"Better give yourselves up!" hollered Dwayne. "You can"t beat him. He"ll skin you all alive and eat you for dinner if you don"t stand down!"
"Ca.s.sie!" whispered Paige, loudly. "Look out!"
I looked behind me and saw two zombies approaching the kiosk.
c.r.a.p!
It was obvious that they weren"t there to buy but I began chucking purses at them anyway.
"Where"s your bat?" asked Paige, coming up behind me just as the first zombie rounded the corner.
"I dropped it," I said, as she swung her bat and bashed the zombie"s skull in.
"Nice going," she snorted, as I raised my leg and kicked the other zombie in the face, sending him flying backwards.
I sighed. "I know, not very smart. c.r.a.p, here comes another one."
The third zombie charged us but was stopped when Justice slammed a metal chair into his face. When the creature stood back up, he quickly grabbed a long metal paper-hole punch that was sitting on the kiosk and drove it into the zombie"s skull.
Paige nodded in approval and when he turned away, I noticed her checking out his buns.
I smiled.
If we got out of this alive, it was my turn to tease the c.r.a.p out of her.
"Where"s Bryce?" she asked.
"He went up the escalator," said Justice.
I looked up but couldn"t see Bryce or Dwayne, nor did I hear anymore gunfire.
"Henry!" I whispered loudly.
He was still hiding in the same spot and when he turned, I could see that he"d just stuck another wad of chew into his mouth.
"What?" he hollered.
"Where"d Bryce go?"
Before he could respond, we heard gunfire from above. This time it was deeper in the mall.
I stood up and began moving towards the escalator. They"d obviously moved and there was no way I was going to stay down here if Bryce needed me.
Plus, he only had so many rounds.
"No!" hollered Henry. "Wild, you get your a.s.s back to that kiosk!"
Ignoring him, I ran as fast as I could up the escalator and then hid behind another garbage container.
"What are you doing?" whispered Justice, who"d obviously followed me.
"Bryce is going to need my help," I whispered back.
Another round of gunfire and my stomach started twisting into knots.
If anything happened to Bryce...
"Sorry, but you"re no help without a gun," said Justice.
"You haven"t seen me in action," I replied, and then ran towards another kiosk, this one a calendar shop.
"Well, look who we have here?" chuckled Dwayne, popping his head around the side of the booth.
My heart sank as he raised the gun and pointed it at my face. "It"s a shame, sweetheart. I really thought you and I could have had ourselves a good time the other day."
"Wait," I squeaked, raising my hands slowly to my waist. I un-tucked my shirt.
He chuckled. "What you doing, brown eyes, changed your mind?"
Holding my breath, I lifted my T-shirt up and flashed him.
His eyes widened but before he could say anything, I heard a loud blast and he fell forward.
"You"re supposed to show all the goods when you flash someone, Wild," said Henry, his gun still smoking. "Not just that little training bra."
My face turned bright pink and I pulled my shirt back down right before Bryce arrived.
"Everyone okay?" he asked, out of breath.
"Not everyone," said Henry, spitting his chew on the dead man"s back. "Looks like he got more than he was expecting with Wild, here."
Bryce put his arm around my shoulders. "You okay?"
I nodded.
Henry smiled. "Bryce, what were you doing when she was whipping out those headlights of hers?"
"I was cornered by a couple of zombies," answered Bryce. "What in the h.e.l.l are you talking about? What headlights?"
"Nothing," I said, shooting Henry a dirty look. "Look, we need to find Allie and Kylie. Justice!"
"Right here," he said, walking towards us with Paige.
"Where are they?" I asked.
He looked up towards the top floor. "If they"re still here, that"s where they"d be."
"What do you mean, still here?" I asked.
"He"s using the girls to find the baby," said Justice.
"What baby?" asked Paige.
"He called him "The Chosen One"."
"Whatever," said Bryce. "This Travis sounds like a real fruit-loop. Let"s go look for the girls."
"One thing," said Justice, halting him. "This guy has powers- some kind of supernatural ones. Don"t underestimate him and don"t let him touch you."
"I don"t intend to," said Bryce, moving around him towards the escalators.
"Neither did I," replied Justice, rushing after him.
"He ain"t touchin" me neither," said Henry. "No siree...I don"t go for any of that flim-flam stuff."
"Flim-flam?" asked Paige.
He adjusted his hat. "Yeah, you know...the freaky-deaky kind that usually happens in the "john" at one of those rainbow bars. h.e.l.l, you go in to take a dump and the noise in the next stall isn"t from someone pushing one out, it"s from someone pushing one in."
I groaned.
"You"re a sick man, Henry," mumbled Paige.
"Why, cause I tell it like it is?" He lifted the shotgun and waved it towards the escalators. "Come on, now, let"s go take care of business."
Chapter Twenty-Nine.
Ca.s.sie Travis ushered the girls across the mall and down one of the emergency stairwells when the gunfire began.
"You try anything," he"d warned, before they"d left the club, "I"ll burn your flesh from the bone while you"re still breathing." Then he raised his hand and a small ball of fire appeared above his fingertips. As they stared at the flames, an image of both girls screaming in agony appeared inside of the fire. He smiled. "I advise you not to test me."
When they stepped outside of Macy"s, a dark SUV was waiting for them. The driver, an older man with jet-black hair and gla.s.ses, stepped out of the vehicle and held the door open for the girls.
"Get in," demanded Travis, when they hesitated.
Both girls glanced back towards the mall entrance and then their eyes met.
Help was so close.
"Don"t even think about trying to escape," warned Travis, forming another ball of fire. He rolled it in his hands until it grew larger and then flung it at a small group of zombies shuffling towards them. The flames consumed them although they kept moving. It wasn"t until Travis whispered something that the zombies halted and continued to burn until they were just piles of ash. "You see girls, the fires of h.e.l.l are hotter than anything up here," he said with a nod of approval. He turned back to the girls. "Now, get in before you find out just how hot."
The girls quickly got into the backseat and Travis slipped in front with the driver.
"Where to?" asked the short little man.
Travis smiled darkly. "Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother"s house we go."
"They"ve already left," said Justice, staring at the empty beer bottles left on the bar. "This is the last place that I saw him with your sisters."
"Where do you think they went?" asked Bryce.
"I have no idea," said Justice.
"Isn"t it obvious?" I said. "He"s looking for a baby."
"Adria," mumbled Paige.
"He"s looking for a baby boy," said Justice.
"Maybe he"s changed his mind," said Henry.
Bryce sighed. "Guys, how would he even know about Adria?"
"In a simple world, he wouldn"t," I said. "But things are happening, crazy, totally unpredictable things that we obviously can"t explain."
Henry cleared his throat. "I agree. You know me- I"m older than dirt, stubborn as a mule, and very much set in my ways. But, even I have to admit, there"s some strange stuff happening and we can"t always go with what"s rational."
"Let"s head back to my grandparent"s house," I said. "Maybe we"ll get lucky and find them there."
Nora sat on the porch, rocking, as she stared blindly towards the street. Memories, both good and bad, of her childhood flitted through her mind, mostly of the times she"d spent with her grandmother, when she was little and her father was on the road.
As a child she"d never noticed that Grams had been different or her father, for that matter. To her, she"d always been the smiling, robust woman, with the bright blue eyes and silvery black hair always tied back in a loose bun. The kind and loving woman whom she used to dance and sing with, the person who had always encouraged her to speak her mind and not let anyone push her around. She"d tried teaching her the importance of being independent and brave, and to live life without regret. Unfortunately, Grams had preached but had never been able to follow her own advice. She"d kept that from Nora and it wasn"t until she"d started school she"d first glimpsed her grandmother"s phobia of the world outside. Sadly, now, everyone had to fear the world outside and the nightmares walking the streets, both during the day and night. It was as if Grams had known these days would come.
Thunder rumbled above and Nora leaned forward, wiping away stray tears. Being a pansy wasn"t going to help her bring her family back, and it certainly wasn"t going to do anything for Billie either.
Sighing, she stood up and turned towards the door when the sound of an engine caught her attention.
A Suburban.
It slowed and then came to a complete stop in front of the house, just as the rain started.
She ignored the drops and walked towards the vehicle with her hand on the ax. When the back door opened up and she saw the familiar face, she sighed in relief.
"Allie! Oh my G.o.d, we"ve been looking all over for you. Is Kylie with you?"