“And yet you thought it’d be okay with her father if you stuck your tongue down her throat?”
Still refusing to answer, Bronx shoved his way out.
“Why can’t he hang out with—” I began.
“Nope. Not discussing that with you.” Cole snapped the door closed, every shadow returning.
Giving him a minute to calm down and myself a moment to adjust to the dark, I stood still and quiet. Bit by bit, I began to make out the different areas of the storage closet. As a whole, the enclosure was bigger than my bedroom. There were cans of food on the shelves, Crock-Pots and toasters on the floor. There was a ladder, and other things guys found necessary.
“Reeve’s dad texted me,” Cole said, “and told me you were downstairs.”
“Is he one of you?”
Several beats of silence passed before he admitted, “Yes. He and my dad are friends, and he funds our activities. He can’t see the zombies, but he’s seen what they do to us and helps us when we’re bitten—on the condition that Reeve stays out of it.”
Good to know. “And Dr. Wright?”
“She knows. We needed someone on our side at school, and she was it.”
As I’d suspected. Now, switching gears. “What was the fight about?”
“Justin asked me where you were. I told him I didn’t know. He told me to go to hell and stay away from you. I told him you’d made your choice and he needed to deal.”
“So he hit you?”
“No. He said you belonged on his team and if I tried to recruit you you’d be killed.”
“So you hit him?”
“I did. Broke his nose, too.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Let’s backtrack a little. He has a team?”
He snorted. “You mean he hasn’t asked you to help him?”
“Help him with what?” As with Mr. Ankh and Dr. Wright, I had my suspicions.
“The zombies.”
“No. Until a few minutes ago, I had no idea he was involved.”
“He’s not involved. He’s a menace.”
And Cole was one big bowl of confusion. “You’re not making any sense. He’s either involved or he isn’t. Which is it?”
Cole banged the back of his head on a shelf, sighed and said, “Listen up, because I will never repeat this. I shouldn’t be talking about it now, especially considering you’re dating him.”
I stomped my foot. “I’m not—”
“Justin used to be one of us,” he said, causing me to shut my mouth. “Then he met up with a group of people who claimed to want to destroy the zombies but have only ever tried to stuff the evil spirits inside of living bodies. Think possession,” he added, probably sensing my increased confusion. “Remember the way you returned to your body?”
“No, actually, I don’t.” I’d been in too much pain.
His chuckle was without humor. “That’s right. I had to do it for you. Anyway, these people say what they’re doing is research to discover ways to counteract the zombies’ infection, but how can we believe them when they’re willing to hurt innocent people to do that research?”
“How do you know that?”
“After Justin told me about them, I visited their lab, saw people in cages, each living person in different stages of decomposition. And we’re pretty sure those researchers are the ones who burned down my old house.”
Labs. Cages. Decomposition. Burning houses! “Justin works for the people in the hazmat suits?” Who were, apparently, just as evil as the zombies.
“Yes.”
“Well, he hasn’t mentioned them to me, I promise.” I wouldn’t give him a chance to mention them, either. I wanted nothing to do with anyone who was hoping to stuff something evil into something good.
Cole pinched the bridge of his nose. “Justin will tell them about my interest in you, so they’ll be contacting you sooner or later, in some way or another. They’ve contacted all of us. If you refuse to help them, they’ll try and convince you and it won’t be a pleasant experience.”
“I don’t care.”
A heavy pause. Then “Your grandparents will care.” A sigh. “Maybe you’d be better off walking away from me, Ali.”
What? “No!”
“Your life is about to change. You’ll be out almost every night. Probably be caught by your grandparents, definitely in constant trouble. Your free time will disappear, and your grades will drop. You’ll be hurt all the time, probably suffer broken bones. Sometimes you might even hope to die.”
“So?” I would be killing the very creatures that had destroyed my family—I would be stopping those creatures from destroying other families. That was a fair enough trade.
“So. I don’t want that for you. If you aren’t careful, social services will come knocking on your grandparents’ door. They’ll accuse them of beating you. That’s happened to a few of us.”
“I’ll be careful,” I said on a trembling breath.