Page 39 of SummerTime Madness
Blood and mucus cover the stalks.
Running a hand over my face, I look over at Tate who looks like he’s losing his goddamn mind before Cordelia screams again, and the man charges at me. Us.
I don’t know how, but his body moves with quickness–his joints clicking and clacking with each movement.
“What the fuck?” I snarl as I wrestle with the man to keep him from getting to Cordelia–who’s frozen behind Tate.
Fuck! He’s strong !
“Tate, a little help?” I ask through gritted teeth, pain searing through my skin as his teeth connect with my flesh.
“Ahh, what the fuck! He just bit me.”
Tate grabs the man’s neck and flings him onto the sandy beach. Suddenly a bunch of flashlights head our way; one too many to be anything more than a controlled experiment. Guilt claws at my heart, sinking my stomach and threatening to spill the contents of it all over the sand.
I fall to the sand, carefully hiding the bite. My arm throbs. I press it tighter to my side, slipping into the shadows of Tate’s frame.
No one saw. Not even her.
“Get down,” a woman shouts as she discharges her stun gun. The guards close in as the man continues to thrash from the cables that shocked him.
“What was that?” Tate demands as he closes the distance, but my hand goes up to grab his shorts.
Shaking my head, I say, “He was clearly high.”
“High? Chase, high?” he’s fucking is losing it.
“I’m fucking high but–” Tate turns to look at the man, but the guards have him surrounded so we can’t see his face. However Tate tries.
“Back up,” the guard snaps, making Tate stop and glare at him then back at me. But the guilt has me looking away, the ache in my arm becoming more painful by the minute.
“You guys need to head back to your villas. We’ve got him now, another worker doing drugs,” the woman guard says with a welcoming smile. Tate offers me his hand, and I take it. Helping me back to my feet, we remain there for a moment before they finally force us to leave.
“What the fuck is happening?” Tate says as he carries Cordelia in his arms. She’s quiet so I know she’s thinking. Has she figured it out?
Tate is close….
But now, I need to speak up before they die too.
Chapter Thirteen
Communication
Cordelia
Click.
Click.
The sound echoes in my mind. replaying like a mantra. The salt air clings to my skin, not from the beach but from the blood.
The spores.
Under my thick lashes, I look over at Chase who tries to conceal the bite on his arm. But I saw.
I saw the man's teeth tear into his flesh like a delicacy…
I wonder if Tate saw it… if he realizes what’s happening. My brows furrow as I study Chase. What are you hiding? I didn’t say a word on our way back as Tate carried me. They think I’m shocked, but what do you call someone so excited that they go inwards to understand.
