Alice in Zombieland, Cole Pov

Cole and Ali's meeting, Cole pov. Written by Gena Showalter

I pull the brim of my baseball cap low over my eyes and lean against the bank of lockers behind me. I'm surrounded by seven of my closest friends. We are considered the troublemakers of Asher High, with good reason. We are tattooed and pierced and loaded with muscles that aren't just for appearances—they are weapons. Lucas and Collins wear house arrest anklets. Add in the fresh bruises we sport every morning, proof of the violent lives we lead, and you've got a recipe for badass.

"Say the word and I will get us signed up for homeschool." Bronx moves in beside me. "I want out of this hellhole sooner rather than later."

"Dude. Shut your stupid mouth hole." Frosty punches Bronx in the shoulder.
"Mouth hole?" I ask.
"There are no chicks in homeschool," Frosty explains.

He means there is no Kat Parker, the girl he's panted after since junior high. He won her over last year, only to lose her over the summer for reasons she would never understand. To be honest, I'm kind of glad the two have separated. No one outside our group can be trusted, and Kat is at the top of the list. Girl has a mouth.

"I'm with Bronx," I say. Homeschool wouldn't be so bad. This is my last first day of high school, and I'm already over it. I'm seventeen, but I haven't been a kid for a long time. Actually, I'm not sure I've ever been a kid. Since the day of my birth, I've lived in the middle of a war the rest of the world knows nothing about.

"—was kidding," I hear Haun say. "You know I was kidding."
"You still have to be punished." Lucas puts the guy in a headlock and grinds his knuckles into the crown of his head.
The others point and laugh. I smile. We are always wound up as tight as a bow, so it's nice to let loose occasionally.

"Uh oh," Bronx says, stiffening. "Incoming."
"Yo Kitty Kat," Frosty calls, and I rub the back of my neck, knowing the interaction will not end well. It never does with those two. "Come over here and give me a proper hello. You know you want to."

"What I want is for you to go to hell," Kat retorts from across the hall.

I glance over and see the summer has been kind to her, turning her from sexy girl-next-door to full on maneater. There is a tall, slender blond standing next to her, a girl I've never met who is astonishingly pretty but not even close to being my type...and yet, after I give her an appreciative once over and return my attention to Kat, my gaze is pulled right back to her, as if my mind is finally catching up with what my eyes have seen. I'm suddenly locked in place, unable to move, much less breathe. The blond isn't just pretty. She possesses the kind of fragile beauty you expect to find in a fairytale princess, not in the hall of your local high school, and she looks as if a gust of wind will snap her in half.

I've always been drawn to strength. The strong survive. The weak die.

But this girl... I'm suddenly aware of her in a way I've never been aware of another, not even my harem of ex-girlfriends, as Frosty likes to call them. Every muscle in my body tenses, and lightning flashes in my chest. Heat pours through my veins, blistering. My lungs constrict, as if the little air I've managed to drag in is too thick.

She hasn't noticed me yet, and I'm grateful. It takes a lot to break through my calm, but I suddenly need a moment to wrestle with my control. I want to go to her. I want to take her in my arms. I want my hands on her, and my mouth to follow.

I don't like feeling this way about someone I've never met, and so quickly, so intensely. I don't like it at all—because I like it far too much.
Whoever she is, I'm going to stay the hell away from her. Like Kat, she isn't part of my group so she isn't to be trusted.

"Aw, come on," Frosty says to Kat. "Don't be that way, baby. You love me, 'cause you just can't help yourself."
Kat glares at him. "I hope Rina gave you an STD."
The guys surrounding Frosty snicker at him, but he maintains his easy grin. His confidence is kind of hard to shatter. "That's harsh, baby. I was just teasing when I called you by her name."
"Both times?" Kat flips her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not mad, though. You lied to me, and I lied to you. We're even."
Frosty stops grinning, ice seeming to crystalize in his eyes. I know that ice. I've seen it before—just before he slays an enemy. "When did you lie?"
Kat smiles the kind of smile every guy should fear. "Every time we messed around. I didn't actually enjoy myself, if you know what I mean."
"Burn," Lucas says with punch.
Frosty shoves him, his gaze remaining on Kat. "Don't be that way." The tone of his voice has changed. He is desperate now, and I'm surprised he doesn't care that we hear it. Doesn't he know we're guys? Anytime we show a softer side, we reveal a weakness we can't afford to have. Girls pounce.
"Don't tell me what to do. And by the way, I'm not teasing when I do this." Kat shoots him a double-birded salute, and everyone erupts in a fresh round of snickers.
"I'll change your mind, and I'll win you back," Frosty says. "It's just a matter of time."
"Actually, it's just a matter of time before I feed your balls to my dog." She turns slightly to the right to whisper something to the blond.
I won't look. I won't allow myself to look.
I force myself to smile a hello at Kat—and d*** it, I look, my attention returning to the blond. This time, she's peering back at me, her pretty, pretty mouth shaped into a small O.

Our eyes meet, and my instantly brain short-circuits. I curse as the lightning becomes a storm, the heat an inferno. I've been with my fair share of girls, not harem numbers but close, and not a single one of them has ever made me feel like this—as if I'm melting from the inside out.
I've got to get out of here.
Then the world around me shifts. One moment we are across the hall from each other, the next—
—we are pressed against each other, my arms wrapped tightly around her, her arms wrapped just as tightly around me. We are kissing, and it's a good kiss. The kind I like best: dirty, a prelude to more. I can't get enough of her...I'm not sure I'll ever get enough.
"Ali," I say. Her name is a prayer.
"Cole." Her fingers tangle in my hair, knocking off my cap.
I angle my head to take her mouth deeper and harder, and I feel like an animal. Like I've been trapped in a cage for years but have finally been set free. Like I've been starved and have finally been offered a meal. "You taste good," I tell her, and it's the truth. She is sugar and spice and everything nice, and I want more. So much more.
I'll have it, too.
"Talk later," she says. "Kiss now—"
—Kat steps in front of her, blocking her from my view. A moment passes as I realize I never actually moved from my spot at the lockers. I simply...imagined what had happened?
What the hell? I take a step toward her as she gently pushes Kat out of the way and searches for me. Our gazes meet a second time and I stiffen, pressing my heels into the gold and black tile, wondering what the hell will happen if I go to her. Wanting it, dreading it.
My hands tingle, as if they miss the silk and heat of her skin, and I realize I can't have simply imagined that kiss. The sensations are too real, and lingered still. So...if I didn't imagine it...what?

Whatever the answer, I know she's to blame and I snap my teeth at her in warning. Her eyes widen. That's right, little girl. I'm the big, bad wolf, and I bite. Be careful.
"Come on, man. The bell's about to ring." Lucas tugs on my arm as our friends scatter in different directions. "Play time is over. We've got to go."

I don't want to leave the girl—Ali. Is that her real name?—but I allow my friend to tug me away, anyway. If I approach her now, I might say something I'll regret. Might do something I'll regret.

"Mind telling us what that was about, my man?" Lucas asks as we turn a corner. "You checked out for a minute."
"Don't want to talk about it," I say. "Not now." I know my friends will believe me. We have abilities we don't understand and consider nothing impossible, but if I admit I'd just mind-molested a strange girl, they'll go after her, might scare her.

Do I want to see fear in those ocean water eyes? Hell, no. Not while I so vividly remember seeing passion...
My hands curl into fists. I come to the door of my first period class, but bypass it, heading for the back door.

"Cole," Lucas calls.
I wave without turning to let him know I heard him, but I keep going, shouldering my way outside, into the heat of the bright, shiny day. A few kids are running late and rushing into the building as I climb into my Jeep. I don't drive away but sit there, staring at the trees painted black and gold, our school colors.
I have to find out what the girl did to me, and how she did it—why she did it. Maybe she's working for Anima, the company that likes to threaten my friends and me with disaster if we fail to stop our "extracurricular activities." Maybe not. Maybe she's as surprised by what happened as I am, maybe not. Maybe nothing happened to her, only to me.

I need answers, and I'll get them. Someway. No matter how I slice it, she's a mystery, one I plan to solve quickly.
Suddenly the thought of attending class is no longer such a burden. It's wrong of me—I know it's wrong—but I smile. Ready or not Ali, here I come.