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Major and Liv burst into the stairwell behind Wyatt and his friends, but it was empty. No sign of them. Removing her dark glasses, Liv turned to look at Major. "What do you think? Up or down?"

While he was deciding, the door opened behind them and Clive appeared, to both of their surprise.

"You didn't tell me the dude from Matchbox 20 would be here. I might have come."

Liv chuckled. "I can't believe you're here now." Clive had made his unhappiness with their plan tonight and its lack of officialdom very plain.

"You were supposed to be out by now," Clive reminded her. "I was worried."

"We saw Dr. Wyatt head to the stairwell." Major glanced around, still seeing no sign of Wyatt or his friends. "But we're not sure which direction they went."

"Let's start downstairs," Liv said. She was growing more and more anxious as the time ticked by. Major couldn't blame her—he was feeling some of the same urgency.

The three of them started down the stairs, only to be stopped by the sound of guns cocking. They turned to see Vaughn du Clark standing there, flanked by several armed guards. "Ah," he said, "Detective Babineaux. And …" He looked closely at Major and Liv in their riot gear uniforms. "Daft punk." He crossed his arms over his chest, looking disappointed. "See, normally, this would be a great surprise, but I really hate party crashers." There was no whimsy in his face right now. This was Vaughn du Clark, shady businessman with secrets to keep, and that, in Major's experience, was when he was most dangerous. "I mean, if you're not invited, just … don't come. Simple manners, really." He glanced at the guard standing next to him. "Take them down, throw them in one of the cells. We'll use them for parts."

He turned and left, leaving Clive and Major and Liv standing at gunpoint. Major could feel Liv's body tensing, ready to move, and he felt the same, but what could they do, with the all-too-human Clive in between them and the armed guards?

The guard du Clark had spoken to approached them. "All right, turn around."

Clive put his hands up, and Major looked behind him, hoping to find some way to get out of this situation, with the result that he didn't see the person who jumped off the upper stairs onto the guard and started eating him.

He heard the screams, though, as several other people launched themselves off the stairs at the remaining guards. The stairwell filled with the coppery scent of blood and the screams of both attackers and attacked. Major didn't wait to see what was going on; he turned and ran for it down the stairs, with Liv and Clive close behind him. Well, Liv was. Clive was moving, but not fast enough, staring in fascination at the carnage they were leaving behind them.

"Come on!" Major shouted at him. They didn't want to be caught in that. Clive with his human brain, especially.

But Clive was frozen in place. He had never seen a zombie eat before, and this was a feeding frenzy. At last, Liv grabbed his arm and yanked him down the stairs. "Come on!"

In an empty parking garage level, with closed, barred doors between them and the stairwell, the three of them stopped to regroup.

"What was that?" Clive asked.

"What do you think?"

"So … those things back there with the red eyes, they're zombies, too?"

"Just like the ones at the boat party," Liv confirmed.

From above their head, they heard screams and gunshots. Clive knelt to remove his backup weapon from the holster at his ankle. He handed it to Liv. "Take this. I'll walk you through how to use it—"

But the tutorial wasn't necessary. With Janko's brains fueling her, Liv handled the gun like it was her job, holding it ready with a steely resolve in her eyes that looked just like Janko had the last time Major saw him. She looked at Clive. "Let's rock and roll."

Clive, as stunned by the transformation of Liv into a mercenary as by the rest of the night's events, turned to Major, shaking his head. "Sorry, that's—that's all the firepower I've got."

Major nodded. None of them had expected to have to fight their way through full Romero zombies tonight. He glanced around, hunting for a weapon, finding the perfect thing right in front of him. "There's always 'in case of fire' power," he muttered, walking to the glass case and breaking free the axe that was kept in it.

"Okay, if we run into more of those red-eyed things, we'll be ready," Clive said, as though he was trying to convince himself.

"You need to aim for the head, all right? That's the only way to kill them."

"You should also probably know they're not interested in the two of us," Liv added. Clive frowned, and she explained, "The only brains they want are human ones."

Clive digested that one unhappily. He gestured with his service revolver to the elevator vestibule nearby. "Shall we see if that elevator takes us out of here?"

The screams and gunshots above their heads were growing louder. Major hated to think of the people up there and the terror and pain they must be facing.

Liv echoed his thoughts. "Those people up there …"

The three of them looked at each other and nodded, reluctant but sure they knew what they needed to do.

"Let's go see if they need some help," Clive said at last, and they headed for the elevators, ready to deal with whatever they found up there.