Page 49 of Hollow Valley

I instinctively crouched, shielding Fae with my body, and Boden stood in front of us.I looked back to see Nell staggering toward us, a rifle in her hand.Her face was already swollen, and her nose was bleeding.

“The Reverent are owed Expiation and Exaction,” Nell insisted as she staggered toward us.“Youoweme.”

Her blood was dripping over her lips as she spoke, and as she glared at us with hatred burning in her pale eyes, I focused all my energy on summoning the zombies.

It didn’t take long.She only managed to get out one more demand, screeching, “That child belongs to us!”And then zombies were swarming her.Not all of the Loved Ones – maybe only a dozen – but it was enough to overwhelm her.

Her final words I could understand, before her voice became nothing more than squelching screams and bloody gurgles, were, “But I served you!”

29

Stella

As we ran toward the gates, I clung to Boden’s hand and let him lead the way.Fae’s face was buried in my shoulder, because I didn’t want her to see any more of this.The sounds and smells were more than enough.

“Hey, over here!”Fergus shouted, and that’s when I finally looked up.

Fergus was waving for us, while Dougal and Edie stood further back near the door set into the fortress wall.We ran through a crowd of oblivious panicked Revvers to reach them, and Edie pulled me and Fae into a rough embrace.

“Where are the others?”Boden asked.

“We haven’t seen Leandro or Alphie yet.”Fergus clapped a hand on Boden’s shoulder.“But you’re alright, mate, yeah?”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Boden said.“And you all?”

“Ah, I’m grand now.Just needed a few days’ rest,” Dougal said with a lopsided grin.He was still pale and underweight, but he had a bit more color to his cheeks.His eyes went to Fae clinging to me.“How is the little one?”

“She’ll be better once we get out of here,” I said.

“Hey, hey, don’t leave yet!”Leandro called as he and Alphie sprinted toward us.

The two of them were running haphazardly between overturned stalls, injured Revvers, and rabid zombies, and they were struggling under the weight of all our gear they’d retrieved.Packs slung over their shoulders, arms loaded down with supplies we otherwise would have lost.Immediately, Boden, Edie, and Fergus raced over to meet them, taking on some of the bags.

“We got as much as we could,” Leandro said breathlessly as they all joined Dougal, Fae, and I at the door.

“You did amazing,” Boden assured him.“You and Alphie are real life savers.”

“Now how are we to be gettin’ out of here?”Fergus asked, raking his fingers through his thick hair as he took in the gate.“One of you has the key, right?”

“Here.”Alphie handed it to him.

He immediately went to work at the hefty lock, with Boden and Leandro lifting off the heavy crossbar as he did.

“Where do you think you’re going?”Dusty barked at us, and we all looked back to see him standing behind us with a rifle in his hands.His red hair had come free from its usual ponytail, and there was a flap of flesh on his cheek that looked suspiciously like a zombie bite.

“You’ve got enough to be fretting over, boyo,” Dougal said, motioning vaguely to the carnage unfolding throughout the town square.“Leave us be.”

“Do you think you can make a mess of everything here and dip out?”Dusty asked incredulously.

“Stella, if there’s anything you can do, now might be a great time,” Boden said.

I started to focus my thoughts on summoning the zombies, but then Dusty whipped his rifle right at me and Fae, and all thoughts went out of my head.

“It’s you that done this?”Dusty asked.Boden immediately made a step toward me, but Dusty stopped him with, “Nobody move or I’ll shoot that girl in the heart, straight through her baby.”

“Dusty, please,” Alphie pleaded with him, but she didn’t move.“That’s not what the Reverent do.We don’t hurt babies.”

“You don’t do nothing but betray us!”Dusty shouted at her, but his eyes – and his rifle – stayed locked on me and Fae.