Still nursing his injured midsection, Elliott couldn’t help but smile. He was just grateful that Shavian had found them and was in good enough shape to beat him up. The only thing was…
“Generally speaking,” he gasped at her, “I totally get it when you punch me. But what did I do this time?”
Shavian’s face flushed with color, which might have made her look healthy if it hadn’t made her look so dangerous.
“You kidnapped me, or don’t you remember?” she snarled. “You got me into this! This is all your fault!” She stamped her foot for emphasis, but staggered slightly, the color draining from her once again. Junie reached out a hand to steady her, an unusual look of concern cutting through the vagueness.
“Oh, you’re still upset about that huh?” Elliott said, nodding. “I get that.”
“Are you okay?” Junie asked Shavian. The redhead grasped Junie’s arm and took a few deep breaths.
“Still a little unsteady,” she confessed, smiling up shyly at Shavian, who looped Shavian’s arm over her shoulder.
Even Roger looked concerned (or possibly just drunk). Aubrey stepped forward to help too, as Shavian really did look horrible. Soldiers continued to rush past them ignoring the civilians.
“What happened to you?” Fipps asked her.
Shavian shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure,” she said. “I remember being in the back of the van and then I woke up in a… a hospital room or something.” She shuddered. “It was like I was being experimented on or something.”
“Well, you’re safe now,” Aubrey said. “How did you get out of there though?”
She furrowed her brow. “It was the weirdest thing. There was this… this thing… it was a demon but… it talked like a human and it helped me. It could have ratted me out after I got out of my room but it didn’t.”
“Wait, it looked like a demon?” Fipps said. “Like, horns and all that?”
“No, the demons we’ve been overrun by?” she replied, the unsaid “duh” ringing clearly.
Fipps stared at her for a moment. “Oh, right,” he replied vaguely.
“It helped you escape?” Elliott said. Shavian nodded.
“That creepy doctor would have found me for sure if he hadn’t helped me.”
“That seems… odd,” Fipps said. “Are you sure it was a zom- demon?” Shavian gave him a look and he put up his hands in mock surrender, laughing. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“It is odd though,” Elliott said. “We haven’t seen anything like that since this started.”
“And now you’re about to see it again,” said an unfamiliar voice behind them. Every head whirled around.
The sun had begun to set and the armory building was flanked by stark shadows. Four figures stood amongst them indistinctly. One stepped forward and it took Elliott only seconds to recognize her. Her face was burned into his memory, a herald of the beginning of the end.
It was Maxine Bait, the reporter from that first newscast he saw in the Badger’s Hovel what seemed a lifetime ago. But she’d changed. She no longer looked flawlessly manicured and coifed; she was pale and had dark circles under her eyes that would have sent the station makeup artist reeling. Her curly brown hair, which Elliott remembered as artfully messy, was now simply messy, though her stark red lips and predatory eyes gave her more of a ‘just-had-sex’ rumpled look. Which was a thought that made Elliott feel like he needed a shower considering what he was unmistakably looking at: a talking zombie. Her clothes, once perfectly pressed and tailored for her, were now dirty, covered in blood and looking a bit too big, as though she had gotten leaner.
Looking completely comfortable and at home standing in her shadow was a man who couldn’t have been more non-descript if he was dressed up as a slab of pavement. He was neither ugly or attractive, with ordinary brown hair and eyes.
The other two Elliott knew: Higgins and General McNabb. The remaining pit in Elliott’s stomach was gone. They were all back together.
Shavian broke away from Junie and limped over to Higgins and threw her arms around his neck. He patted her back and then she broke away, looking shy.
“It’s good to see you, old man,” she said.
Higgins gave her a half smile. “Ditto.”
General McNabb did introductions all around. The man’s name was Jake, and he waved when introduced but didn’t offer his hand to anyone though it seemed out of shyness rather than unfriendliness.
“Well, now that we’re all back together,” Elliott said, pointedly looking around for Junie. Fipps surreptitiously took her by the hand. “What do we propose?”
“How many times do I have to say it?” Roger growled. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”