Alexi shook his head. He hoisted his hammer and laid it across one massive shoulder. “Two ways we can play this. You be nice and hand me those papers, or I take them off of you. You won’t like it the second way.”
Even up in the plane Benny could hear the other reapers laugh. Benny couldn’t tell whether that was because these reapers were different or because the woman, Mother Rose, wasn’t here. At the moment, the people with Brother Alexi just seemed like a group of thugs.
Nix suddenly raised the pistol and pointed it at the giant’s chest.
“If anyone tries to touch me, I’ll kill you,” she said.
“Won’t stop us from getting the papers, missy,” Alexi said. “Go ahead and pull the trigger, sweet cheeks. My chosen ones will leave pieces of you along thirty miles of road.”
“You won’t be there to see it,” growled Nix, and the giant gave an appreciative laugh.
Benny knew that this situation was going to fall apart any second. Even if Nix shot the giant, she had only two bullets left, and then it would be her with a bokken against a dozen killers with knives and swords. He almost swung his leg out to start climbing down.
Almost.
But an idea stopped him.
Knives and swords.
He reached up and touched the sword he carried, thought about it, shook his head, and instead drew his knife.
This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, he told himself.
Then Benny turned his back on Nix and the reapers and lunged for the handle to the cargo bay.
79
THAT’S IT, THOUGHT NIX RILEY. I’M GOING TO DIE. RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
Brother Alexi was like something out of a nightmare. Seven feet tall, his body packed with muscle, his skin reeking from whatever chemical the reapers used to fend off the living dead. He leered down at her, the big sledgehammer resting with false idleness. Nix could see the tension in the man’s arm—he was ready to smash her flat.
She wished Benny were there with her.
She wished Benny would stay hidden and stay alive.
She wished Tom weren’t dead.
The reapers began to close in around her. The afternoon sun was beginning to fall behind the trees, and the slanting light struck yellow fire from the edges of all those knives and axes.
Mom, she thought, I hope you’re waiting for me.
Please.
Be there to bring me home.
“Now,” said Alexi, and he suddenly grabbed the closest reaper and flung him at Nix.
Nix screamed.
And fired.
80
JOE SKIDDED THE QUAD TO A STOP.
“Did you hear that?” he barked.
“A shot,” said Lilah, nodding. “Up ahead, by the crashed plane. Reapers?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Reapers don’t use guns.”
There was a second shot. With the engine idling low, they could hear it better.
“Handgun,” said Joe. “Wheel gun, not an automatic.”
Lilah grabbed Joe’s sleeve. “Nix!”
Joe stared at her for one shaved fragment of a second.
“Grimm! Reapers! Hit-hit-HIT!”
The powerful mastiff gave a single howl of dark intent, and then he went racing away at a speed Lilah would never have thought possible for so massive a beast. The armor rattled along Grimm’s sides as he crashed into the brush, cutting off the path to take the straightest line of attack.
“Lock and load, little darlin’,” bellowed Joe as he gunned the engine.
81
THE FIRST REAPER FELL WITH A RED POPPY BLOSSOMING IN THE CENTER OF his chest. That stalled the others for a short second, and Nix stole her chance. She whirled and ran for the mound of dirt near the front of the wrecked plane. She knew from her training that if she could gain the high ground, she might have a slim chance.
It was bravado, she knew. A delusion, because there was nowhere to go once she made the high ground. The reapers could catch her.
Or she could lead them away from the plane and give Benny a chance.
If only Benny would do the smart thing and take it. If only he would stop thinking that he had to be Tom now that Tom was dead.