“How will it work?” Dan hears himself say. Half of his attention is still on the inside, feeling the shift that’s taking place. It’s like his entire soul is turning over. “I mean, will it only cure this one zombie?”
Birgit shakes her head. “That’s the good news …”
“Good news!” William repeats, laughing shrilly.
“… it will only require one sacrifice. That will give us a way to lift the curse off everyone affected by it.”
William stops laughing and turns to look at Birgit. “Hold on, are you saying it will cure all the zombies at once?”
“Of course not,” Birgit says, sending him a brief glance. “I’m saying the spell will have the power to do so. It will be like opening a doorway, one that the gros bon ange can pass through. If it works, every cursed soul that receives the spell will be freed.”
“So, in layman’s term,” William says, “what are you saying?”
Birgit takes a deep breath. “I’m saying that if it works—and I’m more confident now that it will—then we will have a spell that can be bound to a physical thing, like a potion, and that potion can be applied to the undeads.”
“Like you just did with the water?” Dan asks.
“Precisely. Only there won’t be any ritual needed; the spell will be in the water.”
“I’m sorry, but am I the only one calling bullshit on this?” William says, throwing out his arms. “Earlier you said it couldn’t be done, and now you’re telling us we can get a ready-to-go cure-all? Just apply water, and you’re good to go? And all we need is to kill one of us? This is fucking nuts …”
“Earlier, I didn’t know what I now know,” Birgit says calmly. “We were incredibly lucky. We found the key to the curse. That was a one in a thousand shot. But I was right about Esther’s pain being the cause of it. That was obvious from how the poor soul reacted.”
“Well, you’re right that he didn’t sound too happy,” William mutters.
Dan is still looking at Birgit. “If we do this, are you sure it will work? Are you sure we will get a potion that can be used to cure all the zombies?”
“Dan, honestly,” William begins. “You’re not seriously considering this as an—”
“I can’t give any guarantees,” Birgit cuts him off, addressing Dan. “It’s not like selling a car. We will be dealing with something far greater, something no one can ever really grasp or control. That being said, I think the chances are significantly better this time.”
“Oh, so what? We’re up to one in a hundred now?” William spits. “That’s just great. I’m sure we’ll find someone willing to sacrifice themselves for those kinds of odds. I mean—”
“I’ll do it,” Dan says, tuning out William and everything else except for Birgit’s face.
She stares back at him, her eyes growing slightly bigger with surprise. William says something in the background. Dan can’t even hear the words.
The shift inside Dan is complete now, and he feels more certain than he’s ever felt about anything in his life. This is how it ends. This is his purpose. This is why he came back here.
He just keeps looking at Birgit as he repeats: “I’ll do it. Just tell me how.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Timeout!”
William grabs Dan by the shoulder and yanks him away from Birgit. He drags him out into Holger’s bedroom and forces him down on the bed.
“What the hell are you thinking?”
Dan looks up at him with an innocent expression of mild surprise, like someone just told him off for something he didn’t do. His face just makes William madder.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?”
“I think I might be,” Dan says. “I mean, quite literally. I don’t feel like I’m inside my mind anymore. I feel like I’ve … expanded.”
“Okay, I don’t know what mushrooms you’ve been getting into, but there’s just no way this is happening. You’re not letting that psycho kill you for something we have no idea will even work.”
“It will work,” Dan says. “I know it.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
“That’s not good enough.”
Dan shrugs. “You saw what happened the first time around. Something definitely affected him in there. I believe Birgit knows what she’s doing.”
“How can you believe a word she’s saying?” William exclaims, wanting to shake Dan. “She killed Holger! Human life obviously means nothing to her. And she said it herself, there’s no guarantee! Why the fuck would you sacrifice yourself for something that’s not even sure to work? Even if it did work, you wouldn’t be alive to see it!”
“It’s what I came back for, William.”
Dan says it in a tone calm enough that William almost slaps him for it. It’s like he’s explaining something to a four-year-old.
“Can’t you see it?” Dan goes on, tilting his head. “It makes perfect sense. You came back to help me the last step of the way. Now we’re here. This is where my journey ends.”
“Don’t you say that,” William says, pointing at him. “Don’t you fucking even think that.”
Dan holds out his hands. “I have nowhere to go from here anyway. I have no one left, William. You understand that, right? Life has taken everything from me to make me ready. It was its plan all along. I get it now.”
William suddenly feels a wave of emotions roll up through his chest, overwhelming him and causing him to choke and gasp for breath. “You haven’t lost everything,” he hears himself say, his voice thick now. “I’m still here. We have each other. You can come with me. We’ll find someplace far away from this. Someplace safe.”
Dan smiles overbearingly. “There’s no place safe, William.”
William tries to say something else—he’s not sure what exactly—but the words never reach his mouth. Instead he begins sobbing.
Dan stands up and puts his arms around him. William being half a foot taller, it’s an awkward embrace.
“You little fucking shithead,” he cries,
