Bad Hair Day (20 page)

O
ne minute, I was standing in my driveway with Aaron. The next, Elle nearly rammed me with her bumper. I scrambled to get out of the way, slipping in the slush and sprawling on the ground. Snow soaked through the seat of my jeans as the car screeched to a stop beside me.

“You,” she said, flouncing out of the car. Her cheeks were red with cold, or maybe anger. I couldn’t be bothered to care which.

“Your skill with pronouns is earth-shattering,” I said.

I think it all would have been okay if Aaron hadn’t laughed. He clamped his lips together in an attempt to stifle the noise, but it came out his nose in an explosive snort. Her face went all blotchy; patches of red competed with pale, bloodless spots for dominance. But I still couldn’t resist getting just one more dig in.

“Man,” I said, shaking my head in mock sympathy. “You don’t look so good. Do you need an ointment or something?”

She smacked me.

My skin stung, and I knew without being told that the outline of her hand decorated my cheek. I put my hand up to it, blinking hard. I wasn’t about to let her see me cry. Funny how I’d endured all kinds of pain over the past couple of days without a peep and a little slap on the face sent me over the edge.

Her eyes were wide, and she kept looking at her hand like maybe it had developed a will of its own and might strike again at any time. Then she looked at me. And she laughed.

The rush of anger was so strong that my skin tingled with it. Goose bumps rose in waves down my arms, and my fingers twitched with the urge to make fists. After all she’d done, now she was hitting me? Laughing at me? If she wanted to pick a fight, I’d show her a fight.

She must have seen something in my face that frightened her, because she tried to run. I grabbed her by the wrist and yanked before she made it very far, and her feet slipped in the slush. Her head nearly collided with the bumper on her way down to the pavement. I felt my lips pull back from my teeth and realized I was grinning.

“Kate?” The voice was unfamiliar at first, but I recognized Aaron after a moment. He looked delicious.

Elle tried to scramble away on her hands and knees, and I kicked her arms out from under her. She sprawled on her belly. Road sludge dotted her face. I laughed because it was so funny.
And when she tried to roll out of range, I followed. It wouldn’t be that easy to get away from me.

“Stop it right now, Kate.” Aaron grabbed me by the braid, yanking me away from her. “You’re better than this.”

I struggled against him instinctively. My scalp felt like it was about to pop off my head; I put my hands to the base of my skull, trying to alleviate the pressure.

“Let me go!” I shrieked.

He didn’t. He wrapped his arms around me from behind and held on tight. I flailed and shrieked and …

Wait a minute. What was I doing?

I went limp in his arms. Now the only thing I wanted to punch was myself. I wasn’t a violent person; this was not like me at all. I’d struck out at Aaron, for god’s sake.

“I’m so sorry,” I whimpered. “I think it’s the nanobots.”

All the furious energy melted away, leaving me spent and empty, like a scooped-out melon. Aaron’s arms crisscrossed my chest, holding me up.

“What do you need me to do?” he asked.

“Just let go. I’m okay now.”

He released me reluctantly, and I took a minute to straighten my coat. Every move was deliberate and controlled. But when I looked up, Elle was right in my face. She shoved me to the ground before I could get out a word of apology. I fell sprawling on the sidewalk, skinning both my elbows. Then she leapt on me, forcing all the air out of my lungs. She was heavier than she looked. Her head was probably full of bricks instead of brains.

“I hate you!” she yelled. “You bitch!”

Aaron attempted to pull her off me, but she was flailing so wildly that it was like trying to put a cat in a bathtub. I’d learned my lesson when Trey had pinned me in the basement. I bucked my hips, hard, and she went flying. Unfortunately, I hadn’t planned any further and had no idea what to do next. I could press my advantage, or I could get into the car and lock the doors. While I stood there like an indecisive idiot, she shoved Aaron to the pavement and leapt onto my back.

My chin slammed into the ground, and this time it wasn’t cushioned by exercise mats. My vision whited out from the pain. Elle didn’t help; she grabbed me by the ears and bashed my head into the concrete. I fumbled at her hands but couldn’t get a good grip.

I tasted blood in my mouth, and my eyesight was a blur punctuated by white blossoms of visible pain every time my head hit the ground. I bucked my torso again since it had worked so well the last few times, but all I managed was a millisecond of bash-free bliss.

I heard a far-off roar. My blood pounded in my ears, so at first I thought she might have damaged my hearing, and now all I’d be able to listen to for the rest of my life was a constant “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Suddenly, she was gone.

I struggled to sit up and figure out what the hell was going on, but my eyes wouldn’t work. I wiped them with the back of my
hands and forced them to focus. My head spun, but at least I was semi-vertical.

Bryan was crouched over Elle’s prone body a few feet away. He was howling his hairy head off. His hood had slid back, revealing a fur-covered face. His lips were drawn back from his teeth in a feral smile; he looked ready to tear her windpipe out with his teeth. She covered her face with her hands, as if that would do any good.

As much as I would have liked to see her smeared all over the driveway, I had to do something. I struggled to my feet, and Aaron ran over to me, steadying me until my legs decided to work.

“Elle,” I said, pushing him away. “I’ll draw him off while you get her into the car.”

He looked at me uncertainly. “I can’t leave you.”

“Go!” I shoved him. “I want her to die, but I don’t want her dead. Get what I mean?”

Based on his confused expression, he didn’t. But he went anyway.

I jumped up and down and waved my arms. “Hey, Bryan! Over here!”

He stalked in my direction, slow and deliberate and über-scary. I felt like a deer in headlights, only the car was driven by a pack of rabid wolves with black belts. I knew it was the worst thing to do, but I couldn’t help it: I ran.

I sprinted around the side of the house, my head whirling. The ground seesawed, and I found myself next to the tree in the
middle of the yard without quite knowing how I’d gotten there. But I couldn’t stop. I had to get him away from Elle.

Something shifted as my feet pounded through the remains of our unsuccessful vegetable garden. My vision suddenly clicked into place, my gait straightening. I rounded the corner in a blur of movement that felt all too natural. And when I looked back, I saw Bryan, struggling to keep up.

It felt great. I wound through the backyard and up the side of the house, then flew past the car. It felt like my feet were barely touching the ground, but even though I was going so fast, I saw everything in perfect, clear detail. Especially the looks of surprise on Aaron’s and Elle’s faces. I stuck my tongue out at Elle on my way past, but I don’t think she noticed.

The two of them dove into the car, barely managing to pull the doors closed before Bryan hit it. I think he figured he could catch up with me if he went over obstacles instead of around them. His momentum carried him up to the roof, and I waited on the balls of my feet for him to charge again. But he stopped there, crouching on the car, and howled. The guy deserved to be slapped for perpetuating werewolf stereotypes. But before I could whack him a good one, he stopped howling long enough to slam his arm down onto the windshield. It cracked under the pressure.

The urge to attack was irresistible. I was stronger now; I could feel it in the jittery energy that ran down my arms and made my fingers twitch. But I couldn’t afford to lose control, not if I wanted to cure us.

And suddenly, just like a switch was flipped in my brain, I knew how. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before: the perfect, portable way to deactivate the bots.

I ran for the house. The sudden movement attracted Bryan’s attention; he bounded off the car and loped toward me on all fours. I took the stairs to the second floor three at a time without even breaking a sweat. A low growl echoed down the hallway; I looked behind me before I realized with horror that it
was
me. My belly echoed the sound, the muscles clenching uncomfortably. I was suddenly, horribly ravenous.

The front door exploded into splinters. On his way through the foyer, Bryan crunched the mail bin into kibble. My parents didn’t usually mind messes, but something told me they’d mind this.

I made it up the stairs to my bedroom, slammed the door to buy another millisecond, and went for my underwear drawer. The thing I was looking for was all the way at the back.

Jonah had gotten a lot of crap for getting me a high-voltage stun gun at Christmas. He’d said I could use it to protect myself from rogue zombies, and I’d told him he was a complete moron. It was a great holiday season. Full of family bonding.

I picked it up just as Bryan burst through my door, decimating the hinges. The world narrowed to the tunnel of space between us. Time slowed, or at least that was how it felt to me. My arms felt heavy, my fingers clumsy. They tightened on the stun gun, and I almost dropped it.

A red halo framed my vision. My hands went completely
numb. Even my teeth tingled. My skin suddenly seemed too small for my bones. I felt the hair pushing through each individual pore.

It was getting hard to think. I forgot about the weapon I held. I wanted to grab Bryan, bite him, and tear him apart with my hands.

He leapt, rocketing toward me. I clawed his face, but the momentum was too much. I hit my bedroom wall with a sickening crunch. Strangely, it didn’t hurt.

Electricity coursed through my body as the stun gun went off in my hands.

I
have no idea how long I lay jerking on the floor after accidentally stunning myself. It certainly wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat. My mouth tasted like I’d been licking the inside of a sewer pipe, and my head felt like I’d gotten a hammer facial, but I still felt pretty lucky.

The reason for my continued existence was pretty obvious: Aaron stood between Bryan and me with a plastic sword in each hand. As I watched, Bryan feinted to the left, trying to get through to the easier prey on the floor. Aaron whacked him, a quick double tap to the shoulder and cheekbone. It probably didn’t damage Bryan, but it made him pause. I made fun of Jonah a lot for his pretend swords, but I had to admit they were perfect for fighting off rogue supernaturals.

I struggled to sit up. My brain was having trouble getting my
body to cooperate. I’d have to wear gloves the next time I worked on a random attack victim so I didn’t contract another case of nanobots. I didn’t like how this felt.

Bryan started pacing in front of us, snarling and growling. Neither he nor Aaron had noticed I was awake. I rolled into the scattered bits of dirty laundry under my bed, snatching the stun gun on the way. I didn’t want them to see me yet, not before I could stand up without the shakes. My whole body was one big pain receptor set on permanent overdrive. I’d lost track of the ways I’d been smashed and bashed, but there was no stopping now.

Under the mattress I went, through the dust bunnies and a couple of random Skittles, trying not to make a huge racket. Luckily, Bryan and Aaron were fixated on each other and not really paying attention to me. It was a good thing I wasn’t, you know,
dying
.

I reached the vanity in the corner and used it to pull myself to my feet. From here on out, I was all too visible. I’d just have to rush up behind Bryan and hope he was too distracted to notice.

My vision went wonky again the minute I pushed off from the dresser. I staggered the first couple of steps. I didn’t think I could do this; my head wouldn’t stop spinning. Bryan roared, the sound echoing in the small space. He snatched one of the swords out of the air with a careless flick of his hand. It spiraled right at my face and nearly smacked me on the forehead. I didn’t have the time to freak out about that, though.

He’d seen me.

Bryan pounced, knocking me to the ground. I felt pretty grateful, actually, because it was awfully tough to stand.

He tore out a hank of my hair. By this time, my pain receptors were completely overworked; I barely felt it. All I needed to do was reach up and push the button on the stun gun. I almost dropped it twice before I managed to depress the plastic square. Unfortunately, the full-body contact transmitted the shock to me too. My muscles seized, and there was nothing I could do to stop myself from whacking my head on my nightstand. I blacked out for about the millionth time that day.

When I woke up, I expected mass chaos. Instead, I saw Bryan on the floor by my side, Aaron on his cell, screaming, “I’m saying I need a damned ambulance! The address is—” He broke off abruptly, hanging up and rushing to my side the moment my eyes fluttered open.

“Kate,” he said. “Thank god. Are you okay?”