Hunter Of The Dead (7 page)

Chapter Ten

Eden’s earpiece screeched. She dug it out of her ear and dropped it on the ground, not taking her eyes off what used to be the only path out of the valley. “What the hell just happened?”

Alejandro stooped down to pick up the earpiece, turning it this way and that in the palm of his hand. “It would seem someone wishes to block the infected in.”

She finally tore her eyes away from the rising dust. It was then she realized what she’d done. Eden snatched the earpiece out of his hand and held it to her ear. The screeching sound didn’t stop, signaling the destruction of the other ear pieces.

“Jordan,” she whispered. Her sister was supposed to be in the mouth of the valley—the mouth of the valley currently covered in half a ton of rock. She looked up as if the scene would change. Eden didn’t stop to think, she sprinted down the road.

“
Querida
, stop.”

Like hell she would. Alejandro’s hand on her arm spun her around, her momentum forcing her into his chest. Eden did what she’d been trained to do whenever someone grabbed her, she fought back. Taking a quick half-step back, she punched him in the kidneys. He let go and doubled over.

She turned and ran, barely making it three steps before Alejandro tackled her. Before Eden could do much more than shriek, he rolled them off the road and into the trees. “What the hell is your problem?” She struggled, trying to throw him off.

He slapped a hand over her mouth. “Hush,
querida
.”

Eden bit him.

Alejandro cursed, using his uninjured hand to hold her jaw shut. It hurt, a lot. “Stop acting like a child and listen to me.”

Her sister buried under a mountain of rock and he wanted to sit here and talk?

“Will you behave?”

She couldn’t nod or speak, but she tried to convey her agreement with her eyes. What did it matter anyways? Jordan was gone. Fighting with Alejandro wouldn’t change that. Nothing would. He let go of her and she massaged her jaw.

“Do you ever stop to think before you go rushing into danger?” When she only stared at him, Alejandro sighed. “The cliffs were blown on purpose, no?”

“Yeah.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “You think they’ll be hanging around, seeing who the blast draws out?”

“
Si
.”

Eden looked away, her gaze drawn against her will back to the mouth of the valley. She couldn’t see it from her position because of the trees, but she knew where it was, despite all their rolling. Words bubbled up, words she desperately didn’t want to give voice to. “My sister is dead.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I?” Jordan was gone, just like her mother, just like her father. Trying to deny it was pointless. Eden looked down at her hands, calloused and long fingered, so similar to her sister’s. She would never argue over being able to fight on the ground team, would never see that look of disappointment in Jordan’s eyes, would never get to tell her sister how much she loved her. Eden was alone, totally and completely alone.

What the hell was she going to do now? She turned back to Alejandro, mostly for something to do. “I suppose you have a plan?”

“We must keep moving.”

The infected would be drawn by the noise of the explosion. She was surprised they hadn’t shown up before now. She nodded, forcing herself to stand up. Maybe if she kept talking, kept moving, it would hold the pain at bay. Eden could feel the inconsolable grief hanging over her head, waiting for the moment when it would crash down around her and pull her under. It would happen soon, very soon.

But not yet.

Alejandro rose to his feet with no apparent effort, as if a puppeteer had yanked on his strings. “The safest place, right now, is the cabin.”

It had basic first aid as well as food and water. It was the smart, logical solution. Jordan would be so proud. Grief surged, nearly bringing her to her knees. Her sister was gone. Eden shook her head, forcing the pain back. She couldn’t have a breakdown now. She had to keep moving. If she kept moving, it would be okay.

“Come,
querida
.” He started off through the trees and she followed, grateful he hadn’t asked her how she was or told her everything would be all right. Nothing would ever be all right again. There was a gaping hole where the last of her family had been, a hole that could never be filled.

She’d thought it was bad three years ago when the police officer showed up at their door in the middle of the night, bringing news that their father had been killed by a mugger. A freaking mugger. He fought undead monsters for twenty years, only to be brought down by some punk after the five dollars in his pocket. The grief had been horrible, worse even than seeing her mother die.

But this was so far beyond that. Before, at least she’d had Jordan to cling to through the worst of it. Not anymore, though. Now she had no one, absolutely no one.

Eden glanced over her shoulder towards where her sister’s body was buried beneath so much rock. She never saw anything other than trees, but her imagination gave her enough images to work with. Jordan, bleeding and broken. Jordan, whose very existence was reduced to an ugly red stain. Years of doing their kind of work gave her more than enough material to work with.

“
Querida
.”

Eden glanced up. When had she started answering to that name? It didn’t matter, not really. They stood in front of the cabin. She blinked. Wow, they’d gotten here fast, too fast. She was losing time. Not good, not good at all.

Alejandro stood in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. Yeah, she was definitely out of it if she hadn’t noticed him touching her before now. “I need you with me now.”

They were words she would have killed to hear not too long ago, but now she couldn’t work up much reaction. Eden shivered, rubbing her arms. “What do you need?”

He frowned. “You are going into shock.”

“I’m fine.”

Alejandro cursed under his breath and swept her off her feet, carrying her into the cabin. He sat her on the bed and grabbed the comforter, wrapping it securely around her before he went back to shut and bolt the front door. Eden watched him move around the cabin, getting the first aid kit set up, while she shivered beneath the blanket.

He wiped the hand she’d bitten with antiseptic and wrapped a bandage around it. Then he crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed, pulling Eden into his lap.

She tensed, but the heat of his body was too much temptation. Eden couldn’t help relaxing into him, sinking into his embrace. It felt good, slowly easing the chill from her body. But in the wake of his warmth came pain. Eden started shaking and this time it had nothing to do with temperature. “She’s gone.” She meant to say
Jordan’s dead,
but somehow those words wouldn’t force their way past her lips. Not again.

He pulled her closer, tucking her head against his shoulder. “Do not mourn until you see a body.”

Eden barked out a laugh. It was either that or start crying. “I don’t think that’s going to happen with a million pounds of rock on top of her.”

“You do not know she was in the area when the explosion happened.”

His calm irritated her, rubbing against her sorrow like sandpaper. “Yeah, I do. She gave me a timeline—twenty minutes. If I hadn’t been so far away, I would have been there with her.”

She almost said it would have been better that way, but it was a foolish comment. Eden was a survivor and they both knew it. Even with Jordan gone, she’d keep going, would fight to live. Wishing for death was for the weak. Eden was far better at dealing it out. “I’m going to find whoever did this and I’m going to make them wish they’d never been born.” Torture had never been her thing—it was usually a moot point because the infected couldn’t feel pain and had no secrets to tell—but she decided she could develop a taste for it.

“Keep that thought and hold it close to you on cold nights.” Alejandro shifted, his breath brushing her ear. “I, too, find myself desiring revenge on the ones who orchestrated this.”

There was no point in arguing. Besides, Eden had a feeling she would need his help before the end of this. And a small, selfish part of her wanted to keep him close, even knowing there was a healthy chance that he would leave again.

Still, she couldn’t stop the bitter words from emerging. “Why do you care? You haven’t seen her—or any of them—in a year. You left them, just like you left me.” Damn it, she’d been so focused on Jordan, that she hadn’t considered the rest of their team. It seemed impossible anything could kill the Wonder Twins, especially something as mundane as a rockslide. Oz...Eden’s stomach lurched. She’d completely forgotten the cowboy was killed back in the village. He was an asshole, but no one deserved to be forgotten so easily.

Grief rose again, threatening to swallow her whole. If she gave in now, she’d be useless for days, weeks even. Eden pushed away from Alejandro. “I’m fine.”

“
Querida
—”

“I’m hanging by a thread, here, Alejandro. Don’t argue with me.” Her lower lip quivered and she made an effort to still it. “Please.”

It might have been the “please” that did it, because he let it go. For now. Eden knew this conversation wasn’t over, and she dreaded resuming it. So she didn’t think about it. Jordan had always said Eden was better at acting than thinking. Fresh sorrow nearly drowned her. Damn it, she couldn’t do this, couldn’t live with this level of pain and still function.

She stood and crossed to the table, grabbing the pack sitting on the floor and dumping its contents on the battered wood. If she kept moving she could do this, could survive. They needed a plan. It wasn’t her forte—Jordan was the one with the plans. Eden swallowed another surge of grief. She heard Alejandro get off the bed and come to stand behind her, too close.

Turning, she met his green gaze, the same eyes she saw in her dreams far too often. He’d always seen her right down to her soul. Others only saw her pretty face, but Alejandro was one of the few who actually took the time to know her. There was a weight of knowledge in his eyes, knowledge she wasn’t ready to deal with. Uncomfortable, she looked away. His fingers caught her chin and brought her face back around, not quite hurting her, but she couldn’t have fought against his hold even if she wanted to. Alejandro glanced down at her lips for one eternal moment before meeting her gaze once more.

Eden wondered if he would kiss her, wondered what she would do if he did. It was a stupid thing to think about considering their current circumstances, but she was only human and she’d been in love with him for a long time now. Damn, she wasn’t supposed to think the “L” word. Her defenses must be a hell of a lot lower than she’d realized.

Abruptly, he released her chin and the moment was broken. She stumbled back, almost sitting on the table before she thought better of it. Instead, she crossed to stand against the door, putting most of the room between them. They needed to get serious and come up with a plan to get the hell out of here. After that...well, after that, she’d start thinking about Jordan and hunting humans.

“We need a plan,
querida
.”

Eden started, goosebumps rising over her arms as he echoed her thought. And he really needed to stop calling her
beloved
; it was starting to mess with her head. She almost shoved the thought away, but then thought better of it. Dealing with Alejandro was a hell of a lot easier than dealing with the devastating loss of her team, the loss of her sister.

She looked away, letting her thoughts spiral back to their very first conversation. Jordan had sent Alejandro with Kaede and Eden because she wanted to keep him out of trouble. And because Jordan knew she was still reeling from the loss of Dad. They both were. Eden had been so angry, angry at her sister, the new guy, hell, the world. She didn’t want to have to babysit some asshole their employer had forced on them, picked up from God-knew-where, but she followed orders like always. Kaede had stayed on the ground, leaving Eden alone with Alejandro.

Pissed beyond belief, she’d climbed to the spot they’d scouted out earlier. The bastard had laughed at her. “I do not think you like me much.”

Eden had concentrated on setting up Bernice. As much as she didn’t like or trust the new guys who always showed up when their team number dropped below five, Jordan would be mad if she bit his head off. “Let’s just do this job and get the hell out of here.”

“You have been doing this long?”

She’d grunted, not really wanting to get drawn into conversation with him. But she’d finally spoken when the silence stretched on, making it clear he waited for her answer. “Yeah, since I was old enough to hold a gun.” It wasn’t strictly true. She’d been training since she was old enough to hold a gun, but Dad hadn’t let her be an active member of the team until she turned fourteen.

“A hard childhood.”

She’d looked up then, and nearly lost her breath at the oh-so-serious expression in those beautiful green eyes. He was young, nearly as young as she was and so gorgeous. “I’ve never complained.”

He’d laughed softly, the sound doing funny things to her stomach. “I would not think you were such a person. Why do you dislike me?”

Never one to run from confrontation, Eden had said, “Because you’re new and you’re cocky. New guys never last more than a few assignments before they decide this isn’t the life for them or they get dead. Which do you think you’ll be?”

Two years later, on the morning after they had sex, Eden found out exactly which one Alejandro was.

Fresh anger surged at the memory, beating back the grief, and she welcomed it with open arms. Anger, she could deal with. It made her stronger, faster, while grief froze her limbs and slowed her thoughts.

Eden boldly met Alejandro’s gaze. “How about we find the ones responsible and kill them all?”

Moans cut through the night, loud enough to hear clearly through the door. Oh shit. With all the crap going on, she’d forgotten about the zombies. The zombies they were now trapped in the valley with. Alejandro burst into motion at the same time Eden did. She ran to the only window and slammed the shutters closed, barring them. A sound made her turn around and she found Alejandro opening a portion of the roof and climbing up. How had she missed a trap door in the freaking ceiling? She was losing her touch. With a mental shrug, Eden followed him up.