Every nerve ending fired. My body went rigid.
“Varesh. Owen!” I said. “Over there. Another one.” I jabbed my finger into the glass and swore, frustrated at the barrier.
The undead man in front of me slapped wet palms at my face, his aggression intensifying.
When the woman stepped off the curb and pitched forward, Varesh banged his fist on the door and shouted, “Watch your backs!”
Tim tapped his ear and frowned.
I hadn’t experienced this level of stress since I lost my parents.
“Laanat hai.” Varesh uttered the words like a curse and grabbed a fistful of his hair, turning to Owen and me.
“Give them a minute.” Owen pulled the knife from his waistband and tracked every movement, ready to charge.
We never should have sent half our group outside. We didn’t know nearly enough about these things to be taking them on like experts.
I kept watch on the dead woman, fighting the urge to pace the room.
An incoming engine roared closer. The screech of tyres tore through the air. A horn blared, and everyone outside turned toward the sound, including the infected man who’d been focused on us.
Panic streaked through me, and I pounded on the door. They hadn’t mastered the skills to manage one of the infected, let alone two.
The silver sedan clipped the dead woman, and the impact sent her staggering into a half turn. If she were human, her life would have been flashing before her eyes, but her features were blank. No confusion or fear.
It took several steps before she regained her balance, then she continued trundling in our direction as if nothing had happened.
The second she spotted Theo and shifted course slightly, I reached for the door handle without thinking. I didn’t even have a weapon.
“Don’t.” Owen grabbed my wrist. “You’re in no condition to be dealing with this shit.”
“It’s three against two—and thetwoare deadly.“ I pulled my wrist free, my heart thumping so hard the beats filled my ears. “We can’t just stand here watching.”
“Believe me, I know. That’s my wife out there.”
“And my husband,” Varesh said. “Stay put, Sadie. We’ve all got someone we don’t want to lose.”
The dead man who’d been tracking us like fish in a tank trudged toward Theo, arms outstretched. But Theo had eyes on both infected now, and he locked in, barking something at Laura and Tim I couldn’t make out through the glass.
Owen nodded toward Laura, who’d changed position to monitor both threats. “They’re regrouping. There’s a new plan.”
Tim’s eyes flashed with fear at first, then they flicked to Varesh and hardened. In that split second, it looked like he’d chosen fight over flight, and something important shifted inside me, too.
I breathed deep and slow, ignoring the fatigue creeping into my vision.
“They won’t survive this, and it’s not going to be pretty,” a voice commented from behind us.
The restrained glee immediately raised my hackles.
Dustin must have taken Theo’s absence as permission to rejoin the group. He was wise and kept several steps back, but knowing he’d enjoy seeing one of us die shot a streak of violence through me. “Shut up,” I snapped, “or we’ll throw you out there with them.”
“Throw him out there anyway,” Varesh said as he tracked Tim through the glass.
I couldn’t care about Dustin right now. Our people were making their first moves.
Tim grabbed the infected woman by the back of her shirt, twisting his hand and tightening his grip. He held on like his life depended on it, leaning back and staying clear of her teeth.
She struggled against his restraint, her mouth gaping in what might have been a moan.
