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One last tiht Just one more It would be closure The end

The very end

"Itit won’t ?

Cohts

In that ue with her

"Let’s hope," he said, the words nothing ainsteveryto do anything necessary to earn one

That was all it took

The spark that had always burned between us exploded into a wild inferno I thrust entle I clung to hi everything

It wasn’t enough

I wasn’t sure I would ever get enough

Hethe strands at the base ofhim deeper access to my mouth In that irl who’d been starved, and he was et enough of hiood I’ve missed you Have to have you Soon Soon Don’t send y I tore at his shirt, the force I used causing the fabric to rip He stumbled backward Separation No I jumped off the counter to follow after him, then pushed hiues ave h for s--I needed more He was firm where I was soft, and every point of contact was electric heat--I needed to be burned

"Touchht, his hands frantic as they moved over me I licked his neck, inhaled his scent

Yes Yes!

He came back down for another kiss, but paused just before contact, and frowned "Your eyes They’re red"

In an instant, horror doused the flaled out fro the distance between us "St-stay away fro for lory "Leave," I co his hand away I had attacked hiive ain "Go to school before you get a tardy"

His hands fisted, fell to his sides "School is closed today Twenty-six people were found dead in their ho their nurade, so I don’t think you ever met them," he added quickly "Reports clai through Bir taken until it’s kno it spreads"

Heback until I hit the wall Hot tears strea, after all "Go! Please!"

A long while passed before he stood He peered down at uish of before Anger Yearning "I’ht now"

The tears fell harder, faster "Let ht we could be friends We can’t I don’t want to see you again Go away and never come back"

Chapter 16

We’re All Mad Here

The next feeeks passed in a blur I no longer hung with the slayers, and I wasn’t willing to patrol the streets on ot a part-time job at the coffeehouse down the street, determined to make as much h Sunday, from five to ten I walked there and back, and had yet to come across a zombie My coworkers were nice--at first--but ot to theiving came and went, and I realized I was all out of to-do lists I was living one minute at a time

Nana tried to draw me out of my "protective shell," bless her heart, but I was too firmly entrenched Besides, I hated the holiday Emma visited for half an hour, but Mo without them sucked

School started up just a few days after the "illness" hit No one else had gotten sick, and doctors were still baffled I wondered if the slain had turned into zombies I wondered if the slayers had had to kill people they knew

I wondered--but I never asked

Reeve avoided h it was for the best--what I wanted, needed--it wounded me

The slayers kept their distance, as well Frosty especially He couldn’t get over what I’d done to Cole, and now he and Kat were at war because she refused to end our friendship

For her safety, I confessed my problems to her, explained Frosty was si, and that she would be better off listening to hi away froot mad attospecial"

"Nothing special? Everyone ht, but, Ali, that’s what I felt for you Love, not like You’re the sister I never had, but alanted The day we met, when I walked into your hospital rooirl with the most haunted eyes You’d lost everyone, and I understood I had to bury my mom, my world, too So, why don’t you do me a favor and think about why you love me--or if you do?"

"I don’t have to think I love your loyalty, your sense of hue, your total acceptance of me, your support, your dedication, your positivity, youreverything"

She laughed and hugged et out ofto do about Cole?"