Feeding Frenzy (Watty Award Winner)

Who Are You? Chapter Thirty-Four

What would a spell feel like? Tonya closed her eyes, anticipating the impact.

It didn't hit her like a ball or a fist, but it hurt, as if her body had turned into one big cramp. Muscles she didn't even know she had, spasmed and throbbed as it passed through. The hands gripping her relaxed, and she heard Len's body fall to the ground behind her. She was free to move again.

Tonya flinched when Aunt Helen put an arm around her and steered her back toward the Shoppe. She leaned on Tonya so fully, it made them stumble.

"We have to run and see a doctor."

"I can't ditch my friends." Tonya stepped out of Helene's reach and pulled out her phone. "Just a sec."

Aunt Helene grabbed the phone out of her hands. "I'm sorry, Love. I don't think it's safe for you to see them, do you?"

Tonya didn't answer. Could her Aunt somehow know she was infected?

Helene stumbled on, forcing Tonya to step in and support her. When they reached her car she told Tonya to get in. "You're driving."

Tonya looked at her Aunt's face, too pale and tinged with grey. Dark circles gave her eyes a sunken appearance that reminded her of a skull. Tonya couldn't refuse a dying woman. She got in.

Aunt Helene waited for Tonya to adjust the mirrors then handed over the keys. "For now just head east. I'll let you know when it's time to turn."

Tonya pulled onto the empty road. "When will I get back to my friends?"

"Just keep driving."

The woman on the seat beside her looked like Aunt Helen, and sounded like Aunt Helen, and she had fought against Len and the creepy farmer; but what her Aunt told them, right before she killed them, was also true. If Waldock planned to betray his minions, what better method then by seizing control of his arch enemy? She had to know if this killer was still her Aunt Helene.

"So, how are my parents?" Tonya glanced at her Aunt's face, hoping to detect some reassuring flicker of emotion.

"Turn north here." Aunt Helen coughed a few times, setting off a fit of deep, retching coughs that left blood on her hands. When it passed, she laid her head against the window and appeared to go to sleep. Whatever explanation she had been hoping for, Tonya wasn't going to get it.

She continued north on the empty highway, but worry gnawed at her until she could take no more. She wasn't leaving town until she knew Ducky and Priya were safe. Ahead, she spotted the perfect spot to pull a U-turn.

Before they had even come fully around, Aunt Helen slammed her hand over Tonya's heart, causing it to vibrate in her chest, like a hundred tiny hammers.

"Are you with me, or Waldock?"

"Who are you? You're not my Aunt. She would never kidnap me this way." Tonya shivered. Or kill anyone.

"I knew you'd be difficult." Helen laughed, until a fit of coughing cut her off. "Trust me, things will go a whole lot easier if you just do what I say."

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