone is going to leave her alone.”
The figure laughs. “You think even if she walked away from this, she’d be left alone. Newsflash Dead Boy, no one has left Ava alone since she was fifteen.” It flicks a glance in my direction. “Isn’t that right, Ava?”
My head is spinning. How does he know about that? How does he know my name? How does Zombie Guy know my name?
I swallow down a shaky breath, my hands curling into fists. “Shut the fuck up.”
“Or what?” it taunts, turning toward me.
I stand my ground, even though I’m terrified. “Or your mouth is going to become really acquainted with my fist.”
The figure’s eyes flash bright red. “I’d like to see you try.”
I raise my fist. “Fine, then you will.”
Zombie Guy captures my fist before I can throw down the punch.
“Don’t touch him,” he warns, his gaze colliding with mine. “If you do then you’ll die.”
A cold chill slithers down my spine and the figure howls with laughter.
“So, you’re breaking orders?” it asks Zombie Guy amusedly. “Good, because I wasn’t going to let Leader take this over again. He may have stolen two of my cursed girls already, but he will not get a third. I will not let him win this thing going on between him and I.” His eyes flash so brightly I have to close my eyes.
Zombie Guy yells something, but the noise is overtaken by a loud snap. Before I can even process what’s going on, my legs give out on me, and I collapse to the ground, unable to feel my body, my soul—feel anything.
For the wildest moment, I feel at peace. But then a wave of pain rolls over me.
“I’m dying,” I croak out, darkness and pain surrounding me.
“No, you’re not.” Zombie Guy’s voice echoes through the darkness. “I didn’t want it to go this way for you, Ava. I’m so sorry.”
“For what…” I barely get the words out before a blinding hot pain scorches through my wrist, as if teeth have sunken into the flesh.
Then the pain magnifies, flaring through my veins, my heart, my brain—everywhere.
The last thing I hear is a scream tearing from my lips. Then everything goes still.
As still as if I were dead.
Chapter 6
Leader
I’m just about to lead Remi to Heartley’s bedroom, so we can pick her up and head out on the cyborg mission when August comes rushing through the double doors of the emergency entrance. His eyes have never carried so much panic—so much emotion—as he looks around helplessly. When my gaze falls to what he’s carrying, I soon figure out why.
Lying lifelessly in his arms is a girl with long brown hair and pale skin. Her eyes are shut, her chest isn’t moving, and her entire body is limp. At first glance, she appears dead. But upon closer observation, I notice her blood veins are becoming more defined and her lips are darkening.
She’s transitioning into a zombie. But how? I haven’t even put August’s blood inside her yet.
“What the hell happened?” I ask, rushing down the narrow hallway toward him.
“The demon killed her,” he replies, his voice shaking with anger. “He didn’t try to collect her curse, like you said he would. He killed her and took off… I didn’t know what to do… She was dying so I…” He trails off, but I already know what he’s going to say. The answer is right there on Ava’s wrist.
“You bit her.” I don’t know whether to be proud of him or upset. Yes, he wasn’t supposed to bite her, but he may have saved her and hopefully saved my plan also by thinking on his feet.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what to do.” He holds Ava closer to his chest and stares down at her. “She tried to save me too. Sure, I didn’t really need saving. But it was nice… Not to be completely hated.”
Great. Maybe this is worse than I thought. Not only is Ava already turning into a zombie without me adding the elements that will make her more like August, but I think my first successful zombie experiment might be falling in love.
I need to fix this ASAP.
“Here, bring her in here.” I push open a door to our right and signal for Remi to wait outside.
She nods, but her eyes widen as her gaze wanders to Ava. Great. Now she’s going to start asking questions.
Well, more than she already has.
August rushes inside the small room and sets Ava down on the steel medical table. Then he sweeps her hair out of her eyes and cups his palm to her cheek. “She looks like she’s sleeping.”
“Well, she’s not.” I roll up my sleeves and begin booting up monitors. “She’s hovering somewhere between life and death right now. And either we can let her fully die and she’ll turn into one of those brain crazed zombies you hate so much. Or I can try to bring her back and make her like you. But I’m not sure how well that will work since you bite her first.”
“You’re going to at least try to save her, right?” August says—pleads.
I waver, unsure what to do. While I think I can save her, I’m not sure how well of a superhero Ava will make without the demon having collected her curse. And eventually, if she remains alive—well, as alive as a zombie is—it’ll come back to collect the curse. But just letting her turn into a brain crazed monster doesn’t feel right.
“I’m going to try to save her,” I tell him as I collect a syringe from a drawer. “But while I do, I need you to do me a favor and take Remi and Heartley to the wall to recruit a cyborg.”
August gives a firm shake of his head. “I want to stay here until she wakes up.”
“This is going to take a while.” I open the glass fridge to grab a few vials. “And I need you to do this for me. It’s important.”
“But you might need my help,” he says, refusing to take his gaze off Ava.
Without warning, I shove a needle into August’s arm. The needle piercing his skin barely fazes him and he allows me to draw his blood while watching Ava. Once I’ve collected enough blood, I remove the needle from his arm.
“That’s the only thing you’ll be able to do to help Ava.” I motion for him to leave the room. “Now please, August, take the girls and head to the wall to recruit the cyborg. I need that cyborg or else the world could be doomed.” I move toward the side of the bed with the syringe and vials in my hand. “Since I won’t be there to help control Heartley, you should take Caspian with you. I’d suggest taking Cameron to help control Remi, but he’s currently having a tantrum in the underworld, so you’ll just have to keep an eye on her.”
