Brynna's eyes sparkled with warmth but for al that, she wasn't anywhere near as spectacular to him as Kody was.

Brynna was pretty. Kody was sizzling. "You're real y going to like working for Kyrian. He's a great guy."

"If you say so."

She smiled. "So how's your shoulder feeling? You excited to be going back to school? Is your physical therapy real y hard?

Did you get al the a.s.signments done that I left for you? The math was real y hard, but if you need a tutor, we can arrange one for you until you catch up."

Nick felt a.s.saulted by her barrage of rapidly fired questions and comments. She didn't even give him a chance to respond until the very end. "You always this chatty in the morning?" Tad burst out laughing.

Brynna slapped her brother on the arm, her face red. "Stop that."

Tad grinned. "Nice to know I'm not the only one your perky morning att.i.tude annoys. I told you it was too much for a man to bear."

Nick felt his own cheeks heat again. He hadn't meant to offend her. "I'm not annoyed by you, Brynna." He actual y liked her a lot. "I'm just not used to people like you talking to me with this much interest. It's kind of creeping me out. Feel like I've stepped into an alternate reality or something. You keep this up and I'm going to start looking for Racc.o.o.n City vans or something."

Brynna frowned. "Racc.o.o.n what?"

Tad snorted. "It's from the game Resident Evil, doof." He looked at Nick through the rearview mirror. "You have to forgive her, Nick. She doesn't play much. Just gabs on the phone with al her vacuous, self-absorbed friends." She slid an offended glare to her brother.

Nick mental y kicked himself. Why did I say that to her? I'm such an idiot. Here he sat in the nicest car he'd ever seen, riding to school with one of the prettiest girls in his cla.s.s-one who was real y decent-and he'd offended her.

I'm never going to have a girlfriend. I'm too stupid for one.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Tad pul ed up to a nice house and honked.

Three seconds later, the front door opened and Casey Woods came running out in her ful black and gold cheerleader outfit that hugged every curve on her body ... and for a fourteen-year-old girl, she had a lot of curves-unlike the rest of their female cla.s.smates. Her long wavy dark hair was pul ed back from her face with a black and gold bow.

A bright smile curled her lips as she ran to them.

Oh, c.r.a.p . . .

She was Brynna's best friend and, up until he'd met Kody, the one girl at school he'd sel his soul to have as his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, Casey didn't know he even existed.

Something brought brutal y home as she opened the door to the car and paused with a frown on her beautiful face.

Brynna didn't miss a beat. "Morning, Case. You know Nick?

Casey turned her head to look at him from the corner of her eyes as if trying to remember him. "Should I?" Yeah, why should you know me? We only have four cla.s.ses together . . . and he sat directly in front of her in two of them.

I might as well be invisible.

Nick caught the sight of Tad rol ing his eyes in the rearview mirror. "We're going to be late, Case. Get in or step back into your yard and close the door."

Tad's hostile tone caught him off guard. What magic pil did Tad take to be immune to her looks?

Glaring at him, Casey shrugged her Prada backpack off and tossed it into the SUV before she climbed in and sat next to Nick.

Why didn't I sit up front with Tad?

Why, Lord, why?

Casey scowled at Brynna. "So is he like a new student or something? Does he speak English?"

Brynna slid a puzzled stare to Nick. "Nick's been going to school with us for the last three years."

"Oh ... wel , I'm in al advanced cla.s.ses." Nick bit back a snort at her snotty comment. What am I?

Special ed?

Then again, at the moment, he felt like this was the short bus to hel and that he had a reserved seat on it.

Brynna opened her mouth to say something else, but Nick held his hand up to stop her from correcting Casey's mistaken conclusions about him before Casey made him feel any more worthless. "So, Tad, how 'bout them Saints?" Tad laughed at his switch in topic. "You know, Gautier, you might actual y grow on me."

"Yeah, that's me. Kudzu Gautier."

Casey didn't get it, but Brynna did. Obviously the tenacious vine must have invaded Brynna's yard and taken it over.

"What's kudzu?" Casey asked.

Tad ignored her. "What the ..."

Nick looked out the window to see a boatload of police cars at the school as they slowed down. There were two ambulances and even a fire truck. "What's going on?" Tad shook his head. "Not sure ..."

Casey's face lit up. "Does this mean no school? Oh thank G.o.d, I didn't finish my social studies homework." The police wouldn't let them park in the school lot. Instead, they waved them down the street and away from the crowd.

Tad went over to Royal and parked outside of Fifi Mahoney's.

"I've got to know what's going on."

Nick concurred. Leaving his backpack in the SUV, he walked over to the school with Tad and the girls.

Many of the students were mil ing around in groups while reporters asked a few of them questions. Brynna and Casey broke off to join their friends.

Nick fol owed Tad as he headed over to Ms. Pantal , who was standing with three other teachers.

"Hey, Ms. P," Tad cal ed, "what's going on?" She let out a slow breath before she answered. "You won't believe this ... Brian Murrey tried to eat Scott Morgan." Nick's eyes widened at the unexpected explanation. Had he heard that right?

Tad gaped. "What?"

She nodded as she gestured toward the school's entrance.

"They were in the cafeteria before the bel , acting completely normal, when al of a sudden Brian attacked him for no reason. He started chewing on his arm and tearing at his skin like a rabid dog with a steak. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was so gross."

Tad pa.s.sed a wide-eyed stare to Nick. "Is Scott al right?" In perfect timing to the question, Scott came out of the school on a stretcher with two EMTs watching over him.

Nick drifted away from them so that he could listen in on a few other conversations, including that of a female reporter who was talking on her cel phone. There had to be more to this story than what Pantal was saying to Tad.

"I'm tel ing you, Bob, something's going on. What with the attacks last night and now this ... How many cities have six cannibal attacks in twelve hours?"

Wel , it was the Big Easy where they had a slack att.i.tude over most things. But even the stoutest New Orleanian usual y drew the line at eating human flesh.

Most days, anyway.

Then again, Hal oween was just around the corner. If not for the cops, he might think it a prank.

"They're questioning the kid now. He seems out of it. Like his brains are rattled or something. But you should have seen the vic's arm. He tore it down to the bone and his cla.s.smates said he ate al the flesh like he was starving for it. You think it could be something voodoo related?"

Yeah, any time something freaky happened, blame the Goth or the voudoun communities-'cause normal people could never be insane. Maybe he should remind the reporter that the infamous serial kil er and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer hadn't been a voodoo worshiper either and Brian, until this, had been a normal jock like the rest of the team. A little dumber than most, but he was a poster child for normality.

Until he tried to eat Scott ...

Nick moved away from her, closer to the ambulance where they were loading Scott. There was a white bandage over his arm that was red as more blood seeped through it.

Scott was sobbing. "Al I did was reach for his milk. He could have just said no. He didn't have to eat my arm. ... G.o.d, I'l never be able to throw a bal again. I'm gonna lose my scholarship, I know it. We'l never make the state championship now. Terry can't throw for squat. Man, the season's over. Why? Why did he do this?" That seemed to be the question. ...

"Hey, kid! Get back behind the barricade." Nick nodded to the officer before he obeyed.

"Hey, Nick!" Frank McDaniel ran up to him. "Hear what happened? Brian ate Scott. How cool is that? Man, I wish I'd seen it. That's what I get for being late to school. I miss al the good stuff that happens."

Jason laughed in agreement. "I just hope whatever got into him isn't catching. I don't want no one coming up and trying to gnaw on my flesh or me going after someone else. Sheez. My mom's a vegan. She grounded me for six months last summer when I ate a cheeseburger at McDonald's. Can you imagine how long she'd ground me for eating a person?" Frank cast a hungry look over to the group where Brynna and Casey were standing. "Oh man, if it is catching, I hope Casey Woods gets it and comes for me. If you gotta die, no better way to go than to get eaten by the head cheerleader." Jason high-fived him. "Yeah, al right. Sign me up for that too. I definitely want to be her chew toy." Nick ignored his friends as he caught sight of his lab partner Madaug St. James, who seemed to be muttering to himself as he stood off to the side of the ambulance. An almost stereotypical nerd, Madaug had a black gamer T-shirt on underneath his blue b.u.t.ton-down that had been left open.

His dishwater blond hair was cropped short and he had large blue eyes that were always covered with thin-rimmed gla.s.ses.

Even though Nick knew the name was p.r.o.nounced "Mah-dug," he, like most of the people in his cla.s.s, usual y p.r.o.nounced it "Mad Dog." But that always irritated Madaug and right now he looked agitated enough.

"Hey, dude. You al right?"

Madaug froze at his question. "Uh, yeah. It's terrible, isn't it?

"Epical y gruesome."

Madaug nodded. "I can't believe it. I just can't believe it." Neither could Nick. "Wel , I guess the bright side is you don't have to worry about Scott or Brian picking on you today in gym cla.s.s, right?" Last time Nick had been in school, Brian had worn Madaug's gym shorts and then forced Madaug into them after he'd sweated al over them.

Gross and nasty.

Madaug didn't respond to his question as he continued to fret.

Out of the crowd, one loud voice suddenly drowned the others out. "I'm tel ing you people, it's a zombie attack. Z to the O to the M to the B to the I, E. Zombie. Open your eyes, people, before it's too late and he eats someone else. Any of you could be next on the Zombie Apocalypse Menu. Heed my words and stock up on ammo! I got a new shipment coming in today!"

Nick knew that voice. He just wasn't used to hearing it this early in the day.

Big Bubba Burdette, the owner of the Triple B store.

Wow, and Bubba hadn't burst into flames by getting up this early in the morning. Who knew? He'd have sworn the man was half vampire.

Standing wel over six feet tal , Bubba was an interesting mix of redneck and Goth. Case in point, he had on a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt with a red flannel shirt pul ed on over it. His baggy jeans were complemented by a nice pair of black Doc Martens that were decorated with red skul s. With short black hair and a goatee, Bubba was terrifying to behold. But the minute he opened his mouth and that thick Southern drawl came out, he looked less like a threat and more like a giant fluffy panda bear.

At least so long as you didn't interrupt his watching Oprah in the afternoon. Bubba said anyone dumb enough to do that deserved to have his entrails spil ed.

And that thick drawl made most people underestimate a man whose IQ was off the charts. In fact, Bubba had graduated at the top of his cla.s.s from MIT with degrees in both computer science and robotics. Now, he owned the Triple B-a gun and computer store where you could hire Bubba to hack anything in the world, legal or otherwise, and if that didn't work, he'd shoot it for you just to put it out of your misery.

The reporters left Bubba as they tried to interview more students.

Bubba spat a bit of his chewing tobacco onto the pavement. "That's right, troglodytes, ignore the only one who knows what's going on. The only one who knows how to save your putrid, insignificant lives. Go back to your media-induced comas where you believe al the c.r.a.p spieled by greedy politicians who control you with il -conceived lies and consumer-driven distractions."

"Aren't those consumer-driven distractions what keep you in business, Bubba?" Nick asked as he approached him.

Bubba narrowed his dark brown eyes on Nick with disgust.

"Don't sa.s.s me, Nick. I'm not a morning person and I might take my il mood out on you."

"Yeah, I know. So what are you doing up at this hour, anyway?"

"Haven't slept. Got a cal from Fingerman at oh dawn thirty tel ing me there were zombies on the loose and that he needed reinforcement. So I grabbed my gun and we went hunting in the bayou." Normal people might find this conversation odd, but then al conversations with Bubba were odd, and zombie hunting was just another service he offered at his store.

"Mark get eaten?"

"Nah, the little wuss fel asleep on the way back to the store.

He's cuddled up in the front seat like an infant girl, sucking his thumb and holding his jacket tucked under him like a pil ow.

Don't know what I'm going to do with him." Nick opened his mouth to make another comment when he realized that conversations had stopped. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. Turning his head, he saw Brian being led out of the school in handcuffs.

Except for the blood marring his letterman's jacket, he looked normal. Completely. Total y. Normal. Yeah, his skin was a little pale and his eyes sunken like he hadn't slept wel . But other than that ...

No one could tel he'd tried to eat his best friend.

Brian slowed as he neared the captain of the team. Their gazes locked in such a way that it seemed like they were communicating without speaking.

The cops shoved him forward.

Brian kept his gaze on the captain until he was forced into the police car.

Nick looked at Bubba. "Is it just me or was that weird?" Bubba gave him a drol stare. "Is there any part of this day that hasn't been weird, boy?"

Good point.

"So what do you think caused this?" Nick asked.

Bubba scratched his head. "That I'm trying to figure out.