“If any of us in this family is special, it’s you,” she snarked back. “And that kind of special isn’t something to brag about.”
“Way more creative than I could ever be, so I can’t exactly claim credit for that.” Obviously another trait inherited from Ben; one that Evan was nurturing now. “I don’t know what kind of things are in store for her future, but whatever it is, I know she’ll be brilliant at it.” Glancing over at Brandon, she smirked when he referred to Marigold with the word cute. “If you were talking about anything else, I’d totally tease you for using that word.”
Leah chewed on her lip, thinking back to the incident when the bear went berserk over a few bee stings. Someone had been messing with the bear then, so it wasn’t exactly the bear’s fault. That still didn’t change that it had wild animal instincts. Leah didn’t regret helping rescue the bear, but she wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of introducing Marigold, who was already scared of it, to a skittish animal that could accidentally hurt her. “Only if she wants to,” she replied finally. “If she’s too scared, don’t force her.”
“Let’s hope we never see any flying zombies. We’d be really fucking screwed then.” She shook her head, not really wanting to follow that thought process while they were out among the infected.
Leapers were the bane of Leah’s existence, more so than any other type of zombie. Had she been the zombie’s target, that would’ve made it the third instance within the past five months that she’d nearly been Leapered. Those past experiences should’ve meant that she was on guard for that particular attack, and if she’d been feeling better, she would have been.
Which was why she put the full blame on herself when Brandon became the target. She should’ve been able to give him a warning. That was part of the reason she was there: to watch his back like he watched hers.
Failing that, however, Leah watched in horror as the zombie ripped at Brandon’s skin and tried to sink its teeth into his neck. It wasn’t in slow motion; rather, it was like someone had flipped a switch in Leah’s brain, making her only able to watch the scene.
Brandon’s voice snapped her out of it. Her brother was bleeding, being attacked, and here she was just standing around as if it wasn’t happening, as if his shouts weren’t drawing the attention of all the Shufflers in the area. Leah huffed out a breath and ran over to help. Her first instinct was to grab the zombie around the shoulders, pull its weight off her brother. She did that, but there was little effect. The zombie wasn’t large but it was strong.
Remembering her machete, Leah took a step back to give herself some room, drew back her arm and sliced at the Leaper’s neck. The blade had recently been sharpened, which resulted in the head coming off in one swipe, whatever innards that filled zombies oozing out of the gaping hole in the top of the neck.
She kicked the body aside and knelt down beside Brandon. He was losing a lot of blood. “Hey. Stay with me, okay? I’ll get us back home.” She put her hand on his cheek, trying to focus his attention. “Can you stand?” If he couldn’t, she’d have to carry him, which would’ve been difficult any other day, but more or less impossible right now, considering the approaching horde of Shufflers.