Not Dead Enough: Zombie Paranormal Romance (Project Rebellion: SARA Book 1) (16 page)

BOOK: Not Dead Enough: Zombie Paranormal Romance (Project Rebellion: SARA Book 1)
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“Bloods are fast,” he commented. “She might not have fed yet, but she was displaying all their traits. She’d have been able to match speed and jump aboard one of the larger trucks.”

Fredericks lifted on his toes, looking down the road into oncoming traffic. He squinted against the headlights, searching for something. “Okay. White truck coming up. Let’s move.”

With that they were off, sprinting alongside the road. Energy surged through Brett’s body, jumping from cell to cell like wildfire. His feet hit the hard road surface in a steady rhythm, faster than he’d ever been able to run while he was alive. To his left Dom muttered something about hating running, while Fredericks and Kelwood were just in front. He slid Dom a grin. The guy had always hated running during PT.

The truck roared up behind them, gaining ground. A speeding behemoth of a vehicle that would crush SARA flesh and bone just as easily as it would human. The difference was it just wouldn’t kill them.

“Get ready.…” Fredericks shouted over the noise, his face a pale blur in front of Brett as he turned and looked over his shoulder. Gauging when to jump.

The truck pulled level, and Brett realized why Evan had picked it. The white color of the cab gave them an easy target.

The first two made the jump. Leapt sideways to land on the side of the trailer and cling like indistinct shadows. With a roar, Brett did the same, launching himself sideways and up between one step and the next. Time paused for a long moment, then he hit the side. He grabbed at the straps holding the curtain sides in place. There was a thud and Dom was beside him, sprawled across the vertical surface as easily as though he lay on a beach.

A whistle up ahead caught their attention, and they looked up to see Evan waving them on. Kelwood’s knife flashed in the darkness. He cut through the thick canvas just behind one of the straps, holding it up enough to allow them to slide through. It was a tight fit. Brett sucked his stomach in and wriggled through, dropping onto the top of a pallet and just lying there. It was a relief to be out of the wind. The cold didn’t bother him, but the whistling in his ears drove him half-mad.

Dom dropped onto the crate next to him, then slipped headfirst off the edge and down into the gap between it and the next one. Muffled curses accompanied the waving of his legs in the air as he frantically tried to right himself.

“What the hell is space cadet over there doing?” Fredericks asked, looking over as he held the gap open for Kelwood.

“Not a clue. Probably thought there were cheeseburgers down there.” Brett grabbed Dom’s ankle and heaved him out of the gap he’d gotten stuck in. The move was negligent, as though lifting another man’s entire body weight was no biggie.

“Cheers, thanks man. And I wasn’t looking for damn cheeseburgers. What do you think I am?” He tried to look offended, but ruined it by grinning. “I’d kill for a cheeseburger though. Do you think we could ask the driver to hit a drive-through or seven?”

“Asshole,” Brett chuckled, lying back and using his arm as a pillow.

There wasn’t anything else to do, so he closed his eyes even though he wasn’t at all tired. He rarely slept these days; none of them did. Instead he dipped into his memories, pulling out the sound of Julia’s heartbeat and wrapping it around him for comfort. As soon as they got into the city, he
would
find her.

Failure, as had so often been said, was not an option.

The journey passed in a trance of noise and vibration. When the noise from the engine up ahead changed, slowing down, Brett opened his eyes and sat up. The other three moved at the same time, creating a coordinated effect that would have freaked out the normal had any been watching. Brett didn’t bat an eyelid. They often moved in synchronization, but they’d never figured out why. Just an element of the way they were now that allowed them to operate as a team, and he’d never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Crawling across the crates, he looked out of the cut in the curtain. The early morning light made him wince after the shadowed interior of the trailer. “Turning off, city lights ahead. Looks like we’re headed into an industrial area.”

There was a scuff of movement behind him, and Fredericks looked over his shoulder. “Okay, we need to get out before he reaches where he’s going. Any trace of your girl?”

Brett closed his eyes and extended his senses, but he didn’t hold out much hope. The sun was up, and Julia’s Blood instincts would have forced her to go to ground to sleep. Her heartbeat would be impossible to pick out in the myriad vibrations of the city.

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “Won’t be able to pick her up until sundown. Jared might have better luck with a scent.”

“Good point. We’re slowing.” Evan shifted position, pulling the cloth to look ahead as the truck slowed to a stop at a red light. “No watchers this side. Everyone out.”

The SARAs moved fast, slithering out of the gap in the canvas with an ease a contortionist would have envied. Brett was last, reaching up through to gap to clasp his hands over the top of the trailer and haul himself through. With a twist, he dropped to the ground into place behind the others as they strolled away from the truck. The lights changed and it pulled off, turning left and disappearing from view.

They kept walking, hands shoved in their pockets and hoods up as though against the chill of the early morning. The streets were starting to fill with people headed for work. No one gave them a second glance, unless it was a look of irritation when they had to alter their direction. A portly office worker with a briefcase and a gut straining his coat’s buttons huffed at Brett. A look from under his hood—hardened eyes, dead and cold—made the guy go pale and mutter an apology as he moved aside. Quickly. Brett hid his grin and swept by, making sure to stay close to the others.

Kelwood was in the lead, his head moving side to side under his hood as he tried to catch Julia’s scent. Dom and Fredericks flew wingman, one each side, alert for possible threats, while Brett brought up the rear. It was unlikely any Bloods would be out and about at this time of day, but only a fool got caught with his pants down.

Brett’s lips compressed. The last time they’d gotten caught like that, they’d died and been brought back like this. Once was enough.

Never again.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

Fire rolled through her veins.

Julia groaned and turned over. Her arm brushed something furry. She smiled, pulling it closer. Her cat, Jameson, often crawled onto the bed with her for an early morning cuddle. Just one problem. Generally cats were soft and warm, not as stiff as a board. And Jameson had been dead years. She’d buried him under the bushes at the bottom of the garden.

Her eyelids snapped open, and she came eye to eye with a dead rat. Its throat had been ripped out. Screaming, she threw it away, scrambling backwards until her back hit the wall. The floor around her was littered with more rat corpses. All were missing most of their throats, the white of bone showing stark in the darkness. Some were missing their heads.

Her chest heaved as she tried to suck in air, but her lungs wouldn’t co-operate. She brushed at her chest, as though the rat was still there, and froze when her hand touched sodden fabric. With growing horror, she looked down. Her clothes were soaked with blood. Down her chest, splattered on her legs. Her hands and wrists were covered in a thick coat of red.

She was covered in blood. Rat blood. Bile rose hot in her throat.

“Ohnonononononono.…”
She moaned.

Turning to the side, she emptied her stomach in a wet, liquid splash against the dirty floorboards. Blood. Nothing but blood and the occasional lump of flesh. Then she saw the rat head, its beady little eyes fixed on her, and darkness swam up to claim her.

She fell backwards, her head hitting the floor with a hollow ‘thump’. She didn’t care; her consciousness separated from her body as she let the fire consume her. Fangs and claws she could cope with. Ripping the heads off rats and draining their blood….

She’d rather die. Hell, she’d just lie here until she did.

Time passed. She felt the sun move in the sky overhead, and as it sank towards the horizon, the lethargy lifted from her limbs. The fire eating her from the inside out remained. Constant. Inescapable.

She groaned as the smell of blood taunted her, rising from the cold rodent corpses and where it had soaked into the floorboards. Hunger joined the heat, gnawing at her gut like the rats she’d killed. The pain was so sharp, she was sure the rats had come back from the dead to wreak their revenge on her.

With a whimper she tried to brush them off her stomach, but her hands batted at nothing but fresh air. She could feel their teeth in her flesh. Their sharp claws dug at her skin, tearing it up to get to her guts.

Bleary-eyed, she tried to concentrate as the room swam in and out of focus. It was empty, derelict with boards over the window. A vague memory of her flight the night before flitted through her head. She’d hidden here as the sun rose, a haven of darkness from the numbing orb above.

Anger surged, and her claws punched free of the end of her fingers. Those fucking rats were toast. She’d teach the little bastards it was a bad idea to bite a vampire. Shit, if she’d bitten them, had they turned into vampire rats? That was all she needed, fucking vampire rats eating her guts.

It was an effort to lift her head. Cold sweat rolled off her in waves as she forced her muscles to co-operate. She blinked, forcing her eyes to work. There were no rats. Her stomach was covered in nothing but her own t-shirt. Frantically, she snatched at the hem and yanked the top up to look beneath. Stiff with blood, the shirt came away with a soft tearing sound. She winced, steeling herself to look at her stomach. When she did, her eyes opened wide.

There were no wounds. Instead, smooth, undamaged skin met her gaze. She pushed a hand against the flesh. Perhaps her eyes weren’t working right. She could
feel
the little assholes biting her. At the touch, she realized they weren’t. Not unless there were some in her stomach trying to get out. The clawing, biting sensation was coming from within her.

Rolling to her side, her forehead rocked against the splintered floorboards. A tear leaked from the corner of her eye, burning her skin before dropping to the wood below. She’d eaten rats.
Rats
. Talk about scraping the bottom of the fucking barrel.

The tear plopped onto the wood with a splash. She frowned as the sound almost deafened her. Like someone kicking a door down, and feet storming up stairs. Were there stairs here? An image of stumbling up a flight or two swam through her fractured memories. Or had that been back at the house? The little one she’d rented to escape Buddy. No. They’d been too wide.

“Julia? Oh my god,
Julia
!”

Yeah, now she knew she was going nuts. She could have sworn she heard Brett’s voice. Heavy boots thundered over the floorboards she lay on, kicking up dust. Another tear fell, then another. It couldn’t be Brett. She’d left him behind in violence, in a warehouse a lifetime away.

“Oh sweetpea, what have you done?” The sound of his voice eased something deep in her soul, but the endearment tore at her heart. The tears fell faster as his strong arms wrapped around her. She tried to fight him.

“No, don’t.” She moaned, knowing he’d seen the rats. “I’m a monster…leave me alone.”

He ignored her, hauling her into his lap right there on the blood-soaked floor. His lips pressed kisses to her temple. “No, my love. You’re not a monster. Never that. The real monster is out there. And I’m gonna rip his throat out, I promise.”

*

Brett rocked the crying woman in his arms and looked around the room in horror. The place stank of blood and death. Dom kicked aside a furry corpse and crouched next to them. He reached out to place a hand over Julia’s forehead.

“She’s burning up,” he murmured and looked around. “She’s fed, but not enough to carry her through this. Shit.” He looked up at the two others. “Find something for her to eat. Now.”

Frederick’s expression creased. “Find something for her to eat.… Like a human? What the hell? They’re not like fucking tacos, you know? We can’t just drive through and pick one up.”

“No.” Brett surged into movement, standing with Julia still tucked in his arms. “No humans, no more fucking rats. I’ll feed her. Me, no one else.”

As one, all three turned to look at him. The tense silence stretched out between them.

“You sure, man?” Dom looked at him directly. “Bloods…their first meal.…”

But Brett wouldn’t be dissuaded. “She’s already fed.”

Dom shook his head, concern wrapped over his features. “That wasn’t a meal. She’s not eaten enough for it to matter. If you feed her—”

“Then she’ll be a Blood with our abilities. Which means no one and nothing will be able to fuck with her.” Brett’s voice was harder than he’d ever heard it, which scared even him. “And I don’t know about you, but if McCoy is trying to breed uber-vampires, I can’t think of anything more awesome to do for her. Can you?”

He wasn’t looking for approval or consent, but still he breathed a sigh of relief when understanding filtered across three sets of hard features. Fredericks nodded. “Actually, that’s a damn good idea. Our world is a hard one, and she needs to be hard to survive.
If
she can. We don’t know if she’ll survive feeding from you.” His eyes searched Brett’s. “Are you prepared to put her down if it does belly-up?”

“It won’t,” Brett said firmly. He didn’t know how, but he knew it would be okay. It would all be okay. “But yes, if anything goes wrong, I’ll deal with it.”

“Good.” Evan smiled, a rare expression on their somewhat serious leader. He turned to look at the window. No light leaked around the wood boarding it up. “Okay. Night’s on us. Let’s find somewhere more salubrious, shall we?”

They left the derelict building en-masse, Julia safely carried in Brett’s arms. In the dead of night, no one gave them a second glance. Any that did met hard looks from pale eyes that made them quickly decide to be inquisitive somewhere else. Like the other side of the city.

BOOK: Not Dead Enough: Zombie Paranormal Romance (Project Rebellion: SARA Book 1)
2.46Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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