Page 60

My smile disappeared, and my heart squeezed.

How was I supposed to say goodbye to either of them?

Sixteen

luke

“That’s it,” Kirby said. “The one with the red window frames.”

Pearl Gardens Chinese Restaurant sat between a women’s clothing shop and a convenience store, with a bus stop just down the road.

Pearl. Now the name made sense. I would have smiled if my entire body hadn’t been wound tight.

The dog hadn’t barked once since Kirby calmed her almost an hour ago. Now, she was curled up asleep on Kirby’s lap.

The blinds in the restaurant were shut, and the upstairs windows showed no signs of life. Ava and I had been trying to keep the mood positive, but the closer we got to reaching Kirby’s parents, the more effort it took.

“Want me to pull up out front?” I asked.

“No,” she blurted, then paused and tried again. “It’s just… there’s a lane down the side. Parking at the back. It’s safer.”

I nodded and drove past the convenience store, turning into the alley running alongside the building.

No infected were in the confined space, just overloaded rubbish skips and empty boxes. A rat scurried between two bins, and keep clear had been sprayed on the wall in white paint.

“Just call them Mr and Mrs Wú,” Kirby said. “You’ll like them. I know you’ll like them. My dad’s a sweetheart, and my mum… my māmā… she’s everything.”

Ava stayed quiet while Kirby rambled, her hands clenched in her lap.

I followed the lane around to the rear, where each shop had two allocated parking spaces and barely any room to manoeuvre.

“Their car’s still here,” Kirby said, breathless.

It was the only one parked behind the buildings. How long did Kirby say it had been since she’d last spoken to them? A week? “Let’s take it slow. We don’t know what’s inside.”

I swung into the spot beside their car, parking too close to the building to see if anything moved upstairs on the residential floor.

For the second time that day, Kirby jumped from the car before I’d turned off the engine. “Bring Pearl,” she snapped.

“Damn it.” Ava unfastened her seatbelt and fumbled to get it off her. “She didn’t even take her weapon.”

“We’ll be right behind her.” I shut off the ignition and grabbed my pickaxe, running around to Ava’s side.

She slammed her door and reached into the rear just as Pearl prepared to launch herself after Kirby.

Ava tucked the dog under one arm, her mouth tense. “What if this is… what if—”

“We’ll be with her. We’ll be there.”

Kirby had grabbed a spare key from some hidden spot and slid it into the lock. Without bothering to check if we were behind her, she pushed through the door and went inside, leaving it hanging open.

I locked the car with the rest of our weapons inside and checked the upstairs windows again. Still no movement. Shit.

The dog wriggled in Ava’s arms as we hurried to the door. “I can’t put her down. We’ve got no idea what’s up there.”

“Hold on to her, and I’ll watch Kirby’s back.”

Inside the doorway, a small corridor on the right opened into the restaurant, and the stairs on the left led to the residence. Kirby was nowhere in sight, but footsteps thumped somewhere above us.