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Falling to my knees, I scrabbled through my bag, searching for anything I might’ve missed. My fingers bumped against something hard, metallic. A shell. One lone shell. Hell of a lot of good it would do, but I jammed it into my rifle. Rising to my feet, I searched for Erik, but he wasn’t where he’d been before, and neither was the bald man who had been preparing to make Erik his next meal. I scanned the crowd and...
There! Erik was slumped on his knees, hand clasped to the bleeding wound in his neck. Our captive revenant writhed on the ground next to him, and the bald Rotter that had chewed out Erik’s neck lay motionless beside them with most of his head torn away.
How...? I blinked and rubbed my eyes, trying to make sense of the scene before me.
CRRRAKAW!
Flinching, I raised my head, scoping the street for an explanation. That had been no mere pistol pop. Finally, I spotted the source of the explosive sound. Marching down the street was one of Grimes’s soldiers, wearing the bowl helmet and weird armor. He carried a long, bulky weapon that looked like the bastard brother of a shotgun, but with four barrels instead of two. What the hell is that thing?
The soldier stopped, aimed, and fired again. An ear-shattering blast echoed down the street, bouncing off buildings until it sounded as though a hundred thunderstorms had rolled in. He marched several yards closer to our position before stopping again, but not to fire his weapon. Instead, he lobbed something not much bigger than a baseball into the crowd. The sphere hit the ground in a flash of blinding light and a concussive blast that shrieked in my eardrums. Falling to the balcony floor, I mashed my palms over my ears and clenched my eyes shut. Three more explosions rocked the street before everything fell still.
My eardrums rang like church bells, but over the jangling and buzzing in my head came the sound of someone yelling. I lowered my hands, and the roaring voice sounded more familiar. “Sera!” It was Erik, calling for me.
Relief swept through me so swift and sweet that I nearly cried. Instead, I rolled to my knees and peered through the balcony railing. Except for the ones taken down by our bullets, the undead had disappeared. Erik stood on the street below me on his own, unsteady and swaying. A deep-red splotch stained the white collar of his shirt, and blood glistened on the shoulder of his black coat. He pressed a hand over his neck at the site of the wound, and blood seeped between his fingers.
“This might be a dumb question,” I said, “but are you okay?”
He nodded. “I will be.”
I started to say something else, but Grimes’s soldier stepped into my field of vision with the stock of his strange gun pointed at Erik’s temple. My heart clenched, and my breath froze. “Hold it right there,” he said. “You’re not going anywhere, Corpse Bait.”
After a moment of dazzling panic, a memory clicked in my head. I recognized the voice and the wide-legged stance. Breathing a heavy sigh, I called to him. “Shep! Corporal Baumgartner!”
The soldier looked up at me, first in confusion and then in recognition. “Hey, Blite girl, is that you?”
“Sera Blite, yes.” Inanely, I waggled my fingers at him. “You remember?”
“You’re not easy to forget.” Shep motioned toward Erik. “Your friend there has been bitten.”
“No,” Erik rasped. “Just a scratch.”
Shep stepped closer and pressed the shotgun barrel against Erik’s skull. “A scratch, a bite, it’s all the same to me.”
Oh God. Oh no. “Just a second, Shep,” I said, talking to him as though we were old buddies, trying to keep him calm, trying to keep me calm. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s not? He’s infected. He’ll turn. Grimes’s policy is to shoot all infected.”
“He’s not infected,” I said.
“The hell you say.” A red flush crept into Shep’s face. “His neck is torn to shreds. That ain’t no scratch, and what are you planning to do with this other one you got all tied up over here?” He pressed the barrel harder against Erik’s temple. Erik grimaced, and my heart strained as if it were tearing apart.
“Wait, Shep.” I eased my rifle up so he could see it. “Don’t do it.”
“Sera,” he said like an amused parent addressing a petulant child. “Are you threatening me?”
“Oh, no.” Derision coated my words. “I’m not that kind of girl. I just want to talk.”
“Nothing to talk about.” Shep’s grin was big, broad, and completely fake.
“He’s immune to the Dead Disease.”
Shep belched an ugly laugh. “Nice try.”
Maybe he hadn’t understood me. Perhaps I needed to make my point clearer. Raising my rifle butt to my shoulder in a swift motion, I sighted on Shep’s red, angry face. “Step away from him. Now.”
Erik’s countenance had gone sickly pale. He swayed on his feet again.
“You’re gonna kill me to save your corpse-bait boyfriend?” Shep asked.
“If I have to.”
“You don’t want to do this, Sera.”
“No, you don’t want to do this. He’s immune. He won’t turn. Look at his face, his scar. It’s an old wound. He was bitten before, and he survived it.” Even as I said it, I realized I had doubts. Erik claimed the scar was a bite from the undead, but how could I know for sure? Because Dr. Dwivedi had said so? It was a fantastic claim. Still, I preferred not to let Shep be the one to make the decision about its veracity. If there was any possibility Erik’s immunity was real, then he would need the chance to prove it. I meant to give him that chance.
Erik looked ready to pass out, and he struggled to stay upright. A gust of wind blew his hair out of his eyes, and it brought along the scent of rain. Shep studied Erik’s blind eye, and the wheels of thought seemed to turn slowly in his head as he warred with what decision he should make.
Thunder cracked overhead, and the heavens dumped buckets of rain over the street. Erik slumped to the cobblestones and lay in a lifeless heap.
“Erik!” I screamed.
Shep dropped the rifle to his side and crouched. He cupped his hand over Erik’s mouth and checked for breath.
After shoving things into my bag as fast as I could, I left the balcony and hurried through the building, heading for the street. At the main entrance, I paused and peered through the murky glass door. The thick rainclouds had dimmed the late-morning light to a gloomy glow, and the Rotters had scattered, but for how long?
Nothing unseemly appeared on the street except for the undead girl, still gagged and rolling around on the cobbles, drenched and muddy. When I opened the door, it squeaked, and Shep glanced at me.
“Shep,” I said, easing my way to his side. He still stooped over Erik with his weapon held ready. “Help us, would you?”
“What do you want me to do?” His voice was pitched high, and it warbled a little.
“We need to get him to Dr. Dwivedi.”
“What about her?” Shep pointed to the bound and gagged girl.
I went to her and knelt. “She’s got to come too.”
Shep’s blue eyes bugged. He rested the butt of his strange long gun on the ground, holding it up it by its barrel. The weapon was nearly as tall as he was. “What the hell for?” he asked. “This is some messed-up stuff. I never would’ve took you for crazy.”
“I’m not crazy. I got a deal worked out to get my sister back.” I pointed at the undead girl “This Rotter’s part of it.”
“Get your sister back? Bloom’s gone missing?” Shep rolled back on his heels and stood fully erect, but he kept his gaze trained on Erik as if waiting for a sudden transformation. It said something about Shep that he hadn’t put a bullet through Erik’s brain yet. Exactly what it said, I wasn’t sure. Something good, I hoped.
“Didn’t you know?” I asked. “I’m pretty sure it’s Moll Grimes that’s got her.”
Shep shook his head, and wet locks of his blond hair flopped against his forehead. “I don’t know anything about your sister.”
The dead girl beside me groaned, and a desperate hunger burned in her foggy eyes. I pushed saturated strands of brown hair out of her face and studied her features. She seemed familiar... I searched my memory until the face matched up with a name. A cold shiver rolled over me. “Amity?” I said. “Amity McCall, is that you?”
“You know her?” Shep asked.
“If she’s who I think she is.” I bobbed my head. “We went to school together. I haven’t seen her in years, though.”
“And Grimes is going to trade this dead girl for your sister?” Shep snorted. “Sounds like a bum deal to me.”
“No. Grimes knows nothing about this. This girl is payment for someone who’s going to help me get Bloom back.”
Shep’s lips thinned. “You aren’t making any sense, you know.”
“Look.” I rolled Amity over, preparing to lift her. “You don’t have to help me. You just have to get out of my way and pretend you never saw me.”
Heaving with all of my strength, I managed to heft Amity over my shoulder. She struggled and grunted all manner of animal noises. It would take me most of the day to get to Dwivedi’s college like this, and I had no idea what to do with the unconscious Erik. Can’t leave him here like a piece of cheese for the rats, though.
Shep snorted and scuffed a heel over the cobblestones. “You’re a pitiful thing, Sera Blite. How far do you think you’re going to get like that?”
Amity grunted and wiggled until she almost rolled off my shoulder. “Damn it,” I cursed and jimmied her back in place. Her drenched dress and petticoats weighed a ton. Tears prickled at the back of my eyes. I must have looked hopeless and ridiculous, but Shep could grow wings and fly before I’d admit defeat to him. “I’ll figure something out. There’s got to be a wheelbarrow or a cart or something around here.”
Shaking his head, Shep dug into his pants pocket. He pulled out a tin of cigarettes and selected one. Then he struck a match and lit his smoke by cupping his hands around the flame to keep the rain away. He held in a deep lungful of smoke for several heartbeats before releasing it through his nose. The routine must have given him the time he needed to make his decision, because he inclined his head toward the muttering corpse on my shoulder. “If you can manage that carcass, I reckon I can bring along your boyfriend.”
I paused and squinted at him. “Why would you help me, Corporal?”
Shep returned my narrow glare with one of his own. “Whatever it is that you’re up to, I’m sure Moll Grimes would be interested to know about it. Just might turn beneficial for me to find out what I can and give her a report.”
Blatant honesty? I hadn’t expected that. “Well, just so we know what side everyone’s on.”
Shep crouched and pulled Erik’s limp arm across his neck. He heaved and grunted until Erik’s long, lanky body draped over his shoulders like some exotic trophy animal. “I’m always on the same side,” he said. “Always on my side.”