She kissed my hand, worry falling over her features. “You know, Ali, the first time I saw you in a hospital bed it was no big deal. You had the tiniest little scratch I’d ever seen. I mean, really. I’ve had worse mosquito bites. This time, you’re trapped in bed and looking like…” She waved her hand over me. “This is a big freaking deal. You have two days to get better.”

I so loved this girl. “Or?”

“Or I end things with Frosty, here and now, forever,” she said loudly.

“Hey,” he called, making it clear he’d remained in the hall to eavesdrop.

“I might anyway,” she added. “My neighbor has been asking me out every day. And he’s cute. If cute is the new word for ‘outrageously sexy.’”

A growling Frosty stomped back into the room.

Kat giggled.

“All right, enough.” Nana shooed everyone but Cole out of the room. “And you,” she said, kissing my forehead, “say good-night to your friend and get some sleep.” She left the room, closing the door behind her.

“So what’s next?” I asked through a yawn.

“For starters, you and your grandmother are staying with the Ankhs.”

In the mansion? “I can live with that,” I said.

“Just as long as you do, in fact, live,” Cole said, and we shared a smile—before I ruined it with another yawn. He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“You and your commands,” I said, my eyes already shutting. But I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Because of him, I’d learned how to survive this new world. More than that, I’d learned how to overcome it.

Deep down I knew fighting zombies was the only thing that would satisfy me now, the only thing that would make me feel as though I’d lived to the fullest. When the end came, I could rest in peace knowing I’d done everything in my power to walk in the light. And I would have Cole at my side. We were in this together.

I could deal with anything else.

FURIOUS—Jeremy Riddle

HOW HE LOVES—Flyleaf

FALLEN—John Waller

MONSTER—Skillet

FADING—Decyfer Down

THINGS LEFT UNSAID—Disciple

ALL IN—Lifehouse

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER—Jon McLaughlin

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE—The Fray

Q: Zombies appear in several of your books. What inspires you to write about zombies?

A: What’s not to love about rotting flesh and the scent of putrid…I kid, I kid! First, I love the battle of good against evil, in all its varying forms. (Go, Team Good!) And second, math. Yep, I said math. If slayers = good and zombies = bad, then slayers + zombies = bloody good time!

Q: What is different about the zombies in Alice in Zombieland? How did you create the mythology around them?

A: Rather than decaying corpses, the zombies in Alice are actually infected spirits that have risen from human bodies. Only a certain group of people can see them but they can’t fight them unless they, too, are in spirit form. Of course, that meant figuring out who can see them, why they can see them, how the infection occurs, how the infection first began, how humans can fight in the spirit and a thousand other questions. You know, easy things like that.

Q: How did you get the idea to write a zombie story inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

A: The first thing that came to me was actually the title. I told one of my dearest writer friends (Kresley Cole) and she said, “You have to write that story.” So, I sat down and for only the second time in my life wrote a synopsis for an entire novel. (I’ve always been a figure-it-out-later kind of girl.) Scenes and dialogue began to flow, and the characters began to come to life. Of course, when I sat down to write the actual book soooo much of that changed, but my love for the story and the situation did not. I never wanted to leave the pages!

Q: If you ever met a zombie in real life, you would…?

A: Kick him in the teeth then high-five my mother for teaching me how to kick zombies in the teeth. Then, of course, Mom would do a little kicking of her own. We’d tag team!

Q: Okay, let’s talk about Cole, who, let’s face it, is hot and skilled. Can you tell us anything about his first time fighting a zombie?

A: Cole…my darling Cole…I have such a cougar crush on him! (Sorry, Ali, but it’s true—and you’re lucky I allowed you to survive that car crash. Just sayin’.) As for Cole’s first zombie fight, let’s just say he had his butt handed to him and leave it at that. Or, better yet, let’s just say you’ll actually get to see this scene in book two.... Oh, the joy of YouTube. You can’t hide from it, Cole Holland. You can’t hide!

Q: What’s next for Alice and her friends?

A: Well, the hazmats are ticked, so you just know they’ll be up to no good. Ali and her grams are now living with Reeve, even though Ankh wants Reeve kept out of the war. Kat’s kidney-clock is ticking. A new slayer returns to town, and oh, is he hot. Cole and Ali are gonna have to face something terrible…something— Wait, wait, wait. I’m giving away all the secrets! I’ll end it here before I start writing a synopsis I’ll never follow. What? It’s true.

Thanks so much, Gena!