Free Croak by Gina Damico Page A

face gave away nothing. “Come on, hurry up.”
    Lex shot her a pained, pleading look, but she knew now that it wouldn’t get her anywhere. She had a job to do, and she sure as shit was going to do it. So she closed her eyes, held out her finger, and entered the world of pain once more.
    Once Zara finished Culling and they had scythed to the mangled wreckage of a car accident, Lex didn’t even bother to glance at the blood splattered across the broken windshield before jabbing her finger into the driver’s arm. Anything to get it over with as soon as possible. Upon their arrival at a hospital, she barely noticed the sobbing family members alongside the cancer patient’s bed as she extended her touch. And when they landed in a posh living room where a young man lay splayed out across a couch, it wasn’t until after she had rapped him on the noggin that she registered the gleaming red bullet hole in his chest. And the startled look on his face. And the—
    “Good job,” Zara said in a voice that sounded less than sincere. “Let’s head back.”
    Zara prepared to scythe, but Lex had not joined her. She was staring at the door to the kitchen.
    A figure was standing there, watching them.
    And aiming a gun.

7
     
    “Who is that?” Lex asked.
    Zara looked up. “Who?”
    “That woman over there—she’s watching us!”
    “No she’s not, no one can see us. Come on, scythe upward—that’ll always automatically return you back to Croak.”
    “But she has a gun!”
    “It doesn’t matter! She’s frozen in time, she can’t shoot it.”
    Lex felt a stab of relief, one that quickly melted into dread. “She murdered him.”
    “Let’s go, Lex.”
    Lex’s hands suddenly grew very hot. “But we can’t just let her get away with it!” she protested, lunging toward the woman. Something had taken hold of her. It was similar to the inexplicable rage she felt all the time, but—no, it was so much more than that—
    “Lex!”
    Without missing a beat, Zara grabbed her arm, slashed the silver blade up through the air, and yanked her back into the ether.
    ***
    Whereas Zara landed back in the Field with a graceful hop, Lex crashed to the ground like a newborn giraffe. She was about to begin yelling, and maybe even punching, but Uncle Mort started in before she could ball her hand into a fist.
    “Damn, Lex!” he said as she jumped to her feet, his face beaming with pride. “That was the smoothest first Kill I’ve ever seen! How do you feel?”
    Her rage briefly subsided at this generous outpouring of praise, though her hands still felt abnormally warm and tingly. “I feel . . .” She was at a loss for words. What exactly should she be feeling? Guilt over the lives she had just ended? Lingering pain from the brutal shocks? Rage over the woman who had gotten away? Or—and she suspected this was the most appropriate option—shame over the fact that she was apparently so good at it all?
    “Conflicted,” she finally said.
    “I knew it from the start, you’re a natural.” He patted her on the back. “How did you do on the others?”
    “Actually—”
    “Fine,” Zara said.
    Lex’s jaw dropped. She started to object, but the look Zara shot her could have silenced a pack of screech monkeys.
    “Overdose, car wreck, cancer, GSW,” Zara rattled off. “Great job, all around.”
    They were interrupted by Uncle Mort’s Cuff. “That’ll be Norwood. Hang on a sec,” he said, walking away to yell at his wrist.
    Zara looked at Lex. “You’re welcome.”
    “Are you out of your mind? We just let a murderer off the hook for no reason!”
    “We have plenty of reason,” Zara said under her breath. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten into? I just saved your ass back there! Just stick to the plan from now on, okay?”
    Lex opened her mouth to tell Zara exactly where she’d like to stick such a plan, but Uncle Mort had finished his call, so she was forced to let it go. But she continued to