One more vampire, on the heels of her human prey, hit the ground.

Two more.

Three more.

The humans flowed around the growing pile of vampires, few even stopping to register what was happening. I gasped as one desperate man climbed right over the top of an Elder, his boot leaving a muddy footprint on the chest of the Elder’s black shirt.

The crowd was more stretched out now, arriving at our fence in pairs or even individually. Soon, Poe was barreling toward us, and running next to him . . .

“Reg!” I grabbed my brother into a bear hug as he entered the tunnel. I had given out more hugs in the last hour than I had in the entire last century.

“Sydney and Sophia said to come back to the gym,” Reg said. “Did you get the other doors open?”

His gaze slid down to the tiny fence posts and around to the dozen or so vampires—former vampires—rolling on the grassy tunnel floor. Then his eyes widened in understanding.

“Here come Syd and Soph!” Poe shouted.

He waved down the twins as they approached, and we were all so happy to have our group back together again that we didn’t even notice Lina running up right behind them.

She was keeping pace with the twins, to cover their backs, so she wasn’t moving at immortal speed, but she was still fast, and by the time I looked up, it was too late. My scream of warning would not be enough to stop her.

She was just inches from the edge of the fence when an arm shot out in front of her.

A flannel-clad, rough-handed, stubborn old arm that caught her right around the waist, and flung her back toward the field.

Lina landed like a cat and skidded around in a crouched position, ready to strike. When she saw the arm that had cast her backward belonged to Sal, she looked downright murderous. But then her eyes drifted left and snagged on the fence posts. She looked back at Sal. Back at the fence posts.

Then she stood, charged right up to Sal, and planted a kiss on him.

I looked away, partly to give them privacy and partly because, whether human or vampire, grown-ups kissing was just universally yuck.

“Why did you do that?” Lina asked Sal.

He rolled his shoulders, face beet red.

“It just oughta be your choice,” he said. “And if you think—”

But whatever he was going to say next was smothered by another kiss from Lina.