Replica(81)

The four of us were quiet as we entered the village, the tension between us thick and taut. Part of me wanted to kill Antonio for adding just one more layer of anxiety to an already anxiety-packed night. But another part of me wanted to know what he and Lea had been discussing.

It was obvious Lea hadn’t kept it from me purposefully. Whatever he’d proposed had clearly never occurred to her. Right now, the mystery was just one more thing added to my monstrous pile of things to worry about. But if it didn’t affect the outcome of what we were about to do, Lea was right—it could wait.

The moans were louder now that we were closer, and my muscles were as tight as coiled springs. I wasn’t sure I was prepared for what I was about to see. I wasn’t sure I could handle the slaughter of children. Again.

Lea shot me a quick glance.

Get the fuck out of my head, I mentally shouted at her.

I heard a scraping sound, followed by the click of shattering glass. Twenty feet away, a door swung open and a man staggered out. Or what was left of him. His face looked like it had been partially melted, leaving a beak-like nose with a long hook. His hands looked like bird talons with sharp claws. When he saw us, his still-human eyes rounded and he lurched toward us as best he could with his bent and twisted legs.

When he got close enough, I aimed the nozzle of the can on my back and drenched him from head to toe, which only seemed to infuriate him more. He let out a long squawk that drew squawks from deeper in the village.

“Shit,” Ivan mumbled. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

The drenched man continued toward us, lifting his talons as if preparing to strike.

“It’s not working,” Lea said, lifting her gun to shoot.

“You don’t know that!” I argued. “Give it a minute.”

“Rachel.” Her voice was tight as he moved closer.

“No.” This man didn’t deserve to be turned into a monster. Didn’t deserve to be killed for the grisly fate someone else had forced on him. Maybe that was why I didn’t fully understand Lea’s self-hatred—her vendetta against her own kind.

How could she wipe out an entire race simply because they existed? She was proof enough that just because a person’s warm blood turned cold, they were not destined to prey on the lives of innocent people. If anything, she strove to protect them—even if she saw the deaths of some innocent humans as collateral damage. How did we know none of these villagers could be saved? They were victims, and I couldn’t bring myself to destroy them.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” I told the man as he continued to approach us, blind rage in his eyes. “We only want to help.”

“Rachel.” Lea sounded more panicked.

“No,” I spat.

“I’ll do it.” Antonio’s hand dropped to his side and he lifted his handgun before I even realized what he was doing. The blast echoed off the stone buildings and the man dropped face forward to the ground.

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because in this instance, she’s right.”

But the gunshot had set loose a cacophony of moans and shrieks, and doors began to burst open all across the village. Within seconds we were facing close to fifty men and women moving toward us at a slow gait. I could have handled the sight of all of them and more, but a figure in the front made me freeze in horror.

The pack was led by a child. A toddler who lifted the talon that had once been a hand and let out a cry of anguish and anger.

I took a step back, bumping into Lea’s chest.

“Oh, fuck,” Ivan groaned.

I couldn’t agree with him more. My worst nightmare had come true.





CHAPTER 37





LEA



I grabbed Rachel’s shoulder with one hand and held my gun tightly with the other. “Ivan, circle around with Antonio. We’ll give them as much time as we can.”

Rachel’s eyes flicked to mine. Why now?

“Get spraying.” I pointed her in the direction of the shuffling villagers even as I pulled her backward. The twisted creatures lurched after us, slow and uncoordinated. They weren’t exactly what I’d call a success if Stravinsky was trying to create a super army. Terrifying? Yes.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Rachel stumbled, but I managed to keep her upright.

“Contrary to what you think, I have no desire to see them all dead.”

But that wasn’t the reason, and we both knew it. The child lurching toward us was all it had taken for her emotions to crack and spill over into me. I could no more deny Rachel this opportunity for personal redemption than I could have denied Calvin his one last chance.

Hopefully the outcome here would be better.