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“Handcuffed in the trunk?” he suggested, but it was clear he wasn’t completely serious. At least I hoped not. He gave me a half-hearted smile. “We need some sort of plan. Tranqs don’t always work well on me, and I’m not sure they’d work at all when I’m in that state.”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I said and rubbed the back of my neck. I had a bit of my own headache going on. “How the hell can we plan ahead if we don’t know what triggers it, we have no warning, and we don’t know how to stop it?”

“The episodes are short, which helps,” Philip said, but his expression grew serious. “If this happens again, I want to get locked down. I’m not kidding,” he said at my stubborn expression. “Cuffed and duct taped like a mummy in the trunk would do it.”

“We’ll talk about it then,” I said stiffly before anyone else could enter an opinion. Kyle and Naomi glanced at each other, but they recognized I wasn’t in the mood to discuss this any more. I crossed my arms over my chest and defiantly closed my eyes, and before I knew it I was asleep again.

Chapter 13

The feel of the car slowing down woke me. I opened my eyes to see dawn turning the eastern sky purple and a shift in scenery as we took an exit. Sitting up, I hastily swiped a hand across my face in case I’d drooled. “Where are we?”

Philip gave me a smile. “About an hour past Birmingham. We’re stopping for breakfast. Waffle Shack okay with you?”

“Yeah, I can handle that,” I replied. I’d have to order off the dollar menu, but with any luck that would hold me until I had a chance to call the bank and figure out the deal with my account. Past Birmingham. A flutter went through my gut. Before this, the farthest I’d ever been from home was Talladega, twenty minutes east of Birmingham. Every mile we drove took me beyond that old record. Scary and exciting all at once, but thinking about the distance reminded me of something else I needed to do. “Crap, does anyone see a pay phone? I need to call my dad and let him know I’m okay.”

Kyle looked at me in the rear view mirror. “It’s best not to have any contact.”

The smile I gave him was stiff. “Yeah. That’s not an option,” I replied. “I’m not going to let my dad think I’ve just fucking disappeared.”

To my relief Kyle gave me a slight nod, then drove past the Waffle Shack and to a gas station where a pay phone stood at the back of the parking lot.

“You can’t tell him where we’re going,” Naomi warned as Kyle parked. “The less he knows, the better.”

“Uh huh,” I said, pretending to be distracted by the search for quarters in my purse.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she retorted.

I looked up and gave her a reassuring smile. “Means I heard you,” I said. “It’s cool. I understand.” Didn’t mean I would obey her.

Kyle rolled down his window as I got out. “Remember,” he said with his typical calm tone, “it’s easier to convince someone you don’t know anything when you really don’t know anything than when you try to hide it.”

Damn it, he had a good point. I nodded once, then jogged over to the phone. My dad wouldn’t be awake yet, but I could wait another four hours and still not have any guarantee he’d be up, much less awake.

I hung up after the third ring to keep it from going to voicemail and wasting my quarters. It would take a few tries to wake him up anyway. I knew that from long experience. Second try and two rings earned me a “Mmmmf” that sounded like him.

“Hey, Dad, sorry to wake you so early,” I said. “I called to let you know I’m going out of town for a few days.”

“Angel? Wha . . . ?” I heard rustling that sounded like him sitting up in bed. “Why? Where?”

“Some of the people with my medical condition are missing,” I said. “I have to go to, um, another city to look for them.”

“Another city? What, New Orleans?” More rustling. “I don’t understand.”

“No, farther away. A lot farther.” I grimaced. The car was on the other side of the lot, and I knew that even a tanked zombie wouldn’t be able to hear the conversation, but Kyle’s warning still resonated through me. “I can’t really say where I’m going, Dad. It’s safer for you that way.”

“Safer? Ah, shit.” The sleep was gone from his voice now. “What about your job?”

I smiled at that. He was so proud that I’d held a job for a whole year, and he knew how much it mattered to me, even beyond having the access to brains. “I’m calling work next to take vacation time,” I told him. “It’s cool. I got plenty of time saved up. I’m gonna tell them that I’m visiting a sick aunt in—” I thought quickly. “In Denver. A sick aunt in Denver.”

“A sick aunt,” he repeated. “In Denver. You expect people to believe that?”

“They will if you back me up,” I said with a touch of exasperation. “Look, it’s just gonna be a few days. Maybe a week at most.” Godalmighty, I hoped it wouldn’t take more than that. “Dad, the same people who took me that time have some other zombies now.”

“Shit. Why d’ya have to get mixed up with all of that again?”

I sighed. “Because if these zombies disappear, then the whole group will probably fall apart, or at least be really weakened. Plus, if the bad company wins, then all the zombies are screwed. Whaddya think will happen if they start outing us? You think the rednecks around there will look at me with loving kindness?”

“Well, I—” My dad began, then paused. The sound of a woman’s murmured voice in the background sent a jolting shock through me. A second later I heard the distinct sound of the mouthpiece being covered, and my dad speaking, muffled. Then another rustling as he uncovered it again. “Sorry,” he began.

“Dad,” I interrupted, while I tried to keep my voice from shaking. “Is someone with you?” Damn it all, I’d been spilling my guts about zombies. What the hell had I said? How much could be heard? “Who is it? Who’s with you?”

“Hang on.”

More muffled sounds, then the closing of a door. Sounded like he’d left the room.

“Um, yeah, there’s someone here,” he said, actually sounding a bit sheepish. “It’s Tammy. The lady I went out with last night.”

“Did she hear what I told you?” I demanded, heart pounding. “Dad, no one else can know about this stuff!”

“Shit, Angel, I’m not stupid!” he growled. “She didn’t hear nothin’.”

“Sorry.” I grimaced. “It’s just—” I blinked, as a second horrible thing occurred to me. “Wait, did you sleep with her?”

“Not a whole lot of sleeping,” he said slyly.

“Oh my GOD, Dad! On the first date?”

His dry laughter didn’t improve my mood.

“Whatever,” I grumbled. “Shit. We’ll talk about this when I get back. I gotta go.”

“You be careful, Angelkins,” he said. “And you better call me back soon.”

“I will,” I replied. “Love you.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Love you too.”

I made my goodbyes and hung up then shuddered. I knew it was cliché to be squicked out by a parent having sex, but Ugh! Doing my best to push away all thoughts of anything related to my dad’s sex life, I dropped the last of my quarters into the phone and dialed Allen Prejean’s number. This was not going to be a fun call, especially since I knew I was probably waking him up as well.

But I was wrong. When I hung up, I not only had Allen’s approval without hassle for the time off, but his best wishes for my aunt—even though he hadn’t yet had his first cup of coffee. How weird was that?