Domino Falls (40 page)

What Wales had done would not be a secret. The fifth-level freak would not be a secret.

The rest they'd unpacked and stacked beside the bus, either for Devil's Wake residents to pick up later or for other lucky survivors to find on their own. Dean and Darius stroked their parked bikes like they were living beings, cooing good-byes.

Kendra and the others used belts, ropes, and scarves to secure Terry in his seat, all of them stone silent. They had run out of time for jokes and stories. They had run out of time, period.

Kendra stood outside watching while, one by one, Terry's friends from Camp Round Meadow stood beside him for private good-byes. Through the windshield, she saw each visitor share both smiles and tears. Even Hipshot stood on two legs in the bus doorway, staring curiously toward Terry. His last bark didn't sound hostile at all.

“I love you too, boy,” Terry said, waving through the glass.

By the time it was Kendra's turn, the plane looked close enough to touch, ready to land. Myles and Deirdre stood twenty yards down the road, waving it down.

“You have everything you need?” Kendra said to Terry. “Food? Bottled water?”

“Nine millimeter.” Terry avoided her eyes. The gun was on the dashboard. “I guess you know this already,” he said. “But . . . I love you, Kendra, that's all. Before you, I never knew what that was like.”

“Me neither,” she said. Regrets seared Kendra's insides. Why hadn't she made love to him when she had the chance? Condom or not? Why hadn't she shown him how she felt?

“Thanks for saving my life,” she said. “Again.” Even her gratitude burned. If she hadn't been caught by that freak in the tunnel, Terry might not have been bitten. If she hadn't insisted on rescuing Rianne . . .

“Thanks for saving mine,” Terry said, “making life matter more.”

She squeezed his hand, which felt burning hot now instead of cool. “Remember what I said, Terry. Maybe if you're not afraid . . . If you find somewhere safe to root . . .”

“There's something good waiting for me on the other side?” he finished, gazing up at her with a sad smile. “Come on, Kendra. You don't believe that.”

Irritation surged within Kendra's grief. Suddenly, she grabbed Terry's face and kissed him. Either he was too tired to resist or he didn't have the will, because he didn't pull away from her the way he had in the cabin before they left. He tasted like their blended tears.

“Hey,”
Ursalina said, knocking on the driver's side window.
Her voice was muffled. “What the hell are you doing? It might be in his spit already!”

Terry was startled, pulling away. Kendra's heart pounded while Terry stared at her, wide-eyed. He looked so stricken and worried, she was almost sorry she'd kissed him. But not quite.

“Why?” Terry said, his voice a husk. “Why'd you do that, Kendra?”

“Merry Christmas,” she whispered. “All I have to give you is faith.”

Kendra held him, weeping, for as long as she could. She left the Blue Beauty only when her friends dragged her away.

The pilot was annoyed about the number of passengers, but he allowed all of them to board—even Hipshot. Kendra barely noticed the haggling, only staring at the bus from her plane window, trying to catch a last glimpse of the only boy she had ever loved.

Soon after the plane took off, the Blue Beauty began driving east while the plane veered west. She watched as long as she could, but she fogged her window.

By the time she wiped the fog clean, Terry was gone.

T
he authors
would like to thank Steve Perry, for overall sharp eyes, and Vivian Perry (no relation . . . I think!), for help researching the San Francisco Bay Area.

The first and second books in this series,
Devil's Wake
and
Domino Falls,
were originally conceived as two halves of the same book. Our editor, Malaika Adero, felt that it was getting . . . unwieldy, and she suggested we divide it into two novels. We hope our readers agree that this was the right move. We might consider Devil's Wake to be the name of the overall series, as the island itself will be a central character from this point forward. However, one consequence is that part of our previous acknowledgments applies equally to this work:

It would be dishonorable not to thank the artists who created the images and ideas most commonly associated with the “zombie apocalypse” notion, and the very shift from spellbound Haitians to something far more sinister and universal: Don Siegel, Daniel Mainwaring, and Jack Finney (
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
), Ubaldo Ragona and Richard Matheson (
Last Man
on Earth
[
I Am Legend
]), George Romero (
Night of the Living Dead
), and Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (
28 Days Later
). Understanding our vast affection for these tropes will hopefully explain why we were eager to tangle these speculative threads together . . . winking at an audience that, we hope, is having as much fun as we are.

Equally true today.

Coming soon, the third book,
Freak Show,
takes our wanderers deeper into unknown territory. Can't wait to give you a clearer view of the strange and evolving world of Devil's Wake. It is hard to restrain that urge, but frankly, if we told you, we'd have to bite you.

Steven Barnes

Tananarive Due

September 28, 2012

Atlanta, Georgia

BY STEVEN BARNES AND TANANARIVE DUE

Devil's Wake

ALSO BY STEVEN BARNES

Streetlethal

The Kundalini Equation

Gorgon Child

Firedance

Lion's Blood

Zulu Heart

Far Beyond the Stars

The Cestus Deception

Great Sky Woman

Shadow Valley

ALSO BY TANANARIVE DUE

My Soul to Take

Blood Colony

Joplin's Ghost

The Good House

Freedom in the Family

The Living Blood

My Soul to Keep

The Black Rose

BY STEVEN BARNES AND
TANANARIVE DUE
WITH BLAIR UNDERWOOD

Casanegra

In the Night of the Heat

From Cape Town with Love

South by Southeast

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Atria Paperback edition February 2013

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-4516-1702-3

ISBN 978-1-4516-1703-0 (ebook)