Read One Foot in the Grave for Free Online Page B

quaking. Where’s Bones?”
    “Bones?” Lazarus said, his eyes darting around. “Where?”
    Two things occurred to me at nearly the same instant. One, from Lazarus’s expression, he had no idea where Bones was. Two, the tear-streaked face turning up at me belonged to the lying little shit who’d seduced and dumped me when I was sixteen.

S IX
    D ANNY?” I SAID IN DISBELIEF. “D ANNY M ILTON? You’re the reason I had to drag my ass all the way from Virginia?”
    Danny also wasn’t happy to see me. “You ruined my life!” he wailed. “First your freak boyfriend crippled my hand, then you’re not dead, and now these creatures kidnapped me! I hate the day I met you!”
    I snorted. “Right back at you, asshole!”
    Lazarus regarded me suspiciously. “He said you used to be in love with him. You’re just pretending not to care now so I won’t kill him.”
    “You want to kill him?” Perhaps I was crazed with the knowledge that less than fifteen minutes remained, or maybe I was just fed up. “Go ahead! Here, I’ll help!”
    I pulled the gun from the back of my pants and shot Danny at point-blank range. Lazarus and the other vampires were momentarily stunned at this turn of events,and I took advantage. The next rounds landed full in Lazarus’s face. I didn’t bother firing into his heart, because I wanted him alive. He had information for me, if I lived, and I emptied the clip into him while my free hand flung knives at the remaining five.
    They charged me. Fangs sank in and ripped my flesh before I threw them off. This was a flat-out brawl, rolling around on jagged rocks, pummeling and hacking any flesh that wasn’t mine. I was acutely aware of the seconds ticking by as I struggled to keep my knives in my hand and their fangs from my throat. After all, it was one thing to die for Bones, whether he’d gone mental or not. Quite another to die for that sniveling prick Danny Milton. You could safely say I still held a grudge.
    The last vampire was eliminated with a gouge to his heart, and my watch showed less than thirty seconds. Lazarus, not dead after a face full of silver bullets, crawled toward Danny. Danny, still alive, moaned helplessly and tried to back away. There wasn’t enough time to pump Lazarus for information, let alone kill him and rescue Danny. Barely enough time to do just one.
    Without a moment to think, I grabbed Danny and tossed him over my shoulder, running flat-out for the entrance of the cave. He screamed at the jostling and cursed me between gasps. The timer went to zero just as the sunlit mouth came into view. Behind me I heard Lazarus running also, but too far back. He’d never make it. Neither would I. Time was up.
    Instead of the explosion I expected, there were voices.Movement right outside. Two figures entered the cave as I was almost upon them. It was Tate and Dave. I shouted because I knew they couldn’t see me in the dark.
    “Don’t shoot!”
    “Hold fire, it’s Cat!” Tate boomed.
    What happened next happened almost instantly, though it would be forever slow motion in my mind.
    “Hostile coming fast, aim high!” I yelled, and ducked down to clear their line of fire. Tate, who hadn’t relaxed stance, fired blindly into the blackness behind me. Dave, who had lowered his gun to try to locate me in the stygian dark, came throat to face with Lazarus instead.
    There was a sickening gurgle as his artery was freed. I screamed, dropping Danny and rushing to him. Lazarus threw him at me with full force, and Dave’s body knocked me flat. Hot blood sprayed my face as I locked my hands around his neck, futilely trying to stem the flow. In the midst of this Tate was still shooting, and Lazarus cracked him against the cave wall and ran out. Outside there was the spattering of more gunfire as the perimeter troops shot at the fleeing vampire.
    “Man down, man down!”
    Juan sprinted inside the cave, flashlight drawn, followed closely by Cooper and three others. I tore my shirt off to