There was panic in his voice, a real fear, and Skulduggery hesitated then gave a nod. Valkyrie tossed Sanguine his phone.

“What do you mean they ate someone?” he said into it. “Who’d they eat? No, I don’t want to know his damn name. I just want to know if it was someone livin’. Oh, you idiot. Oh, you moron. My father told you. He said one thing above all else – do not let them taste human flesh and what did you do? What did you do? Exactly. You’re a moron. You’re lucky you’re already dead.”

Sanguine hung up, put his phone away and looked at them.

“Slight change of plans,” he said. “I ain’t goin’ outside.”

“And why is that?” Skulduggery asked.

Sanguine got to his feet, both hands held open in front of him. “You keep those zombies from eatin’ people an’ they’re fine. They rot, an’ they smell, an’ they get dumber an’ dumber as they go on, but they do what they’re told. But you let ‘em get one mouthful of human flesh, from a livin’ human, and they go native. The only thing on their minds right now is killin’ an’ eatin’ a whole lot of people. Now obviously, that was the threat I was plannin’ on usin’ against you, but I kind of figured I’d be well out of the way before any of this flesh-eatin’ actually took place.”

“So you’re stuck in here,” Shudder said, “with us.”

Sanguine tried a smile. “Ain’t it ironic?”

30 MID-AFTRNOON OF THE DEAD

30
MID-AFTRNOON OF THE DEAD

“They’re coming closer,” Valkyrie said, backing away from the window.

Skulduggery took his gun from its holster and looked at Shudder. “How many guests do you have here right now?”

“Five,” he said, “all upstairs in their rooms.”

“You should go tell them to prepare. Any of them who want to help us, they’re welcome. Anyone else should barricade their door.”

Shudder nodded and disappeared up the stairs.

There were hands on the window, pressing and knocking against the glass. Valkyrie saw a face, wide-eyed and uncomprehending. The zombie saw her and snarled. Skulduggery swept his hand slowly and the bookcase slid in front of the window.

They turned the table on its side and laid it against the door in the reception area, then jammed the couch against it to hold it in place. The hotel didn’t have a back door, and there wasn’t much they could do to barricade every window on the ground floor except pull the curtains shut. At least now the zombies couldn’t see their movements. Shudder came down the stairs with a small, thin woman and a balding man.

“We have two volunteers,” he said. “Mr Jib is an Elemental and Miss Nuncio is an Adept.”

“Glad to have another Elemental in the mix,” Skulduggery said to them. “Miss Nuncio, what Adept discipline have you studied?”