Page 45 of Hollow Valley

“Faecan’tlose you, too, Boden,” I insisted.

He held my gaze when he said definitively, “You were the one that told me where I go, you go.I’m with you on this all the way, and we’re both getting Fae out of here.That’s the only way this works anyway.”

And that’s how it was decided.With great resolve and many reservations, the six of us made our plan in the dark of the barracks with zombies dancing in the moonlight outside the barred windows.

In the morning, a garden shower dampened the courtyard, washing the remaining blood off the bones of yesterday’s offering.But by afternoon, the clouds had parted enough that a salmon-orange sunlight could get through.The courtyard was left in the shadows for most of the day, but the sky above painted a disparate picture from the Loved Ones shambling below.

“She is beautiful, isn’t she?”Alphie asked me as dusk slowly approached, though I didn’t know who theshewas she was referring to.

Alphie had been standing at the window, staring outside for most of the day.It didn’t seem particularly strange to me, because it was what I had been doing, too.Boden and Leandro were trying to rest while they had a chance, and Fergus continued his pacing.Edie sat on her cot, running through various scenarios in her head, and occasionally stretching or doing light exercise.

“Who is beautiful?”I asked.

“Her.”Alphie smiled and pointed to a female zombie a meter or two away from us.

The zombie was facing us, but by the vacancy of her eyes, it didn’t seem like she was really looking at anything.Half of her face and scalp had rotted, but her remaining hair was wrapped with golden ribbons.A flowy, tattered orange tunic was draped over her, but all that poked out at the bottom were literal bones for legs.Her feet, oddly enough, still had skin, but they’d swollen into putrid bags of flesh.

“In the orange?”I asked, confused.“You think she’s beautiful?”

“She was always so beautiful,” Alphie said wistfully.“She’s my mother, Josette.”

For a moment, I tried to see the traces of humanity clinging to the ruined forms in the courtyard.But the sound of bells tolling shattered the illusion.Some of the zombies growled in anticipation, with a few already turning their attention to the north gate.

Through the thick glass, I could smell the hunger coming off the Loved Ones.A heavy, cloying sweetness tangled with rot and copper.It seeped through the barriers, mingling with the damp cobblestones and morning rain.Somehow faint but potent enough that I could still taste it in the back of my throat.

The moment the bells stopped, the door to the barracks opened.Benedict and another guard burst into the room, while another two waited in the hall.

All of them were dressed in the unusual armor I had only glimpsed before.A metal carapace covered in foot-long dull spikes – likely to repel the Loved Ones without harming them – atop coveralls made from a thick moose hide.On their heads were football helmets with a mesh screen across the entire face.The helmets were painted in a kaleidoscope of colors, while the rest of their armor was much more utilitarian and drab.In addition to their usual rifles hung over their shoulders, each of the men had a spear with a jagged blade at the end.

“Nell has made her decision,” Benedict announced.With his good eye, he surveyed the six of us.“Your punishment is to be expiation, and you will atone without mercy.Two of you will be chosen for tonight’s offering.”

Boden stepped forward.“What if we volunteer?”

“Some have in the past, but it doesn’t change the fate of anyone else,” Benedict said.“Nell’s decisions are never undone.”

Boden nodded his head in understanding.“I know.I just want to get this over with.”

“Fine,” Benedict said.“Any others?”

I raised a hand.“I volunteer.”

Momentary surprised flashed in Benedict’s solitary eye, then he reached forward and grabbed me by the arm.“Let’s begin then.”

“Hey, easy!”Boden protested, and another guard grabbed him by both his arms.

“I told you that volunteering won’t change your fate,” Benedict reminded him as they roughly dragged us away.

27

Stella

The journey through the narrow corridors to the north gate was brief.The guards walked quickly and half-carried me/half-dragged me along before tossing me on the floor in a staging area.

“You okay?”Boden asked, as he fell hard on the cobblestone beside me.

“So far,” I mumbled.

As I glanced around, I realized we weren’t in a room but an arched passageway that ran through the barracks, connecting the interior Loved Ones courtyard with the community of Fort Lately.Both ends of the passage were closed off by sturdy gates with locks and crossbars, but the cloying hunger pheromones permeated even more.