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“Just because you’re immune to the virus doesn’t mean you can surviveeverything.” He sounded exasperated with his voice muffled in my hair because he still refused to let me go.

“Seriously, Boden. It wasn’t even that cold lastnight,” I said, bewildered by the intensity of his response.

“No, it wasn’t just the cold or the snow, but those both could’ve killed you, too.” He finally let go so he could look at me. “We… we saw something today unlike anything I’ve seen before.” The fear in his eyes made my stomach drop.

“What?” I asked.

He glanced behind him, and I heard the distant sound of another snow mobile.

“Are there others coming?” I asked.

Boden nodded. “We had to bring two machines to haul back all three of you and the animals, and we brought extra hands in case you needed help. But I should probably explain before they get here.”

“Explain what?” I asked. “What did you see?”

“A zombie child commanding a small horde.”

I grimaced, remembering what I had seen last night. “Yeah,him. He is creepy as hell, but he left us alone when he realized we could take him and all his followers out.”

“Well, we dispatched the two dozen or so zombies following him,” Boden went on. “It took all of us – me, Lazlo, Alek, Mayor Vaughn, and that alderman Wilder, and it wasn’t easy. I worried about what they might have done if they found you in the snowstorm.”

“I’m fine,” I assured him, and I took his hand in mine. “But why did you need to tell me about that before the other snowmobile got here?”

“Because we didn’t dispatch the zombie child,” Boden said. “He started howling loudly, so Vaughn had Alek and Wilder grab him. They bound his hands and feet so he can’t run or hurt us, and they put a rag in his mouth, so he can’t bite or howl.”

“Wait. They captured a zombie?!” I was incredulous and angry. “Why not just kill him?”

“Because he’s different. Mayor Vaughn thinks wecan use him to find out more about the zombies or how to control them,” Boden explained.

The second snowmobile came into the clearing, pulling an additional trailer behind it. The mayor was driving, with Wilder on the trailer holding tightly onto the bound zombie.

“This is glorious!” Vaughn beamed as he turned off the machine. “You’ve all survived!”

“Yeah, it’s great, but can you tell me why in the hell you have a zombie tied up?” I demanded to know as I marched over to him. “First you feed them, now you’re keeping them as pets? What is wrong with you?”

“Now this zombie isn’t like the others –” Vaughn tried to explain and held his hands up in a non-threatening way.

“No, he is so much worse!” I cut him off. “He can reason and command others,andI bet he’s just as contagious.”

“If he’s a child who can think and reason, we shouldn’t be killing him or capturing him,” Nova argued.

“We can’t leave him running loose to command hordes, so what do you suggest we do?” Vaughn asked sardonically.

“My vote is still for killing him,” I said.

“And then we would lose all that we can learn from him!” The mayor was appalled at the very notion. “How can we ever hope to find a cure without studying the virus or the infected?”

“Fuck a cure,” I growled, and my scars throbbed, the way they did whenever I was reminded of my time as a lab rat.

Mayor Vaughn narrowed his eyes at me. “And who are you to decide that? I am the mayor of the current largest and longest standing settlement in North America. Thousands of people have voted forme to represent them and protect them from a brutal, wild world.

“Because of my largesse and our mutual desire for a greater community, for a chance for humanity to thrive once again, you have been welcomed with open arms,” he went on, stepping closer to me as he spoke. “When danger befell you, I led a rescue mission to find you.

“Now, I – the official representative and leader of the people of Emberwood – in my wisdom and compassion toward all sentient beings, decide to bring this afflicted child into our care. Mind you, we are using the utmost of caution, and we do so in hopes of finding an end to the cruelest illness known to mankind. One that has taken so much from every single person still alive today. And your response to that is ‘fuck the cure,’” he continued with his tirade.

“My question to you is, what makes you think that any of us give a flying fuck about any of your opinions?” Mayor Vaughn finished.

But I refused to back down. I kept my shoulders back and my chin up, because I knew it was a very bad idea to bring a super smart zombie inside the city walls.