She moved through the mist, her visibilitymuch better to her front, but still far from ideal at her back.Methodically snaking her way toward the castle grounds, a gun stillpalmed in each hand, her heartbeat picked up a little as adrenalinekicked in. All of her senses were on high alert. They had tobe.
The wristband her brother had insisted shewear began to beep, likely alerting her that she was close to theprecise spot where she needed to be. She cursed under her breath,praying the sound wouldn’t draw attention to her.What were youthinking, Victor?His one misstep in what had otherwise been aperfect plan so far.
A guttural growl pierced the quiet. Veronicawhirled around, a bit disoriented by the fog and unable to locatethe precise direction the echo had come from. More growls andhisses. Her nostrils flared as her gaze scanned the mist as quicklyand thoroughly as humanly possible. The eaters might be able to seein this haze, just like they could see at night. The thoughtchilled her to the bone.
One of the dead appeared out of nowhere,bloody fangs visibly ready to penetrate its next victim.Fangs?!What the fuck?The infected’s eyes were cloudy blue, the whitesreddened. Veronica’s heartbeat soared as one arm rose and she aimeda gun at the eater’s head. She pulled the trigger as she leapt fromits path. It fell to the ground, dead, as five more eaterssurrounded her on all sides.
She began shooting in all directions,turning in a circle to down them all. As the fourth one fell, thefinal eater jumped on her, catapulting her body to the ground. Shelanded with a hard thud next to her satchel, her head hitting therigid if grassy ground. Quasi-dizzy and trying to shake it off, theundead creature kept snapping at her. She strained to keep its faceat arm’s length. Its teeth were gnashing, the fangs giving it anadvantage. The thought of dying this close to Victor wasunacceptable.
Warbling out a battle cry, she pushed theeater off her body with all her might, one leg raising to kick itfurther away from her. Just then another low growl sounded frombehind her, alarming her with its proximity. Her green eyes wide,she was taken aback when a large dog jumped over her and took theeater to the ground. The dog barked and snapped as her heart beatout of her chest. She scurried to her feet, still a bit dizzy, andsaw the dog and the eater rolling around on the ground.
That dog saved her life. She couldn’t letthe poor thing sacrifice its own.
Veronica raised her right arm and trained iton the infected, trying to get a clean shot. The dog and the eaterwere in bitter battle, snapping and growling at each other. Shewanted to kill the eater without injuring the dog. Her dizzinesswasn’t helping matters. The eater threw the dog off it, preparingto lunge at the animal. Veronica took advantage of the moment. Shefired the shot, her breathing heavy, praying she hit her mark.
The infected human fell to the ground, dead.She blew out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in asthe dog seemingly inspected the downed eater before turning to her,panting and wagging its tail. Her eyes still wide, she called thedog over to her, noting as he walked he was male. Her breathingstill ragged, she took to her knees and petted him, the emaciatedanimal licking her other hand. She checked him for bites and anypuncture wounds, but found none. Only humans could be turned, butbites could cause an animal to die from infection.
“You’re skinny and hungry, but otherwiseokay, boy,” Veronica told him in a soothing tone. “You’re comingwith me.” Victor had said anything she was still touching when sheinjected the serum would travel back in time with her. He better beright. “Come on, boy!” she instructed, getting up and fixing hersatchel. She quickly walked toward the exact latitude and longitudecoordinates she’d been given. They were so close now. The damnedbeeping grew faster and louder in its tempo. “It’s time to get outof here.”
Veronica heard the growls of eaters in thedistance. Her head at last clearing, this time she could make outthe direction they were coming from. She put the gun from her lefthand inside the holster on her hip and took a grenade from herwaistband. “I am so done fucking around with these things,” shegritted out. She prepared to pull the pin and throw the detonateddevice as soon as she spotted the next hoard. When she espied thepack in the distance, rapidly heading toward her from the west, shewaited until they were within throwing distance. The dog barkingand her heart pounding, the pack of eaters neared. Throwing thegrenade as fast and far as she could in their direction, shewarbled out another battle cry as it whizzed through the air.
A boom, loud and piercing, sounded. Sheleapt for the ground simultaneously, taking the dog with her, andsprawled out upon it as body parts rained down on them both. Herbreathing ragged, she closed her eyes during the macabre shower.She knew without looking she’d managed a perfect hit. The lowgrowls were gone and silence once again reigned supreme. All shecould hear was the beating of her heart and the dog’s panting.
Veronica laid there with the dog for a longpause, her breathing coming under control. Her adrenaline levelstill high, she pulled herself up and told the dog to follow her.“Let’s go, boy!” she commanded, taking off in a sprint. “Therecould be more!”
The dog followed, keeping up with her pace.The beeps on the wristband drew even closer together, the soundsextremely rapid, telling her she was where she needed to be. Thishad to be the spot. The wristband, thank God, went silent. “Comefor me, Victor,” she managed, falling to her knees to dig throughher satchel. She found the serum and a clean syringe then sat onher bottom. She slapped herself on the leg to beckon the dogcloser. “Come here, boy,” she said as cheerfully and encouraginglyas she could. “Come here.”
The dog obeyed as if he understood herwords. Maybe he did. Perhaps his former owners had trained him wellbefore meeting their presumed demise. The animal, once a large mixof breeds she couldn’t name, was too malnourished to belong toanyone now. Even if he did belong to a survivor, she reasonedthey’d want her to take the dog with her. Fate must have been onher side for the dog settled into her lap, happily panting. Shemanaged a small smile as she got the serum into the syringe.
Another hoard of eaters growled in the fardistance. She hoped the transfer back through time would be fairlyinstantaneous. And work.
Placing her weapons in the satchel andslinging the satchel over one shoulder, she took the syringe,rolled up one sleeve, and located a plump vein in her right arm.“Here goes nothing and everything.” She injected the serum, aburning sensation running down her arm, eliciting a hiss. Grabbingonto the dog for whatever came next, she clutched him tightly asher entire world began to spin. Nausea stole over her as thedizziness reached its apex, forcing her eyes closed and her teethto grit. Her last coherent thought was that Victor had better knowwhat he was doing because this entire experience well and trulysucked.
*****
Lachlan rode his mount as though the devilwas chasing him, Finn and Ramsay trying their best to keep up. Herode hard toward the spot where he’d found Victor those months ago,praying to the saints the time travel had worked. His breathinggrowing heavy, his pulse pounding, his dark gaze squinted into thedistance.
She was there. Likely unconscious, but shewas there.
Lachlan flew o’er the clearing, towards hisintended, elation flooding his senses. His steed kicked up dirt asLachlan brought him to a sudden halt near to where she lay. Thebone-thin dog she’d brought with her still lay with her armswrapped aboot him, the animal as unconscious as she was. Both oftheir breathing was normal. “Finn! Ramsay!” he shouted,dismounting, “Get the dog and her bag. Bring everrathing to mybedchamber!”
The laird scooped Veronica’s body up intohis arms. Golden curls came tumbling out of their place holder atthe back of her head, cascading down one of his muscled arms. Shewas here. She was well and truly here. He was so relieved andelated he damn near smiled.
“You did it, lass,” he murmured. “You gaveme a fright in the doing, but you did it.”
He handed the sleeping Veronica to Finn thenmounted his horse. Holding out his hands to let his best warriorknow he was ready for her, he expelled a breath of air as she wasplaced back into his arms. Lachlan situated her just right on thehorse, her unconscious body falling limply back onto him. Holdingher tightly, Lachlan ordered his steed into a full gallop, the windat his back.
‘Twas difficult to believe, yet the womanhad traveled back through time. The proof was in his embrace. Shehad persevered and endured unbitten. Veronica was alive and she washis. This victory was a better feeling than any won battle prizefrom his past.
He prayed to the saints she would accept herfate for he would never give her up. Never.
Chapter Thirteen
Lachlan worried o’er Veronica’s sleepingbody. She was naked now and buried deep under his covers, only herhead, neck, and shoulders visible. Upon returning to the keep withher unconscious body, the wide eyes of his clansmen and clanswomenasking questions they’d dare not ask him directly, he’d ordered thefemale servants to draw her a bath. He’d held her lifeless body up,careful not to look upon her nakedness in their presence, as theservants cleaned her body and hair of the dead refuse still uponher.
“Do not empty the water into the sea orstreams,”Victor had warned him.“Just to be safe I want toburn anything still in that tub.”
After collecting all bits of diseased fleshfrom the freshly cleaned Veronica and the dog she’d brought withher, the whole of it was placed in the tub and set afire using pigfat wrapped in strips of wool. Victor had insisted upon letting itburn for nigh unto an hour, until nothing was left in the boiling,greasy water but liquid.
