Free Edge Walkers by Shannon Donnelly Page A

had happened. Curious, she took another step toward the shimmering image. Were those shadows from one of her team still there? Thompson maybe? Zeigler or the tech? But, if so, whose blood was she wearing? The images finally clicked—guards.
    They would have sent in a security detail the second the lab cameras had registered a problem. Thank god for military funding. But it hadn’t been enough, had it? Another step and she reached out to touch that almost-shimmer that lay between her and her lab, but something snagged her other wrist, halted her movement.
    Glancing down at her captive hand, she turned and stared at Gideon again. She’d almost forgotten him. But he wasn’t looking at her, or even at the shimmering view into her lab. Instead, he’d twisted his body to stare behind them at the door they’d used to get inside the building.
    She turned as well, searching for something that might explain why she could see her lab—a projector perhaps? She took in the building’s structure—rusting metal, lots of dust, dark smears on the floor that she knew had to be fairly fresh blood. Her stomach twisted and her breath quickened. Turning, she put her gaze back onto her lab and had to blink—hard and fast. There was only one answer to this image—she was seeing through a window across dimensions.
    Her pulse surged and a shiver rippled over her skin. Amazing, incredible—fantastic. There weren’t enough words to describe this. Gideon tugged on her wrist to pull her away from what had to be the discovery of a lifetime. “This isn’t right. We have to go.”
    Facing him, Carrie braced her feet and stiffened her knees. “Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear me—that’s my lab. We should be able to get—”
    “Now!” he said. With his free hand, he bared the knife from whatever sheath he wore strapped to his calf. He still wasn’t looking at her. Temple had edged closer with a small box in one hand, a meter of some kind. He pulled what looked like a small, black pineapple from his not quite messenger bag. She didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t look friendly. Gideon didn’t either as he started to drag her to the doorway.
    “Dammit, no!” She twisted her wrist and jerked free. She ran toward the image of her lab—and bounced off raw, tingling energy. It pushed her back, left her staggering. Skin on fire, she put a hand up to touch that barrier of…what?
    Energy? Electricity? Interference of some kind? She touched it again and cold stung her fingertips. Light flared. Something had to be blocking a full connection. The figures on the other side stopped moving, stood still. Had they seen her? Could they at least see her pressing against the barrier? She pounded a fist on the surface. Her skin tingled, chilled as if she’d pushed her hand into a frozen lake. Dammit, what the hell was keeping her trapped on this side?
    Turning, she started to ask Gideon what he knew about this. The question caught in her throat as black lines cracked in the air above them. Before she could react to that, the others stepped into the room.
    Walkers. She could see how they’d been named. They weren’t human, but they stayed upright on two feet. They slid into the room, movements sleek, energy sizzling through the rips on their skin, gliding with rotting skin and muscle and the pop of joints that no longer worked right. Her skin started to crawl and she stepped back, couldn’t stop the reaction. Instinct screamed at her to get the hell gone, but Walkers now blocked the only way out.
    “Why are they waiting?” Gideon muttered.
    Carrie didn’t care why.
    Six of them, she thought, or close enough without making a full count of the ragged shapes, human bodies that didn’t move like anything ever should. Skin hung loose on arms and faces and she knew leprosy did that, left you with no feeling, so you couldn’t tell when you cut yourself or bumped into something and tore flesh off the bone. The stench turned her stomach and she