A Mad Zombie Party

My panic returns. I kneel before her to gently tap her cheek. “Milla.”
“Don’t worry. This is normal.” Reeve chews on her bottom lip. “I think.”
“You think?”
Cole comes over to place a hand on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I thought Milla would be harmed.”
“Give her time,” Reeve says.
“I know you’ve softened toward Milla.” Ali meets my glare without flinching. “But she isn’t right for you, Frosty. She—”
“This may come as a shock to you, but you don’t get a vote about the way I live my life.” My phone vibrates in my pocket. I check the screen, find a text from River.
Guess what I C in the sky? Rabbit cloud.
Attached is a picture of the cloud in question.
Well, well. A zombie nest is stirring.
Another text comes in.
& get this. There’s a cloud shaped like a tombstone right next 2 it. I swear I see the letters RIP in the center
A tombstone...a hint that the zombies are stirring at a cemetery? Shady Elms, perhaps. I wouldn’t be surprised.
“Zombies will be on the prowl tonight.” I show the photo to Cole.
“Capture them,” Reeve says. “I need to study them, find out if Rebecca altered them and if so, learn more about their new toxins. That way, if our serum doesn’t work or if Milla has a relapse, we’ll be better equipped to deal.”
Cole arches a brow at me.
I nod stiffly. I never thought I’d reach this point. A desire to capture zombies rather than kill them. But for Milla’s health...
Yeah. I’ll do it.
“I’ve never tried to capture multiple zombies but River has,” Cole says. “I’ll get with him. The rest of you meet us in the gym at six. We’ll head for Shady Elms when the sun begins to set at seven.”
If Milla’s awake this evening, she’ll insist on going with us. I can’t let that happen. She’s been through too much today. “You got a sedative?” I ask Reeve.
“Of course.” She digs through a drawer on the cart. “I don’t think you need one, though. You seem calm now.”
“It’s for Milla. Later.”
Bronx shakes his head. “Mistake, bro.”
Better she’s pissed at me than injured—or worse.
Reeve hands me a syringe, and I stuff it in my pocket next to my phone. I crouch in front of Milla, trace my thumb over the softness of her mouth. Her eyelids pop open and she jumps to her feet, gasping for breath she can’t seem to catch.
“Hey. Hey,” I say, straightening. “You’re safe. You’re all right.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s still inside me, and it kills me, thanatos kills me and, and, and—” She clutches at my shirt, frantic. “The serum didn’t... It couldn’t... Only made the flames stronger...”
“Hey.” I comb my fingers through the silk of her hair. “I’m not going to let you die. You have my word on that.”
As she sags against me, I wrap my arms around her and hold on tight.
“I’m sorry, Milla, but we need to check your blood one last time.” Reeve approaches, empty syringe in hand.
Milla nods and I continue to hold her, unwilling to let go. I need her comfort as much as I need to give comfort back to her.
Reeve sticks her, fills the belly of the syringe. A few minutes pass as Weber readies the specimen and exams it under a microscope. I know it’s bad news before the guy even speaks. I can see the disappointment shining from his face.
“Milla’s right,” he says. “The red fire has already contaminated the blood we cleansed. In fact, I can see the essence of the red flames in her cells, feeding off everything it encounters. This virus—or whatever it is—used the serum as a power source. And she’s right. If she lights up now, thanatos could feed off her, too.”
A tremor shakes her, but she remains quiet.
Enough of this. I lift her. “Let’s get you to bed. When you wake up, I’ll make sure pizza is waiting for you rather than some lame sandwich.” I resort to humor because, if I don’t, I’ll rage.
She softens and curls against me, conforming to the hard planes of my body. “Frosty?” she whispers, and my hands clench on her.
“Yes.” I climb the steps, careful not to jostle her.
“Do you believe we’ll beat Rebecca this time? Once and for all?”
“I do. We’ll do whatever proves necessary.”
“Yes. Yes, we will,” she says, and there’s a note of finality in her tone I don’t like. “Whatever proves necessary.”
* * *
I expect Milla to want to rest. I should have known better. The moment I place her on the bed, she sits up and says, “You guys lost dynamis, and I need to know if I lost it, too, or if it’s still simmering inside me, just covered, covered, covered up by the red flames.”
“You heard Weber. Those red flames could hurt you now.”
“They’re hurting me anyway.”
A muscle ticks below my eye. “And just how are you going to tell if your dynamis is covered by thanatos?”
“By looking with my spiritual eye, where the fire—fires—burn.” She turns away from me. “I’m doing this with or without your approval.”
Stubborn girl.
“Fine.” But I’ll be watching her. I’ll step in if I detect the barest hint of unease.
I remain by the bed, on high alert as one hour bleeds into another. Milla hasn’t moved from the bed. She’s oddly relaxed, as if she’s meditating.
I’m due in the gym in ten minutes. If I’m going to use the sedative on her, there’s no better time. She’s distracted.
I palm the syringe.
“You’re making a big mistake.” Kat appears at my side.
For the most part, she’s stuck to her once-a-day visitation schedule, but there are times she’s granted permission to pop in whenever she wants. I’ve found those are the days she’s on a rampage about something.
“I’ve made a mistake before, kitten. The time I thought I’d made a mistake.” I whisper, hoping Milla remains in her calm, unaware state. “What are you doing here?”
“Good news. I received permission to fix this particular mistake.”
Milla opens her eyes.
Damn it!
“Mistake?” she asks.
“That’s right.” Kat anchors her hands on her hips. “Zombies will be on the loose tonight, but Frosty Dearest is planning to fight them without you.”
“Zombies?” Milla throws her legs over the side of the bed and stands. She grabs her swords from inside our shared weapons case and straps them to her back. “I’m going with. Don’t argue.”
“What about checking for dynamis?” I say through gritted teeth.
“Well, well. Someone certainly changed his tune.” She flips her hair over her shoulder. “I didn’t see it, but I’ll continue my internal scan later.”
I glare at Kat. “Thanks for nothing.”
She blows me a kiss. “Also, Milla, he has a sedative in his pocket, and he plans to use it on you.” Her smile is pure evil. “I do whatever’s necessary, too.” With that, she vanishes, there one moment, gone the next.
“You what?” Milla reaches a hand into my pocket, yanks out the syringe and has the needle uncapped and positioned at my neck before I realize her intent. “Do you really want to travel this road?”
“A weak partner can get a stronger partner killed.”
“I’m not weak. I’m ready. And when did we become partners?”
“Today.” And partners do not sabotage each other. I glare at her. “Fine. I’m sorry. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”
Her features soften, but only slightly. She recaps the syringe and tosses it into the trash. “I can’t make any promises.” She pops a clip in her .44. “But I’ll survive. I always do.”
Good enough for now, I suppose. I tweak the end of her nose. “You’re a brat, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, but you’re brattier.”
This is true.
We head to the gym, and though we’re right on time, we’re the last to arrive. Cole’s in the middle of a speech.
“—River and Milla in the van with Justin.”
“And me.” Where Milla goes, I go.
Cole nods. “The rest of us will leave our bodies here and head to the cemetery on foot. We need to make sure Rebecca and her agents aren’t hiding nearby. River, when he arrives, will be in charge. I expect you to obey his orders as if they come directly from me. And remember, the goal is to capture zombies in one piece.”