“Stay,” I say, the words coming from somewhere far away. “Save your strength.”
“Where are you going?” Rosa asks as I move toward the door.
“I need some air.” It’s a ridiculous statement. There’s no air to be had in a church filled with the dead and dying. But I can’t stay in this room another second.
“Are you insane?” My father blocks my path. “Those things are out there.”
I look up at him, really look at him. The lines around his eyes. The silver threaded through his dark hair. The stranger who shares my DNA but has never known me at all.
“Yeah,” I say. “And right now, they’re better company.”
I sidestep him before anyone can stop me. Before I can stop myself.
“You’ll die out there,” my mother says.
I turn the knob. Hopefully.
Then this nightmare is over.
“Dakota, please.” Amelia’s voice cracks. “Don’t go.”
“Let her go. Girl needs space.” Rosa fixes my parents with a steely gaze. “From all of you.”
“If something happens to her—” Mother begins.
“It’ll be on your head,” Rosa finishes. “For pushing her there.”
I look back at my sister, forcing a smile I don’t feel. “I won’t go far. Promise.”
I turn the lock and ease the door open a crack, peering into the hallway.
Empty.
Quiet.
I slip through the gap and close the door behind me, hearing the lock click immediately. I lean back against it. My heart hammers against my ribs, but for once, it’s not from fear of disappointing someone.
It’s just fear.
Plain, honest fear.
And somehow, that’s easier to handle than the look in my mother’s disappointed eyes.
Did I overreact?
I hope Amelia’s going to be fine.
FIVE
JULIEN
The letter opener punctures the zombie’s eye socket with minimal resistance, like piercing overripe fruit. I twist, making sure the blade severs whatever keeps these things moving.
Dark fluid leaks down my wrist as the thing, a man in his sixties wearing what was once an expensive suit, shudders and goes still.
I step back, wiping the blade on my ruined suit pants. Another one down. How many more to go?
The church suddenly feels massive, filled with hungry dead waiting to join the party.
