If anyone else died in my town, I was going to feel responsible. Heck, I already felt responsible, so I couldn’t even summon up any righteous indignation when Kitty started grilling me before we’d even reached a secluded corner of the parking lot.
“Where were you this afternoon, between the hours of three thirty and five o’clock?”
“I was at pom squad practice,” I said. “Ethan picked me up at four thirty and we ran by my house so I could change clothes and then I came straight here.”
Her eyes narrowed and her thin lips pressed together. She wasn’t pleased to hear that Ethan had ignored her advice to leave me alone. “And where is Ethan now?”
“He’s on his way,” I said, though I couldn’t actually be sure that was true. I’d tried to call him, but had been sent straight to voice mail. It wouldn’t be any big surprise if he was underground scoping out another morgue and wasn’t getting any signal.
Kitty nodded, and I could almost see her making a mental note to warn Ethan again of the risks of consorting with a suspected felon. “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary when you first arrived at the restaurant tonight?”
“No.”
“Nothing at all? You don’t want to think about it?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shocked by the harshness of her tone. “Nothing that I remember.”
“Well, maybe you should try a little harder,” she snapped. “A girl is dead, Megan, and-”
“I know a girl is dead,” I yelled, before lowering my voice. There were still normal people here, not to mention normal cops, and I couldn’t afford to attract attention. “But I swear to you, I have nothing to do with this.”
“I’d love to believe you.” She shook her head wearily, and for a second I could see how scared she was. “I really would, but-”
“Then believe me! Please, Kitty. Whoever raised those corpses is still out there, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop any time soon. While you’re busy investigating an innocent suspect, more people could die. We have to-”
“We don’t have to do anything. This is an Enforcement matter,” Kitty said, all vulnerability vanishing from her face. When she spoke again, it was with the calm, efficient voice of an Enforcer who suspected me of evil. “All I need from you is a blood sample.”
“What? I thought they had my blood on file down at-”
“They do. I’m just hoping a fresh sample might show something different from what the forensic experts have found so far. It might be your last chance to hang on to your freedom, at least for a few more days.”
“Okay, fine. Sample away,” I said, glad we were out of Mom’s sight. I had a feeling she wouldn’t approve. “But I’m innocent, I swear I am. I have not been raising bizarro RCs. I’ve been actively fighting them, in case no one has noticed.” I held my torn and bleeding knuckles up between us as I tried to pull myself together. “I did everything I could to stop those things. I was only trying to do my job.”
And to save your own ass. You should tell her that, tell her how waiting until the last minute to cast probably got Bobbie Jane killed.
I sucked in a deep breath, forcing myself not to cry. I wasn’t going to lose it. Not here, not now. I could go home and crawl into bed and blame myself later.
Kitty didn’t respond, just reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a syringe and a few individually wrapped packets of sterilizing swabs. “Can you push up the sleeve of your coat?”
“Sure.” Tears fell silently down my face as Kitty cleaned an area near the crook of my arm, but I wasn’t crying because of the needle sliding beneath the skin. I could hardly feel that pain, and what I did feel I knew I deserved. At least I could still feel something, not like Bobbie Jane, who would never feel anything again.
“You can go home,” Kitty said as she capped the needle and tucked it back in her coat. “We can’t legally take you into custody yet, but I’d get my bag packed if I were you. It probably won’t take more than twenty-four hours to get the last of the proof SA needs to-”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” I didn’t bother to ask what “proof” she was talking about before I turned and walked away. I knew she wouldn’t tell me. Even if she still had doubts about my guilt, she worked for Settlers’ Affairs, and they wouldn’t mind if I ended up zombie chow. I bet they thought it would spare them a lot of trouble.
Of course, they’d learn better when the zombies didn’t stop once I was dead. When whoever was raising them kept…
“But what if they didn’t?” I whispered, a horrible idea forming in my mind.
I hated to be paranoid, but both sets of zombies had seemed to be after yours truly. The first time I couldn’t be sure, but now it had happened twice. I’d been targeted by black magic. Whoever was raising these RCs wanted me dead.
Or maybe just out of the way. It made sense to bring some super zombies to fight the super Settler. And if someone wanted me out of the way so they could wreak cataclysmic havoc with a bunch of SRUs, then they wouldn’t care whether I was dead or rotting in a Settler prison-their goal would be accomplished. I’d be out of commission and they’d be able to…
Do something really, really bad. Like wipe out a town, or a state. Or maybe even the country, but I didn’t want to think about that.
God, that had to be it, it was just like the night of homecoming when Jess had been trying to keep me and Monica from the dance. This wasn’t just about me. Some black magician must be planning something very bad and wanted to be sure no one could stop them. I had to tell Ethan as soon as he got here, and Monica too if she was still determined to help me.
I turned in the direction I’d last seen her, but couldn’t find her anywhere. I looked for a few more minutes before deciding I would just have to get in touch with her later. Now that the adrenaline rush was wearing off, I couldn’t believe how tired I was. I felt like I could sleep for about a thousand years.
“Are you free to go?” Dad asked when I got to the car. Mom was sitting inside, glaring at Kitty and Elder Thomas (who’d just shown up a few minutes ago) through the window.
“Yeah, I want to go home.” I’d call Ethan on the way and let him know I’d left Pizza Pie.
Dad nodded and patted me on the back before opening up the back door, but he didn’t say anything. He’d been in the military and deployed to lots of places where violence and death were disturbingly common. So I guess he knew better than anyone that when lives have been lost, there just isn’t anything you can say to make it better.
We’d been home for over three hours and Ethan still hadn’t called, so I went ahead and swapped the jeans I’d put on for some pajamas. I’d already taken my shower and forced myself to eat some of the cheddar-cheese-and-potato soup my mom had whipped up. The last thing I wanted to do was eat, but Monica was right. I couldn’t afford to let myself get run-down, especially not with wh
oever was raising zombies still on the loose.
Still, my stomach didn’t feel right after dinner. Despite the exhaustion level, there was no way I was getting to sleep right away, so I figured I might as well do a quick e-mail check. I hadn’t been on ten seconds when Ethan popped up on IM.
EthanzID: Megan! I’ve been waiting for half an hour. I was afraid to call. Can you chat? Is there anyone else in the room with you?
Megsalot: Hey, no, there’s no one else here. I can talk, but why were you afraid to call?
EthanzID: My cell phone was tapped. I removed the bug, but I couldn’t be sure your cell or home phones weren’t tapped too.
Megsalot: What?!! Isn’t that illegal? Even for Enforcement?
EthanzID: As far as I know, but I’m beginning to think our Enforcers aren’t playing by the rules. Smythe was at the Presbyterian hospital tonight.
Megsalot: Oh no, did he see you?!
EthanzID: No, but I saw him. By the time he was finished, the nurse he was talking to was unconscious.
Megsalot: OMG! Did he… Is she going to be okay?
EthanzID: She’ll be fine, but he had some sort of cattle prod thing and shocked her with it.
Megsalot: To clear her memory?
EthanzID: Exactly. I got your message and was on the way out of the hospital morgue when a bunch of police cars pulled up. I followed them to the intensive care unit, but they weren’t letting anyone on the floor, so I tried to find another way in. I ran into Smythe and the nurse in the stairwell. Guess he’d had the same idea.
Megsalot: Do you think Smythe has something to do with the weird zombies? Do you think he could be the one-
EthanzID: I don’t know, but I don’t think so. He called Kitty right after he finished with the nurse and said something about having a situation contained. So if he’s the one responsible, then all the Enforcers are in on it.
Hmm… could the Enforcers be up to something shady? I couldn’t deny I’d had my doubts about them in the past. No matter how nice they were, there was still something a little scary about Enforcement. On the surface they seemed to be under orders from our local SA council, but in reality I had a feeling they were pursuing their own agenda and our local Elders had a lot less power than they thought they did.
Megsalot: You know, I hate to think they’re shady, but I didn’t want to believe the truth about Jess at first either. Sometimes it’s hard to know who your friends are.
EthanzID: Yeah… I heard Jess was back at the SA clinic tonight. More seizures…
Megsalot: Can we not talk about Jess? I know I brought her up, but…
EthanzID: No, that’s fine. But as far as the Enforcers are concerned, I don’t know what they’d have to gain from getting rid of you.
Megsalot: Which reminds me-I think that whoever is raising these zombies wants me out of the way.
EthanzID: I figured as much. Why do you think I’ve been so worried? I mean, I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, but I really don’t want this freak to get to you.
Okay, now I felt dumb. I guess Ethan thought the fact that I was the target was so clear it didn’t even need to be discussed. We were going to have to have a talk about stating the obvious. For a smart girl with a 3.8 average, sometimes I can be pretty dense.
Or maybe I was just too tired to think straight. It seemed like this week had been going on forever.
EthanzID: You still there?
Megsalot: Yeah, I’m here. Just thinking…
EthanzID: I heard about Bobbie Jane. I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been there.
Megsalot: I wish you could have been there too. I really messed things up, Ethan. I can’t believe I let her die.
EthanzID: You can’t blame yourself. You’re an amazing Settler, but you can only do so much. These zombies are unlike anything anyone in the U.S. has ever faced before. I can’t find anything in my books talking about SRUs after the eighteenth century.
Megsalot: Monica is looking for answers too. Maybe she’ll find something.
EthanzID: And I’m going to head back to the hospital tomorrow morning and see if I can get on the ICU floor. There’s something going on there, I’m sure of it, and I’m betting it’s connected to the attack tonight. The timing and Smythe being there are too much of a coincidence.
Megsalot: I’m sure they’d think it was a weird coincidence that YOU just happened to be at the hospital too. If something fishy is going on, you have to make sure no one finds out you were there.
EthanzID: You’re right. Delete this chat as soon as we sign off.
Megsalot: Speaking of deleting messages, did you find out anything about why the Enforcers were checking into my mom?
EthanzID: No, nothing concrete yet. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something for certain.
Something about Ethan’s text made the suspicious-of-everyone alarm go off in my head, but I ignored it. If he’d found something, he’d tell me. I was just being paranoid. Though who could really blame me, what with the phone tapping and being followed by SA officers and the like? I really had to find some way to clear my name before I became one of those weird twitchy people who live in a van and refuse to drink tap water because they’re convinced the government is putting tranquilizers in it to keep the population calm while they implant tracking chips behind our ears.
Or something like that…
Megsalot: Okay. Sounds good. I miss you.
EthanzID: I miss you too. I wish I was there… I’m worried about you.
Megsalot: I’m worried about you too. Please be careful.
Ethan promised to send me an e-mail the next day giving me a new phone number where I could reach him. Then we both signed off. I deleted our chat and crawled into bed.
I would have sworn I’d never be able to get to sleep, but I obviously drifted pretty darn close. By the time I heard the tapping at the window, I had to fight to cast off the cobwebs sticking to my brain. Good thing really, or I definitely would have screamed and brought Mom and Dad running. Even familiar dead faces are terrifying when they’re floating in the darkness outside your window.
CHAPTER 11
“A girl died.” Cliff looked as traumatized as I felt, but still showed no signs of going Rogue. Whatever breed of Undead he was, he didn’t seem like he’d be turning all red and glowy-eyed on me anytime soon. He was an anomaly, much like other people I knew…
“I can’t believe she’s really dead. I mean… this wasn’t supposed to happen,” he continued. I didn’t even question how he knew. He’d obviously been lurking again. I knew I should tell him to cut it out, but I didn’t have the heart to yell at him.
“I know,” I whispered through the crack in the window. “I’m sorry, I-”
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said with such conviction I almost believed him. “It was them, the others.”
The others. That was like the thi
rd time Cliff had mentioned the weird zombies. “What do you know about the others, Cliff? Who’s raising them?”
“Raising them? Don’t they just get up?”
“No, they’re not like you,” I said, briefly outlining the difference between normal Unsettled and ones raised with black magic. “Reanimated Corpses aren’t themselves anymore, not the way you are. That usually makes them easier to control, but that’s not the case with these guys. Do you have any idea why? Why they’re so resistant to Settler magic?”
He shrugged. “I don’t even know why I’m resistant to Settler magic.”
Hmm… I hadn’t really thought about that, but I should have. Cliff wasn’t one of the bad guys, but his timing was pretty suspicious. The chances he and the other zombies-not-behaving-normally were connected was better than good. But how? I couldn’t help but feel that Cliff knew more than he was letting on.
“If you don’t know anything, then why do you keep mentioning the others? How did you even know they exist?” I asked. “I mean, you mentioned them the first time we met, before there was even an attack, which makes me-”
“Now hold on,” Cliff said, raising his hands as if to prove he had nothing to hide. “I told you I had visions when I was alive. I still have them-they just don’t work as well. But I remembered the others. They were one of the first things I saw when I woke up.”
“You saw them?”
He nodded. “Them, and you… and… the other dark-haired girl and… I just knew I had to find you and try to help. No matter how strong you are, you’re not going to be able to handle them or the other ones that are coming on your own.”