“I think having to shoot the children zombies is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Ethan said softly. He could feel Rose looking at him and he hoped she didn’t think he was some kind of heartless bastard. He was actually, his job had made him that way, but he’d never hurt a child before. He’d had to kill targets and thankfully, none had been children. At least the CIA didn’t cross that line or at least not that he knew of. Killing some kid would make him a monster, he was sure. But he had to look at the situation as easing the child’s pain and suffering.
“There was nothin’ else you could have done, Ethan. That poor baby was long gone, bless its little heart. Whoever let this virus out was the monster. Truly.” They were silent once more and Ethan concentrated on driving. Along the shoulders of the road were zombies, wandering aimlessly along the road. He saw children and adults alike, hundreds if not thousands. Was this their world now? He didn’t have enough ammo to put them all down. Just the immediate threat. What happened when he did run out of ammunition? What then? Was becoming a werewolf an option? Shay’s mother had been a werewolf but she’d been bitten and turned into a zombie. Had she been bitten before she could change into a werewolf? Was that it? Zahara and Xander seemed to suffer no ill effects after this morning’s slaughter.
Was it only this morning? It seemed like he’d lived a lifetime in just a few hours. When Zahara had transformed at the hospital, all the bite marks and scratches were gone. Her skin had been clear. She had healed that rapidly. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it might be a good idea to be turned into a werewolf, if that were even possible. Xander said they were born that way. Xander said turning someone into a werewolf was bullshit, but he’d not been so certain about it. Rose was a doctor and they had a whole ambulance full of supplies and meds. Perhaps tonight, he’d ask Xander to bite him. He shivered at the remembrance of those vicious looking fangs. If he did this, it was really going to fucking hurt. And if it didn’t work, he was going to be hurting for a long time or he might even die from infection. He sighed and tried to concentrate on getting them to Rose’s Uncle Richard’s farm.
Ž
In the Chevy, Zahara shifted in her seat, Shay was heavy on her lap as she stroked the girl’s hair. She had undone the braids on the other side and promised to fix her hair once they got to the farm. Shay moaned and whimpered in her sleep and Zahara patted her back. She understood what the child was going through. She’d not had anyone to help her during those horrible years after her parents’ deaths. No one had cared and she’d been questioned relentlessly about her father, whom the police said had gone missing. She had to say she didn’t know where he was. She told the authorities that she heard her mother screaming and she hid in the closet. She didn’t know how the big dog got in her house.
The police had given up and had put her into the house of a true monster. She looked over at Xander; he was very quiet and she knew he was thinking. They really needed to get back to North Carolina and the cabin. That place would be a haven for them. Was he worried about the girl and the responsibility? She mentally shook her head. No. Though Xander had had a screwed-up childhood like herself, he’d had a bully and a drunk for a father, Xander was none of those things. He was a thoughtful if not repressed man. She smiled softly remembering their fun in the shower that morning. So much had changed within a twenty-four-hour time frame. She was used to death, but this was some other kind of level of mayhem. She couldn’t say she was sorry to say goodbye to the human race, most were assholes, especially when it came to their notions about werewolves.
She looked down once more and smiled. She’d help this little one. She sighed and looked back over to Xander and he was looking at her, a soft smile on his lips. She wanted to say something flippant, but couldn’t bring herself to ruin the mood. She looked back out the window. It was a hard habit to break, spewing acid and hurling insults. It was her defensive mechanism but she was learning that Xander wouldn’t hurt her.
Xander was once more surprised at the tenderness that suffused Zahara’s face. He was learning more and more about the woman he was coming to care deeply about.
“Looks like we’re about there, good thing too. The night is coming pretty fast and though our night vision is good, theirs aren’t,” Xander said. He watched as Rose got out of the ambulance and walked up to a long metal gate that was six feet high and ten feet wide. She unhooked a latch and walked it open and then the ambulance went through. He followed and Reggie brought up the rear. He wondered about Reggie and noticed that the man had scraped off the offending bumper sticker. He suspected that the man would be
