“Impossible,” he shoots back, his chin up as if he enjoyed defying her on somelevel.
“Oh, come on”—she gives his tie a firm tug—“nothing is impossible withyou.”
“All right.” I stride forward and carefully remove her hand from Dudley’s tie before I decide I need to knock him into eternity where he belongs. “I’ll do it. Show me what bodies you need excavated, and I’ll power throughit.”
Chloe huffs a laugh. “I’ll help. Skyla, you go home and let the little ones swing off your boobs or whatever it is you do with them.” She scuttles up to me with her hair and tits bouncing, and I’m quick to look away. “I highlighted all of the areas we hit in that journal your dad keeps.” She wags one of his composition notebooks at me. “You can use that as a road map. And don’t worry, Gage. A shovel fits in my hand, too. I’ll be right by your side as we power through it together.” Her hand glides over my shoulder. “It’s going to be a long, hard, sweatynight.”
“There, you see?” Dudley sheds a shit-eating grin. “You’ve a hero or two to keep you on your morbiddeadline.” He scowls toward the east. “I’d best check on Ezrina and see what’s become of her latest petproject.”
“Marshall”—Skyla pulls him back as he starts to take off—“that girl looks exactly like Laken. You tell Ezrina she better have a damn good explanation for it. And for the love of all things holy, do not let me catch that girl down in theTransfer.”
“I’ll pass the word along.” He tips his imaginary hat as he walks into the open arms of the fog. “Good night, all.” And with that, his body evaporates into a watery state before dissipatingaltogether.
Chloe leans in toward Skyla. “What’s this about a Laken clone that Ezrina ishousing?”
“I’m sure Wes will fill you in soon enough.” Skyla takes the book out of Chloe’s hand. “I’m not leaving.” She locks her eyes over mine, and for a moment I could swear something real just bounced between us. “Ask your mom if she can watch the boys for a few more hours. She never picks up when I call.” She opens the book, and Logan leans in to peer over hershoulder.
A slapping sound from behind gets our attention, and we find Kate pounding her foot against the ground as if she’s having aseizure.
“Kate!” Skyla rushes over as Logan and I help the poor girl to a sittingposition.
Her lips contort as if she’s desperately trying to tell ussomething.
Chloe scoffs. “It doesn’t work so well without the vocal cords, does it,Kate?”
“Be quiet, Chloe.” Skyla pulls out her phone and hands it to the girl we were once close friends with. I know this is technically Kate, but seeing her like this, her limbs looking slightly mangled, her hair badly tangled from a few restless years in a casket makes herunrecognizable.
Kate does her best to punch in the tiny letters popping up on Skyla’s screen, but she’s choppy at best. I doubt we’ll get a clear message out of her thisway.
“Emksa?” Skyla shakes her head. “Kate, I don’t know what you’re trying to say. I’ll get a pen and some paper for you when we get settled back at thehouse.”
“You’re taking her home?” Normally, I wouldn’t question Skyla taking a friend to the house. Hell, Chloe has slept in my bed more than I have lately. But Kate is dead—was dead. Her body is putrefied and most likely crawling with microbes that no antibiotic could hope to cure. “Not with the boys,” I say it lower than a whisper as not to insult our newly reanimatedfriend.
“She’ll stay with me.” Logan gives her a light tap over the knee, and her leg goes slack as if it’s just slipped right out ofjoint.
Chloe takes the phone from Skyla. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to sayEmma?”
Kate gives a spastic clap of the hands and touches her finger to her nose, an old charades’ trick to let someone know they’reright.
“Emma?” I lean in and look into Kate Winston’s jaundice-colored eyes as she nods frantic into me. “As in mymother?”
Her hand slaps against the ground, and her forefinger touches her nose over and over, bending the cartilage off to theside.
The cemetery starts to rumble at top volume again as the thundering of a thousand corpses rises as they beg to be setfree.
Chloe sits down next to Kate and picks up her hand. “I’ll keep Kate company while the three of you tend to that unruly herd of the undead just clamoring to join us.” She gives a little wink my way. “Don’t get too tired. I have plans for youlater.”
Skyla groans. “It never gets old, does it,Chloe?”
“How could it? Only someone as foolish as you would cut a man like Gage Oliverloose.”
“Did you just call me foolish?” Skyla leans in, and Chloe shakes her head frantically as if she were a three-year-old about to be punished by her mother. “That’s not what I meant. I’m strictly speaking from the heart—or between the legs as it were. Gage isn’t a toy you toss to the side when you’re bored withhim.”
“I was far from bored with him.” Her voice grows curt, her expression tight. “I wasbetrayed, Chloe. A word you often confuse with greed. Your gain always equals someone else’s pain.” Skyla stalks off toward the thumping and rumbling out in the field. “Keep it down! I’mcoming!”
“We’re still friends, though, right?” Chloe calls after her and gifts her the middle finger once she turns herback.
“Nice.” Logan shakes his head as he follows Skyla out to the chaos brewing in thecemetery.
