When I raised the dead, I pulled the life-force from nearby things, be it plants, animals, or humans. To summon that many zombies would take a village’s worth of energy. I shuddered to think of those whose lives had been stolen just to hunt me down.
Back at the road, I stopped before approaching the car. Maddox got a few steps ahead of me and paused when he realized I was no longer following him. He turned, and this time he blinded me with his flashlight.
I covered my eyes with the back of my hand until he sighed and dropped it. The man must have thought that would break me, but tonight had already taken everything out of me. I had no more panic, no more fear left to give.
Only determination.
“Do you believe me now?” I asked.
“On which part? I need you to be more specific.”
Despite everything, I laughed. It came out a little manic, but a tightness in my chest eased. Tonight had been a wild ride, but I’d survived despite everything.
“Do you still think I’m responsible? Or do you think I went through all this to deceive you?” I put my hand on my hips and waited.
Maddox’s lips twisted to the side like he was thinking.
My jaw dropped. “You really think I would throw myself out a window to prove my innocence?”
The roll of his eyes told me thatyes, he really thought I could have been behind this. But that also told me that he no longer thought this was a weird trip. The zombies weren’t hallucinations. They were very much real, and a big threat no matter where we went.
I sobered. “Whoever is behind this knows where I live. I don’t know if I can go back home.”
“You’ll be fine when the sun comes up. They did this at night to hide…” Maddox shuddered, likely thinking of the rotten zombies.
I didn’t want to tell him that I could make better ones. Perhaps the killer spread themselves too thin by raising so many zombies, but the ones that I’d made had always pulled themselves together before long.
Did that mean that I was stronger? Or was I being cocky? It honestly didn’t matter when I wasn’t going to use my arcana in the first place. I refused to sacrifice the life force of others to use this power.
“So, where do we go until the sun comes up?” I asked.
Maddox’s lip curled like he hated his own idea. “Let’s drive out a little further and get a motel room for the night.”
That’s how we found ourselves at a place called the Rainbow Motel in the middle of nowhere. It sat at a crossroads that would have been ripe for demon activity had it not been for Vi’s reputation. Honestly, I would have welcomed a few demons over the horde of zombies from earlier.
Maddox kicked open the door of our room to reveal one bed. I glanced up at him in question. He wasted no time in kicking the door closed behind him. While I cringed at the loud sound, he marched into the bathroom and flung himself into the tub. The bedraggled sigh that he let out betrayed his absolute exhaustion.
That was my fault. I’d had a moment in the car. My arcana had gotten out of hand. Overexcited, it’d reached for everything in the nearby vicinity. I’d accidentally pulled on some of Maddox’s life force. When I realized what I’d done, I’d gotten out of the car to put distance between us while I calmed down.
Now, he quickly passed out in order to reclaim some of that lost energy.
I was left alone with the single bed. As guilty as I felt for letting him sleep in abathtubof all things, I still climbed onto the bed and curled around a pillow.
Every small noise startled me. I jumped at every moan of the wind, thinking that it was another zombie come to drag me away.
Sleep was a distant dream.