And then headlights and thrumming engines turned on down the street, and I heard a screech of tires.The Tazmynes overhead quacked angrily to themselves at the noise.
“It’s showtime,” I said.
I watched as the past me used a shotgun at the Tazmynes.Vic idled the engine, and once past me hit pavement he screeched backward and out, trying to meet up with Eddie and follow the moving van.As they went onto an overpass, Vic gunned the engine, speeding onto an interloop that curled up and overtopped the highway the others were passing through at a narrow-angle.I tried not to throw up as the cruiser spun in its wheels.
“Hold on,” Vic said.“You’re going to have to tuck and roll for this one.”
“No fucking way,” I said.
“Sorry, but this is our only chance,” he replied, and reached over and opened my door.He didn’t slow down as he leaned, either—as we were approaching a curve, he swerved at the last second to avoid smashing into wall, and then I felt his hand on my side, and a push.I flew through the open door, screaming into the air, probably wetting myself, and closed my eyes at the last moment.I had thought at the time I was going to smash headfirst into the highway divider or fall over the edge and smash onto pavement.
Instead, there was a gentle THUMP when I landed, and my elbows and joints shook as my equilibrium caught up to itself.A wave of nausea hit me in the stomach.I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I could feel inertia and wind pulling at me as if I were moving.I pressed around with my hands, touching my body, and making sure my limbs were all there.Then my fingertips hit the surface I’d landed on.It was something soft.It was… a mattress?On an open bed truck?
I sat up and stared, my eyes not wanting to pay attention to what I was seeing.My mind finally caught up.The truck I was staring out of was swerving, speeding fast, and I was somehow safe.
Mine and Eddie's shocked faces met each other.Eddie was astride his bike, driving right behind the truck.The moving van with all of the people from the harbor on it was behind him.All three of us in this caravan were now heading to Hartshome Cathedral.
I blinked and waved at Eddie.He waved back at me, then gunned his engine and caught up within spitting distance, a strong hand on the back of the truck.
“How the hell did you get here?”he screamed over the wind.
“I don’t know!”I screamed back.“Who’s driving this?”
“Probably some humans,” Eddie screamed back.“Grab my hand!I won’t drop you, I promise!”
I stared at the road below.There were no take-backs this time.If I screwed up, we were done for.I moaned, then shook my head.
“I can’t do it!”I screamed.
“Just trust me, Stacey!”he yelled back.
I nodded, breathed in again, and then trusted him more than I’d ever trusted another man in my life, and grabbed his hand.
He swung me around like a sack of wheat, slinging me over and onto the back of his bike.The wheels sparked off the side of an overpass barrier, and I clutched at his midsection, upside down and staring back at the moving van like an extremely clingy monkey.
“How much longer until we hit Hartshome?”I asked.
“One or two miles,” Eddie said.
“When the van makes it, we need to go to Feedworthy,” I said.
“Why?”Eddie screamed.
“I have to make sure we tell everyone what’s happening,” I screamed back.
Chapter9
“And then what happened?”Brynholf asked.He did not look happy at this turn of events.
“We made it back to Hartshome.There was a stupid amount of deadies stalking the streets.When we saw everyone safely inside, Stacey and I left for the Feedworthy offices,” Eddie said.
“And were you unmolested?”
“No,” Eddie said.
A Bruiser was standing outsideof the street that led to Feedworthy.It was huge—I had never quite looked at one up close only from a distance, but somehow they were even more repellant from this close.Ugly boils sprouted here and there all over its face, which seemed patched together from various faces.It was like if Frankenstein was melted together and fifteen feet tall.Eddie turned off the engine as soon as we saw this Bruiser’s head from two streets away and walked his bike forward a bit.I rearranged myself and covered my decency with my skirt, and then shook my whole body out in a stretch.The pavement under my feet seemed to rock like I was seasick.I grabbed at a nearby bench, staring all around for any signs of the undead, and then collapsed into it.
“I would be a pretty terrible cheerleader,” I said.“Lost all of my core strength.”
