Thirteen Roses Book Five: Home: A Paranormal Zombie Saga by Michael Cairns Page A

mean? You’re the bloody Devil, can’t you just find her?’
    ‘I can’t, not anymore. Bay, I’m sorry, but it’s just about looking with our eyes now.’
    ‘Looking with your eyes, unless you fancy driving this.’
    He didn’t reply. Instead he leant forward, resting his head on his clenched fist and staring out into the night. After another minute during which she barely restrained herself from screaming, Luke glanced across. ‘You know she’s fine, don’t you? I’d know if she was dead. And she can take care of herself.’
    ‘I know she can, I’m just…’ What was she? She was frightened. She didn’t mind admitting it to herself. She’d exchanged one cared-for person for another, and this one she’d got to choose. Sort of.  
    She wanted to care for Ed as well and would have with or without the plague. They had been ejected from normal society and she could understand that, up to a point. She’d never had it like them, but seeing her friends slip away, first at school and then afterwards, when they found out about dad, had never been easy.  
    She cleared her throat. ‘What do we do if we can’t find her?’
    ‘I’ve been thinking about that. Krystal knows where we’re going. So maybe we park on the A40 with our lights on and watch for her. She’s got her phone, remember.’
    How had she forgotten that? She reached for her pocket and the van slewed sideways, taking the front off a BMW and tossing it into a row of parked cars. She yelped and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. This bloody thing was a monster.  
    ‘Call her, give her a call.’
    Luke already had his phone out, red cheeked as he caught up with her. He pressed it to his ear, staring deadly serious out into the rain. She smirked at his reflection in the front window. He had a phone face. That made her wonder what other faces he had and she blushed. His irritating confidence had been tempered in the last few days by this really cute nervousness and confusion.  
    He said it was caused by his humanity. He didn’t say more than that, but he looked a bit like Ed at times, with the same teenage worry lurking between the surface. It was nice. It made him a little less terrifying and a little more approachable. Right now, he looked about ten.  
    He took the phone away from his ear and stared at it, frowning. Then he pressed it back and his face lit up. ‘It’s ringing.’
    She laughed and slowed the artic. They were getting into Soho and the streets narrowed considerably. She took it over to one side and the top scraped along the building. It sounded like someone was tearing the roof off and she hastily pulled it back into the road, smashing into a car. It had nowhere to go and they pushed it all the way down the street. She slammed the brakes on as they reached the end and the car rolled and crashed into a building.  
    Luke took the phone away from his ear and swore. ‘No answer.’
    ‘Did you leave it long enough?’
    ‘My ear’s boiling hot. There!’ He pointed and she saw Krystal’s bike lying on its side in the rain. She yanked the hand brake and jumped out of the cab. Luke’s door went at the same time and they linked up to stare down at her bike. The storm soaked her to the skin and flattened her hair to her head like a wet towel.  
    Krystal’s body was nowhere around and she let out a breath. The zombies didn’t drag people away. If she’d been got, her body would be here.  
    So now they just had to find her. She was alive. She shuddered, mouth falling open as she shook. She hadn’t thought for a minute she’d be dead, but seeing something close to proof made her want to cry.  
    It wasn’t proof of course. It might just mean she was dead somewhere else. But she couldn’t think like that.  
    ‘How do we find her?’ She called after Luke. He was already walking away down a small side road and she took a moment to look elsewhere. Soho was deserted. Where were the zombies that should have been here? She