“Help me pull him away,” Bronx gritted.
My skin felt as if it were snapping and popping and ripping away. The agony... Nothing compared to this. Now it was too much, too much, far too much. I wanted to die.
“The red is fading now,” I heard Gavin shout. “She’s healing. Help Cole. Light up and put your hands on her.”
I wasn’t sure how many seconds—minutes?—passed before everyone obeyed. I couldn’t see past the pain, but I eventually felt pressure on my ankles, knees, thighs, belly, arms and shoulders. A terrible heat filled me up and split me apart.
No! Zombie Ali shrieked. No, make them stop, make them stop!
No longer on...my to-do...list, I tried to tell her.
Her voice grew quiet, quieter...until it evaporated altogether.
And then the pain was...leaving?
Yes, I realized a few seconds later. It was. The heat was becoming bearable, almost pleasant. I sagged against the table, finally able to breathe.
My eyesight cleared, and I could see flames dancing all over me; they were no longer red, but gold, like they were supposed to be.
The slayers had saved me.
Their hands fell away from me. Someone held a mirror in front of my face, and I looked, seeing no sign of Z.A. Then the mirror was gone, and I was staring at Cole, marveling that I experienced only a desire to hug and kiss him, not to bite.
Excitement, relief and undiluted joy filled me, and I found the strength to lift my arms and encircle his neck. “Cole,” I sobbed.
His hands shook as he brushed the hair from my face. “You’re still here. You’re still here!”
I was, and he was, though there were blisters all the way up his arm—blisters I had caused. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
“Don’t be. I’m not.”
“Well, don’t ever do anything like that again, do you hear me?”
“Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“Don’t worry.”
He pressed a swift kiss into my mouth. “The light chased away the darkness.”
Yes. I’d finally died to the evil and lived to the light.
“But your father. Your grandfather. Kelly. They ashed when you touched them with the flames.”
True. I’d put my glowing hands on all three men, and they’d ashed. “My dad and grandfather were fully zombie, with no humanity left. And Kelly had destroyed his own humanity with his actions. I was still fighting.” A thought occurred to me. “Have you ever put your hands on another slayer like that?”
“No. Never. We were too afraid we’d burn each other.”
I sat up, surprised to find there was no ensuing dizziness, no weakness. Just pure, unadulterated strength. Actually, I’d never felt better.
Check off list: kill Z.A., survive.
I flexed my fingers, popped the bones in my neck. “There isn’t a trace of the zombie toxin,” I said, marveling. “I don’t need the antidote. I don’t need anything. I’m one hundred percent racer ready.”
His violet gaze studied my face. “You look it. The bruises have fled. The chapped lips are gone. The gauntness has even left you.”
We’d had the power to do this all along; we just hadn’t known it. Now I suspected none of us would ever need the antidote again. We wouldn’t have to worry about developing an immunity to it. We wouldn’t ever have to stop fighting the zombies. We could help each other. Strengthen each other.
Someone would have to get bitten, and we would have to try this again to be sure, but deep down I knew I was right. Even Mr. Holland would be able to fight the zombies again.
Kat shoved her way through the crowd, shoved Cole aside and threw her arms around me. “You’re healed!”
I hugged her back.
And there was Reeve, wrapping her arms around me, and then the three of us were jumping up and laughing. I wanted this for Kat, couldn’t stand the thought of losing her to kidney disease. What would the fire do to her, though? Would we kill her if we touched her, a nonslayer, with the flames?
What I knew: she was going to die if we didn’t.