Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)(66)

“But I saved you.”

“No.” He bent and hoisted me roughly to my feet. “You almost killed me.”

“I didn’t!” I tried to break free, but he pulled me closer.

“I told you to leave,” he snarled. With his face only inches from mine and glowing white in the darkness, I could make out lines of fury scored into his face. His swollen left eye and bleeding lip only made him look more anguished.

“They almost killed you,” I said hoarsely.

“And they almost killed you too!”

He dropped me, and I stumbled back until I hit the bridge’s wall. He thrust a finger in the direction of the factory. “Do you know what should have happened back there, Eleanor? Do you?”

“I just meant to scare the guards. I didn’t mean to break the pump.” The hot ache of tears burned in my throat.

“Joseph sent you as backup—in case things went wrong.” He strode to me, his hands bunching into fists. “Well, things went wrong, and your job was to leave. To stay safe.”

“And you’d be dead in the river if I had.”

“And what if you had died too? Did you think of that?” He gave a strangled groan and stomped away, clenching and flexing his fingers as if trying to keep the violence to himself. “You didn’t think at all, did you?” He whirled back around. “Tell me—did you?”

“Yes!” I shouted. “I did. And I made a choice! If you’re worried about Joseph, then we should go. We have the dy***ite, and we can still—”

“This isn’t about Joseph or the dy***ite.” He spoke in a low growl. “Leaving was your only job, Eleanor, so why didn’t you go when I told you to?”

“Because, Daniel.” My voice was raw with bitterness and hurt. “You...” My voice broke. I swallowed to try again. “Because, Daniel, no matter what you say, I know you would have done the same for me.”

His breath burst out. He tumbled backward as if I’d slapped him. I used the moment to escape, shoving past him and slinging the sack onto my shoulder. Without a glance back, I sprinted through the bridge toward Philadelphia. My footsteps were loud and hollow.

Tears fell now and mixed with the raindrops. But despite the sobs that hovered in my chest and threatened release at any moment, I refused to succumb.

Joseph needed the dy***ite, and Daniel was right: I had a job to do.

“Wait!”

I looked back. Daniel was rushing toward me through the rain. In half a heartbeat he was beside me and tugging me into his arms. His lips parted, but if to speak or to kiss, I never found out.

The sky lit up as if a flash of sunlight pierced the night. A sound like thunder, black and heavy, cracked through the rain. It was from the factory, and a shock wave shuddered over the earth. My knees, already weak, buckled from the impact. I fell onto Daniel, and we toppled to the ground.

The factory had exploded.

It was the impetus we needed, the reminder that life and death still hung in the balance in Philadelphia. In seconds we were back on our feet and bolting toward the city. Toward Joseph at the Centennial Exhibition—and toward the walking Dead.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The lab was destroyed.

When we finally straggled back over an hour later, we found nothing intact. Joseph’s papers were shredded, Daniel’s inventions were torn apart, and everything was covered in grave dirt and bits of jellied corpse. I stood frozen at the door.

In the middle of the room, Jie held a slumped and barely conscious Joseph. Daniel lunged forward and eased Joseph to a stool.

“It was a trick,” Jie said. Her voice was raspy and thin. “The necromancer tricked us from the lab. We went to the U.S. Government Building, and we fought the Dead. But this”—she waved at the room—“is what they came to do.”

My breath shot out, and I eased the sack of dy***ite to the floor. “You mean the necromancer lured you away to destroy your equipment?”

“What other reason can there be?” she asked, her eyes hollow. “Without our things, we cannot fight back.”

“The... the influence machines?” Daniel asked, examining his destroyed equipment. The only unbroken item in the room was the table.

“We still have one.” Jie flicked her eyes to a blanket-wrapped mound. “The other was gone when we got back.”

Daniel rubbed his eyes and nodded wearily. “How many Dead?”

“Over a hundred.”

I choked. “A hundred? And Joseph stopped them?”

“Yes.” Jie’s shoulders drooped. “But he’s exhausted... he’s not even in his head right now.”

I stared at Joseph. He leaned against the wall, his eyes half open and unseeing.

Everything had gone wrong, Daniel’s capture, my attempt at rescue, the explosion, and now this. Guilt ate at my neck and shoulders—a stiff, heavy question: had I made the right choice? Maybe if I had left Daniel and brought Joseph the dy***ite, then the lab would still be intact. By saving Daniel, had I endangered the entire city?

“Will he wake up?” I asked.

Daniel planted his hands on the worktable. “Yeah, he’ll wake up.” He hung his head. “He’ll need sleep, though—a lot of it.”

I pointed to the sack beside my feet. “The—”