Jenny Undead (The Thirteen: Book One) (25 page)

“Yes,” said Sully.

Jenny nodded. “Abel.”

“He was going to take you back to your
mother,” Sully said. “I did you a favor.”

“I know,” said Jenny. “He told
me.” She crouched next to him. “Casey.” The red
darkened even as she could feel herself crying.
“Casey,” she said again. “You killed
Casey.”

Another explosion shook the room, and one of the
candles fell over, the flame drowning in its own melted wax.
Jenny's eyes fell on Sully's neck. She could see his pulse
pounding. She could feel the blood rushing through his veins.

Thump thump thump thump.

“You forgot one,”
said Sully. He smiled.

“Who?”

“Doctor Franklin Bierce. He spilled his
guts before I turned him.”

“You did that too?” said Jenny
quietly. “You put him up on that pole?”

“I didn't tell Daniel,” said Sully.
“It was purely scientific. He told me all about you. How
special you are. Of course I already knew. But he told me how it
worked.” Sully grimaced and grabbed his leg, then a strange
sound escaped his lips. Laughter.

“Why aren't you scared?” said Jenny.

“Because,” said Sully. “You
won't kill me.”

“Why me?” said Jenny. “Why did
you want me?”

“Because you've always had so much to
lose,” said Sully. “Especially all those little beasts
running around inside of you. Click click click. It's why everyone
wants you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Fuck off,” he said. Jenny looked at
Zeke, who was leaning against the wall, trying not to watch.
“You know why we used women?”

Jenny couldn't breathe. She narrowed her eyes at
Sully. She was so hungry. She looked at his knee. It was mush,
rivulets of blood soaking into the floor. For a moment she was
drowning in the red. But she fought it.

“We used women because they don't fucking
matter,” said Sully. “They're disposable.”

Jenny licked her lips.

“Your brother was no better. Just like a
woman. I used him up and threw him away. And didn't he look happy
when he died? Such a smile I carved on his face.”

Jenny's hand was on his throat as soon as she
willed it. “Don't you talk about him,” she said.

“Your mother was worse than I am, back in
the day,” said Sully, seeming not to notice her hand on his
throat. “All those kids. I would never go that
low.”

“That was an accident,” said Jenny.
“She was trying to find a cure for what you did.”

Sully smiled his gray smile. “Dig up that
nice cement floor in her lab and talk to me again about
accidents,” he said. “She was as crazy back then as she
is now.”

“What are you talking about?” said
Jenny.

“Your brother asked questions too,”
he said. “But there was so much blood in his mouth that I
could barely understand him.”

The red closed in and Jenny stood up. So much
blood. She was so hungry. She realized that Sully's feet were an
inch above the floor. His face turned purple as she squeezed.
Within the red, flashes of images shoved into her. Declan pounding
a rotter to mush while screaming her name, Casey with a smile cut
into his sweet face, Lily on the pole with a baby-sized hole in her
belly, Grayson and Fisher. The room where she awakened from death,
covered in blood.

“You killed them all,” she said.
“You killed me. You took everything from me.” She let
the red wrap itself around her, making her fast, making her strong.
She was pulling Sully toward her, his pulsating jugular the only
thing she could see, her teeth ripping into him, the taste of the
blood, the feel of the flesh as she pulled it away. The way it made
the hate go away.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

“Jenny?” said a voice. She dropped
Sully and he fell to the floor with a muted thud. There was a
pounding in her ears. She shook her head to get rid of it.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Her stomach roiled and she was
afraid she would throw up. There was a rushing in her ears, and she
could feel something in her chest. Not exactly pain, but the pain
came next, making her gasp for breath. She stayed standing, though,
and the owner of the voice touched her arm, then pulled his hand
away quickly.

Jenny met his eyes. “Declan,” she
said. “You came.”

He looked stricken. Jenny raised a hand to wipe
at the blood on her mouth. “I didn't mean to,” she
said. She pressed a hand over her chest. She couldn't hear anything
above the pounding in her ears.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Her head was exploding from the sound of it.
Declan wasn't meeting her eyes. He focused on her neck.

“He hurt me, Deck. I lost control. Please
don't go.”

“You want me here?” he said. He
still wasn't meeting her eyes, but there was an odd look on his
face.

“You're the only thing I thought
about,” she said. “I won't kill anyone else. I know it
looks bad.”

“Jen?” He shook his head.

“Why won't you look at me?” she
said.

He looked up at her then. There was shock on his
face. He looked into her eyes like he was examining them.

“Jenny. You're alive.”

“I know,” she said. “He almost
killed me.”

“No,” said Declan.
He touched her then, grasping her shoulders. He smiled.
“
You're alive
. You're fucking
alive.”

“What?”

“Now you know why you had to go through
it,” said Zeke. “I'm sorry.” Jenny glanced at
him. She'd forgotten he was there. She looked at Declan, raising a
hand to her neck. There was a pulse. She had a pulse. She put a
hand over her heart and felt it beating. There was sweat on her
brow and she touched it, looking at it like it was made of
gold.

“Holy fuck,” said Declan. He pulled
her against him, so tight she could hardly breathe. But she didn't
care. She wrapped her hands around his waist. She closed her eyes.
Nothing else mattered.

“
No!
”
screamed Zeke from across the room. There was a clicking noise,
like the empty chamber of a gun. “No! I didn't know, I didn't
see it.
I didn't fucking see it
.”

Declan's back went rigid and he
fell, screaming, kicking, punching. And then Jenny saw what he was
fighting. She had done this.
So stupid, so stupid, so
stupid.

A gun fired, but it happened as if underwater.
She fell to her knees beside Declan in slow motion. Declan dropped
his gun and it floated down to the earth. And she screamed. She
screamed. She screamed.

“It's the only
way,” said Trix. “If you want to save him, you need to
do it soon.”

“We don't even know if that will
work,” said Jenny. She looked away from Trix, holding her
hand tight over her mouth.

“Fuck, are you going to cry again?”
she said.

“Shut up, Trix.”

“Just because you're alive again doesn't
mean you have to cry twenty times a day.”

“Right now, it does,” said Jenny.
Trix looked down at her hands.

“I know,” she said. “But you
know what you have to do. If you don't do it, he's going to
die.”

“And come back as a rotter,” said
Jenny. “I know.”

She could hear voices coming from the bedroom.
Beacon was staying with him, distracting him. Jenny stared at the
door. It was the same room she had been dying in when Casey came to
get her.

“Is it really so bad?” said
Trix.

“It was at first,” said Jenny.

“Everything's bad at first,” said
Trix. “Then you get over it. You get past shit. That's what
we do.”

“We?” said Jenny.

“Humans,” said Trix. “It's
like you say. We fight until we can't.”

The door opened and Veronica stepped out, her
face drawn and pale. She closed the door quietly behind her and
leaned her heavy frame against it. Her body shook as she sobbed,
her wide shoulders jerking violently with each sob. Jenny went to
her and Veronica embraced her.

“I can't lose him, too, Jen. We lost you
once. We can't lose him.”

She nodded, looking up at Veronica. “It's
okay, V. I know what to do. It's not going to be easy. Not for him,
not for us.”

V blinked at her. “There's nothing you can
do, Jen. He's been bitten.”

“It was my fault...”

“Baby, no one blames you.”

“But I have a way to save him. Maybe. I
don't know if it'll work.”

“How?” said Veronica.

“He has to take a bite,” said Trix.
“Jenny sushi.”

“Thank you, Trix,” said Jenny.

“The fuck is she talking about?”
said V.

“If Declan has my blood or eats part
of...you know, a piece of muscle, there's a chance he could
be...”

“What?” said V.

“Like me,” said Jenny. “He
could turn into one of us. It happened once before. A rotter woke
up.”

“Woke up?” said V.

“Yeah,” said Jenny. “But I'm
afraid that if we wait until after he turns, it won't work as well.
I don't know how I know this, but I think he needs to do it before
he...”

“Okay, Jen,” said V. “Do you
think it's worth a shot?”

“I do,” said Jenny. “It's just
that --”

“What?”

“When he first wakes up, we're not going
to be able to tell. He's going to seem like a rotter.”

“He's going to try to eat us?” she
said.

“They had to lock me in a cooler,”
said Jenny.

“How long?” said V. “How long
until we know?”

Jenny looked at Trix, who shrugged.

“A day,” said Trix. “Three at
the most.”

“Is that it?” said V.

“No,” said Jenny. “He's going
to have to eat someone.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“We had all these goats when I
changed,” said Jenny. “But Sully killed them all. Maybe
we can give him our blood.”

“No,” said Trix. “Blood's not
enough. It has to be bigger. I can find someone. There are these
pedo dregs who live in the old hospital. Abel showed me where. You
know, for future reference.”

Jenny frowned, looking at Trix for a long time.
“Fine,” Jenny said finally. “But make sure he's
really bad, okay? It's going to be really hard for Declan at first.
He doesn't need guilt.”

Trix grabbed the ax and was out the door. Jenny
looked at V. “I'm sorry,” she said.

V smoothed Jenny's hair away from her face,
smiling sadly. “I've never seen anyone love as much as he
loves you,” she said. “Are you going to tell
him?”

“Yeah,” said Jenny.
V moved out of the doorway. “We all love you, Jen. You know
that, don't you? If this doesn't work, please don't leave us. We
need you. We need each other.”

Jenny smiled at V, nodding. She opened the door.
Beacon stood up at the look on her face. She nodded at him and he
left the room.

Declan was asleep. Jenny sat in the chair beside
his bed and watched him. She remembered what he had looked like
when she met him. So cocky and self-assured. And so handsome it
broke her heart. Now he was thin and feverish, his unshaven face
haggard, his hair oily and unwashed. A smell of infection came from
under the blankets and she peeked underneath. Declan's leg was
throbbing and so swollen she thought it would split the skin. She
lowered the blanket again. He didn't have more than a day.

“You here to kill me?” he said
quietly. She looked to see him watching her. “Put me out of
my misery?” He started to smile, but it faltered. He grimaced
at the pain. Jenny remembered that pain.

“Declan, what if you didn't have to
die?” she said. “What if we could be
together?”

“What?” he breathed. “What do
you mean?”

Jenny took his hand. “What if I could save
you?”

It was well past midnight when his fever spiked.
Jenny held his hand as he writhed on the bed. She recalled the
excruciating pain but she couldn't help him. She touched the
bandage on her arm, the blood already dry, already scabbed over.
She hoped she had given him enough. It was hard enough for him to
keep it down. He gagged and they had to help him hold his mouth
shut until he got it down. And afterward, whenever he looked at
Jenny, he closed his eyes.

Now he turned to look at her. “If I don't
come back,” he said, “it's okay.”

“It'll be fine, Declan,” said Jenny.
“It's going to work.”

“Please just listen,” he said,
panting. He was so weak. She wasn't used to seeing him weak.
“I don't regret anything. Its...it's very important you
understand that, Jenny. My life was nothing until I met you. You
already saved me, Jen.”

“I love you, Deck,” she said.
“I'll always save you. And you'll save me right
back.”

“I love you too,” he said. He winked
at her, even through his pain. “See you on the other
side.”

Declan died in his sleep. Jenny was grateful for
that. She had time to cry again for exactly three minutes before he
woke up. V had already tied him to the bed and stood staring at
Jenny, afraid to look at the source of the rotter sounds on the
bed. Jenny didn't want to look either, but she forced herself.

Declan was gone. In his place was a creature
that looked like him. He snapped his teeth at V, trying to get free
and shrieking in frustration when he couldn't. Beacon stood up from
the chair and met her eyes.

“You sure about this?” he said.

“No,” said Jenny. “But it's
better than the alternative.”

Trix dragged an unconscious man out of the
kitchen by his ankles. He reeked of booze.

“You got him drunk?” said Jenny.

“Yeah.”

“Smart. You're sure he's the worst
one?”

“You want to know what he did?” said
Trix.

“No,” said Jenny.

“You don't have to do this,” said
Trix. “We can stop right now and he'll just fade
away.”

Jenny looked down at the little man. He had a
weird, waxy look to his skin. He gave a loud, throaty snore and
Jenny looked back up to Trix.

“Do it,” said Jenny. “It's
Declan. Just do it.”

The man didn't even wake up when he died.

Beacon and Veronica passed out in their rooms.
Jenny sat listening to the noises coming from behind the bedroom
door.

“I want to come with you,” said
Trix.

“What?” said Jenny, startled out of
her thoughts.

“This is going to work,” said Trix,
sitting beside her. “And I know you're going to try to find
your mom. I want to come with you.”

“You do?” said Jenny.

“It's just us bitches now,” she
said. “Until we find some more of The Thirteen. Or The Nine,
now, I guess. Whatever. But until then, we're the only ones who
survived. I think we should stay together.”

“So do I,” said Jenny.

Trix looked away from her. “I miss
him,” she said.

Jenny nodded. “I know. Me too.”

“He really is going to wake up, you
know,” she said. “You were exactly the same, you know,
right after. He'll be awake by lunchtime.”

“Covered in blood,” said Jenny.

Trix shrugged. “Them's the
breaks.”

Jenny nodded. “I have to get some
air.”

“Want me to come?” said Trix.

“No,” said Jenny. “I'll be
back in a while. I have something I want to check out.”

“Okay,” she said. “Don't get
killed.”

“I'll do my best,” said Jenny.

She almost tripped over Zeke as she went out the
door.

“Why are you sitting on the steps?”
she said.

“Good a place as any,” he said.
Jenny descended the steps and looked up at him. He was looking at
his hands. They were covered in blood. He saw her looking. “I
killed Daniel,” he said. “I saw what he was going to do
to my mother. I didn't even warn him. I found him trying to sneak
back into the Righteous complex. I don't even know why he was going
there, we burned everything that would burn.” He shook his
head, studying his hands, like he was trying to find an answer
there. “I tried to stop the bleeding after, but it was too
late. I don't know why I tried to save him. I just did.”

“You okay?” she said.

He looked at her. “I know where you're
going.”

“Just getting some air,” said
Jenny.

“Bullshit. I want to come.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw it,” he said.
“You shouldn't be alone right now.”

“Is it true?”

“You won't know until you get
there,” he said. “You have a sledgehammer?”

“I've had one in my car for three
days.”

“Ever since...”

“Yeah,” said Jenny. “Ever
since.”

They were silent on the drive. Jenny was glad
for it. She wasn't in the mood for chatting. Zeke had helped them
bury Casey a few days earlier. She liked Zeke, he was easy to be
around, though his visions could be off-putting at times. They had
buried what was left of the girls on the poles, too, though there
had only been a few bones and some skulls.

And now they were back where it all started.
Jenny looked at the plain, brick building.

“Do I even want to know?”

“It's always better to know,” said
Zeke.

“Really?” said Jenny. “Has
knowing improved your life?”

“That's different,” said Zeke.
“You don't have to know everything.”

“It doesn't seem that way,” she
said.

They walked into the building together, Zeke
carrying the sledgehammer for her. They took the stairs slowly and
walked through the basement.

“This cement looks new,” said
Jenny.

“New-ish,” said Zeke.

“It looks like it's the same age as the
concrete in the lab,” she said, not meeting his eyes.

“Yep. But you have to start
somewhere.”

Zeke helped Jenny pull all the metal gurneys out
of the lab and into the office. They looked at the empty room. The
room where Casey died. There was a black stain on the floor over
the spot where he had died. Casey's blood.

“Where should I start?” she said.
She realized she was afraid.

“Right there,” said Zeke, pointing
at a spot in the corner where the cement looked different.

“I'm not going to like this, am I?”
said Jenny.

“Nope. But you need to know it.”

They took turns bringing the sledgehammer down
on the floor. They hauled the chunks out and tossed them into the
office. When they were finished, the sun streamed in through the
small basement windows. Jenny and Zeke stood silently, looking out
at their work.

“Is it as bad as your vision?” Jenny
said.

“Its worse,” he said. “It's
always worse to see it for real.”

The sun hit the white shapes half covered in
dirt and cement dust. They had dug up the entire floor of the lab
and found every inch lined with skeletons. Tiny skeletons.
Children. Babies. Teenagers.

“My mother really did this,” she
said.

“Yeah,” said Zeke.

“All those kids in the experiments who
died. I always made excuses for her. But she'd already had practice
by that time. How many skeletons are there?”

“I counted seventeen,” said
Zeke.

“Do you think...” Jenny started. She
swallowed hard. “Do you think that she knew these kids would
die? Did she do it on purpose?”

Zeke frowned. “I don't think you want to
know.”

“I do. Please.”

“She knew it was a distinct possibility.
The lives lost paled in comparison to what she thought was an
answer to the epidemic. And to answer your next question, your
grandfather didn't know anything about this. This was all Anna
Hawkins.” He closed his eyes. “It was cruel, Jenny,
what she did. I wish I didn't know. I think there might be
something wrong with her.”

“With my mom?” Jenny said.

Zeke nodded. “Yeah.” He crouched
down and touched a rib bone gently, like it was fine
china. “Do you want to do the rest of the
basement?”

“No,” said Jenny. “I've seen
enough.”

Zeke looked at her. “It's not the same, is
it?”

“What?”

“Being alive. It's not like it used to be.
You're different.”

“I'm the same person,” she said.

“No, you're not,” he said.
“You still think about it, don't you? The taste of it, the
smell of it. Can you still hear the heartbeats?”

“How did you know about that?” said
Jenny.

“No more silly questions,” said
Zeke.

“Sometimes,” said Jenny, “I
smell blood and I get really hungry. It's like I'm still dead. I
still feel the same, I still get angry and I still want to rip
people apart. It's just that I've got a pulse now. I'm warm instead
of cold. I can hold down regular food. But in my head, I'm still a
monster.”

“Maybe it'll pass,” said Zeke.

“Will it?” she said.

“No. They're going to have a nickname for
you.”

“They?”

“Everyone. The world. They're going to
call you Jenny Undead.”

“Is Declan going to wake up?”

Zeke was quiet for a long time.
“Yes,” he said finally.

“And that's what you meant by saving
him?”

“Yep.”

“It was my fault that he got
bitten.”

“Life is full of paradoxes,” said
Zeke. “Are you going to find your mother?”

“Yeah,” said Jenny.

“Why?”

“You know why.”

“I want to hear you say it,” said
Zeke.

Jenny swallowed thickly. She looked down at the
bodies. Seventeen souls snuffed out, seventeen pairs of tiny hands,
seventeen little faces. All killed by her mother.

“I'm going to find my mother,” said
Jenny. “And I'm going to kill her.”