Hunks of flesh were gouged from his face. One eye was missing and the other dangled from the socket.
Guilt swamped me. If I hadn’t asked for his help last night, would he still be alive?
The glass cracked.
“Reed!” I shouted.
Reed tried turning the ignition over again. The van engine made a grinding noise.
No. This can’t be happening.
The front passenger window shattered. Cal reached inside.
“Okay, okay.” Reed’s way too calm words were punctuated by the sound of him twisting the ignition and pounding his foot on the pedals.
Cal clawed in Reed’s direction.
“Back off, man.” Reed said, trying to avoid Cal’s outstretched hands.
“More are coming,” Eden shrieked.
Dread filled me as I shot another look out the side window.
The sight of the zombie horde lumbering across the street made my knees shake.
Jess was at the head of the pack, her intestines swaying in front of her like macabre tentacles.
I drew the knife from my waistband with shaking hands. Running wasn’t an option with Eden in shackles. “Reed!”
He turned the ignition one more time, and the engine warbled to life. We pulled away just as Jess and her zombie crew reached the back of the van.
Thank God.
My relief was short-lived.
Cal clung to the door, his skinny legs dragging on the street.
“Goddamn it.” I sprang from my seat and moved into the front of the van. “Let go,” I shouted, stabbing at his spindly arms. Any sympathy I had for the man evaporated when he gnashed his teeth at me.
“Stab him in the head,” Reed yelled. “You have to take out their brain.”
I leaned across the seat and tried to stab Cal in his empty eye socket.
The van jerked to the left as Reed swerved to avoid a child-sized figure lurching across the street. “Kid zombies. Now that’s just wrong,” he muttered.
I nicked Cal’s ear.
He snapped at me. His fetid breath scorched the hair on my arm as I barely pulled away in time.
Shrieking, I dropped my knife onto the seat.
“Move out of the way,” Reed shouted, grabbing his bat.
I moved back as Reed leaned over.
Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he swung the bat at Cal.
Crunch. The side of Cal’s head crumpled in, like an egg that had been squeezed too hard. He went limp and disappeared over the side of the van.
Reed settled back in his seat, bloody bat draped over his lap. “That was fun.”
All I could do was stare at him. “Who are you, and what did you do with my friend Reed?”
He gave me one of his infuriating grins. “This is my hallucination, right? I get to save my woman from the monsters.”
At some point, I really was going to have to bitch slap him into reality.
I glanced back at Eden.
She was hyperventilating.
At least she understood the gravity of what was happening. “Breathe, Eden. Just breathe.”
She nodded, her fingers digging into her jumpsuit-covered thighs.
I shoved my knife back into my waistband and sat down in the glass-covered front passenger seat.
Eden let out a shaky breath. Her handcuffs jingled as she pushed her hair out of her face. “What the hell is going on?”
I rubbed the side of my head, feeling a stress headache coming on. “All we know is that people are dying and coming back as zombies. It seems to have something to do with the canine flu vaccine.”
She reached for her throat again. When her fingers found the bare skin of her neck instead of Sasha’s collar, they fluttered to her lap. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going with Uncle Duncan to the mountains.” If we’d missed his visit to the house, we’d still head up north. But we’d definitely squish ourselves in Cami’s car. I was done with this death trap.
Reed turned the van down our street and whistled. “Did Uncle Duncan get a black Mercedes?”
“No, why?”
My question was answered when Reed pulled the van up to the sidewalk and two men in dark suits stepped out of the luxury car parked in our driveway.
The shorter of the two men looked in our direction and grinned. Sunshine glinted off his gold front teeth.
Nero.
I shuddered, a pit forming in my stomach.
What is Javier’s man doing at our house?
“Stay here,” I ordered Reed and Eden. “I know these guys. They’re bad news.” Ignoring their questioning looks, I opened the van door and stepped out.
Nero’s grin widened as I approached. “Hola, señorita. We’ve been waiting for you.”
I stopped in the middle of the lawn, a few feet from the gravel driveway. My gaze bounced between Nero and the six-and-a-half-foot tall man with him.
“I’m Nero and this is Carlos.” Nero said, motioning at the muscular man. The action opened his suit jacket just enough to reveal the handgun holstered at his hip.
“Why?” I hated the waver in my voice.
“Señor Diaz is inviting you to stay with him.” Nero’s smile failed to reach his eyes. The darkness in them made me want to run back to the van.
“N-no, thanks,” I stuttered.
“The city is too dangerous now. Señor Diaz will keep you safe.” His tone held a hard edge.
I took several steps back. “I’ll be fine here with my family.”
“They are welcome too. Carlos, bring them.”
Carlos strode over to the van.
“Leave them alone,” I shouted.
Nero raised a hand to stop me from following Carlos. He put his other hand on his weapon. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”
I swallowed hard. My mind spun as I remembered all the horrific things I’d heard about Javier’s gang.
A moment later, Carlos returned with Reed and Eden in tow. He walked them past me, stopping only when he reached the Mercedes.
Reed looked excited. “Now I’m hallucinating gangsters! Sweet!”
Eden, looking much less thrilled, stumbled behind them in her shackles.
“Who is this? A sister?” Nero’s grin widened and his snakeskin boots crunched in the gravel as he walked down the driveway. When he reached Eden, he stroked a finger down her cheek. “You’re almost as pretty as your sister, jailbird.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “Get away from her.”
Nero’s smile faded. He walked back toward me. The menacing expression on his face matched the deadly gleam in his eye. “You will speak to me with respect.”
“Fuck you.”
Faster than a striking cobra, Nero backhanded me.
“Lee!” Reed struggled to get out of Carlos’s grip.
Holding my stinging cheek, I glared at Nero. “We’re not going anywhere with you.”
Nero raised his hand as if to strike me again.
“Don’t touch her.” Yanking away from Carlos, Reed charged Nero and tackled him to the ground. He got in two or three good punches before Carlos rushed over and slammed his fist into the side of Reed’s head.
Reed tumbled off Nero and landed on his back, a dazed look on his face.
“Stop!” I screamed as Carlos repeatedly kicked Reed in the head.
I pulled my knife and jumped on the big man’s back. Before I could stab him, Nero ripped me off Carlos and flung me into the grass. My knife flew out of my hand.