Gwen tugged at the end of her braid thoughtfully. “I wonder whether the conspirators realize something went wrong with their plan.”
Surely they hadn’t predicted that Zone residents would battle the creatures andwin?
“They must have some means of surveillance within the Zone.” Kip sounded uncharacteristically grim. “If so, their leaders already know.”
“What if…” Hugh sounded abstracted. “What if there’s footage from inside the compound that shows demons—either real ones or glamoured conspirators—setting the creatures loose?”
“Why would you ask that?” Craning her neck, Gwen looked back at him. “There aren’t any cameras inside the compound that still work. Right?”
If so, wouldn’t the public—or at least Zone residents—know about them?
“Wrong.” Hugh met her eyes. “The common human government considers the footage confidential.”
Lorrie’s lips pressed together in a firm, angry line. “Because they don’t want to remind us how they could have killed the zombies long ago but chose to keep endangering us instead.”
“In hopes they might figure out how to control the creatures again and deploy them as a weapon someday,” Kip finished for her.
“Correct.” Hugh dipped his chin. “SERC demanded access to the secret footage, however, and got it.”
The explanation still didn’t clarify things for Gwen. “If that’s true, why haven’t human government or SERC officials responded to the breach already?”
“I’m not sure the footage is continuously monitored. And my initial question still stands.” Hugh paused for emphasis. “What will you do if someone produces footage implicating demons in the breach?”
Gwen spread her hands, because there was no good answer. “We’ll deal with any footage if and when we need to. Maybe Max will have some ideas.”
Hugh didn’t appear entirely satisfied with that plan, but he didn’t belabor the subject.
“Fair warning, cuz.” Lorrie accelerated toward the next wall’s access point, only a couple of miles ahead. “If you don’t leave me at least half that duck confit you’re eating, I will take the largest, most inflexible Tupperware container we own and shove it straight up your gluttonous troll ass.”
Hugh winced.
Unfazed, Kip speared another forkful. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, bro.”
5
Squatting, Hugh peered closely at the two poor guards’ headless bodies. “I see no incontrovertible evidence of fae involvement.”
The breach site looked exactly how Max and Edie had described it. Wall One now boasted a gaping, ragged hole. An equally ragged but functional bridge crossed the wide moat that encircled the wall. Together, the hole and bridge had allowed the zombies to leave their underground compound and find prey among the Containment Zone residents. Their first victims: those two elderly-looking guards in uniform.
Gwen was doing her best not to lose the contents of her stomach in response to the sight before her. It wasn’t easy.
“I understand that, but the fae caused this carnage. You have to believe me.” Gwen swallowed convulsively. “And if you can’t, believe Max and Edie instead.”
Hugh’s mouth opened as if to debate her declaration, but after he glanced at her face, his lips pressed shut once more.
Great. She obviously looked just as awful as she felt.
It wasn’t just the nausea either. An unfamiliar sort of hum kept growing in her skull and buzzing through her veins until she thought the racket might deafen her. She could barely hear the trolls’ defense of Max and Edie’s conclusions through all the gods-awful noise.
She staggered but didn’t fall. Had no idea why not. It didn’t matter.
Am I about to pass out?she dimly wondered, then realized the truth.
This hum actuallywasn’tentirely unfamiliar. Just unwelcome and exquisitely painful. Lightning surged through her veins, exactly like last night, expanding with exponential speed and force. Her mouth gaped in a soundless scream, because she couldn’t contain the pressure. Her physical form, the fleshly vessel containing all that terrible power, would rupture if she couldn’treleasethe—
Blackness.
When she returned to her present reality, the Power had left her once more. She tasted iron. The warm wetness on her chin, her cheeks, her neck, was rapidly chilling in the winter air. Each too-fast heartbeat rang in her skull like a gong, and the waves of pain roiled her stomach until she couldn’t…she couldn’t…
