The Queen of Zombie Hearts

  No. Not everything. She still had Bronx. But I knew how badly she was going to hurt. How horribly she would suffer. How she would blame herself, and hate herself, and relive what had happened.

  Can't break down. Not now.

  Kat needed me.

  I threw wood and plaster and glass over my shoulder, screaming, "Kat. Kat! We're here. We're not leaving without you. Hold on, okay. Just hold on."

  Pop. Pop. Pop.

  "That's gunfire," River called, holding a rag against Juliana's wound. "Anima sent in the troops. We're screwed if we stay here."

  I didn't care.

  Pop. Pop. Pop.

  "Weapons?" Cole demanded.

  As the slayers told him what they had on hand, a low moan caught my attention.

  "I'm staying behind to--" Frosty began.

  "Shut up!" I screeched. Still as a statue, I listened. More gunfire. The hiss of flame. The crackle of burning wood. I ignored the sounds, concentrating. Then...

  Another moan, soft but sure.

  I rushed over to where I thought they had come from and heaved pieces of wood and glass out of the way, ignoring the sharp stings in my palms. And then I saw her. My sweet, sweet Kat.

  Her collarbone was broken, the end cutting through her skin. There was an angry gash over her pelvis, and one of her legs was twisted in the wrong direction. But her eyes were open, and unlike Mr. Ankh's, they focused. She was alive! Happiness and relief bombarded me.

  Her arms were wrapped around an unconscious Jaclyn, providing a first line of defense, protecting. Even now. She smiled weakly, blood gurgling from the corners of her mouth.

  "She's here!" I shouted.

  "Finally," she whispered. "Had to be...last one to...arrive at party. Grand entrance...my thing."

  "Shh, shh, kitten." Frosty shoved me aside to kneel beside her. "Save your energy, all right."

  I rushed around to her other side, saying to Frosty, to anyone who would listen, "We need to get her to the nearest hospital. And someone call Detective Verra. She-- No," I gasped out.

  Kat had bite marks on her arms. The flesh was black, oozing.

  Zombie toxin.

  Frosty must have noticed, too; he sucked in a sharp breath.

  You can sit here, panicking, or you can act. "Does anyone have the antidote?" As soon as I'd learned what the fire could do, I'd stopped carrying mine. But civilians like Kat couldn't tolerate the fire. They ashed as quickly as zombies.

  Frosty and I waited, tense. Desperate.

  No one spoke out.

  "Anyone," he shouted. "Please."

  Then we heard the sweetest words this side of heaven. "I do." Chance bounded over from triage, with a tiny plastic vial in his hand. "It's only half a dose. We didn't come with enough for everyone, so I've been doling out sips. It'll keep her symptoms at bay until you can get her a proper injection."

  Frosty poured the contents down her throat.

  "Kat," I said, doing my best to disguise my fear. Time wasn't our friend. Had just become slayer enemy number one.

  Just?

  Her gaze shifted to me, and she offered a small smile. "My Ali. Helped me...live."

  "And that's not going to change. Do you hear me? You're going to continue to live. I promise. And you know I never lie." I met Frosty's wild gaze. "Do it now."

  He gently lifted her into his arms. The pain should have been excruciating for her, but she didn't even cringe. That wasn't good. I knew that wasn't good.

  Chance extracted Jaclyn and carried her to River.

  "Let's get you to the hospital, kitten," Frosty said.

  "Cole's place is on the way." The words spilled from me. "We can get more antidote there."

  He eased forward, careful not to jostle her. "You're going to be okay, kitten. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

  "Love you," she whispered. "Just wanted to...fix you...lunch...and live...you and Ali...made life worth...fighting for...thank you."

  Killing me. "Don't thank us. Live! Keep fighting."

  Pop. Pop. Pop. The gunfire drew ever closer.

  Boom!

  Boom!

  More zombies, too.

  "Frosty." I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other, maintaining the moderate pace. "We have to hurry."

  "Shut up, Ali." His tone remained gentle, despite the heat of his rebuke. "I can't risk jostling her."

  "I know." But I can't risk losing her.

  Pop. Pop. Pop. The ground shook. Little fires blazed in patches of foliage, dark smoke mushrooming to the tops of the trees.

  "Bronx, get everyone to the closest safe house." Cole's voice rang out. "Chance, give me two of your guns." Then he came up beside me and slapped one of the guns in my hand. "I'll guard the front. You guard the rear."

  All business. Good. Exactly what I needed.

  The deeper we traveled through the forest, the thicker the smoke became, the more obvious the scent of rot. It wasn't long before we discovered why the authorities hadn't made it to the house. Zombies had attacked their cars en masse and dragged policemen and firemen outside, where they'd become a spiritual feast.

  Soon, they would rise.

  Scratch that. No "soon" about it. Some of them were already crawling out of their bodies.

  Multiple sets of red eyes landed on us and narrowed. And suddenly, it was like a starting bell rang out, zombies leaping into action and racing toward us. Some wore a collar...and a bomb--the new ones didn't.

  "Run, Frosty! I've got this." I stepped out of my body and fired the gun. Bam, between the eyes. Bam, right inside the mouth. Bam, direct to the heart. I hammered at the trigger until I ran out of bullets, then used the butt of the gun to knock a few skulls around. Summoning flames proved ineffective.

  I threw a punch at a zombie, then another, then ducked to avoid a chomp of teeth. I swiped out my leg and knocked a pair of ankles together. While I fought, I thought, Screw the fire and tried to push out a stream of energy, but failed at that, too.

  Behind me, gnarled fingers locked on my shoulder. I was dragged to the ground. Multiple sets of teeth flashed in the moonlight. I rolled and kicked, nailing two zombies in the face, and then I twisted, using one hand to punch the zombie beside me and the other to brace my weight.

  Gold star, Ali. The creatures were going down fast.

  I popped to my feet, a high-pitched noise making me cringe. A noise I recognized.

  "Bomb," I shouted, diving to the ground.

  Boom!

  Another blast of molten air whooshed over my back and might have even singed the ends of my hair. Bits and pieces of zombie pelted me. Coughing, I kicked decrepit limbs away from me.

  Then I ran. I ran and listened. A grunt. Snapping limbs. There. I chased the sound, turning left, quickening my pace, darting through a canopy of brittle leaves. Frosty's features were bathed in panic as he bounded toward me, Kat flopping in his arms. Anima was coming at him from every angle.

  Two of the soldiers raised their guns. Aimed.

  "No!" I screamed, diving forward.

  But I was too late. The bullets too fast.

  One embedded in Frosty's thigh--the other in Kat's shoulder.

  He fell, twisting midway to take the brunt of impact. Kat rolled from his arms. She stopped several yards from me. He stood, desperate to reach her, but he took a bullet to the chest and flew backward.

  On my hands and knees, I scrambled to my best friend. Her eyes were closed. Dirt smeared her cheeks. "Come on. Come on! Mad Dog, you have to listen to me." I tore off my shirt, didn't care that I was left in my bra, and wrapped her bleeding shoulder. I trembled as I felt for a pulse.

  Nothing.

  No. I'd missed it, that was all. It was there. Had to be there. Maybe if I pressed harder, deeper. "You're going to wake up. Do you hear me?"

  Blood streamed from her mouth. Still there was no telltale beat to signal her heart had started working again.

  I choked on a sob.

  Pop. Pop.

  A Hazmat
toppled at my left, another at my right. Whatever. The men were nothing to me. "Kat. Mad Dog. It's Ali. It's time to wake up now. Okay? All right?"

  Silence.

  Respond! "Listen to me," I screeched, desperate, so terribly desperate; there wasn't room for any other emotion. "This isn't cake. I need you to wake up. You've got a wedding to plan, the most horrid bridesmaid dress ever created to choose for me. Puke-green. With pink bows."

  Miserable silence.

  She...

  She was...

  I fell back on my haunches, fighting to breathe. Anima had done this, had hurt an innocent girl. Ruined an innocent girl. Kat was--had been--no! I refuse to believe it--she was a bright, beautiful girl. Smart and witty. Kind and caring. She wouldn't just...die out here in a forest, with zombies and fires and the enemy all around us. No, when she died, it was going to be on her own terms. In a blaze of glory.

  Cole crouched beside Frosty and tried to tug him to his feet. The injured Frosty batted his hands away and crawled to Kat. My Kat, who still stared at nothing. He gently lifted her into his arms and settled her on his lap.

  He croaked, "Kitten. Talk to me." He kissed her forehead, his tears dripping onto her face. If this had been a fairy tale, she would have healed then and there, true love awakening her. But it wasn't, and she didn't. She didn't smile, and she didn't tease us about acting like babies.

  And...she wasn't going to, was she?

  I could feel something else. Rage, sorrow and fury. So much fury.

  "Tell me you're okay," Frosty demanded.

  She couldn't. She was...gone. She was gone, and I was a liar. I'd never gotten her to the hospital, and she wasn't going to be all right.

  Hot, stinging tears flooded my cheeks. I raised my face to the sky and screamed. Screamed so piercingly I could have shattered glass. But the sound, no matter how loud, could not drown out Frosty's weeping. He was a male in pain, his greatest love stolen from him.

  I had to leave. I had to leave now.

  A strange calm washed over me. I stood to shaky legs and wrapped my arms around myself. I stumbled forward. There was Cole. Maybe he'd been shot. He was on his knees, his arms resting on his thighs. His head was bowed, his chest soaked with blood.

  The pose struck me as familiar. The vision had come true at last. I didn't care, wouldn't stop.

  Cole faced me. "I tried." His lids squeezed tight, his lashes fusing. Tears welled between the strands. "I tried so hard to get them before they reached Frosty and Kat."

  I kept trudging forward, no destination in mind. Anywhere was better than here. At the back of my mind, I knew I'd come to some sort of mental crossroads; I had a decision to make. Give myself time to heal, if that was even possible, or let Anima have me so the madness would end.

  I knew what I needed to do, but it wasn't what I wanted to do.

  I reached the street. A car was parked in the distance, two men standing outside it, holding remote controls. They spotted me and stilled, as if shocked to find their prey had come directly to them--and wasn't bolting.

  I could have shouted. Cole and Frosty might have come running. I could have raced away and hid. But I did neither of those things. Anima wanted me. Fine. They could have me.

  Decision made.

  They'd won. They'd taken another piece of my heart. One of the best. They could have their prize, shirtless as it was.

  The rage burned up everything else. I would destroy them--even if I had to destroy myself in the process.

  I headed straight for them...was almost within reach. "I'll go without a fight, but you have to stop. Now."

  One of them grabbed me. The other shoved a black sack over my head. My hands were tied behind my back, and I was patted down for weapons. For once, I didn't have any.

  I was picked up and thrown into the car.

  Chapter 29

  LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!

  As the car motored down the road, my mom whispered, "I'm so sorry, Ali. I heard Juliana talking to someone on her cell. She said she'd have you outside in five minutes, for the troops to wait in back. I hoped to lead them away from the house, didn't know zombies were coming...or that bombs would go off and you'd be trapped inside. I'm so sorry."

  It was nice, knowing she was with me.

  "Emma's frantic, trying to get here to see you, but I've made friends throughout the years and asked them to stop her. Gently."

  "Thank you." I didn't want my little sis to see me like this.

  "Quiet," one of the Hazmats snapped.

  "I would appear to Cole," Helen continued, "and tell him where you are, what's happening and where you end up, but he wouldn't believe me."

  No. He wouldn't.

  And maybe that was for the best. I didn't want to be found.

  "I'll think of something. Just...remember what I told you," Helen said, and then I think she left me.

  Remember...what?

  I didn't have to ponder long before the answer hit me. The fingerprint ID. How she had died protecting me. How she had made arrangements for my future. I couldn't let her down.

  Like I'd let Kat down.

  I'm not sure how far we traveled. Finally, the car stopped and I was hauled outside. The men dragged me inside a warm building, only to release me and push me inside...a cage, most likely. That was Anima's usual M.O. I stumbled, my shoulder brushing against a cold metal bar. Yep. A cage.

  Footsteps. Angry muttering.

  I sat. Something pulled at the ties around my wrists, and suddenly I was free. I removed the hood and blinked into focus. The cage was a four-by-four with bars on every side. The floor was made up of dirt and more dirt. I had a cot and a toilet, nothing more. Been here, done that. Anima needed new material.

  The only piece of furniture outside the cage was a long metal table. Papers were scattered across the surface. A pen.

  Weapon.

  Fingers snapped at my ear.

  At least there were no men in lab coats milling around, pretending not to scrutinize my every move.

  The fingers snapped again. "Ali."

  Slowly I turned my head, blinked when I realized Justin occupied the cage next to mine. Well, well. I'd finally found him. In the proof-of-life video, he'd worn only underwear. Today he was fully clothed.

  He pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. I pulled the material over my head as he gripped the bars between us. The swelling in his eyes had gone down, revealing the desperation swirling inside.

  "Tell me what's been going on," he pleaded. "Men come and rough me up, bragging about slayers they've killed, and I don't know what's true and what's not. How's Jaclyn? Is she okay?"

  "She's..." I paused. Last time I'd seen her, she'd been unconscious. "Still breathing." It was the best I could offer. "Trina, Lucas, Cruz and Collins are dead. Have been since the night you were taken. Today, Anima bombed Mr. Ankh's house. We were all there. Mr. Ankh died." My chin quivered. "Kat..." I couldn't get out any more than that.

  Had the antidote had enough time to cleanse her of zombie toxin? Had it been strong enough?

  Would her spirit rise, dark and hungry?

  Not knowing what was to come...

  Being so far away from her...

  In some ways, I felt as if I was falling into an endless pit of despair. No, not a pit. A grave. Falling, faster and faster, with no way to save myself. But the truth was, I'd already hit rock bottom.

  Kat had wanted a life, had decided to fight for more time. Time, so precious. Every second mattered. And now she had no seconds left. They'd been taken from her. Every. Single. One.

  I'd never get to tell her I was sorry. Or that I loved her. Or that she meant more to me than oxygen.

  I'd never hug her. Never see her. The pictures we'd taken that night in my room, when she'd made such hard-core love to the camera she'd created a baby, were gone. Lost in the rubble of Mr. Ankh's home.

  Rage...stronger...

  Justin sagged against the bars. "I hate myself. I used to work with these people. Used to help them s
trike at Cole." He laughed bitterly. "How stupid was I?"

  "Save your pity party for later." Good advice. Wished I could take it. "How often are you left alone?"

  "More often than not."

  "Did the men who brought me here say anything about when we could expect a visit?"

  "No. They were complaining about having to go back out and clean up the mess that was just made."

  Good. I pushed to my feet, stumbled to the door and prayed this worked. Reaching around, I pressed my thumb into the pad of the lock. With slayers, Anima never used the kind that needed keys. Too many of us knew how to pick them.

  The lock disengaged. So quickly. So easily. Almost comically.

  Justin jumped up and rushed to his door. "How did you do that?"

  "My mother," I said.

  "I thought she was a civilian."

  I wasn't going to explain. I walked to the door of his cage and pressed my thumb into the lock. The door opened, and he sprinted out.

  "Let's go." He was halfway to the exit before he realized I'd merely walked to the table. "Ali! Come on!" He waved me over.

  I stuffed the pen in my pocket. Use any weapon, Daddy? Watch me. Then I returned to my cage, shutting--and locking--the door.

  He stumbled toward me, his dark eyes glittering with confusion. "You're not coming with me?"

  "No." I was right where I needed to be.

  "But--"

  "No buts. Get out of here. Let Cole know I'm alive and that I've got a plan."

  He gaped at me. "Ali, don't do this. Don't stay. They'll hurt you. And your plan, whatever it is, will get you killed."

  I offered him a small smile. "It's already done. Now go. Before it's too late for you."

  He took a step away, stopped. Took another step, stopped. Always looking back at me. I knew there was a battle waging in his head. The alpha side of him screamed not to leave the damsel in distress behind. Wanted to protect me. But the logical side of him knew he wouldn't get very far if I was fighting him every inch of the way.

  "I'll gather the others. We'll come back for you."

  "All right," I said, pretty sure I'd be moved by the time he made it to Cole, but knowing he needed some sort of incentive to go.

  Justin disappeared beyond the door.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. And waited.

  *

  Time passed. I'm not sure how much. Eventually, three Anima soldiers stepped into the warehouse. One was sipping from a coffee cup; all were relaxed. No hazmat suits. Just T-shirts and jeans. The guys stopped when they realized Justin's cage was open and empty.