Don't Look Now by Michelle Gagnon Read Free Book Online

passionate and intense, but that was where the similarities ended.
    Peter cleared his throat. “Want to grab something to eat?”
    Amanda didn’t answer. She’d stopped dead in the middle of the parking lot and was staring past him.
    “What is it?” he asked.
    She started walking again, but her stride was different and strange, kind of a slow shuffle. “Amanda?” Peter watched with a growing sense of dread as she drifted right, then circled around him. He turned, following her with his eyes. Amanda’s face had gone completely blank, her eyes unfocused. Her jaw hung slightly agape, lips loose. Like she’d suddenly turned into a zombie.
    He grabbed her hand. “Amanda, stop.”
    Obediently she fell still, but didn’t meet his eyes. Her hand felt icy cold, yet clammy. Her chest rose and fell faster than normal under her winter coat, her breath coming in short pants like she’d been running.
    “No,” he said softly.
    “What?” Abruptly, Amanda blinked and looked at him, then down at their clasped fingers. “Why are you holding my hand?”
    “You were . . .” Peter trailed off. Self-consciously, he dropped her hand.
    “I was what?” she demanded when he didn’t finish.
    “Nothing.” The sun vanished behind a cloud, and the sudden chill made him shiver. He closed his jacket and mumbled, “I was just asking if you were hungry.”
    “I should head back,” Amanda said, obviously disconcerted. “I’ve got a test tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Let me drive you.”
    “I’ll take the T,” she replied, avoiding his eyes. The air between them was suddenly thick with tension and discomfort. “Can you drop me at the Brookline Village station?”
    “Sure, but I don’t mind driving to your dorm. I don’t have—”
    “I’ll be fine.”
    “We could grab something to eat along the way,” Peter pressed as he climbed behind the wheel. “Someplace quick.”
    “I haven’t been very hungry lately,” Amanda said, buckling herself in. “Stress, probably. I’m pretty swamped with midterms coming up.”
    “Right,” Peter said faintly. Now that she mentioned it, she’d clearly lost weight. Her cheekbones had hollowed out, and her clothes hung more loosely. Peter searched for something to say that would break the pall, and came up empty.
    “Thanks,” Amanda said when they finally pulled up to the station. She turned to get out, then spun and leaned across the seat to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Let’s do it again soon, okay?”
    “Okay,” Peter agreed.
    He watched, hands clutching the steering wheel, as she hurried through the door to the T station. A car honked behind him; the light had turned green. Peter drove a block, then pulled over to the side of the road and parked. Dropping his head down, he fought the hot tears pressing against his closed eyelids.
    “I’ll kill him,” he whispered under his breath. “I’ll kill him for doing this to her.”
     
    “So what now?” Zeke asked. “Do we go after the other three targets he mentioned?”
    “Too risky.” Noa shook her head. “Could be a trap.”
    “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” he agreed, keeping his voice low.
    They were sitting together in the living room. Everyone else was upstairs, still asleep after the long night. Their hostage had become a lot more forthcoming once Noa produced a vial of blood that was loaded with the PEMA virus, courtesy of their “little army’s” raids. Apparently the fact that there hadn’t been a single PEMA case in anyone over the age of twenty-five didn’t matter; his eyes had widened with terror, and he’d proceeded to tell them everything, including the locations of three other lab facilities.
    Not bad, considering that in actuality the vial had been filled with water tinted red with food coloring. None of the labs he’d listed had been in Phoenix, however, which was puzzling. She’d asked specifically about Arizona, and he claimed to have no idea what was going on