Hunter Of The Dead by Katee Robert

Static was her only answer. Eden stopped walking, listening carefully. What the hell was going on? “Jordan, are you there?”
    The static cleared briefly. “Where the fuck have you been?”
    Shit, she should have checked in before now. “I got distracted. The girl’s dead.” She rubbed her hands over her face. This assignment was a cluster-fuck. She’d never been so off her game before and she needed to get her shit together before she got someone killed, or worse.
    “We lost the Humvee. We’re moving to the mouth of the valley now.”
    They’d lost the Humvee? How the hell did that happen? Eden almost asked for details but it wasn’t important now. The fact Jordan was alive and needing her was. “Where do you need me?”
    “Can you meet us there in twenty minutes?”
    Eden brought up the map of the valley in her mind. “Probably not.” Even as a full-out sprint, she wouldn’t cover so much ground. “But I’ll follow, if that’s what you want.”
    “Do it. And keep the fucking line open.”
    Eden started jogging, going as fast as she dared. Damn it, she didn’t even have her pack or water. And she hadn’t eaten in nearly twenty-four hours. While that wasn’t a deal-breaker—she’d gone longer without food and water before—she really wished she hadn’t run out of the cottage so helter-skelter. One more mistake caused by her stupid attraction to that damn Columbian.
    Movement to her right brought her head around and she skidded to a stop, unsheathing her bolo . She went still, waiting for whatever it was to come through the trees and into her line of sight.
    Alejandro strolled into view as if he hadn’t a care in the world. Eden was tempted to stab him for scaring the crap out of her. He tossed over a bottle of water and she snatched it out of the air with a glare. “Stop making so much noise. You’re going to attract any infected in the area.”
    “What is the plan?”
    She almost told him to fuck off, but couldn’t force the words past her lips. The team needed all the help they could get, especially if the Humvee was lost. “We head to the mouth of the valley.” Allowing him to come along had nothing to do with her personal feelings for him. Really, it didn’t.
    He nodded. “After you, querida .”
    “Stop calling me that.” His penchant for calling her querida was one of the things she found so endearing before. She picked up her pace, trying to convince herself she wasn’t running away. Being hyper-aware of his presence at her back didn’t help in the least. At least he wasn’t trying to talk to her now.
    Thirty minutes later, they hit the road and came within sight of the mouth of the valley. There was complete silence. Too much silence.
    Eden reached for her earpiece before she remembered it was already on. “Jordan,” she said softly, afraid to speak louder and break the eerie quiet. “We’re here.”
    A rumble tore through the air. Eden spun around, her bolo out, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Was it an earthquake?
    Alejandro swore and sprinted out onto the road. After another look around, Eden followed him. He stood facing the road out of the valley and she followed his gaze in horror. The cliffs on either side of the road were blowing up.
    She frowned. Blowing up?
    As if on cue, another explosion rocked the valley and a huge chunk of cliff evaporated. No, that wasn’t right. It didn’t evaporate. Huge pieces of rock fell down into the space between the cliffs. Eden realized what they were doing far too late.
    They—whoever they were—were blocking the only way out of the valley.

 
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    Eden’s earpiece screeched. She dug it out of her ear and dropped it on the ground, not taking her eyes off what used to be the only path out of the valley. “What the hell just happened?”
    Alejandro stooped down to pick up the earpiece, turning it this way and that in the palm of his hand. “It would seem someone wishes to block the infected