A Mad Zombie Party

  I'm already dressed in a tank and jeans, and I stalk into the hall. River is at the corner, coming my way.

  "Hey," he says as we head to the stairs together. "I've been looking for you, wanted you to know I called for reinforcements earlier today. Three members of our crew have already arrived."

  Something about his tone... "One of them wouldn't happen to be a former boyfriend of mine, would he?" Though I kept my relationships secret, River always knew who slipped into my bed.

  "Two of them, actually. You gonna be okay?"

  My stomach twists, wringing out bile, but I say, "Of course." How much rejection will I have to endure in one day?

  Well, we're about to find out.

  Gavin is waiting at the gym doors. On the lookout for Jaclyn? When I pass by, he hooks his arm around my waist to draw me back. He mashes his fist into the top of my head. "Good work capturing those Zs."

  "Thanks," I say, kind of loving the brotherly attention.

  He lets me go when River tugs on my arm. We enter the room. Justin, who's sitting on the edge of the boxing ring, winks at me. Love, who is sitting beside him, nods at me. Cole and Ali stand in the far corner, talking quietly with Frosty.

  My stupid heart skips a stupid beat.

  Chance enters. Marty, Eric and Roger--the latter two the ones River warned me about--trail behind him. All three spot me and scowl.

  "I've told them not to speak to you. Don't even acknowledge them." My brother leads me to Love. "Sit here."

  Not exactly great planning on his part. Wherever Love is, Chance will show up.

  An-n-nd right on cue, Chance locks on Love and stalks over with the three amigos in tow. Eric and Marty are actually vibrating with fury, I realize.

  I lift my chin, refusing to fidget. They hate me for putting them in danger. They'll always hate me, and forgiveness isn't even a blip on their radar because I never meant anything to them.

  Well, screw them. I'm worth something, damn it. I'm smart. I'm beautiful. Frosty said so. I'm strong, and I'm loyal. Loyal to a plethora of faults, yes, but I'm willing to die protecting the ones I love. How many can say the same?

  Roger, staring at me, runs his tongue over his teeth. Usually an action of flirtation, he somehow makes it a physical threat.

  Eric blows me a kiss, all teeth and bite.

  No one notices. Or so I think.

  Frosty strides over and drills Roger in the back of the head. As Roger crumples, Frosty slams a fist into Eric's nose, breaking the cartilage. A pained howl rings out.

  "Anyone else want to try and make Milla uncomfortable?" Frosty glances around the room, tense and ready to throw down.

  Silence reigns.

  "Yeah, I didn't think so. If you change your mind, you know where to find me--or I'll find you."

  I'm... He... He defended me? Even though he ran out on me?

  Does he still like me? Am I still in the game?

  Do I want to be?

  Ali claps her hands, drawing everyone's attention. "All right, folks, playtime is over. Here's what we know."

  She relays the story about Rebecca approaching Frosty. Everyone agrees we should give the antidote a shot--if we can get our hands on it--but no one trusts her to actually deliver it. Some are willing to trade Tiffany, others aren't.

  Then Reeve tells us what she and Weber learned from the captured zombies. "If I were to cut off a chunk of my skin, new skin would grow. Right? Well, these new zombies operate just like that. When a spirit rises from a body, a shell, a new spirit grows."

  It's a terrible cycle.

  She continues. "These zombies have different levels of toxin, each creation weaker than the last. However, Rebecca told the truth about thanatos. When I introduced a sample of Milla's blood to the zombies, each one had the same reaction, becoming frantic to feed on each other. One bite caused their toxin levels to strengthen exponentially."

  Great. If they bite me, they'll strengthen and only want more of me. Basically I'm a walking zombie juice box. "I didn't want to eat zombies," I say. "I wanted to eat..." Ugh. I can't say it.

  "Like to like, remember?" Frosty says.

  Our gazes meet...hold. I shiver.

  "What do our witnesses say about all this?" Bronx asks.

  "Ask them yourself," Ali says as both Kat and Emma appear. "They've ensured everyone will be able to see them."

  The room grows quiet.

  Beside me, River stiffens. "Her." He grits the word, leaving me confused. Her...who? Kat?

  Frosty, I notice, turns his head, as if he can't bear to look at either girl.

  "We've petitioned for answers," Emma says.

  "Meanwhile, Camilla is the one who felt Tiffany's blade across her throat." Kat scans the room. "She's the one dealing with thanatos now. Let her decide what to do with the girl."

  Every eye lands on me, but I focus on Frosty again and--

  --in the blink of an eye, the walls of the room vanish. I'm suddenly surrounded by Anima agents. Each has a gun aimed at my chest. My attempt to break into the warehouse to save my brother has clearly failed. These guys were waiting for me all along. They knew I'd be coming, as if the bread crumbs I'd followed were purposely left. They probably were.

  I've been beaten to hell and back, my jaw is on fire and the friends I convinced to join me are lying dead at my feet. All but one. Bettina. Like me, she's restrained by two agents.

  We should be dead like the others, but for some reason, we were spared, punches pulled, no one shooting or stabbing us.

  A pale-skinned brunette smiles and walks a circle around me. "Do you know who I am?"

  Oh, yes. I've seen pictures. She's the epitome of evil, greed and everything wrong with the world. Her name is Rebecca Smith.

  I spit at her feet.

  She nods at the agents holding Bettina. Both men lift daggers and stab, stab, stab her in the chest and sides. She screams and screams.

  I scream. "Stop! Please, stop." I struggle for freedom. My wrists are twisted behind my back, the backs of my knees kicked. My knees hit the floor.

  And the guards...they just keep stabbing Bettina, blood spraying and pouring and dripping--blood and now other things. I want to look away, but I hold her gaze until the end--I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. She goes quiet, slumping in their arms. They let her go when her bowels empty. She drops with an unceremonious thump.

  "Now you know I'm serious," Rebecca says. "Your brother, like your friend, is currently in my care. I would hate for something so tragic to happen to him."

  I almost panic. I want to panic. This is my worst nightmare. I would rather die a thousand deaths than let my brother suffer a single moment of agony. He saved me, so many times he saved me. Now it's my turn to save him. I can't fail.

  "You want something from me or I'd be dead too," I say. "What is it?"

  "Ali Bell."

  "I don't know an Ali Bell."

  "You will. I'll make sure of it."

  "But--"

  "From now on, you will do what I say, when I say it. In return, your brother will walk away tonight. He won't know we met, and you won't tell him."

  I nod. What else can I do?

  "If you disobey me even once, I'll turn my sights to your brother once again, and we both know what will happen if I do." She motions to Bettina.

  "Touch him and I'll--"

  "What? You'll watch?" She smiles at me. "You're outmanned and outskilled, Miss Marks, and you know it. But if you need more incentive..." She holds out her hand. A guard gives her a small black remote. When she presses a button, a blind opens on the window behind her, revealing a small room.

  Chains hang from the ceiling--River is attached to them, his arms trapped over his head. A blindfold covers his eyes, and a ball-gag fills his mouth. He's shirtless, and strips of flesh are already messing.

  "You'll have to excuse his condition," Rebecca says. "He's one of the strongest slayers I've ever had in my lab, and I'd like to know just how much pain he can withstand before his mind breaks." She pushe
s another button, and River's body begins to shake and jerk, his limbs attempting to curl into his torso. "Right now, volts of electricity are shooting through him. It's excruciating, he could die any second--"

  "Stop!" I shout. "Just stop! I'll do what you--"

  --River is patting me on the back. "Milla! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

  I shake myself from the past. I'm trembling. I can't stop. And it's okay, I'll be okay, because Frosty strides across the room and throws his arms around me, offering comfort and support. I can feel his heart racing just as quickly as my own.

  "What happened?" River demands.

  "Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Frosty combs his fingers through my hair. "Whatever you decide, Milla, I'll back."

  Black and white. Right and wrong.

  My voice is soft, and it trembles like the rest of me as I announce, "We can't let Tiffany go. She tried to murder me, and she would have succeeded if you guys hadn't intervened. A girl like that can't be loosed on the general public."

  Cole nods. "It's settled, then. We gear up and let Rebecca come to us."

  *

  One day passes. Two, then three, but nothing happens. Not from Rebecca's end.

  I and the other blonde females in the house dye our hair brown. That way, Rebecca and her men might hesitate to take a shot, mistaking us for Tiffany.

  The first time Frosty got a glimpse of my new hairstyle...well. I still haven't come down from the high.

  "What the hell did you do to yourself?" he barked. "Change it back. Now."

  He should be happy. Now I look more like the girls he picked up at the club. "No," I finally said.

  "No? That's it? Just no?"

  "Oh, good. Your ears are working."

  "You were perfect the way you were, Mills."

  Perfect? Me?

  So why has he stopped sleeping in our room?

  And if he doesn't want me, why does he watch me? In fact, his gaze is never far from me. He tracks me like he's a starving and I'm on the menu. But if I glance in his direction, he hastily looks away.

  I have hope again.

  Only one other time has he spoken to me, though, and only to ask about the visions. He wanted to know why the last one revealed my encounter with Rebecca. With a little Q and A, we came to the conclusion our thoughts direct the visions. He'd wondered about my meeting with Rebecca right before it happened. Just like I'd wondered about his name before the previous one.

  These visions...they may be the complete opposite of Ali's, but they're helping us get to know each other better than any conversation. Which is why I love them almost as much as I dread them.

  "An-n-nd...yes! We're done!" Love's excited announcement draws me from my thoughts. She pushes out of her chair. "I'm gonna spend the morning with Ali and just, I don't know, be a girl for a bit."

  "Sounds nice." We've been monitoring the security cameras in twelve-hour shifts and last night Love and I were paired.

  "Want to come?" she asks me.

  I'm floored by the invite. And warmed. "Yes, actually, I do. But I missed dinner, and I'm starved. Let me grab a sandwich first."

  "Okay, see you in a bit."

  I make my way to the kitchen, where I find Chance pouring orange juice.

  I swipe the glass and drain half the contents. "Thanks."

  He snorts. "Anytime, apparently. Where's Love?"

  "Headed to Ali's room."

  He confiscates the juice and drinks the rest. "Well then, to Ali's room I go."

  "First, bad Chance. Bad. She wants a girls' night, and you most definitely aren't a girl. Second, you are sooo whipped." I make a tsking sound.

  "You mean I'm so happy."

  "Wow. Way to rub it in." I lightly punch him in the stomach, just hard enough to make him lose his breath. "What about now? Still happy?"

  He laughs, bends down and rams his shoulders into my midsection, then straightens with me draped over his shoulder. "Just for that, I'm taking you to Love. You damaged her property, and you'll have to pay her fine."

  "Certainly...after I tell her about the time you tried to collar a zombie, but actually collared yourself."

  He smacks my behind. "You know what happens to rats, don't you?"

  "They bite anyone who holds them?"

  He gives me another smack, and I playfully kick at him.

  "Put me down. I'm hungry."

  "Put her down. Now." The new voice is as hard as steel.

  Frosty! I still, even as my heartbeat speeds up.

  "Why? I'm not hurting her." Chance sets me on my feet. "I don't hurt my friends."

  Frosty approaches us, trapping me in the middle of a testosterone sandwich. "Where were you a few months ago, when River kicked her out? She was sure hurting then."

  "I know where I wasn't," Chance snaps. "At the bottom of a bottle, or in some random chick's bed."

  Frosty draws back a fist, ready to strike.

  "No!" I shout. "No. This isn't happening. We aren't fighting amongst ourselves. And over what? A little teasing?" I give Chance a push toward the exit. "Go tell Love good-night, then go to your own room like a good little boy." I stare him down until he shuffles off--then I turn to Frosty. "What the hell was that?"

  He leans down until we're nose-to-nose. "He's with someone else. I won't let him lead you on."

  "You mean the way you led me on?" My cheeks flash with heat. "Are you concerned for my feelings...or jealous?" I say the words to taunt him, but they echo in my mind and I gasp. Is he jealous?

  "I'm not jealous." He steps away from me and rubs the back of his neck. "I'm your friend."

  "Uh, you aren't my friend. Friends talk to each other. Especially after they've kissed."

  "Well. This is kinda awkward." Ali stands in the doorway, rocking back on her heels. "I came to get some cookies for girls' night, and if my craving wasn't so savage, I'd come back at another time."

  Frosty opens his mouth, but the shatter of glass registers, then a loud thump. It comes from above us, and the three of us take off in unison, running for the stairs, palming weapons. Other slayers come out of their rooms, hastily dressing.

  "Did you hear that?" Justin asks.

  "Where'd it come from?" Jaclyn demands.

  Pop, pop, pop.

  Gunfire! "There!" I rush toward the door to Ali and Cole's bedroom.

  Frosty grabs my arm to yank me behind him, making him the first to enter. Another round of gunfire rings out-- courtesy of Frosty. I move beside him, determined to defend and protect, and see a black-clad figure propel out the shattered opening in the window, as if pulled by a rope.

  I race over as violent gusts of wind lift strands of my hair. The sky is black, but it doesn't fully camouflage the helicopter hovering just above our roof. Once the black-clad guy is secured inside, the copter flies away.

  Chance shoves me aside, looking as though he plans to jump. Blood trickles from a gash in his forehead and gushes from a wound in his chest. He's been shot.

  "They took her," he croaks. "Took Love. There were three of them. They shot me as I entered the room."

  "We have to do something." Ali's chin trembles. "Fast."

  "First, let's get you patched up, Chance." I reach for him.

  He steps out of reach. "Bullet only grazed me. I'm fine. I don't care what the rest of you do, but I'm gearing up and going after my girl."

  Justin heads to the roof to watch for any other copters, or any agents who might be sneaking around the perimeter. The rest of us gather in the weapons room to arm up.

  Rebecca wanted a war. She's got a war.

  I've never seen the stoic Chance so panicked and inconsolable, and I sympathize. I'm not sure how I would react if Milla had been the one taken. At least his wound is a simple graze, as he claimed.

  "How are we going to track her?" he demands. "Her phone is here."

  "I think I know a way." Judging by the stubborn glint in Milla's pretty golden eyes, her way is going to put her in danger. My hands clench as she looks
to River rather than me. "Do you still have the hazmat suits we stole from Anima?"

  "Of course."

  "Go get them, one for every slayer here. And hurry."

  "Hurry?" He spreads his arms, all shall I pull a rabbit out of my ass, too? "The suits are at our house, an hour and a half away--and that's one way."

  Your house isn't her house, prick. Not anymore.

  "Then you better get going." She gives him a push.

  "Tell me what you're planning." Chance grips her by the shoulders and shakes her. "I need to know."

  A bolt of fury launches me to his side. I yank him away from her with enough force to damage. "You don't touch her. Ever."

  Milla gives me a strange look before motoring on. "The plan is simple. Rebecca and Tiffany tried to destroy me with thanatos. Tonight I will use those flames against them."

  "How?" Ali asks. "And how can you use them without destroying yourself in the process?"

  Those words--destroying yourself in the process--are a punch in the gut.

  Milla's nightmare is more reliable than a postman. Wind, sleet, rain or shine, it comes. Red flames hurt her, kill her. Now she plans to unleash them? Hell, no.

  Forget losing another girl. I can't lose her.

  "In the cemetery, zombies bit me and red flames appeared of their own accord. While it made the zombies crave me exclusively, it made me hunger for you." Milla scans the room, but avoids my gaze. "The mix of thanatos and toxin, I mean. I sensed you. Blindfolded, I could have picked you guys from a crowd of thousands."

  Reeve nods. "Like to like."

  Realization clicks, horror on its coattails, and I curse. "You intend to let a zombie bite you." I get all up in Milla's personal space. "You want us in those suits so you won't sense us when you become a slayer GPS. But at what cost?"

  "No cost on your part. Only mine. A few minutes of pain and suffering." She pushes me away. "My pain, my choice. Deal with it."

  "No cost on my part?" What about the agonizing fear that is currently plaguing me? "You only have a ten-minute window before the toxin becomes too strong to neutralize."

  "Probably closer to fifteen or twenty minutes," Reeve says. "Most of these zombies are clones, remember, and their toxin is weakened."

  "That doesn't change my answer." I never look away from Milla.

  "The vision," Ali says, as if I need the reminder. "We know she'll survive this--"

  I point a finger at her, silencing her. "Don't you dare mention the vision to me."