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suggesting that you lock all of your doors and windows and— She halted in her report and turned in reaction to someone speaking off camera. As she let out a shocked gasp and a muffled Oh my God, the camera panned around to the scene near her.
    What Cade saw froze the blood in her veins.
    A young man had been thrown to the sidewalk by two other men. They crouched over him and pawed at his clothes with a frightening degree of franticness. Cade thought at first that they were mugging the man, but it became apparent soon enough that something much more awful was happening. Blood blossomed forth. As one of the men leaned down and bit the still-struggling young man, tearing a chunk of flesh from his shoulder, Cade let out a choked gasp and turned away from the screen. She clapped her hand over her mouth as bile rose into her throat. She turned her eyes instead to Andrew. He stared at the television, his eyes just as wide as hers, his skin pale.
    “Oh my God,” Andrew whispered a weak echo of the television reporter. His hands trembled as he held them at his sides. He reached out and gripped the back of the sofa as he saw Cade looking at them.
    “What are they doing? ” Cade asked. She risked another cautious glance at the television. She didn’t want to see anything further, but her morbid curiosity won out over her disgust.
    “I think … I think they might be eating him,” Andrew said. His fingers dug into the sofa cushion, and he licked his lips nervously.
    On the screen, Veronica Sawyers let out a small shriek of fear as the two men, moving away from their now-dead victim on the sidewalk, started in her direction. My God, they’re coming this way! Run! she yelled. The camera thudded to the ground as the cameraman decided that the reporter’s advice was worth taking. Blood-spattered sneakers filled the screen as the killers ran by. Then the feed went black and cut back to the studio, where the news anchor looked even more shaken than he had before the clip had aired.
    Before Cade or Andrew could speak, the shrill sound of the phone ringing cut through the air. Cade stood abruptly from her perch on the edge of the couch and moved to answer it. She saw Ethan’s name on the caller ID and snatched up the receiver without any hesitation. “Eth?”
    “Did you see the news?” Ethan asked without preamble. He sounded breathless and upset. Cade didn’t like his tone of voice; it made her stomach feel like it was twisted up in knots.
    “Yeah, I did. What the hell is going on?”
    “I don’t know, but Anna’s gone.”
    Cade’s eyes widened as she understood the source of Ethan’s agitation. “Gone? What do you mean, gone?”
    “I mean just that. We were getting ready to go out, and she got a call from the hospital asking her to come in. It was on a volunteer basis only, but she insisted on going,” Ethan explained. “The PD called and told me to stay put for now and that they’d call in two hours for me to come relieve the ones already there, so I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, and I wanted her here with me. I tried to stop her. I don’t want her out there by herself. But Anna was determined to go, even though I kept telling her that it was too dangerous. We argued about it, and she eventually took the keys to the Lexus and left without saying anything else.”
    “Oh God. Is there anything I can do?” Cade asked. She shifted her weight onto one leg and rested her hip against the table. She fought the urge to look back at the television as the news anchor warned of more potential graphic images.
    “I don’t know. I need to go after her,” Ethan said. His voice took on a heavy sense of urgency. Cade’s heart choked her as she shook her head at the phone, even though Ethan couldn’t see the movement.
    “No, you don’t need to go anywhere. You need to stay put,” Cade said. “If she comes back and you’re gone, she won’t know where to find you. Have you tried her cell phone yet?”
    “Yes. I