A Mad Zombie Party - Showalter Gena - Страница 37

I throw my legs over the side of the bed and stand. My knees shake—a ten on the Richter scale—but I manage to remain upright. Another day has passed. Eight in total that I’ve been stuck flat on my back, and I’m not spending another second that way.

Earlier, Reeve removed the tubes and ran more tests. No matter how much antidote she introduced to samples of my blood, the zombie toxin remained. Except, I’m not rotting. I’m not changing. She’s not sure what’s happening to me exactly, which makes me think the toxin is working on a spiritual level and the changes simply haven’t manifested physically. Yet.

It worries me big-time, but I won’t let myself wallow. There are things to do and people to save. Whatever happens to me, well, it happens.

As soon as I’m steady, I release the bed rail. I stay on my feet and even manage a shuffle-walk to the bathroom. Win! There’s a pile of clean clothes resting by the sink, and for a moment all I can do is gape. Someone anticipated my needs and cared enough to follow through.

These slayers...they really are good people. The best. I never should have betrayed them.

A hot shower invigorates me, and by the time I step out to dry off, I feel human again. I dress in a T-shirt that reads Wanna Taste? and a pair of shorts with pockets deeper than the hemline.

I exit the bathroom on a cloud of fragrant steam and find Ali and Kat perched on my gurney, a dark-haired little girl dressed in a pink tutu twirling in front of them.

The ballerina stops when she notices me. “Hi.” She smiles. “I’m Emma.”

“My little sister, in case you didn’t know,” Ali says. “She’s a witness, like Kat.”

“Actually, I’m the best witness.” Emma performs a pirouette.

“Sorry, Em, but I held a vote.” Kat stands and anchors her hands on her waist. “I won by a landslide. You need to accept it.”

“We tied, Kitty. You voted for you, and I voted for me.”

“Right, but as the adult, I had to break the tie. After a completely unbiased deliberation, I had to go with myself.”

“Anyway,” Ali says with a fond smile. “We heard you stirring.” There’s more color in her cheeks today, but she’s still paler than usual. “You shouldn’t be up and about yet.”

“You probably shouldn’t, either, considering you’ve been sick, and yet here you are.”

She sighs. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say. Here.” She holds out a cell phone. “Frosty wants you to have this.”

I accept the device, my heart picking up speed. There’s a text from Frosty waiting for me.

Stay in bed & see my smile. Get up & see my wrath.

I smile. I just can’t help myself. My fingers fly over the tiny keyboard before my brain registers I’m messaging him back. Show me UR smile & I’ll show U mine. Show me UR wrath & I’ll break UR face.

Send.

His reply comes a few seconds later. Still hoping 2 knee my balls in2 my throat, I C ;)

I snort. Not because of what he said, but because Frosty the Ice Man just winked at me via text.

“What?” Ali asks, and I jerk guiltily.

“Oh, uh, nothing. What were we discussing?”

There’s a knowing tightness around Kat’s eyes, and I understand. I do. She might be pushing Frosty at other girls, random girls, but she’ll never push him at me.

“You’ve healed even faster than abnormal,” she says.

I’m about to reply to her when a vague recollection of standing in front of her flashes through my mind. I frown. “Did I go to heaven...and did you shove me out?”

Emma jumps up and claps. “Sweet! You remember. Did you see me? Huh, huh? I was there. I got to watch.”

“You were in the holding zone, and yes, I shoved.” Kat flips her dark hair over her shoulder. “You’re welcome.”

“I liked it there,” I admit.

“Too bad. It wasn’t your time.”

Interesting. “Are you saying everyone has a fated time to die, and nothing and no one can change it?”

“No way, no how. Free will...disease...mistakes...bad judgment and a thousand other things can kill a person long before their time. But I’d already petitioned the court for your life. And before you ask, time is different up there.”

Petitioned? Court?

“One day can equal a thousand years,” Emma says, “and a thousand years can equal a day. Go ahead, try doing the math. I dare you.”

A bazillion more questions fill my head.

“Milla,” Ali says, “if you’re up for it, I’d like to teach you how to use and control whatever new abilities you’ve acquired.”

There’s a vibration in my pocket, and I know Frosty just responded to my last text. I want to read the screen so badly I can taste it, but I don’t. Not here. Not now. Not until the urge to flirt with him has faded.

“I’m on board. Thank you.”

“Uh-oh.” Kat tilts her head, her hazel gaze far away. The same transformation overtakes Emma. “I’m sensing something not fun on the horizon. I’m gonna go check it out.”

The two spirits are gone a second later.

“Come on.” Ali waves me over and opens the door.

I grab a blade from the nightstand before I trail after her. I’d rather go naked than go without a weapon. “I wonder what they sensed.”

“Could be anything from one of us breaking a finger to all of us dying. We won’t know till we know, so until then, there’s no use fretting about it.”

Bronx is waiting for us in the hall, and without a word, he tracks after us.

“What’s with the shadow?” Is the threat level so high that Cole wants his Ali-gator guarded at all times?

“Before Frosty left, he asked Bronx to look after you,” Ali says.

Pleasure warms me—I’m not just a means to an end, I can’t be—only to dissipate. He’s a good guy, and I can’t read more into his actions. He hated that I got hurt on his watch, in a place he brought me, and he’s taking measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again. That’s it.

I glance back at Bronx. “You’re dismissed, soldier.” I don’t want Frosty receiving a report of all the things I do wrong. “Your services are no longer needed.”

He doesn’t glance at me, and he doesn’t reply.

Great. We’re playing Milla Is Invisible.

Ali laughs as she tugs me down the stairs. “When I first met Bronx, he didn’t speak to me for several months. This is his observe-and-learn stage. Just let him do his thing, and you’ll be better for it.” She stops in the gym reserved for recruits, the one with treadmills and stationary bikes. Right now, however, we’re the only people— Oops, spoke too soon.

Gavin has Jaclyn pressed against a wall in a shadowed corner. They’re kissing as if the world is set to end tomorrow. As if they’re starved for each other. The way Frosty used to kiss Kat.

The way I’ve never been kissed, not even by Mace. I loved that boy with every fiber of my being, and he loved me, too...or so I’d thought. He used to tell me I was so young, only fifteen to his nineteen, we needed to keep our relationship a secret. Not long after his death, I learned he’d loved other girls in secret, too. A lot of other girls.

Now, looking back, I can see my feelings were more about hero worship than love. Mace taught River and me how to fight zombies—and our dad. How to do whatever was necessary to survive the streets and thrive.

I didn’t lie to Frosty about believing Mace was supposed to be my happily-ever-after. I believed it the day I met him up until the day he died. It was the day after his death that I began to suspect the truth: I’m supposed to end up alone.

Since Mace, my handful of boyfriends were more concerned with leaping straight into sex than any kind of relationship, and I let myself get caught up in their haste because I wanted to be wanted. And for a little while, I was. It felt good. But then the sex ended, and the guys took off, and I was left hurting even more than before.

Now a pang of longing cuts through me. I want to be kissed like Gavin is kissing Jaclyn. I want to be cherished. I want to be someone’s treasure.