Jenny Undead (The Thirteen: Book One) (19 page)

“No,” she said angrily. “It's
not going to happen again.”

“If you don't eat someone in the next few
days,” said Abel, “you're going to die. For real this
time.”

“They're all dead,”
said Trix, looking across the room with a stricken expression on
her face. “Grayson, the goats, all of them.”

Grayson was face down in a half-eaten goat,
which was also now dead. His left cheek was flat against the ripped
up hindquarters of the carcass, his eyes looking up at the ceiling,
frozen. He had a string of bloody meat hanging out of his mouth.
There was a knife protruding from the base of his skull.

“Shit,” said Jenny.

“Fucking Grayson,” said Trix.
“Fuck!” She walked out of the basement.

All the goats had their skulls smashed in and
had been left right where they had died. Sully hadn't even taken
one for meat. “He could have gotten so much if he traded the
meat,” Jenny said. “Why would he leave them?”

“To show you he could,” said Abel.
He walked around Grayson's body and picked a white object up from
the floor and held it to the light.

“What is it?” said Declan.

Abel looked up at them, and for the first time
since Jenny had known him, he looked surprised. “I think it's
medicine,” he said. “A syringe. Drugs of some
kind?”

“No way,” said Declan. “All
the good drugs dried up in the first year.”

“What about the stuff you found when I saw
you?” said Jenny. “What was in those
bottles?”

“I have no idea,” said Declan.
“They all had weird names. Besides, I left before we could
find out. I haven't seen Lucy, V, or Beacon since that
day.”

“Maybe he made it himself,” said
Jenny. “What do you think it is? Something that works on dead
people? Or just something for himself.”

“We might be dead,” said Abel,
“but our brains still work. Could be a sedative or some kind
of paralytic. There's still a little left. We could find
out.”

“That's fucking ridiculous,” said
Declan. “What if it's poison? Or something toxic? You can't
test it on yourselves.”

“I'll do it.” Trix stood in the
doorway, hands on her hips. “Go ahead. We have to know what
we're up against if we're going to find Casey again.”

“Trix,” said Jenny, “it's too
dangerous. You could die.”

Trix walked across the dank room that smelled of
old blood, sidestepping goat carcasses. She looked at Jenny, almost
nose-to-nose with her. Trix was shorter, but she put a finger on
Jenny's chest and pushed.

“Casey was my friend,” she said.
“We've been together since the day some rotter skank bit him.
I stayed with him when he got sick, and I was there when he died.
And I have fucking been here for that boy every day since. You
might be blood, but Casey is my goddamn family. And everyone in my
family is dead except for him. So if I have to stick needles into
myself to get him back, I'll do it. Casey is not going to die
because his stupid bitch of a sister brought a fucking psychopath
into our house.”

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, then closed it
again. “I'm sorry,” she said, when she could speak
again. “I didn't see it like that.”

“From now on, you keep your fucking
vendettas to yourself. You're not the queen bitch around here, I
am. And I will rip you apart if you put me or Casey in danger
again. Now put your attitude away and get to fucking work finding
your brother.” Trix looked at Abel. “Where do you want
to do this?”

“Wherever you feel most
comfortable.”

“Let's go to my room,” said
Trix.

Trix's room was more utilitarian than
comforting. There was a moldy-looking couch pushed into the corner,
and a trunk with clothes spilling out of it. A rope had been strung
across the room for drying clothes, and a few shirts, a pair of
pants and four pairs of sexy underwear had been draped over the
line. Trix lay down on the couch, ignoring everyone but Abel.

“Do it,” she said.

“There's something else,” said
Jenny. “Before you poison one of our own, I guess I need to
say it. Since it affects all of us. Maybe. Maybe it's nothing,
though.”

“Jesus, just fucking say it,
cheerleader,” said Trix. “Did I scare you that
badly?”

Jenny ground her teeth. “No,” she
said. “But I am sorry. This might be all my fault.”

“Might be?” Trix sneered.

“Fuck off,” said Jenny. “Just
listen.”

“You have my rapt attention,” said
Abel.

“I went back to the Underground
tonight,” Jenny said. “The place I was
bitten.”

“And you brought Prince Charming
back,” said Trix. “Please, tell us more about your
happy reunion.”

“No,” said Jenny. “Before
that. I went into the train car where it happened. The place I
found Casey.” Jenny frowned. She wasn't sure what she saw was
even real, it seemed so bizarre.

“Jen,” said Declan gently.
“Just say it.”

“The rotter was there,” said Jenny.
“I don't know what it means. Or maybe I do know what it means
and I don't want to accept it. And I'm too tired to keep things to
myself any more. The rotter, he wasn't dead. I broke his leg and
Casey stabbed him in the head, but he wasn't dead.”

Trix shrugged. “So?”

“Maybe Casey didn't get the right
angle,” said Abel.

“No, that's not the point,” said
Jenny. “He bit me that night. And maybe he died, maybe he
didn't. But he talked to me.”

“What does that mean?” said
Abel.

“I mean,” said Jenny, “he bit
me, and he sort of came back. But it was horrible. He remembered
everything he did as a rotter. He was talking but there was
something wrong. Like he'd rotted away too much when it happened.
He was...broken. He begged me to kill him.”

The other three were staring at her. Finally
Abel spoke.

“What...how?”

Jenny stood up straight. “I think when he
took a bite of me, something inside me changed him. And I think if
he hadn't been rotted away, he would have been like us. More human
than rotter.”

“Do you think that's what the note
meant?” said Trix. “The note Casey found in your
bitch-mother's office? About the cure?”

“I found the letter, too. Casey dropped it
in the train car. I don't know exactly what it means,”
admitted Jenny. “I'm not sure I want to know, though I'm
going to have to eventually. But the reason I'm telling you is
because I think Sully knows.”

“What do you mean?” said Declan.
“He knows about the rotter?”

“I think he's always known,” said
Jenny. “I have no idea why he's taken Casey, or why he's
doing all this, but my blood is gone.”

“Blood?” said Abel.

“We let him draw blood from us. All of
us,” said Jenny. “He was going to draw some from
himself, too, but I left before I saw him do it.”

“You gave him blood to study,” said
Trix. “Get to the fucking point.”

“My point is,” said Jenny, “he
left all of the blood samples here, every vial...except for
mine.”

“Oh,” said Abel softly.

“Your blood,” said Trix,
“which is red. Not black.”

“Yeah,” said Jenny.

Abel stepped toward Jenny. He was looking at her
side.

“What the fuck are you looking at?”
she said.

He took another step and reached for her arm.
Jenny let him, and he raised her arm, caked with dried blood. Jenny
looked at Trix who just shrugged. Abel gently brushed away the
flakes of blood and stared. He looked up at Jenny.

“This is a scar,” he said.

“No, it's not,” said Jenny.
“It just happened like ten minutes ago.”

“This is a scar,” Abel repeated,
something odd dancing in his eyes.

Jenny looked at her arm. Where minutes before
she had stabbed a knife nearly all the way through, was now a hard,
red raised line. Trix and Declan were peering over her shoulder to
look.

“How the fuck is this possible?”
said Declan. “I just watched you do that.”

“Turn around,” said Abel.

“What?”

“Just turn around,” he said. Jenny
did. She felt fingers on the back of her neck.

“What kind of freak are you,
cheerleader?” said Trix, though she sounded impressed. Jenny
turned around, touching the back of her neck. There was a divot in
the skin where a chunk had been ripped out, but other than that, a
fat, knotty scar had formed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”
said Jenny, looking from Trix to Abel. “It's just a scar.
I've always healed fast.”

“No,” said Trix. “This is not
healing fast. This is fucking burn-her-she's-a-witch
shit.”

“It's just a fucking scar,” Jenny
said.

Trix glowered at her. “That's the thing,
bitch,” she said. She raised her shirt to show her
midsection. There was an open wound, black and open. Jenny could
see the pink of Trix's insides beyond the black. Trix lowered her
shirt and smiled unpleasantly. “We don't heal,
cheerleader.”

“That's got to be a lie,” said
Jenny. She looked at Abel. “Tell me that's a lie.”

Abel replied by pulling up his pant leg. A
similar wound on the side of his calf, just as black and just as
open and unhealed as Trix's.

“Jen,” Declan said, his voice soft.
“Show me your back.”

“My back?” said Jenny.
“Why?”

“Just show me,” said Declan.

Trix turned her and lifted up her shirt in
back.

“Jesus Christ,” said Declan.

“What?” said Jenny.

“It's gone,” he said.

“What's gone?” said Abel.

“Where they cut her open in the
lab,” said Declan. “There was a scar as thick as my
index finger. No one could touch her back because it still hurt,
even after all these years. It went from her tailbone to the base
of her neck.”

“That's stupid,” said Jenny weakly.
“It can't be gone. I hated that scar. It was huge. This is a
joke, right?”

“There's no scar here, Jen,” said
Declan. “You're completely healed. It's like it never
happened.”

Jenny touched her sternum, remembering the man
she'd fed on. He had stabbed her over and over in the chest. She
lifted her shirt enough to look. She touched smooth skin. Not even
a scar.

“Fucking freakshow,” said Trix.

“How is she?” said
Jenny.

Abel sprawled on the floor, putting an arm over
his eyes. “She's not dead, if that's what you mean,” he
said. He peeked at Jenny under his arm. “So to
speak.”

“What was it? In the syringe?”

“Hard to say for sure. There was barely
anything left, but that shit must be powerful. A second after I
popped it in her neck, Trix stopped moving. I think it was a
paralytic because her eyes are still open. I'm no expert, though,
so we'll just have to wait until she snaps out of it.”

“What does it mean?” said Jenny.

“We're not alive, so our blood doesn't
circulate,” said Abel, sitting up and leaning on his elbows.
“I injected it right into her spinal cord. I suspect Sully
did the same. I don't know anything else.”

“My mom would know,” said Jenny, a
hard edge to her voice.

“Even if we could get to her,” said
Abel, “Casey would be dead by the time we got back. She's not
in Chicago, Jen.”

“When this is all over, will you tell me
where she is?”

“I'll do you one better,” said Abel.
“I'll take you to her.”

Jenny nodded, leaning back in the chair.

“Where's the boyfriend?” said
Abel.

“Sleeping,” said Jenny.

“Fuck, I miss sleeping,” said Abel.
“And screwing. I really miss screwing. It's all dead down
there. What do you miss?”

Jenny was quiet for a long time. Finally she
shook her head. “I can't think that way,” she said.
“It doesn't do any good to wish for things that I can never
have.”

Abel looked at her, seeming to study her face.
“Why don't you let him in? He's stuck around this long.
Obviously he doesn't care what you are.”

“I tried to kill him tonight,” said
Jenny. “I wanted to kill him.”

“But you didn't.”

“This time,” said Jenny. “He
keeps looking at me like I'm her. Like I'm the girl who died. But I
can't be that person anymore. I'm different. I don't feel like I
used to. I don't care like I used to.”

“It'll get better,” said Abel.

“I'm so hungry all the time, Abel,”
she said. “I can't control it forever. And with the animals
gone...I can't hurt him.”

“I'm going to say this
plain,” said Abel. “You don't want Munro around because
he makes you feel like maybe you
could
be that girl again. That feeling gives you hope. And that
scares the shit out of you.”

“Hope is something none of us can
afford,” said Jenny.

“Says the girl who is risking everything
to save her brother. Says the girl who escaped death, who escaped
being a rotter. This is a second chance. We get to live, we get to
fight for what we want. It's a fucking gift, is what it is. And if
that isn't hope, I don't know what is.”

“That's very motivational from a guy that
came here to assassinate someone.”

“I try,” he said, smiling.

“I know you're not really invested in
finding my brother,” said Jenny, “but he's the only
family I have left. I appreciate your help.”

“What about your mom? She's your family,
too.”

“My mother,” Jenny said with a dry
laugh.

“She still loves you.”

“She tortured children,” said Jenny.
“She tortured her own children.”

“Experimented,” corrected Abel.
“And it was for a good cause.”

“To be clear, I'm not going to see Anna
Hawkins for my health. I'm doing it because I have no
choice.”

“There's always a choice,” said
Abel. “You could let the rotters run their course. Maybe
humans are meant to die out.”

“There was a guy I met,” she said.
“His name was Adam. He had a family. He was in love. He had a
kid. And slowly all those things were ripped away from him. And you
know what he did?”

“No.”

“He could have just given up, but he
fought. He fought so hard. And in the end he died hard, but he went
out trying. Fighting. Even though he had every reason to just say
fuck it and lay down and die. And that's why I have no choice.
Because in the end, we're all like that. We fight until we can't
fight any more. And we die trying.”

“That sounds perilously close to
hope,” said Abel.

“It's not hope,” said Jenny,
“it's just a reason. In the end, it's the only reason. At
least for me.” She looked toward Trix's room. “How long
will she be out?”

“Hard to say,” said Abel. “I
have no idea what I gave her.”

“How are we going to find him? We have no
idea where Sully went. He could have taken Casey anywhere. He might
not even be in Chicago.”

Abel looked at her and frowned. “I might
know a way,” he said slowly.

Jenny perked up. “What is it?”

“I know a guy.”

“And?”

“You can't laugh.”

“I'm not making any promises,” said
Jenny.

“He's a little out there,” said
Abel. “And you shouldn't judge until you actually meet
him.”

“Jesus, just tell me.”

“He's a prophet.”

Jenny laughed.

“How do you know he'll be here?”
said Jenny, looking at Abel. The sun was rising over the ruins and
Jenny felt a shiver run up her spine. Abel looked at her.

“Daytime isn't easy when you're
hungry,” he said. “I can take you to some nice, tasty
pedophiles if you like. Those dregs just skitter around everyone
else like cockroaches, but I know where to find them.”

“No,” said Jenny.

“Look, if you don't want to eat people, I
get it. I was the same way at first. But you're going to die if you
don't do something, Jenny. And as we all know, you can't
die.”

“Are you trying to guilt-trip me into
eating a sexual predator?” said Jenny.

“Maybe.”

“Well, save it.” Jenny looked away,
ignoring Abel's stare. “I'm not going to die.”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure you will. It'll
take longer, but you're just as fragile as the rest of
us.”

“I'm not going to starve,” said
Jenny.

“Care to elaborate on that?” said
Abel.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Jenny snorted and met his eyes. “Isn't it
obvious? I don't trust you.”

Abel nodded. “Fair enough.” He
pointed across the crumbled concrete. “He's here.”

Jenny squinted. Three figures were maneuvering
down the rubble on the other side of the ruins. The larger two
figures seemed to hang back from the smaller one, who was hopping
down the crumbled concrete easily, as if he were used to it.

“That's Zeke,” said Abel, pointing
at the little man with two fingers.

“Who are the other two?” said
Jenny.

“Bodyguards,” said Abel. He took two
pre-rolled cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and handed one to
Jenny. He lit hers and then his own. “There's something you
need to realize before we talk to him.”

“Like why anyone has bodyguards?”
said Jenny.

Abel took a drag from his
cigarette. “Zeke isn't a thumper.”

“But he's a prophet?” said Jenny,
trying to hide a smile.

“It's not like that,” he said.
“The kid knows things. He has these visions.”

“Sure, he does.”

“I'm serious,” said Abel.
“He's never been wrong. Not ever. It's not easy for him. He
sees shit that no one else should have to see. No one should have
to know the things he has running through his head. It makes him
weak. He's sick a lot, doesn't eat enough, doesn't sleep. The
Righteous keep him safe.”

“Okay,” said Jenny. “So why
are you telling me all this?”

“His mom,” said Abel, squinting
across at the slight figure who was sitting on a large block of
cement. “She fell in with the Righteous after the Fall. She's
married to Daniel Finch.”

“Finch?” said
Jenny. “The leader of the Righteous? He's like the thumper king.”

“Damn straight. And if he's the king,
Zeke's sort of like Hamlet. Only, you know, weirder. Dude hates
Finch. He comes here in the morning and just hangs out all day so
he doesn't have to talk to anyone. The bodyguards are Finch's. To
keep him safe, according to Finch.”

“Is that what they're really
for?”

“In a way,” said Abel. “The
kid's as scrawny as a toothpick. But they're also making sure Zeke
doesn't run off. He's a valuable asset to Finch. Probably the only
reason he married Zeke's mom. And if anyone else knew about him,
Finch would have to lock him up to keep him from getting
kidnapped.”

“You know about him,” said
Jenny.

“That's different.” Abel grinned.
“I'm special. Besides, I know most of the stuff Zeke knows. I
just don't have front row seats like he does.”

“If the people you work for are such hot
shit, why haven't they come for Zeke?” said Jenny.
“That is, if they actually exist.”

“You still don't believe me,” said
Abel. “Doesn't matter. You'll find out soon. And
to answer your question, they don't know about Zeke.”

“Why not?”

“Because I haven't told them.”

“I thought you were Mister Company
Man,” said Jenny.

“I guess you don't know me very well, do
you?” Abel shrugged. “Zeke's fragile in a way. The
people I work for, they might break him.”

“But you're going to bring me right to
them, aren't you?”

“Does anyone really make you do anything
you don't want to do?”

“No.”

“I'm not taking you to them,
anyway,” said Abel. “I'm taking you to see your mom.
You're important. I don't know how, but you're some kind of key to
ending all this.” He nodded toward Zeke. “Let's go make
nice with the weirdo, shall we?”

“Wait,” said Jenny. “I thought
they didn't want to end all this. I thought these people were all
for the plague. Isn't that why they have my mom?”

“It isn't that they don't want to cure
it,” said Abel. “It's more that they want to cure it on
their terms. Big Brother is a fickle beast.”

“I'm more confused now than before I met
you,” said Jenny.

“I aim to please,” he said.
“Come on. Zeke's waiting.”

Zeke didn't seem surprised to see them. He
watched lazily as Jenny and Abel walked across the field, sipping
from a steaming cup in his hand. The two bodyguards hurriedly
stepped in front of their charge, looking awkward and clumsy as
they pointed their handguns at the newcomers. Abel smiled a wolfish
smile. The bodyguards turned out to be two oversized men who would
have looked more at home washing their cars in the old days.
Crosses glinted at their necks.

“They have guns,” Jenny said.

“Curious, that,” said Abel.

“Leave them alone,” Zeke said from
behind them. “I've been expecting them.”

The one on the left, a blond-going-gray man with
a scrubby beard and sweat stains under his arms, glanced back at
Zeke and then back to Jenny and Abel. Jenny could feel their hearts
beating too fast. It was becoming more and more
difficult being around the living. She was so hungry. She took a
step forward without thinking about it, her lips rising up from her
teeth. Abel put a hand out without looking at her, grasping her
shoulder.

“You want to start a war, undead
girl?” he said under his breath. “Go ahead. But the kid
is off limits.”

Jenny pressed her lips together, frowning. The
two men were staring at her. The blond's gun was shaking.

“Sorry,” Jenny said. “I get
carried away sometimes.”

“They're not even loaded,” Zeke said
irritably from behind the two men. “Just go back and tell my
stepfather I sent you away.”

The other man, a middle-aged man with red hair
and a round belly, looked at him. “You know what he would do
to us, Ezekiel. Just let us do our duty.”

“Well, do your duty over there,”
said Zeke.

“Ezekiel, they seem dangerous,” said
the blond.

“Fuck off!” shouted Zeke. “If
I have to smell your sweat again, I'll tell him you tried to
manhandle me.”

The two men looked at each other, then the blond
gave a resigned shrug and they walked a few steps away and sat down
on the rubble.

“Further,” said Zeke. Muttering, the
men moved further away, out of earshot.

“Hi, Zeke,” said Abel.

Zeke was pale and impossibly thin, with a patchy
beard and deep, dark circles under his pale blue eyes. His light
brown hair looked like it had been hastily chopped off with a knife
and stood in uneven spikes on his head. He took a drink of his
beverage, slurping loudly.

“What the hell took you so long?”
said Zeke.

“Traffic was killer,” said Abel,
sitting next to him.

“Funny,” said Zeke. He looked at
Jenny. “I've been looking forward to talking to you. Sit
down.”

“I'd better not get too close,” said
Jenny.

“Because you're hungry?” said Zeke.
“Don't worry. You're not going to eat me.”

Jenny took off her sunglasses. “You know
what we are.”

Zeke leaned forward and smiled at her. “I
know all kinds of things,” he said.

“I don't think she believes you,”
said Abel.

Zeke nodded. “Understandable. It defies
logic.”

“Logic?” said Jenny. “I
thought you were some kind of prophet. Doesn't seem like logic fits
into it.”

“So you think you're smart,” said Zeke. “I'm no thumper, Jenny. And to be
honest, you are in no position to judge me.”

“Point taken,” said Jenny.
“You know my name. Did Abel tell you?”

“No one tells me anything,” said
Zeke. “I've seen you. Up here.” He tapped a finger on
his temple.

“Okay,” said Jenny.

“I saw you hiding in that closet,”
said Abel. “You tried to let him go, didn't you?”

Jenny froze, shocked. “What?”

“You can't let him go, ” said Zeke.
“You and Munro, you're the real thing. You're going to try.
It'll be a noble effort, trying to give him a normal life. But no
one has a normal life anymore. And he'll never be able to cut it without you. You're stuck together. Oh, and don't blame yourself,
when it happens.”

Jenny narrowed her eyes. “Blame myself for
what?”