OF COURSE, there were a lot of buildings, and there was no way for us to determine where all the people we were looking for might be. But the Kendrick Android Army had arrived from somewhere, and it wasn't in this main building.

However, standing around admiring a sad and ugly view wasn't really in our best interests. We took off again, this time at human normal. Figured saving my hyperspeed strength might be wise, especially after all the conservation lectures from Abigail.

We passed several rooms with the remains of hospital beds. All of them had straps. Suppressed a shudder every time. In the fifth room like this the bed was broken apart. Stopped running and took a closer look.

"Why are we stopping here?" Lizzie asked, sounding nervous for the first time.

"Because I think we can use stuff from in here. Do you hear something?"

She shook her head and pointed. Looked where she'd indicated, just as "Creeper Kamikaze" by The Exies came on. Couldn't swear to it, but it looked like someone had just walked outside by the small window. Only we were on the fourth floor.

"It's a reflection of a tree or something," I said as firmly as possible. Even if Algar was telling me this place was haunted, so what? We still had to survive the androids.

"I think this place is totes haunted."

Really wanted to ask that the mind reading stuff cease and desist but I controlled myself. "Probably is. And so what? You said they couldn't hurt us. However, we have androids after us who definitely can. We have to deal with the immediate threat first. So, grab one of these metal bars, pointy ones for preference."

Dropped my Glock into my purse and ripped the pieces that would work best apart. Wasn't hard, since the bed was pretty much already destroyed.

Lizzie took the bar I handed her. "We going to try to skewer them with these?"

"Indeed we are. I have no idea if it'll work, but be sure it's an android."

"That'll be easy." She made a gagging face. "This Stephanie chick is weird."

"Truer words and all that. Now, let's get going. We need to ensure that we get all of these androids offline and find the others and make sure they're okay."

We turned around to find that one of the Naked Army had found us. We were both startled and we both jumped. Almost lost my hold on my metal rod, but held on. Based on where we were in the room, I was closer to the doorway, meaning I was going to be leading our attack.

My track coaches in high school and college both had probably been the most sadistic and dedicated in the entire country. Not only did they make sprinters run distance and make distance runners do stair charges with the sprinters, but they'd made us all learn how to do every, single event, in case anyone on the team was out due to illness or injury. This meant that I was decent with the javelin, a skill that had come in very handy since meeting the Gang from Alpha Four.

The android was just far enough away that I could throw the bar into him, which I did. He tried to block it, but I was revved up again, not necessarily on rage, which didn't seem to be sticking around long right now, but on nerves and adrenaline. The bar went through the stomach.

In an organic creature this would be a really bad hit. In an android, not so much. The bar went through, but he didn't stop. Well, he did stop, looked down, then kept coming. So much for my brilliant idea.

On the other hand, while he was thusly distracted, I'd gotten my Glock again and, because he was a very close and convenient target, I was able to get five headshots off in rapid fire.

Once I stopped shooting, Lizzie started slamming her bar against his head. He went down and wasn't moving, though because of the bar he was down like he was part of the creepiest lean-to ever built.

Flipped him onto his side and he remained immobile. Put my foot on his chest and pulled the bar out. "I think he's dead, or at least immobilized."

"Are we going to have to do this for every one?" Lizzie asked.

"No idea, but probably."

"This was totes easy 'cause he was just standing there, but I don't think the rest will be."

"I'm with you on both thoughts." Got ready to run again when my music switched to "Change Your Mind" by The All-American Rejects. Pondered this then had a thought and dragged the body to the far end of the room. "So, let's turn the tables and stop being the game and instead become the hunters."

Lizzie cocked her head at me. "You want us to, what, stay here?" She looked around. "We have plenty of bars, I guess, if we need them. But why? If they catch us, we don't have anywhere to go."

"Right, but running around just means we're attacked or caught in a place that isn't loaded with additional ammunition." Ripped the rest of the bed apart and put the rods into a pile that was easier for the two of us to grab from. There was a sturdy footboard and an even bigger headboard that I put in their own pile. Pulled out my iPod and speakers again and hit pause on my phone's music. "Get ready, we're going to lure them to us."

Put my purse on the floor and hit play. The sounds of "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy came on. This was a good song to fight to, and I put it on repeat. It wasn't loud and screaming like the others had been, but the music hadn't affected the Naked Army anyway-with my volume all the way up it would draw them to us, and it was more important that I was in the groove than anything else.

We didn't have long to wait. Another of the Naked Army arrived. This time Lizzie happened to be closer so she slammed her bar at an upward angle so that it entered the stomach but went up and out through the top of the back.

As before, the android kept coming, though it was having issues. Ensured it had more by shooting five shots into its head. It went down. Lizzie pulled out the bar, I dragged the body to what I was hoping would become a pile.

Was really glad that we were using the stab then shoot technique, because the next person through the door was Mahin. "Do you need help?" she asked, looking wild.

"Not yet but potentially." Shared Mission: Duck Blind details. "So, what have you been doing?"

"Running mostly." She cocked her head and ran behind me. "There were three after me and I think they're here."

Put my gun into my left hand and hefted a bar with my right while Mahin grabbed a bar, too. The first of the Naked Army came running in and impaled himself on Lizzie's bar.

Couldn't shoot him because the next one was right behind him and I had to use my javelin skills again. I was a little high, but the good news was that even though I missed the android coming through the door, I speared the one behind him right through the face.

Lizzie meanwhile had pulled out her bar from the first one and was slamming it against his head. Mahin was in a really good horse stance, bar up like a spear, so when the unharmed android came at her, she was able to stab him through the gut.

I got my Glock back into my shooting hand and proceeded to empty the last five bullets in the clip into the android Mahin was dealing with. As it went down, I dropped out the empty clip. "Refill!"

Lizzie, still hitting the android with the bar one-handed, reached into her pocket and tossed me a new clip. Slammed it in, then shot the android that was pulling the bar out of its body. It went down, Mahin grabbed her bar back, then she and Lizzie dragged their androids to the pile, while I went to drag the one in from the hall.

Which was a mistake, in that I didn't have a bar on me and six more androids were converging on us from both sides.

On the plus side, I had a mostly full clip. The ones on my right were closest. Emptied said clip into them, one, two, three. Literally. They seemed to have no self-preservation and less intelligence about doing things like ducking or dodging. Had no complaints-I liked being alive.

Luckily for me, Lizzie came out and rammed a bar into the nearest android on my left while Mahin dragged the one in the hall back into the room. Dropped the clip as Lizzie and I ran back into the room. She slapped a new clip into my hand and grabbed a bar while I put the clip in and turned to shoot the next android.

He obliged by walking into the room, taking five bullets to the head, and going down.

"You know, I don't remember androids being this easy to kill," I mentioned as the third one came in and I shot him, too. "Think it's because they're not really 'done' yet?"

"Possibly," Mahin said as she dragged the two in the room to our pile. "But they may not be 'dead', so to speak, just immobilized."

Went outside with more caution this time. No one else was in sight, so I dragged our last android in, pulled out the bar in his head, and tossed him onto the pile.

"We totes have over half the naked creepers down," Lizzie said. "Should we stay here? Doesn't seem like anyone else is coming."

"Give it a couple of minutes and enjoy the brief respite. Trust me, it won't last long."

True enough, it didn't. Only this time what came through the door wasn't one of the Naked Army. It was the Navy and Air Force Kendricks.

Fortunately for us, we were all getting good at the Stab and Shoot Method. Unfortunately for us, these androids were a lot harder to take down.

Lizzie skewered Army Kendrick while Mahin did the same to Navy. Put five bullets in Army Kendrick, Lizzie tossed me a new clip, then I put five bullets into Navy Kendrick. They were still up. Not doing great, but still up and swinging. Army Kendrick pulled the bar out of his middle and started swinging it around.

Lizzie dodged and fell against Navy Kendrick, which was good because she hit his side where the metal bar was not and made him lose his balance so the kick he was aiming toward Mahin missed.

Navy Kendrick went down, Lizzie managed to keep her balance, though she was staggering. I had to back up to avoid being hit by Army Kendrick, so I used the time to shoot him some more. He went down, but he wasn't out.

Mahin grabbed another bar and started slamming it on Army Kendrick's head. Meanwhile, Lizzie had pulled the bar through Navy Kendrick's back and was hitting him with it as well.

Put my last bullets from this clip into Navy Kendrick, then dug around in my purse for another clip. Found one, and only one. Couldn't remember how many clips Lizzie still had on her, but had to figure it wasn't all that many.

We dragged the finally down androids to the pile. Looked out the window. There were several of what looked like either large metal shipping crates or portable classrooms or stranded rail cars some ways away from the back. There were ten of these-two sets of two to the right and left, a set of three in the middle, another set of two to the far left near a larger building that was even farther away, and one that was sitting at an angle and alone, kind of in the middle to the right.

It was between this angled smaller metal building and the larger normal, for this place, building that I was pretty sure the helicarrier was sitting.

However, there was something more important much closer to the building we were in. White and Abigail were standing back-to-back, and they were surrounded by the remaining dozen androids. And it didn't look like Abigail was using her shield, which probably wasn't wise at this juncture.

"We need to get out of here. Grab our ammunition, such as it is, and let's get going."

Put my Glock back into my purse and hit pause on my iPod as Mahin picked up the remaining metal bars. Lizzie and I took the footboard and headboard-which were far heavier than they looked-just in case.

We were heading for the door when I heard a weird sound, sort of like white noise. Turned around. To see that, unfortunately, Mahin had been right-the androids had been down, but they weren't out.

The pile was moving.

CHAPTER 55.

THE THREE OF US FROZE. Some things make you stop in your tracks. Some, like seeing Jeff on our wedding day, were great reasons. Some, like what we were watching right now, were not.

The pile was moving, as if the androids on the bottom were trying to move the ones on top of them. My iPod started up and I knew I hadn't jostled it. Instead of the song I'd had on repeat, we now had "Electric Worry" by Clutch playing. Loved this song, but memory shared that it had been used for a video game-one about killing zombies.

"I think they've rebooted or whatever," Lizzie said, her voice only shaking a little bit.

Mahin opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the pile sort of exploding out, as the first android we'd taken down crawled out and over the pile of his duplicated brethren.

"Kill it!" Mahin screamed. "Kill it with fire!" Then she started really yelling, but in Farsi. I had no idea what she was saying, but I was pretty sure that the words "kill" and "fire" were in there.

Adrenaline is a funny thing. When it came to fight or flight, I was usually on the side of kick 'em in the tenders first, run away later. Right now, though, I really wanted to run. Only Mahin was freaking out in the doorway and, due to all the metal she was holding, was actually blocking any escape Lizzie and I could hope to make.

Looked at said teenager. For the first time she looked terrified. "They really are zombie androids," she said, her voice heading to the level where only dogs would be able to hear her. Normally I thought of that as my personal register, but couldn't really fault Lizzie for going there.

Lizzie was a kid, and she was, for all intents and purposes right now, my kid. Sure, I hadn't given birth to her, sure she had an adopted father, but she was my ward, and besides Batman hadn't birthed any of the Robins, either, but they were his wards, and that meant Batman was going to do all that he could to save whichever Robin, even though he'd put said Robin in danger in the first place. Apparently I had a lot in common with Batman right now.

However, I also had zombie androids, and they were terrifying my friend and my kid.

Rage hit, in all its She-Hulk and Wolverine's Berserker Rage glory. Pulled the footboard and headboard out of Lizzie's hands, let the headboard fall, then took one end of the footboard and started slamming it against the android as if the footboard was a baseball bat and the android was good ol' Beverly, who'd tried to do horrific things to Jeff during Operation Fugly.

They might have been tough, they might have been rough, they might have been made of metal and wires and nothing else nice, but these androids didn't stand a chance against me right now.

I was slamming what appeared to be an indestructible piece of metal and wood against these things, to the song that was now on repeat, and I just made sure that they were splattering as much as androids could splatter.

Slam, spin, slam, kick, slam, jump up and down on the body, slam some more. Lost count of which one I was destroying and just kept on. Realized that Mahin and Lizzie were helping again, beating the androids with the metal bars. They were also kicking, stomping, and jumping on the bodies.

I was going faster than either one of them, though, and not just because Lizzie was a human and Mahin was a hybrid without the double-hearts. I was revved to the top of my adrenal rush and everything else around me was in slow motion, just like it had been during Operation Confusion, when my husband and friends had been chained up and tortured.

Was glad Jeff wasn't around because my rage and our terror would have really affected him badly. Just channeled worry about what he'd be doing if he was here into smashing more androids.

Sooner than I'd have thought, we had no more moving parts in here. It looked like a horrific murder scene, which was to say that it still fit the entire motif of this House of Horrors and didn't even look out of place.

We stopped and backed away.

"Wow," Lizzie said finally. "I guess they do die."

"When you turn them into separate parts and make the parts mush, yeah, they do."

Mahin was muttering about how this place should be burned to the ground. Had never realized she had arson in her veins, but clearly she was Old School and believed in setting the monsters on fire. Couldn't argue with the logic, just didn't want to turn a gigantic building to ash because I knew that wouldn't play out well for us.

"Let's get out of here and help the others."

"Should we turn off the music?" Lizzie asked.

"Um, yeah, I guess." I mean, clearly Algar was going to turn it on anyway. Felt something brush my cheek, and looked around. No one was there, but I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye again. But when I looked, nothing. Okay, so maybe the music wasn't Algar, but was a helpful spirit. I'd ask Algar later. And take whatever help we could get, ghostly or otherwise.

We gathered up our makeshift yet extremely effective weapons-the footboard was banged up and dented, as were some of the metal bars, but they were in useable shape, and the headboard hadn't been touched yet.

Put the iPod on pause but put my earbuds back in and started my own music up. Band of Horse's "Is There A Ghost" came on. Nice to see Algar was keeping his sense of humor.

We headed downstairs carefully and cautiously, but as quickly as we could. Naturally, I got lost, so Lizzie ended up taking point, though I kept close to her. However, having destroyed the zombie androids seemed to have emboldened her, and she wasn't nearly as freaked out as she had been.

Other than seeing more decay, desolation, and a variety of horrific things in every room we passed, we didn't come across any more androids. Since I'd seen the remaining dozen surrounding White and Abigail, this wasn't a surprise, but it confirmed that we didn't have even more androids out after us. At least not yet.

We found the back doors and slunk through them. To hear the sound of what I was pretty prepared to say was a rocket launcher.

CHAPTER 56.