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I scrambled across the seats and out the driver&039;s side door Ralph grabbed my hand and we took off He ran faster and faster, and soon I couldn&039;t keep up My hand slipped out of his as he sped toward the s ached I slowed to a walk, and gulped in cold air that did little to get oxygen into ?"

"Aaaaaahhhh!" I stuo, he was at least twenty yards away Noas standing in front of me, his blue eyes filled with impatience

"How did you do that?" I asked "You should try out for the Olyrabbed h the air Ralph didn&039;t know his own strength I landed a couple of feet away and collapsed to my knees My purse fell off my shoulder and spilled its contents As I picked up all the objects, fear battered atbreath Okay If I were to believe my eyes and twenty-three years of parental insistence, then I&039;d just met my first zombie and vauy who&039;d ju to freak out

"Om mani padht to do Chanting was as auto "Om mani padme hum"

I repeated the hter - oh, there&039;s the pepper spray - gulass, pocket dictionary, and Sharpie intoBy the time I finished, I felt ot to my feet I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and hit the button

"Moain "Hey! Ruby Two! Sapphire Three! You there?"

Neither Moet to the Thrifty Sip I had to findtheuh, varound, his hands around Ralph&039;s throat

Ralph kept punching hie Heck, he didn&039;t even flinch

"The cure!" he rasped "I want the cure!"

Ralph gurgled

Terror was tooand sto, I marched over and whapped the assailant upside the head with et the upper hand But he needn&039;t have bothered The varabbed round and hissed

Oh led as I stared at hie was s

He jerked the purse out of my flaccid hands and threw it over my head Then he pulled me down until my face was a h

"You s to feel like a heroine trapped in a horror o!" Ralph wrapped his arm around the vampire&039;s neck and pulled back hard The vah sounds

He didn&039;t release ers were eo Neither, apparently, was Ralph

We engaged in an aard dance Ralph kept squeezing on the guy&039;s neck while hitting him in the back I rained blows on his shoulders, which had no effect other thanfeet didn&039;t inflict any da ray hand landed on top of the bad guy&039;s head We all stopped fussing and turned to look at the fourth party that had joined our gruesome threesorinned at one so it was hard to tell So, and those left were black and rotting His breath orse than the fanged guy&039;s I breathed through my mouth, but the stench still made my eyes water The zo Oh, now really Yuckyuckyuck!

To save his own hide, the o But he didn&039;t just drop ain, I found o co onto the hard-packed earth like a rag doll For ain the world I focused on the pearlescent moon perched in the black-velvet sky and breathed deeply I assessed lad I hadn&039;t broken any bones

Thank you, Yogini Shivali Ten years of yoga lessons had paid off Whew I closed my eyes and took several more deep breaths

"Oh my God! Libby!" Ralph&039;s voice startled the hell out of me My eyes flew open and I looked directly into his concerned gaze "Seriously You should try out for the Olympics"

"You&039;re okay?" His hands traveled over ers lingered a s there, and my happy spot perked up "Whoa there, bucko"

He chuckled as his hands testedbroken"

"Yeah Like you&039;d know"

"I would know," he said "I was studying to be a paramedic beforewell, before"

His wife died Had his dreahts seeuy