We stumbled to a stop inside the covered drawbridge, and I collapsed to my knees, certain I would vomit. The nausea rose heavy in my throat, and my bladder felt excruciatingly tight. My feet were raw from all the blisters that had to be bleeding by now.
Beneath the bridge, the Schuylkill River flowed lazily by. No carriages, no people in sight, only the gentle rain tapping the wooden roof. The calm of it all clashed with the chaos that still blazed inside me.
Daniel’s breathing rasped nearby, and a glance showed him slumped to his knees. I crawled to him and began to pick at his ropes.
“You must not’ve,” he said between gasps for air, “turned the right knob.”
The words echoed without meaning in my brain. My wet clothes clung to my skin, and I shivered with cold and exertion. My single line of coherent thought was focused on the task of loosening his ropes, on mustering more dexterity into my numb fingers.
Minutes ticked by, and at last the knots came free. I slid my hands beneath the ropes. Daniel flinched—I had stroked raw skin.
“You’re hurt.” My voice cracked.
“I’m lucky that’s all that happened.” He pushed unsteadily to his feet. “You could have killed us.”
“But I saved you.”
“No.” He bent and hoisted me roughly to my feet. “You almost killed me.”
“I didn’t!” I tried to break free, but he pulled me closer.
“I told you to leave,” he snarled. With his face only inches from mine and glowing white in the darkness, I could make out lines of fury scored into his face. His swollen left eye and bleeding lip only made him look more anguished.
“They almost killed you,” I said hoarsely.
“And they almost killed you too!”
He dropped me, and I stumbled back until I hit the bridge’s wall. He thrust a finger in the direction of the factory. “Do you know what should have happened back there, Eleanor? Do you?”
“I just meant to scare the guards. I didn’t mean to break the pump.” The hot ache of tears burned in my throat.
“Joseph sent you as backup—in case things went wrong.” He strode to me, his hands bunching into fists. “Well, things went wrong, and your job was to leave. To stay safe.”
“And you’d be dead in the river if I had.”
“And what if you had died too? Did you think of that?” He gave a strangled groan and stomped away, clenching and flexing his fingers as if trying to keep the violence to himself. “You didn’t think at all, did you?” He whirled back around. “Tell me—did you?”
“Yes!” I shouted. “I did. And I made a choice! If you’re worried about Joseph, then we should go. We have the dy***ite, and we can still—”
“This isn’t about Joseph or the dy***ite.” He spoke in a low growl. “Leaving was your only job, Eleanor, so why didn’t you go when I told you to?”
“Because, Daniel.” My voice was raw with bitterness and hurt. “You...” My voice broke. I swallowed to try again. “Because, Daniel, no matter what you say, I know you would have done the same for me.”
His breath burst out. He tumbled backward as if I’d slapped him. I used the moment to escape, shoving past him and slinging the sack onto my shoulder. Without a glance back, I sprinted through the bridge toward Philadelphia. My footsteps were loud and hollow.
Tears fell now and mixed with the raindrops. But despite the sobs that hovered in my chest and threatened release at any moment, I refused to succumb.
Joseph needed the dy***ite, and Daniel was right: I had a job to do.
“Wait!”
I looked back. Daniel was rushing toward me through the rain. In half a heartbeat he was beside me and tugging me into his arms. His lips parted, but if to speak or to kiss, I never found out.
The sky lit up as if a flash of sunlight pierced the night. A sound like thunder, black and heavy, cracked through the rain. It was from the factory, and a shock wave shuddered over the earth. My knees, already weak, buckled from the impact. I fell onto Daniel, and we toppled to the ground.
The factory had exploded.
It was the impetus we needed, the reminder that life and death still hung in the balance in Philadelphia. In seconds we were back on our feet and bolting toward the city. Toward Joseph at the Centennial Exhibition—and toward the walking Dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The lab was destroyed.
When we finally straggled back over an hour later, we found nothing intact. Joseph’s papers were shredded, Daniel’s inventions were torn apart, and everything was covered in grave dirt and bits of jellied corpse. I stood frozen at the door.
In the middle of the room, Jie held a slumped and barely conscious Joseph. Daniel lunged forward and eased Joseph to a stool.
“It was a trick,” Jie said. Her voice was raspy and thin. “The necromancer tricked us from the lab. We went to the U.S. Government Building, and we fought the Dead. But this”—she waved at the room—“is what they came to do.”
My breath shot out, and I eased the sack of dy***ite to the floor. “You mean the necromancer lured you away to destroy your equipment?”