At Grave’s End

“You stay here,” I told her. “We’ll find him.”

Denise’s hazel eyes met mine, and the vehemence in them made me actually back up a step.

“No fucking way,” she said, and shoved me to the side.

I let her go, feeling a bit woozy now that the battle adrenaline was leaving me. My mother sat up, staring at the blood and torn clothes around her abdomen where that mortal wound had been.

“Mom,” I began.

“Don’t worry about me,” she cut me off. “Go after Denise.”

I gave her a grateful look and left, moving through the ruins of the house far slower than I had before. It wasn’t a minute later when I heard Denise scream, loud and piercing. That brought me to a run, despite the spots starting to dance in my vision.

Bones was kneeling on the floor of the kitchen with Denise in his arms. There was a pile of something red and dirty right next to them…

“Oh, Jesus,” I whispered.

“Fix him!” Denise screamed, pounding on Bones’s back. “Fix him, fix him,FIX HIM! ”

But that was impossible. My mother had still been clinging to life when Bones and I gave her blood, so its healing properties had had a chance to work. Randy’s body lay in pieces, parts covered by the dirt that had once been the zombie, or zombies, who’d torn him apart.

“He’s gone, luv,” Bones said to Denise, forcing her away from the gruesome sight of her husband. “I’m so very sorry.”

I don’t think Denise even heard him. She kept screaming and sobbing while her fists pummeled Bones. I went to her, uselessly trying to comfort her, even though nothing I could do would ease her pain.

Spade came in the kitchen, grim-faced, and knelt down next to us.

“Crispin, I’ll take Denise out of here. You need to get Cat and the others to safety. We don’t have much time.”

Wordless, Bones nodded. Spade gently pried Denise from Bones’s arms and carried her out of the kitchen.

Everyone still left standing was in emergency mode, rounding up the dead and the living for a speedy exit. We all had to get as far away from here as possible, before Patra came to finish us off.

Bones picked me up, and I didn’t even bother to argue that I could walk. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if I could. As he maneuvered through the broken items in the house, I was surprised to see one of the televisions were still on.

“…three…two…one…Happy New Year!” Dick Clark a

My vision began to get hazy, which might have been the blood loss catching up to me, because when I blinked next, we were out on the lawn. Strewn amid the odd-colored snow and heaps of dirt were bodies. What once had been vampires and ghouls were now shriveling remains. I felt a surge of gladness to see Tate milling around, and prayed that Juan and Dave had also made it.

Ian knelt on the ground, his chestnut hair making him easily distinguishable even from behind. His shoulders shook.

Bones set me down and then took rapid steps forward. Mencheres seized him, his face grim.

“How many?” Bones asked hoarsely.

Mencheres’s gaze slid to several of the piles of shriveling limbs.

“We don’t know yet.”

Bones knelt beside Ian. “Ian, mate, we must take them and go. None of them would care for us being slaughtered over their bodies because we didn’t have the strength to leave. Patra’s already taken too much tonight. We shan’t let her get another thing.”

Through rapidly graying vision, I saw the three of them begin to collect the remains of what used to be their friends.

THIRTY-TWO

DAVE’S FACE WAS THE FIRST THING I SAW when my eyes opened. He smiled.

“Hello, Cat. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

“Thirsty,” I rasped, downing the water he handed me. “Where are we?”

He took the glass back. “We’re in South Dakota now, while everyone regroups.”

A glance to my left showed bright light peeking through the heavy drapes.

“My God, what time is it?”

“About three o’clock. You lost a shitload of blood and had to be given two transfusions. Then Bones didn’t want you to wake up and start to exhaust yourself, so he gave you some of those sleeping pills Don cooked up for you. You don’t remember arguing with him about it and trying to spit them out?”

Not at all. I sat up, noticing I was no longer bloody and I was also wearing a clean T-shirt.

“Don’s had a hell of a time these past several hours,” Dave went on. “He’s been pulling every string he has to confiscate footage of empty graves and shuffling dead people, and overall calming the media circus this thing has generated. Thankfully, the Canadian government doesn’t want its people believing in zombies, either, so they’re cooperating.”

I groaned. I could just imagine how Don must be going nuts trying to cover this up.

“What’s his angle?”

“They’re using a cover story of a small earthquake and an avalanche that emptied some of the graves, but the tabloids are still going to have a field day. At least we were in a remote area-if this had happened in a big city, there’d be no lid Don could find that would be big enough to seal this nightmare up.”

“An earthquake and an avalanche?That’s what he’s saying?”

Dave shrugged. “It’s the best he could do on short notice, I guess. It explains the torn-up cemeteries somewhat. Then he’s also saying some of the ‘zombies’ were shell-shocked survivors wearing filthy clothes and wandering around in a daze. You know how it is. People don’t want to think what they saw was real. The average person goes through life much happier believing nothing supernatural exists.”

“Where’s Denise?” Poor Randy. He wouldn’t have been involved in any of this if not for me.

“She’s sleeping. Spade gave her a lesser version of your tranquilizer. Right now, sleep’s the best thing for her.”

“Dave…who else didn’t make it?”

His face clouded. “You know about Randy. Zero’s also gone, as well as Tick Tock…”

He went on, and every new name slammed into me. Some of them I knew, some of them I didn’t. Still, they were each an irreplaceable loss. By the time Dave was finished, more than eighteen vampires and ghouls had been listed, a staggering loss. Four more humans had also been killed, in addition to Randy. Bones must be devastated.

“Where’s Bones?” I asked, swinging my legs out of bed.

“Downstairs. But first, you might want to put on a pair of pants.”

I looked down, seeing what I hadn’t noticed while under the covers. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t realize…”

He smiled faintly. “You’re like my sister, don’t worry about it. And because I’m your friend, I don’t mind telling you…brush your teeth. Your breath is scary.”

Taking Dave’s advice, I’d brushed my teeth, washed my face, and put on more clothes. My feet were bare, since I didn’t bother looking for shoes. Dave escorted me to the closed doors of the drawing room and then left.

Bones came to me and I held him for a long time. Saying “I’m sorry” was so useless a comfort that I didn’t even bother.

Ian was there, too. He hadn’t showered or changed clothes since the battle, and he was shirtless with dirt and other things smeared over him.

“Would have been good of you to figure out the puzzle earlier, Reaper,” he bitterly stated. “Not much help getting a bright idea after half our numbers are cut down.”

I blinked, unprepared for his hostility. Bones didn’t have any hesitation, and he had Ian by the throat before I could even formulate a response.

“Don’t you say another accusing word to her or I’ll lose the very thin hold I have on my temper,” he growled. “If not for her, we’d all be dead right now, or did you forget that?”