"Say it.Say you're always a hot mess."
"I mean, I am.You're always there to help me when I get in too deep.My God, that's why you're my best friend.You watch the stupid shit I do and let me do it and then patch me up afterward.That's… that's never going to change, Tamara.I couldn't have made it out here without you."
"Yeah and you owe me for the detail work on the cruiser."
"Tamara, it's just bad timing right now.Especially for an argument."
She cursed to herself.
"I know that, damnit.Let me see your hand."
I extended it out to her.She hissed at the wound size.
"There's another one from this morning," I said.I showed her my other hand.
"You should have shown this to me earlier."
"There was a lot going on," I said.
"Yeah, well.You have to take care of you, you idiot.Come on.Let's get this patched up and disinfected.You know, there's about a thousand smarter ways to draw blood.I can teach you how to set up an IV…"
But there was a voice down from the bottom floor.Someone was hallooing up to us.Tamara and I stared at each other and then leaned over the edge.
There, in the crowd of dead people, was someone holding what looked like a cello case.
It was Joey.Alive—well—at least, as alive as he had been before.
Rhonda and Methuselahlowered a tow rope.Some of the other mindless undead began to try and slap at the rope, but Joey yelled at them and slapped their hands until they let go.
"Now pull!"Joey said once he got the rope attached to his belt.
"That's not how this is going to work," Rhonda said.
Joey sighed and started to climb.
"Oh,I'm so glad you guys are safe," Joey said.
"I'm glad you're safe," Tamara said.
They hugged.
"You have entrails on your back," Tamara said, knocking them off.Her voice only quivered a little as our eyes met.She looked like she was trying not to panic.
"They're not mine.Yeah, it's kind of a long story," he said."Apparently being Living Impaired gives you a certain immunity to deadies.They took one sniff of me after I got all my screaming out, and after a few slaps and protestations they sort of shrugged and wandered away."
"Maybe we should have stayed a little longer to see what happened," Tamara said.
"No, it's okay.I understand why you'd just leave me down there," he said.He seemed earnest as he said this, instead of shitty.For some reason, it made me like him and feel sorry for him at the same time."Anyway.I brought the weapons.Which is the good news."
"What's the bad news?"I asked.
"There's something huge headed this way," he said.
"Huge?"I asked.
"Could be the Big Guy that got Nagi," Methuselah said.
"What Big Guy?"I was remembering the huge shadows on the magical display board that Vic had summoned earlier—remembered seeing a giant hand in an alleyway gripping the top of a building.
