I nodded, unable to hide my growing shame.He cupped my cheeks as if he still had every right to touch me. My chin trembled—no! no more tears—and I battled the urge to lean into him, to rest my head on his shoulder and draw from his strength. I pulled away, severing contact.His expression hardened.“All right, well.” Nana cleared her throat before gathering her purse and keys. “I’m headed to Target to pick up the things we’re going to need. You two obviously have a few issues to work out.”“I don’t need anything,” I assured her.She kissed me on the cheek, patted Cole on the arm and left us alone.“I’ll talk to Ankh,” Cole said, shutting and locking the door.“No. Don’t. I’m furious for what he’s done to Nana, but I do understand what he’s done to me. I attacked you, Cole. Like, I planned to eat the life out of your spirit.”“I don’t care about that.”“Well, I do.”He waved the words away. “You weren’t in your right mind.”“What about the other thing? I bit a freaking zombie. No tell

“See you then.” Click.“Who was that?” Kat asked.“Do you remember the SUV that followed us that day with Reeve?”“The one you threw knives at? Nope. I’ve totally forgotten.”Har-har. “The old guy... He gave me his card. I called him. He called me back. And so on and so forth. We’ve now set up a meeting.”Paling, Kat tightened her hands on the steering wheel. “Ali, you don’t know this man.”“Yeah, but I know I need answers and he might have them.”“Answers about...the dark side?”“Yes,” I replied softly.She reached over and patted my knee. “You’re going to overcome this. I just know it. You’re strong. You’ve lost so much, and you’re going to fight with everything you’ve got to keep from losing more.”I wanted to believe her, but I was fast losing hope.She parked in front of—Colluctor Park, I realized. It was a Tuesday, close to dinnertime and as cold as ice. No one walked the manicured lawn. The trees were barren, but there were benches, a swing set and monuments. There was also a

“That’s enough,” Cole shouted.I...wanted to die. Everything Veronica had said rang true. These people would have been far better off without me. Cole would have been able to fight. He wouldn’t have gotten bitten. And what about tomorrow? What would happen then? I was nothing more than a living time bomb. I never knew what I would do next—or whom I would hurt. One day, I could detonate and take out everyone around me.“The zombies are dead. Where’s Kat?” Frosty demanded. He stood a few feet away from me, his clothes torn and splattered with black goo. Just then, his navy eyes did justice to his name—they were coated with ice.Cole moved beside me and wrapped his arm around me in a shocking show of support. I loved his warmth and his scent and his strength and wanted nothing more than to bask in them, but I forced myself to move away from him.He might support me in this right now, but it wouldn’t last. He’d soon regret it and wish he’d kept me at a distance.He lifted his chin, every

“No way. My reasons for staying quiet are still the same. I won’t blacken someone’s name without at least a little proof.”“Yeah, but once the truth comes to light, whoever you’ve accused will be vindicated. Or not.”He shook his head, saying, “The problem is, my closest friends will know I didn’t trust them. Maybe they’ll forgive me, maybe not, but from that moment on, no matter what I do, what I say, they’ll always wonder at my motives. That stuff doesn’t leave a person.”Had he ever been accused of something he hadn’t done?I must have asked the question aloud because he said, “When Justin started working with Anima, he hung around my team for information, just like the newest spy. I knew something was going on and stupidly blamed Boots and Ducky, members of the team you never got to meet.” As he spoke, he rubbed the tattoos of their names. “They were so mad at me, so hurt, they went hunting that night, I guess to prove their loyalty, and they found a nest of zombies. That’s the ni

“I have heard of a few other people having a spirit that is toxic to zombies.”One of them was my great-great-great-grandfather, I would bet.“Justin reacted as he did because he was bitten by zombies Anima had experimented on and released. Their toxin is stronger, works faster.”“But Justin went back to normal and I didn’t.”“Justin isn’t allergic to himself.” He lifted a small, dark case from the floor and popped open the lid, revealing stacks of prefilled, plastic syringes. “I created different types of the antidote for all the different reactions I had heard about.”“How many different kinds are there?”“Eight. I took the formulas with me when I left Anima, and I’ve made several batches of each. Let’s give you a dose of the antihistamine antidote now and see what happens.”I should say no. I shouldn’t let a strange man inject me with a strange substance.Common Sense Ali screamed it was foolish. And yet Survivalist Ali shouted it was currently my best chance of winning this.“Okay