Page 6 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
“Isaac?” Dane asks.
I shake my head. My thighs tremble as I take a few steps away.
What’s there?
Who’sthere?
As though he hears my thoughts, a man steps briefly into view. He’s there and then gone, so all I get is a snapshot—smudged, hollow eyes, features angular and sharp, skin pale as bleached bone.
For a second, the air between us thrums withexpectation. My breath catches in my throat. My stomach flutters.
He turns on his heel and runs.
“Isaac!” Dane shouts.
I don’t listen to him. I don’thearhim. I’m off like a shot, already chasing after whoever this stranger may be.
Chapter Three
Iclatterupthestreet,following its strange winding shape as I chase the man. Dark fabric flutters around a corner, taunting me. I put on a burst of speed. Breath saws in and out of my throat. I have him! I have—
I turn down an alley and hit a dead end. The man is nowhere to be seen. My heart pounds against my ribs, and I stare up at the stone wall before me, my chest hollowed out and raw.
Where did he go?
Footsteps sound on the cobblestones behind me a few seconds later. The heft of them tells me Dane has caught up.
“What thefuck, Isaac?” he hisses, slowing. He’s breathing faster than me. “You can’t just run off like that!”
“I saw someone.” My voice is faint enough to float away on the wind. I touch the wall. Rough grit strokes against my fingers. It’s solid. Real. I don’t know what else I expected. “Someone living.”
Dane looms over my shoulder like a dark thundercloud. When I glance back at him, he scowls, searching my face. For once, he can’t read me, and he doesn’t like it.
“So? You still can’t run off. What if he’d led you into a trap?”
No. The glimpse I got of him told me he hadn’t meant to be seen. Otherwise, why run? Leading us into traps… That would only work once.
The others come to a stop at the end of the alley. I frown. Slow. I don’t like that.
“I don’t know where he could have gone,” I say. “I saw him come down here.”
“Well, he’s not here now,” Blake snaps. He thinks me incompetent, but I know better. So does Dane, even when Blake looks at him for guidance. “I thought we weren’t coming up here today? We don’t know what might be around.”
“Yeah,” Dane replies vaguely. He doesn’t look at Blake. He doesn’t look away from me at all. His fixed gaze unsettles me even as Blake’s increasing irritation makes my own rise. “Come on. Let’s get set up in the shop.”
I follow him out of the alley and then stop. The church. The stranger could be in any of these houses, but the church is distant and secure and, more importantly…
Itfeelsright. My entire body prickles with awareness. I need to go up there. Today.
“Isaac.” Dane’s voice is sharp like a gunshot, and when I only look at him, anger finally cracks his façade. It’s the first time it’s been aimed at me.
“He might have gone up to the church.”
“No.No.We aren’t going up there. Not today.”
“You’d rather sleep with a survivor running around?” I counter. “He might be able to get into all the buildings here.”
“So?” Blake sneers. “We’ll have a watch.”
