Page 15 of Hooked on a Witch
Or you.The passenger side door creaked as she opened it and slid into the vinyl bucket seat. “This door weighs a ton. Why does it smell like fish in here?”
Chad pulled the car back on the road. “My brother sells shrimp out of here on weekends. He spilled one of the coolers in the backseat on Saturday. His idea of cleaning is to get all the shrimp off the floor.”
“I think Merck turned here.” She waved at the dirt road on the left, even though it wasn’t the road he’d taken.
Chad gunned the car down the pothole-rich road. It rocked through the small holes but caught a large hole and sailed upward for a few seconds before its front fender landed on the road in a metal-crunching crash. She whiplashed forward and gripped the oh-shit handle as he sailed through another large hole, throwing her back in the seat. He ground to a stop at the end of the drive, which dead ended at a mobile home.
“He’s not here,” Chad announced.
“Maybe I was wrong.”
He glared as he hitReverseand subjected her to the return journey through pothole hell. Another ten minutes and three dirt roads later, Chad released a litany of curses.
He turned onto the right road, not that she confirmed. Coldness seeped into her body as if in warning to turn around. Adjusting the air conditioning vents to point away from her didn’t help.
The road ended at a dilapidated house. An unnatural fog obscured the edges of the house and treed areas surrounding.
The car stalled out not far from Merck’s SUV. Chad turned the engine over and over, but it wouldn’t catch. He hit the steering wheel. “Damn it. I just had the battery replaced.”
Evil energy, which reminded her of the one who gave her the non-healing wound on her stomach, shrouded the area. Chills slithered across her shoulders. Perhaps they’d driven into a death trap. The car dying might not be a simple mechanical problem.
She whispered, “We shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m getting my daughter.” Chad jumped out of the car, brandishing a gun like he was James Bond on meth. She pushed open the bulky door with two hands, ran forward, and caught his arm when he took a few steps in the direction of the house.
“We don’t know for sure whatever’s in there has her. What’s that?” She pointed to a shadow in the mist. Her heart jumped into her throat. A human shape stumbled. Its gait was stilted and unsteady. It didn’t have an aura. Not living. “Shoot it.”
“What? You sure?”
“Yes. Shoot it.”
Chad targeted the staggering form. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. “What the hell?”
“Safety’s on,” Shannon said.
He rolled his eyes, clicked it off, and fired two rounds, not hitting anywhere close. “Damn it.”
The staggering human-like creature wasn’t deterred.
“Give it to me.” She wrenched the gun out of his fist instead of waiting for him to hand it over. Deftly, she shot two rounds, hitting it center chest.Yeah.Weekend target practice, a mandatory activity in the Randolph household throughout her younger years, had paid off. The creature shuddered but kept moving. Grabbing Chad’s arm, she pulled him around to the back of his car and to a kneel, not that the car provided much cover.
“What is that thing?” Chad peered around the car at it.
“I don’t know. A ghoul or zombie? I’m pretty sure it’s not alive. There’re more coming from around the house.” Her legs felt weak, her body shook. She grabbed the bumper to steady herself.
Run!Her instinct was to bolt. She couldn’t die right now, not from a zombie attack.
“We gotta get out of here.” Chad peeked around the car again. “Oh shit, the one you shot is closing in. Get in the car. I’ll get it started somehow and get us out of here.”
“They’re coming from behind us too. They’ll trap us inside there.”
She fished her cell phone out of her jeans, praying for signal. It had one bar. Great. She dialed Jen.
“Jen, I need a protection spell.”
“Oh, thank God, it’s you. Where have you been? Everyone’s freaking out.”
Shannon tried to interrupt, but Jen continued, “I’ve been a mess. If you’re in trouble, I’ll be there. Well, I’ll try to be there. I’m the worst at the dimension-hopping business. I can’t promise I’d be there fast, but I’d be on my way. Eli…I can send him. He’s at your house.”
