Devil’s Wake Read Online Free PDF Page B

moment in the moonlight, were swollen with blood and rage. Piranha hadn’t been sure with the fish market cop. He’d never met that guy before, and maybe he looked like that from the time he pinned on his badge in the morning, but now the same eyes on Vern looked right evil.
    In darkness, confusion reigned. They scrambled away from Vern, flinging their mattresses and chairs in his path to try to slow him down. Piranha grabbed his blanket and threw it toward their erstwhile boss, hoping it would cover his eyes long enough for them to subdue him and stay clear of his snapping teeth. The blanket was a direct hit, draping Vern’s head completely and sending him into a mindless, frustrated spin. All of them cried out, summoning strength and luck, and piled on Vern to wrestle him to the ground.
    Piranha kicked at the squirming figure, wishing he wasn’t barefoot and his kick would stop Vern’s wriggling. Darius leaped and landed on Vern with a pile-driving elbow that would have ended a steel-cage match. Vern finally fell still. The way Darius moaned and grabbed his elbow, he might have hurt himself nearly as much as he’d hurt his boss.
    They all gasped for breath, leaning on one another. Piranha had never wanted to hug other guys as much as he wanted to cling tothese, but they all caught one another’s eyes and backed off, spooked by the impulse to be close. What had happened with Vern was weird enough already.
    Hipshot whined, shivering in the corner. Big help you were, Piranha thought.
    But Hipshot had been a help, he realized. Hipshot had been trying to warn them about Vern since they drove up in the van.
    “Did we kill him?” Darius said, breathless. “Did I…”
    The shape under the blanket groaned, thrashing feebly.
    “He’s not dead,” Piranha said, although his fists were ready to help Vern make the transition. “He’s acting like the cop. No matter what, we do not want to get bitten.”
    “We’ll shut him in the meat locker,” Terry said. “Lock him in.”
    “He’ll freeze in there!” Dean said. “We can’t do that.”
    “Says who?” Darius growled.
    “He won’t freeze in ten minutes,” Terry said. “We just need time to think.”
    Piranha heard himself try to laugh. “Think? I think I pissed my briefs.”
    “Wondered what that smell was,” Terry said, but his voice sounded hollow.
    There was an aroma, but it was more than panicked sweat. Vern had a smell now. Like rotten oranges.
    Carefully, Piranha picked up one corner of the blanket, and Terry another, and Vern’s new smell floated out, impossible to miss.
    Hipshot backed into a corner, whining as he watched them. Vern lay there as if he’d curled up to sleep on the floor, eyes closed. His face was a mess, but in the dark Piranha tried to tell himself it was only chocolate syrup.
    Piranha looked up, his eyes wild. “Damn! Sonia…”
    As if her name was a conjuring, Sonia suddenly appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a terry-cloth bathrobe. In the moonlight, herskin looked chalky. Piranha took her shoulder and steered her back outside. He might never have been happier to see anyone, but there was no time for a reunion. “Stay back,” he said. “We gotta handle this.”
    “What the… ?”
    “Just stay back, ” Piranha said, more sharply than he’d meant to.
    “Vern went crazy.” Terry’s voice was hushed. “Tried to bite us.”
    Sonia’s eyes squinted with confusion as she brushed loose hair from her face. “What? You mean like on TV?”
    Sonia was usually cool, but panic was rising in her face, her lips trembling. Piranha couldn’t tolerate hysterical women. His mother had been hysterical when she should have been packing her bags, and he didn’t want his anger at a dead woman to freak Sonia more than absolutely necessary. He forced gentleness into his voice as he curled strands of hair around her ear with his index finger. “Relax, baby,” he said. “Stay back and let us handle this, a’ight?”
    Sonia nodded as