“Zoey,” Dad said resigned, collapsing in a chair and propping his feet on the table. I paused for a moment, wondering if I should reprimand him yet again but decided against it.
“Dad, we’re adults. You can’t keep hiding things from us,” I said, firmly. I emptied the coffee grounds from the day before (he could never remember to do this) and put in a new filter.
He sighed. We all exchanged looks, wondering if he was going to say anything more. “This doesn’t leave this room. A statement will be released but it won’t be the whole truth.” He looked at us each in turn, as we nodded in agreement. Madison and I both looked incredibly solemn while the boys had a certain gleam in their eyes. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my dad.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It was brutal. The doctors that were there to study the bodies? Well, they were torn to pieces. This wasn’t a simple shooting or stabbing. This took time.” He ran a hand through his thinning hair. “The coroner said the wounds looked like they were inflicted by teeth.”
“Um, excuse me?” I asked, baffled, at the same time Brody and Ash said, “Awesome!”
I pushed Ash away from me and turned back to Dad. “I’m confused. What do you mean? Like an animal?”
He gave a sort of half-nod, half-shrug movement. “That’s exactly what it looks like, but it just can’t be. How would an animal capable of attacking and killing four grown adults get into a morgue in the middle of Manhattan? And you know, there were absolutely no signs of a break in.”
“That’s incredibly bizarre,” Madison said, her pert little noise wrinkled in disgust.
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Dad said, picking up the salt and peppershakers on the table and holding them in his hands. I knew my dad; he wasn’t an idle person and his hands always had to be doing something.
“What else?” I was almost too scared to ask. What more could possibly be wrong with this crime? Vampires? Werewolves? A mad supervillain?
“The bodies are missing.”
We were all quiet for a minute as we took in what my dad had said.
It was Madison who broke the silence. “What do you mean, ‘the bodies are missing?’ What bodies?”
“The bodies of the virus victims. There were at least twenty and they’re gone. Disappeared, without a trace.” I noticed a touch of unease in my father’s voice and I felt my stomach drop. My dad dealt with crime every day, crime all over the city. There were some things he just got used to. To see him uneasy was a rarity. “We’re getting word that this is happening all over the place too. Los Angeles. Phoenix. Denver. Chicago. It’s been a nightmare.”
I felt sick to my stomach. The death count of the virus had been climbing steadily over the past few weeks, and to think of all those bodies gone missing…I shuddered at the thought. “Are people stealing the bodies?”
Dad shrugged. “I don’t know. Why would they? And it’s not like they could get up and walk out on their own.”
Ash’s eyes went wide. “That would be pretty cool though. Animated corpses.”
I looked over at my dad, pleading him to see the ignoramus that I was forced to deal with every single day. He smiled slightly, a corner of his mouth turned upward in amusement. I turned back to Ash, “Do you every take anything seriously?”
“I take you seriously, baby,” he said, with a wink, and I threw my hands up in exasperation.
“Zoey?”
We all turned to Dad. “You’re not going to school anymore. I’m sorry. It’s just not safe.” I nodded, swallowing hard. He looked over at the other three teenagers. “I’m not your parent, but I think it would be wise if you stayed home too.”
All three of them nodded, suddenly solemn.
My dad suddenly stood up, walking over to dump the untouched coffee in the sink. “Zoey, I was also thinking that maybe you should go stay with your mom for awhile.”
Madison suddenly looked alert. She knew what the three letter word “mom” would do to me. “Okay, that’s my clue to leave.” She grabbed Brody’s shirt collar and started to tug him away.” Let’s go.”
“No!” I burst out. “No, come on, Dad! I don’t want to live with Mom!”
“Told you,” Madison said, tugging harder on Brody. “Let’s go.”
“I just think,” he said, calmly, “it would be safer for you to be with your mother.”
“Wait,” Ash said, still standing there even though Madison and Brody had made their escape. “Why would Z go live with her mom?”
I ignored him. “Mom hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” Dad said, rolling her eyes. “She’s hurt that you’d rather live here in New York with me, but she doesn’t hate you.”
“I can’t live with her. I can’t,” I said, firmly. “My home is Manhattan.”
“Why does Zoey have to move in with her mom?” Ash repeated.
“You have a home with your mom as well,” Dad said gently.
“I don’t want to,” I said again.