defend herself.
But she couldn't run much farther, either. The movements were driving the white ash deeper into her flesh.
The zombies tossed the limb aside like so much rubbish.
She took a deep breath, raised kinetic energy from God knows where and hit them both, drawing a tight leash of energy around their necks. She stood her ground as they ran at her, waiting until they were close enough to smell before she snapped the leash tight. They dropped as one at her feet and didn't move.
She took another shuddering breath, then looked at the warm glow of lights below her. She couldn't make it that far by herself. Not with the white ash in her arm. But she couldn't stay here, either. It'd be just her luck the local sheriff would decide to drive by, and she wasn't up to explaining the bodies of the zombies right now. If the man who'd shared a moment of bliss with her didn't believe her story, why in hell would a complete stranger?
She continued on down the hill. The white ash burned deep, until it felt as if her whole body was being consumed. She wished she could wrench it free from her flesh, but she didn't dare even touch it in her weakened condition — not even kinetically. Blood dripped from her fingers, splashing in big fat drops near her feet. The shaking grew worse, until she was staggering like a drunkard all over the road. She couldn't go on. She had to sit.
She found a signpost and leaned back against it, closed her eyes and took a deep breath in the hope it would stop the spinning. It didn't seem to help.
But it didn't matter. Help was on the way. She reached into her pocket and dragged out the chocolate bar. Tearing it open with her teeth, she began to munch on it as she waited for Ethan to arrive.
Ethan slowed as he neared the crest of the road, his breath ragged gasps that tore at his lungs. The smell of death and blood tainted the night air, and for the briefest of moments, he was afraid to go on. Afraid of what he might find.
An odd reaction, given all he'd seen over his years as a cop.
He flexed his fingers and walked on slowly. The metallic tang of blood got sharper and mingled with the warm scent of summer he'd come to associate with Kat. He glanced to his right. There in the shadows, leaning against a signpost and surrounded by discarded pieces of chocolate wrapper, sat Kat.
Relief surged through him, but it just as quickly disappeared. Blood soaked her left hand and dripped steadily into a small puddle near her fingers. He knelt next to her, noting there was a stake of some sort sticking out of her arm. If it hadn't been for the smell of death, it was possible to think she'd had an accident, maybe fallen and stabbed herself with a tree branch. But that smell was an echo of the driver who'd rammed them, and he didn't think it was a coincidence.
'Kat?' He touched her face. She was trembling and, though her skin was cold, sweating profusely.
She looked at him. The pain in her green eyes seemed to echo right through him.
'You need to take out the stake.'
'You need to get to a hospital.' He reached for his phone, but she stopped him. The strength of her hold was surprising, given she looked like hell.
'Just take the stake out then wrap the arm and take me back to Gran. It's really not as bad as it looks.'
'I've been a cop long enough to know a bad wound when I see one, and this — ' 'Is not what you think. Just take the goddamn stake out and stop arguing.'
'If that stake has hit an artery — ' 'Look, will you just pretend I know what I'm talking about for five minutes and take the stake out?'
Her voice rose and cracked, and the desperation and pain in her eyes grew. He swore under his breath, but turned his attention to her wound. The stake appeared to have pierced the fleshy part of her upper arm and had gone right through. The section visible near her breast was barbed.
'I'm going to have to thrust it right through,' he said.
'Otherwise the barbs are going to take half your arm as they come out.'
She nodded and closed her eyes. 'Just do it.'
'It's going to hurt.'
'Imagine that,' she muttered.
If she could manage to be sarcastic, she obviously wasn't as bad as she looked. He took off his coat and ripped off a shirt sleeve to use as a tourniquet. Then he lifted her arm and carefully gripped the end of the stake. 'Ready?'
She bit her lip and nodded. Sweat dribbled down her cheeks and fear touched her eyes.
'One. Two. Three.' He ripped the wood from her skin, and she screamed, a sound of pain that tore right through his soul. Blood poured from the wound, but it didn't pulse, indicating that at least he hadn't ruptured an artery. He grabbed the sleeve and wrapped it tightly around her arm.
Somehow, she stayed conscious through the whole thing, though her breath was shallow gasps and her skin was pasty.
'Back to Gran,' she said between clenched teeth.
'This needs stitching at least, and — ' 'Trust me. Just this once,' she muttered and fell sideways.
He caught her before she could whack her head on the ground, gently lowering her the last few inches. He took a deep breath then got out his phone and, against his better judgment, dialled Gwen.
'What's happened?' she asked immediately.
'Kat's been injured. She's had some sort of stake thrust through her arm and — ' The old bird's swearing cut him off. He raised his eyebrows and wondered if she'd been in the Navy. She was using words that would make old sea-dogs proud.
'Where?' she asked eventually.
He glanced at the signpost and gave her directions. 'But you'll have to catch a cab because the keys to the rental car are in my pocket.'
'That won't stop me,' she said. 'Be there in five.'
She hung up. He checked the tourniquet on Kat's arm, and then her pulse. It was a little thready but reasonably strong. He rose and walked a little farther up the road.
The source of the smell was easy enough to find. There were three that he could see, and at least one other farther up the road he could smell. Somehow, she'd beaten four of them.
Shaking his head in amazement, he squatted beside the first two. She'd called them zombies, the walking dead, and that was exactly what they looked and smelled like.
Bodies that had been dead for some time. As he watched, the skin on their faces seemed to be sucked closer to the bone, giving them a gaunt, skeletal appearance. An advanced rate of decomposition is what she'd said they'd go through. It looked like she wasn't kidding.
Lights swept across the trees, approaching fast. He rose and walked back to Kat. The car skidded to a halt and Gwen climbed out.
'You take the stake from her arm?'
He nodded. 'But she's bleeding pretty heavily — ' 'That doesn't matter.' Gwen lowered herself beside Kat and checked her pulse then her arm. 'Good job, lad. Pick her up, and we'll get her back to the cabin and tend that arm.'
'But shouldn't we — ' 'No. Believe me, we know what we're doing.'
He bit down on his annoyance, but knew he had to trust that both Kat and her grandmother did know what they were talking about. If only because they might be his only chance of getting Janie back safely.
As Gwen turned the car around and sped back to the cabin, he cradled Kat's head on his lap. She looked absurdly young, innocent almost — which she very obviously wasn't. He brushed the dark strands of hair from her eyes and wondered why someone like her was still single. Granted, she had an attitude she wasn't afraid to use, but she was a stunning-looking woman. A good catch, by anyone's standards.
Except his. Because he didn't have standards. And had no intention of ever being caught.
When they got back to the cabins, he carried her inside.
Gwen pushed him gently toward the second cabin. 'You strip her and put her into bed, and I'll go fetch my medicines.'
'I don't think she'd appreciate — ' 'Don't go getting shy on me, Ethan. You've seen all there is to see anyway,
