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“Do you really think anyone is safe and happy here?” I asked him dubiously. “Your niece and nephews cuddle with zombies, and no one knows who fathered your sister’s baby. Your family hunts down uninfected humans and turns them into slaves or zombie food. This is not a happy family ranch anymore, Waylon. It’s a fucking house of horrors.”

He kept the gun pointed on us, but he lowered his eyes. “This is my home and my legacy.”

“The hay is on fire!” Kimber shouted, and both Waylon and I glanced over to see that the broken lantern had caught onto the dry straw that filled the stall.

Waylon cursed and started stomping at the fire with his boots.

“We gotta go!” Kimber grabbed my hand, and then the two of us were on our feet.

We ran down the corridor, and she stopped and unlocked the other stalls with the keys she had taken from Waylon. Many of the stalls were empty, and the one that usually housed Buddy and Tallulah only had Buddy tonight.

“Where’s Tallulah?” I asked, but he only shook his head. That was all he could really do with his mouth sewn shut.

As soon as Kimber set the other hostages free from their stalls, they took off running every which way, but that was probably for the best. Since we didn’t have any weapons, and the stable was on fire, our only hope for escape was getting lost in the chaos.

Once we had opened all of the stalls in our stable, we ran outside into the night. There were other barns, with other uninfected people locked up, and we hurried toward them to set them free.

As we ran, I saw an animal rush by from the corner of my eye, and I froze while Kimber continued on the quest. In the dim light from the growing fire behind us, I could’ve sworn that I had seen a large beige animal.

“Ripley?” I called, even though I was certain I was wrong. How could Remy’s lioness have gotten here?

When it walked out in the shadows, I realized how wrong I was, and my heart dropped. It was a massive wolf, with calculating eyes staring right at me.

“Harlow?” a voice said, and now I knew I was losing my mind, because I swore it sounded just like Lazlo. “Harlow!”

I turned around, and there he was. His hair was shorter, his beard neater, and he all around looked better than the last time I saw him, but it was him. Somehow, someway, he was standing here in the Loth ranch, smiling at me under the starlight.

I didn’t think. I ran towards him as fast as my legs could carry me, and I leapt into his arms. He caught me easily, and the instant I felt his arms around me, tears sprung in my eyes.

“You found me, I can’t believe you found me,” I cried into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” he replied thickly. “I promise I’ll never lose you again.”

38

Harlow

The reunion was short-lived because a warning bell started going off. The fire had grown large enough in the stable to attract the attention of the main house, or maybe they had an automatic alarm. Either way, a loud bell was waking up everyone and everything on the ranch, and flood lights flicked on between the buildings, so there weren’t as many shadows to hide in.

When we reached a fork on the paths, I turned one way, and Lazlo the other.

“It’s quicker this way to our mule on the hill,” Lazlo said and pointed to the southwest corner of the ranch.

“We can’t leave without Kimber.” I jerked my thumb back toward the buildings. “She’s setting the others free.”

“Kimber’s with you?” Lazlo asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have survived if she wasn’t here. I can’t leave without her.”

“What about Kerrigan?” he asked.

I shook my head grimly. “He didn’t make it.”

He nodded his understanding and jogged over to join me. As we weaved through the buildings, we glanced inside, and they were all empty. I called for Kimber, but she never answered.

I saw other uninfected humans – many of them severely malnourished and mutilated, the way Tallulah and Buddy had been. They were running every which way, and the acrid smoke was filling the air as the fire in the stable raged on.

The Loths were somewhere nearby. They were shouting at one another about the fire and their enslaved humans escaping, and I avoided them as we looked for Kimber.