Rod shook his head, looking like the oldest toddler in the world what with the tears and the snot running from his nose and that damned, awful crying. “No. I can’t feel her heart, either.” His hand was splayed across her chest now that he didn’t need to smack her with it. “Oh God, oh God. I can’t lose her. How could she die from a bite?”
“Can you feel her pulse?” Lana asked. When Rod only shook his head, Lana leaned in to place her fingers on April’s pale column. As she did, April’s eyes sprung open along with her mouth. A guttural, monstrous noise ripped from her throat as she lunged at Lana. Lana screamed and yanked back her hand just as Rod reached across to block her. April’s teeth sank into his wrist. He looked equal parts ecstatic that she was alive and horrified by what she’d done.
“Honey? It’s me, okay? It’s okay. You can let go of me now. You know? Let go, sweetie. Let go.”
“Rod, I don’t think—” Lana started but Rod screamed again as April tugged him closer, biting and biting him.
“Get off! Let go, please?” The please rose into a shriek and then Lana wrapped both hands around his forearm and yanked. His flesh tore free and sent Lana flying backward to the pavement. I ran around the car and helped her up as Rod scrambled away from his girlfriend, arm dripping blood. I slammed the door on April before she could get out, and then we all stood there, staring as she pressed against the window, trying to bite through the glass.
“Holy shit,” Lana whispered, and then we all jumped at a man’s voice behind us.
“What’s going on? You folks okay?” He came up beside us and then his face sagged into horror. “What’s wrong with her? Is she okay? She’s bleeding!” He reached for the car door and we all shouted at him to stop. “You can’t just leave her in there.”
I wrapped an arm around Lana’s waist, and she clung to me tight for a second before giving me a squeeze. “Rod? You’re bleeding pretty bad.”
He didn’t even glance down at the wrist he held cradled to his chest. “She bit me. Was biting me. And she was dead. I swear she was.”
“I’m calling 911,” the man said, stepping away from us as if we were going to protest. Hell, if he got through, I’d kiss him.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rod asked, sounding as bewildered as I felt.
The news had said this disease, virus, whatever it was, spread fast and made people violent. Obviously it had made it to Omaha, and we were in the middle of an outbreak. I pulled my phone free of my coat pocket and dialed Jackson’s number since he was the kid we could count on to answer his phone. “Shit.”
“What?” Lana’s eyes widened when she saw my phone. “Oh goddess, the boys.”
“I’m sure they’re fine. All circuits are busy.”
“Text them,” she said, and then looked at the car. “My phone and purse are in there.”
April still gnashed at the window, leaving bloody smears on the glass.
“We can come back for it. I have mine.”
“Our money is in there, our cards.” Lana sounded as sick as I felt. “We need to get it and then get off the street.”
A crash somewhere down the block made us all look up. A scream cut the night, then a mad cackle. “What the hell?” I muttered, typing out a message as fast as I could. “Jack, this is Ma. Lock doors. Don’t go out. Watch news. Your mom & I r ok 4 now. Text back asap.”
I copied that text and forwarded it to Tucker, then tried the call again. All circuits busy. “Shit. Okay. You stand at the window and distract her. I’ll grab the purse. On the passenger side, right?”
Lana nodded, moving toward the car with trepidation. She stood close, her face pale, jaw rigid. “Hurry. Oh goddess,” she moaned, almost too quietly for me to hear, “her eyes.”
I opened the passenger side and grabbed the purse. April turned with a snarl when she heard the door and whipped around fast, her fingers snagging my coat sleeve. I yanked back hard and slammed the door just before she’d managed to fling herself over the seat. Her fingers scrabbled at the door, her eyes locked on mine.
Milky, dead eyes with scarlet pupils.
“Shit.”
A thready chorus of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star went up on the street, the off-key tune grating on my ears. Who the hell would be singing right now? I tossed a glance over my shoulder and saw a group of four people: a man, two women, and a young girl clutching a doll. They had surrounded a car full of scared people and they were shout-singing at them, hitting the glass every fourth word.
As they circled, shouting, singing, the little girl sobbed, “Momma! Momma!”
“Hey, sweetheart? Do you need help?” I called, taking a couple steps toward her.
She turned.
So did the three with her. They were all smeared with blood. The little girl’s face looked like she’d gone face first into a cherry pie.
Except, somewhere inside I knew it wasn’t cherry pie filling all over her face.
“Momma!” she said, her hand rising to point at me. “I’m hungry!”
They started toward us and my gut told me to run. I spun and dashed for Lana. “We gotta go. Now!” I took her hand and tugged, and she started after me, too slowly.
“What about the little girl? What about Rod?”
“This is bad, Lana. Really bad. I think they’re like April.”
She was moving faster now, though not fast enough for my liking. “We can’t just leave
