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After Vivian Stoll dismissed him from her office, Major met Liv and Clive outside.
"So," Liv asked, "did she promote you? We get to start calling you Major Major?"
If only. Even as ridiculous as that sounded, it would be better than being benched, likely on the way out of a job entirely. He looked down at Liv and the smile faded from her face immediately. "She knows I'm human," he told her. "She's taking me off active duty."
Liv's face paled even more than it already was, if that was possible, her eyes widening with sympathy for Major's plight. "Maybe I could talk to her."
What could she say? Nothing Liv might think of changed the fact that he was human. No longer a zombie mercenary. A danger to himself and others. But it had been sweet of Liv to offer, so he let her down gently. "It'll have to wait. She and Fortasen are heading out to Zombie Island."
Even as he said it, he could hear the rotors of the helicopter. It came into sight over the top of the buildings.
The three of them headed for the car—no use standing around here. Major, at least, had no further reason to be there.
"She wants to talk to Ravi about how I was cured when she gets back," he told Liv. "Ravi is not going to be—"
But he never had the chance to finish the sentence. Above his head came a single "boom" and he turned to see a giant fireball in the sky, and all that remained of the helicopter falling from the center of the explosion. As it landed, it went up in more flames. Not even a zombie could survive that. Vivian Stoll, gone. Fortasen, gone.
"Oh, my god," Liv gasped.
Major had no words, but those were as good as any.
The three of them ran to the accident site, but the Fillmore Graves soldiers currently on duty didn't want Clive or Liv there; they wanted to handle things themselves. Carey Gold told Major to go home and take his friends with him, to report as scheduled for his next shift. It occurred to him that Vivian Stoll hadn't had time to tell anyone that he was human. Horrible as it was, her death meant he still had a job.
Major took Liv and Clive back to his place, where they filled Ravi in on the events of the day, and spent a long dark afternoon watching news coverage of the helicopter explosion with a plentiful supply of beers, and wine for Liv.
After several hours of speculation, finally a breaking update gave out the official word: The crash had been caused by mechanical failure.
"Mechanical failure, my ass," Liv shouted at the TV even as Major clicked it off. "This is another attack on zombies."
Clive had been very quiet in the corner of the couch all afternoon, but he spoke up now. "We don't know that, Liv."
She glared at him. "Clive. Harley and his people are targeting zombies. These murders are all connected."
"Don't you think it seems a bit advanced for Harley Johns and his band of zombie truthers?"
Clive wasn't wrong; the guy Major had seen the other night didn't look like he knew the first thing about how to get near a military-grade helicopter at a private mercenary company, much less blow it up.
Ravi had been studying the news on his laptop, looking for anything that might indicate why Fillmore Graves' helicopter had been targeted. He shook his head. "If they know Fillmore Graves is a zombie organization, they're not bragging about it. No mention of the crash on the message boards."
Leaning forward to look at Major, Clive asked, "Any idea who's gonna be in charge of the world's only zombie military force now?"
That same question had been asked and speculated on all afternoon in Major's texts. Carey Gold had taken point at the accident site, but she wasn't military. The troops wouldn't follow her. "The scuttlebutt is that Vivian's brother-in-law, Chase Graves, is flying back from Tripoli to take the reins."
"Well, let's try to have some answers for him when he gets here."
Ravi spoke up, eyes still glued to the laptop. "According to the message boards, our zombie truthers are gathering this Saturday at Harley's gun range. All the die hards will be there. If we want answers, that's a good place to start."
"Harley's met me and Liv," Clive said. "He knows we're investigating zombie murders."
"Yeah, I doubt they'd be too cuddly with a guy who sprang zombies out of Max Rager's basement," Major added.
They all looked at Ravi, whose face froze as he realized how the process of elimination had fallen. "Harley hasn't … met me," he said.
"If I spray tan and throw on a wig, Harley would never recognize me," Liv suggested. "I could go with Ravi."
It made Major feel better to know Liv would be there if something went wrong … although if something went wrong, it was just as likely to be because Liv was there, so he really wasn't that relieved after all.
Clive put his concerns into words. "If they decide you're infiltrators, not true believers, they won't play nice."
Liv looked at Ravi. "You sure you're up for this?"
"Yeah. Uh, clearly. Very," he said, trying to talk himself into it as he went.
"We can come up with another way. You don't have to," Liv told him.
"No. No, I—I'll be fine. I'm the poster boy for zombie truthers, aren't I?"
"You could tell them a thing or two," Major agreed.
Liv rolled her eyes. "Please don't. They already know—or guess—more than enough."
"No, this is a purely information gathering mission." Ravi nodded. "Yeah. More than ready."
Major, Liv, and Clive looked at each other. There really wasn't anything else to do, after all. Peyton was too well known to bring her in, and they didn't know a lot of other humans they could trust. "I'll take care of him," Liv said confidently.
Of course she would—but who would take care of her? Major couldn't help but worry.