“Is there anyone else it worked on?” Max asked.
Melanie shrugged. “None that I know of. I’m the only one he knows about, though.”
Dana approached our circle. “We have to hide Melanie. We have to get her as far from here as we can, somewhere where he’ll never think to look.”
“I think we’re a little late for that,” Daggett spoke. We turned to the direction of his voice and saw that he was standing by the window, his hand pulling back the curtain and his focus outside.
We joined him at his side, each trying to peek over one another’s head to see what had caught his attention.
Out in the parking lot was Max’s car, only it had been tampered with. The hood was popped open, and it looked as though the battery had been ripped out. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who had done it.
It was Molly.
Chapter Twenty-One
CORA
Not only had they stolen the battery, but the snow was coming down even harder than it was ten minutes ago. It was a full-blown winter wonderland outside. When Max went outside to see the damage they had done to his car, he came back in with wet snow marks up to his knees. The way the snow was piling on fast and hard took us all by surprise. Snowfalls like this didn’t usually come around until January.
Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But normally, we wouldn’t be a group of six with no vehicle out in the middle of nowhere, trying to hide from a pack of people who literally had a taste for blood. You can understand how the sudden blizzard was making us sweat a little.
Priscilla wasn’t helping matters, either. “We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, oh, shit, we’re so fucking dead.”
“Shush!” I told her.
“For what?! It’s not like they don’t know we’re here. They’re probably outside listening to us right now!”
“I hear they go for the loud ones first,” Max said as he wiped off the snow from his boots. “It’s easier to kill the rest of the group when the loud one isn’t around to make noise. It doesn’t alert bystanders who could intervene.”
Priscilla’s pale face somehow went paler as she pointed at him. “That is not funny.” She looked back at me and said, “How is he making jokes at a time like this?”
“Who says I was kidding?”
She balled up her first and placed it to her mouth. “I’m gonna hurl. I’m actually going to puke all over this floor.”
Dana said, “The toilet is ten steps to the left.”
I’m not sure if she meant it to be sarcastic, but it tickled me.
“You didn’t see anybody when you were out there?” Daggett asked Max.
Max shook his head. “I was ready to get jumped at any second too. They’re probably somewhere out there watching, trying to figure out if it’s just us four or if we found Melanie and Cora.”
“So they followed us. Great.”
“We did park my car out in the open like a couple of schmucks.”
“It’s not like we could hide it in a tree.”
“Somehow, I don’t think a car in a tree would be less conspicuous,” I added.
“Why are you guys joking around?” Priscilla asked. “You do realize we’re literally going to have our throats slashed and our bodies stuffed into a garbage disposal, right?” She shook her head and sighed. “Molly’s probably been itching to kill me since that party where I told her her foundation didn’t match her neck.”
“I’m sure that keeps her up at night,” Max said.
“You know how psycho she was about the little shit.”
I wanted to say Priscilla was overreacting, but Molly had always been a bit intense for no particular reason. I sat down on the edge of the couch, my heart suddenly pounding. The reality of her hiding outside the building waiting for us to step into the parking lot finally set in. They wanted Melanie because they were sent for her, but Molly and I had history. I placed my hand to my chest and felt how hard my heart was still going, and said, “I don’t think you have to worry, Priscilla. You’re probably at the bottom of her list.”
“No, Daggett is. She doesn’t even know who his ass is.”
“I’m beginning to think that’s not such a bad thing,” he said.
Dana stood beside Max and peered up at him. “So what do we do now?” she asked. “Do we stay here and hide, or do we make a run for it?”
The way she looked at him warmed my heart a bit. There was a lot of respect and admiration in her eyes, like she felt he was the true leader of the group and could be trusted with this big decision.
Max exhaled slowly. “We make a run for it, and there’s a good chance we get jumped. Not all of us have great speed.”
Priscilla leaned into my ear and whispered, “Is he talking about us?”
“Considering I get winded eating a bag of chips, I’m gonna say yeah,” I replied.
“I feel like this is some kind of discrimination because we’re humans.”
“I don’t think there’s a support group for something like that.”
“Typical.”
I turned my attention back to Max’s conversation.
“You think we should stay here and hope they leave?” Dana asked.
“No, I’m not saying that either,” Max replied. “We gotta get my car up and running before we all take off as a group. Moving on foot isn’t an option, especially with it coming down like it is outside.”
Daggett stroked his chin. “Pretty sure a vehicle needs a battery for us to drive it.”
“We’ll get another one. I know there’s a shop not far from here. We’ll get it there.”
“It’s
