Jenny Undead (The Thirteen: Book One) (20 page)

“Just don't,” said Zeke.
“Munro won't blame you. Try to forgive yourself. It's not
your fault.”

“Jesus Christ,” said Jenny.

“Now who's the thumper?” said Zeke,
leaning back against a rock, looking satisfied. Jenny sat
down.

“What's going to happen to Declan?”
she said.

“You know what this place used to
be?” said Zeke.

“Here we go,” said Abel.

“Wrigley Field,” said Jenny.

“My dad used to bring me
here,” said Zeke. “My real dad. I saw the Cubs play the
Marlins here. Everyone thought they were going to the World Series,
but days before it happened I saw that accountant deflect that pop
foul. It was the first time my dad let me drink beer in front of
him. It was warm and disgusting and it was the best day of my life.
This used to be my favorite place. Then the thumpers bombed it. And it
wasn't a happy place anymore. They took that away from
me.”

“If you hate them so much, why do you
stay?” said Jenny.

“I'm not in this for personal
enlightenment,” said Zeke. “I plan on surviving
this.”

“You think this is just all going to
eventually blow over?” said Jenny with a laugh.

“No,” said Zeke. “But I know
it's going to change. That's all we can hope for. I know you don't
like that word.”

“Hope?” said Jenny. “I just
think it's a waste of time.”

“That's ironic,” said Zeke.
“Because before all this is over, you're going to be
it.”

“Going to be what?” said Jenny.

“Hope.”

“Zeke,” said Abel.

“I know why you're here,” said Zeke,
turning to him. “It has to happen. I've seen every possible
outcome. The only logical way is straight through.”

“Straight through what?” said
Jenny.

Zeke looked down at his cup. It was almost empty
and had stopped steaming. “I can tell you where your brother
is.”

“Why didn't you say so?” said Jenny.
“Where is he?”

“You have to go,” Zeke said.
“You have to try to save him.”

“What do you mean try?” said Jenny.
“Is he okay?”

“He's fine for now,” said Zeke,
still not looking up from his cup. “You'll find him where it
all began.”

“Can you be more specific?” said
Jenny. “Or is this like a fortuneteller riddle?”

“I wasn't finished,” said Zeke.
“Where this all began was in her lab. The first one. The one
she kept.”

“You mean my mother?”

Zeke nodded stiffly.

“She didn't have a lab in Chicago,”
said Jenny. “It was just an office.”

“Why would a scientist just rent an office
in another city?” said Zeke. “There's a lab. Your
brother just didn't know to look for it.”

“Where is it?” said Jenny.

“It doesn't work that way,” said
Zeke. “I don't see in addresses and maps. Just images. But I
know it's in the city.”

“How am I supposed to find him?”
said Jenny. “Casey was the one who found the office. And he's
the one we're looking for.”

“You'll find a way,” said Zeke.
“Trust me.”

Jenny nodded. “Okay.” She frowned.
“I trust you.”

“Just like that, huh?” said
Abel.

Jenny ignored him. “I won't forget
this,” she said to Zeke. “Thank you.”

“I'd rather you forgot,” said Zeke.
“But you never will. I'm sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” said Jenny.

“You'll see,” said Zeke.

Jenny stood up and Abel did the same.

“Thanks, brother,” said Abel. Zeke
looked up at Abel's face and frowned.

“I've enjoyed our talks,” said Zeke.
“I'll miss them.” Abel stared at him for a moment, then
nodded.

“Me too, Zeke.”

Jenny started to walk away, but turned back to
look at Zeke.

“What happens to him? To Declan?”
she said. “Am I going to kill him?”

“I really shouldn't tell you that,”
said Zeke. He still wouldn't meet her eyes.

“Look at me,” she said in a low
voice. Zeke did. There was sadness in his eyes. “Am I going
to kill Declan?”

“No,” he said. Jenny closed her eyes
with relief. “You're going to be the one who saves
him.”

Jenny's eyes shot open. “Saves him? From
what?”

“I'm not sure yet. It's still foggy. I'm
not omniscient.”

Zeke stood up slowly, like an old man stiff from
the cold. Only it wasn't cold, and Zeke couldn't have been older
than twenty-five. But he moved like someone with the weight of the
world crushing down on him.

“It was nice meeting you, Jenny,” he
said. “We'll see each other again soon.” The two
bodyguards scurried behind him as he walked away. Jenny turned and
joined Abel. They walked in silence across the field.

“Maybe he's wrong,” Jenny said.

Abel didn't answer for a long time. When he did,
his voice was soft.

“He's never wrong.”

Jenny parked the car outside the museum. Abel
touched her arm and she looked at him, surprised.

“Zeke was right, you know,” he
said.

“About what?”

“You can't push him away.”

Jenny raised an eyebrow. “In case you
hadn't noticed, I'm dead. Declan's alive. He shouldn't even be
here.”

“So you think he should just run off and
get over you?”

“Yes,” said Jenny. “That's
what you do when someone dies.”

“But you're still here.”

“I'm going to kill him, Abel. I won't be
able to stop myself.”

“You skewered your own arm to stop
yourself from hurting him,” said Abel. “When I was new,
I never had that kind of control. You're not going to hurt him.
It's just an excuse.”

“Excuse for what?” said Jenny.

“You're scared. I understand. But do you
really think that guy is ever going to be able to live without you?
You were dead to everyone and he found you. He doesn't care that
you don't have a pulse, he tags along in a den of monsters just to
be near you.”

“And I guess you're the picture of mental
health to be giving me all this relationship advice,” said
Jenny.

Abel looked away. He was quiet for a long
moment. “I had someone too,” he said. “I wonder
what would have happened if I would have told him I wasn't dead. At
least not completely dead. But I was so afraid of what he would
think of me. I couldn't stand the thought of him looking at me that
way. The way he must see me. So I stayed away. I like to think he's
happy somewhere now, but that's a lie. No one's happy. And you're
never really the same when someone you love is taken away from
you.”

“You know, you're a really shitty
spy,” said Jenny.

“A spy?” he said. “Is that
what I am?”

“A bad one,” said Jenny.
“Giving me love advice and telling me about your past. Kind
of kills the mystery.”

“Maybe I'm just trying to gain your
trust,” said Abel.

“Well, you have it,” said Jenny.

“Because of what Zeke said?”

Jenny frowned. “He's the real thing, isn't
he? I didn't think it was possible.”

“I didn't either,” said Abel.
“The first time I met him. But he knows everything. It must
be such a burden.”

“What did he tell you to convince
you?” said Jenny.

Abel's face darkened. “He told me where to
find your mom.” His body suddenly stiffened and he looked
toward the museum. “Do you feel that?” he said.

“What?”

“Living.”

“It's just Declan. He's probably still
asleep.” Jenny did feel it now, and despite her words, she
knew it wasn't just Declan.

“No,” said Abel. “He's not
alone.”

They heard the voices arguing before they'd even
gotten in the hall. Declan and a woman's voice. Lucy. As Jenny crept
down the hall, she heard a lower male voice that sounded like
Beacon. she pulled out her knife and looked at Abel.

“Don't kill them,” she
whispered.

“No promises,” he breathed.

They paused outside the doorway to what had
become the living area.

“You have to go,” Jenny heard Declan
say. “I won't say it again.”

“Because your dead girlfriend is around
here somewhere?” said Lucy. “Come on, Munro. Even you
have to admit you've gone off the deep end.”

“Munro, just come back with us,”
said another, deeper female voice. Veronica. Jenny closed her eyes.
The gang was all here. She fought down an intense pang of hunger.
There were too many people here. Jenny wasn't sure if she could
control herself. Maybe it would be better if Declan went with Lucy.
She thought about what Zeke said, about how she was going to save
him. She didn't know what Zeke meant, but what if she did the wrong
thing? What if she let Declan go and wasn't around to help him?
What if letting him go was what she was supposed to do in order to
save him? The possibilities made her head throb.

“What are you doing?” Abel mouthed
to her.

“Just wait,” Jenny whispered.

“Munro, no one's saying you haven't had a
mother of a bad stretch,” Beacon was saying. “And no
one blames you for going a little batshit when she died. You never
got to say goodbye. I get it. And it is a fucking horrible thing
that happened to her. She was a great girl. But you have to let us
help you, man. Just come with us and we'll figure it out. You can't
live like this.”

“Say her name,” Declan said, his
voice low and dangerous.

“What?” said Beacon.

“You talk about her like she isn't
real,” said Declan. “Like she's a pet who died and
needs to be forgotten. You haven't said her name once since you got
here. Say her fucking name.”

“Jenny,” said Beacon. “Okay? I
said it. Her name was Jenny.”

“Is,” corrected Declan. “She's
still here.”

“Jesus fuck, Munro,” said Veronica.
“Fucking listen to yourself. You're holed up in this
weird-ass ruin of a museum, there's a bunch of dead goats
downstairs, the bodies of two dudes over there in the lab –
which happens to be covered in blood – and there's a dead
Asian girl in one of these creepy rooms off that way. I'm not
judging, but if it was back in the day, I'd have you
committed.”

“
I'm not crazy
!” Declan screamed. There was a crash like he'd kicked a
chair or thrown something into the wall. “I didn't kill these
people. And even if I did, I wouldn't go with you. My place is with
Jenny.”

“Jenny is dead, Munro,” Lucy said
heatedly. “Just fucking get past it.”

“If you didn't kill these people, who
did?” said Beacon.

“Sully,” said Declan. “He
might have had help. I don't know.”

“Sully?” said Veronica
incredulously. “You mean the old guy who runs the Expo
booth?”

“Yes,” said Declan, his voice
sounding weaker. “I know how it sounds. But he's a killer. He
kidnapped Jenny's brother. That's probably where Jenny is right
now.”

“Jenny's brother is alive?” said
Lucy.

“Yeah,” said Declan. “Well,
sort of. He's dead, but he's, you know, like us. Walking and
talking and thinking. And that girl isn't dead, she's like them
too. They tested some kind of paralyzing drug on her, so she just
seems dead. She'll snap out of it anytime now. Her name is
Trix.”

“So they're rotters,” said Lucy.

“No, not rotters,” said Declan.
“There were these experiments...”

Jenny looked at Abel, who shrugged. She didn't
know how people would react to them. It could start a whole new
kind of witch hunt if the living knew that they were technically
dead. You can't tell a mob that you're a really nice person and
that you might be some kind of key to curing the world. They'd have
a blade in her brain before she could get a single word out. It was
one thing to tell fairy tales about The Thirteen, but another to
actually see the horror of what they really were.

Abel rolled his eyes and, shaking off her hand
grasping at his arm, stepped out of the hall and into the room.
Everyone went silent.

“Who the hell are you?” said
Lucy.

“Abel,” said Declan sounding
relieved. “You have to tell them Jenny's real.”

“Of course she's real,” said Abel.
“She's hiding in the hall.”

Jenny gritted her teeth. She pulled out her
sunglasses and put them on to hide her eyes. Then she stepped out
of the hall. Eyes widened, jaws dropped, Beacon even gasped a
little at the sight of her.

“Jesus Christ,” said Veronica.

Jenny looked at Declan. “You should go
with them.”

Declan stood up from where he had slumped into a
chair. His back straightened and for a moment he was the old
Declan. The man in charge, the one everyone was afraid of. He shook
his head. “No.”

“You're going to get hurt,” said
Jenny. “Or killed. Worse maybe. What I stopped myself from
doing, I don't know how I can keep doing that. I can't stab myself
every time I...every time.”

Declan strode across the room and stood in front
of her. He looked down at her. He had always towered over her.
Jenny saw that he had a few white strands in the scruff on his
face. He had aged ten years in...how long had it been? A week? Two?
But still, Jenny couldn't help but stare into his face. She had
loved that face. But she couldn't let herself feel anything for
him. Not anymore. Loving him was ludicrous. She was dead. She had no right to love him.

Declan reached out and touched her cheek. He
didn't shrink away at the coldness of it, and there was no look
of revulsion. He narrowed his eyes at her. “I.
Don't. Care,” he said.

“And there you have it,” said Abel.
“Time for you all to go home now, living people. Nothing to
see here.”

“What the fuck is going on?” said
Lucy. Jenny looked past Declan to see her staring at them. There
was something just short of hatred on her face. “You can't be
here. You're dead. How are you here? No one survives a rotter
bite.”

Jenny looked at Beacon and Veronica's faces.
They wore masks of pure shock. With resignation, Jenny looked back
to Lucy.

“I didn't survive,” she said. She
took off her sunglasses.

Lucy didn't seem to be able to look away from
her eyes. She was shaking her head and backing away, but she stayed
locked onto Jenny's eyes. “What?” she said, her voice
sounding far away.

“Maybe you'd better sit down,” said
Declan.

“No,” said Lucy. “No. No, no,
no, no. This isn't what happens.”

“Jen,” said Beacon. “What is
this?”

“This,” said Abel, “is what
happens when your mother is Anna Fucking Hawkins.”

“Hawkins?” said Veronica. “The
scientist? The mother of the plague?”

“The very same,” said Abel.
“Your friend Jenny spent the last years of her childhood in a
lab, trapped with her mother, her sadistic granddaddy, and,
apparently, a serial killer who was obsessed with her.”

“What are you doing?” Jenny said to
Abel.

“Rallying the troops,” he said. He
turned back to the others. “Her brother was there too. And
eleven other children, including me.”

“The Thirteen?” said Beacon.
“They're real?”

“This isn't what happens,” Lucy said
again.

Jenny looked at Declan, who was frowning at Lucy
with a strange look on his face. “Declan, you have to go. I
can't keep you safe. From me, from the rotters, from Sully. I can't
do it.” She thought of Zeke, of his prediction. Something was
going to happen to Declan. Maybe if she sent him away, he would be
okay. Maybe he wouldn't get hurt, and she wouldn't have to save
him. Declan looked at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. He
shook his head and looked back at Lucy.

“What did you do?” he said.

Lucy shook her head. “No. No, Munro. Don't
do this.”

“Don't do what?” said Veronica,
looking from Declan to Lucy. “Munro?”

Lucy looked at Jenny and her face went hard. She
narrowed her eyes. “Why can't you just die like a normal
person?”

Jenny went cold. Even colder than dead. She felt
ice fill her up. “What did you do, Lucy?” she said, and
her voice wasn't her own. It was something frigid and hungry and
so, so angry.

“You were supposed to die,” she
said, her voice low and hot. “You were supposed to disappear.
He told me it would fix everything. All I had to do was...”
Lucy suddenly looked at Declan. “It wasn't my fault,
Munro.”

“Sully,” Declan said. “Sully
told you to convince her to go alone.”

Lucy swallowed thickly. “I'm so sorry,
baby. He tricked me.”

“Why?” said Declan, showing no
emotion. His eyes were glass, his face was stone. “Why did he
want her alone? Why her?”

“I don't know,” said Lucy. “He
didn't tell me. He just said we could solve both of our
problems.” Lucy's face crumpled and her eyes filled with
tears. “He said we needed to separate you.”

“Why?” Jenny growled. The world was
red around the edges. There was too much life in the room. The very
walls felt like they were pumping blood. The thought occurred to
her that she couldn't breathe, but that made her laugh a short,
harsh laugh that drew looks from Veronica and Beacon.

“I don't know,” said Lucy. She
looked back at Declan. “It wasn't supposed to happen this
way. We were supposed to be together.”

“Jesus Christ,” said Veronica.

Beacon looked away, his hand over his mouth.

Jenny took a step toward Lucy and the woman
straightened, looking around, seeming to realize the danger. She
took a step back, toward the door, but Abel stepped in front of
her, blocking her way. “I think my friend wants some
answers,” he said, smiling at her with his wolf smile.

Lucy whipped her head around, her dreadlocks
slapping her in the neck. Jenny closed the distance, the world
becoming more and more red, the closer she got to Lucy. Until her
cold fingers were wrapped around Lucy's throat. She could feel the
blood pumping through her body, her heart beating, her bones so
thin and delicate that Jenny knew she could break her. She knew
Lucy wasn't the strong one. Maybe she never was.

“Why?” Jenny said hoarsely.
“Why did Sully want to separate us?”

Lucy's eyes twitched back and forth, trying to
find a way out. Beacon and Veronica didn't move to help her. Declan
just stared.

“I'm sorry,” Lucy said, finally
looking at Jenny. What she saw there seemed to terrify her. Jenny
felt her scrabbling at something, clutching at the wall with her
other hand.

“Why?” Jenny said and squeezed ever
so slightly.

Lucy's eyes widened and Jenny smelled something
warm and ammonia. Lucy had pissed herself.

“Because,” Lucy whispered around
Jenny's hand on her windpipe. “You're stronger
together.”

“What?” said Jenny, her hand
loosening.

“He wanted you alone,” said Lucy.
“He said I could have Declan after you died.”

“What does he want with my brother?”
said Jenny. “If he wants me, why did he take
Casey?”