“Everybody cover the exits,” Rae said. “Cory, go to that window over there and concentrate your fire on the area away from the vehicles. Maybe we can get them to think we’re going that way, and then we go the other.”
“Won’t they see through that?” Luke said.
“Fuck, how should I know? Probably, yeah, I guess they would, but I don’t have any other idea.”
“I do,” Edward said.
They all looked at him. “Well?” Rae asked.
“Give me the phone,” he said. Rae handed him the phone, but she didn’t look very certain.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said.
“I haven’t had the slightest clue what I’ve been doing since I woke up in that Walmart,” he said. “Why start now?”
He pushed the call button and concentrated as the other end rang. After only one ring an all-too familiar voice answered. “We’re already in position. Now would be the time to get out of there if you want to live long enough to get paid.”
“You’re paying me now, Dr. Chella?” Edward said. “You know, I might have been more cooperative in Stanford if you’d done that sooner.”
“You,” Dr. Chella said. “Did you kill the girl?”
“Why do you automatically assume that’s what we would do?”
“I’ve read Neuman’s files. She’s the sort of loose cannon that would do something exactly like that.”
Edward smiled at Rae. “The good doctor doesn’t have a very high opinion of you.”
Rae rolled her eyes and made a jerking-off gesture with her hand.
“I’m assuming that means the feeling’s mutual,” he said into the phone.
“Doesn’t matter about the girl,” Chella said. “You’re surrounded and there’s no way out. We’re only here for you. If you come out quietly your friends can go.”
“That’s not the way your girl told it.”
“I can only speak for myself. Merton’s problems with Neuman are their own to deal with.”
“And what exactly happens to me if I do go out there?” Edward asked.
“I’d take you and Miss Gates back to Stanford. You for study, and Gates for trial.”
Edward winced. She still hadn’t realized that Liddie was gone. That didn’t matter right now. He was almost ready. He just needed to keep her talking.
“Study? Really? That’s certainly not what I hear you were trying to do when we left.”
“The president has had a change of heart. He wanted me personally to bring you in, as he feels you may be useful for other things.”
“As a weapon, right? A way to control zombies?”
Dr. Bloss mouthed the words I told you so to him. Edward ignored it.
“I’m not just a weapon or a thing,” Edward said. “I deserve the same rights as everyone else. You can’t use me in this way.”
“You are a zombie,” Chella said. “Legally you’re nothing but a dead body. And your dead body is now going to be property of the U.S. government.”
“I don’t think so. I’m leaving here. My friends inside are coming with me. And all my friends surrounding you are, too. If every single person out there doesn’t put down their weapons right now, then I will not have any problem with them eating you.”
All she gave in reply was a choked sound. He had to imagine the rest of her reaction. Right about now she was probably looking around herself and realizing she was no longer the one with the upper hand. While he’d been talking to her, he’d also been talking to every zombie within a two or three mile radius. He hadn’t been able to bring them all in—they’d become too spread out for that—but he’d been able to call back most of them. Through the pheromones he could tell that a few were still shuffling toward the Culver’s, but at least thirty others were in a ring behind Chella’s men. Every one of the Merton people had been so focused on keeping their guns aimed at the windows and doors that they hadn’t even paid attention the zombies quietly coming up behind them. Some of the zombies had gotten very close, up to almost ten feet.
Chella finally got enough of a hold of herself to speak again. “This is stupid. My people can take out these things before they can attack us. You’re bluffing.”
“I don’t think they can. Rae knows the ways of Merton pretty well, and she doesn’t seem too terribly afraid of them.”
“There no way you could do it without losing some of your zombies,” Chella said. “I saw the way you treated that creature back in the lab. You really do think of yourself as one of them. You wouldn’t put any of them in danger.”
“Maybe you’re right. I wouldn’t dare let most of them get hurt. The key word there, though? It’s most.”
A simple thought, a command released onto the wind, the scent of honey intended for one zombie and one alone. With the walls of the Culver’s in the way it took a moment for that one to receive the message, but it could still smell Edward through the open windows. There was a shriek through the phone, then it cut out as gunshots echoed outside. Everything went silent for a second, then there was screaming.
“Everyone hold your fire!” Chella shouted. “For the love of God, do not shoot!”
“This is it,” Edward said. “Let’s go.”
He stood up and walked to the door. Everyone else stood along with them, but they were all hesitant to move.
“Um, what exactly just happened?” Luke asked.
“Not exactly a good time to ask questions,” Rae said. “Just take advantage of it.” She started to follow Edward.
“Wait, what are we going to do with her?” Cory asked, pointing to Larissa with his rifle.
Rae stopped and went back to her. “A promise is a promise. But you stay in here until we’re gone. If I ever see your face again I’ll blow it off your head, got it?”
Larissa nodded.
The rest of them followed Edward out the door and stopped at the ATVs. Most of the Merton people had moved over to this side of the building, but Edward had made the zombies shadow them the whole way. All of them looked scared as all hell, but none so much as Dr. Chella. Her phone and a handgun were on the ground at her feet, but it didn’t appear that she’d had any chance to turn around and use the gun. The walking corpse that had once been Billy Horton was behind her, his hands tightly gripping her arms and his mouth only inches away from the skin of her neck. He looked like he was bleeding from his shoulder and side, the results of shots the Merton people had gotten off before he’d grabbed her. Edward had to strain to keep him in that position. The shock of being shot combined with the smell of fresh prey right in front of him was making Horton confused and hungry, but as long as nothing went wrong Edward thought he could keep the zombie under control.
“Everyone, put your weapons down,” Edward said. Everyone from Merton hesitated, most of them looking at the zombies creeping up around them.
“What exactly do you think is going to happen?” Chella asked. “We will find you.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Edward said. “You don’t really want me. You want what you can learn from me. And if that’s all you want, all you need is a trip to the library.”
Dr. Bloss made a yelping noise like a small dog with its tail stepped on. Edward held up his hand to him in a stopping gesture. “It’s the only way to get them to leave us alone for good. We can still go on if we just have you, can’t we?”
“I…I think so.”
“Then it’s just like that,” Edward said. “You get everything in the library, we get to leave and go in peace. And when I say we, I’m mean all of us.” He gestured at the zombies gathered around them.
For a moment Dr. Chella looked like she considered it, then she smiled. “No.”
There was a click, and Edward felt a handgun pressed against the back of his head. Edward didn’t dare move, but everyone else turned to look at the girl who had snuck up behind them.