Page 85 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
“The necromancer caused the outbreak. Gave the Citadel power, though I bet he didn’t realise that at the time. Recently, they’ve realised that they’re having to give some of that power back.”
“How so?”
“The more towns we clear, the more people who leave. They can’t really stop them. That’s the point, isn’t it? But the people in charge now don’t want that, so they need to drive them back.”
“They want more zombies? Why not just stop sending us out?”
Dane scoffs. “They can’t be fucking obvious about it, Isaac,” he says like I’m a child. “Do you know how tenuous everything is right now? There are survivors out there, too. They made it through the initial couple of decades; they’re in it to last. We don’t need them, either.”
“This won’t work. It’ll just kill people.”
“I don’t think they care about that. All they—allweneed—is just enough to keep everything running. Enough to keep luxury where it’s meant to be.”
“They’ve offered you something.”
“Oh, Isaac. They’ve offered meeverything.”
I swallow hard. He’s lost it. There’s no bringing him back from this, but then I think I knew that when he shoved that knife into Blake’s throat.
“Everything?”
“I’ll be one of them. Among them. I won’t have to traipse outside those walls every few weeks and risk my life—and forwhat?!” He shouts the last word, and Autumn flinches and lets out a whimper.
Mason never moves. The entire time, his eyes burn into me, feet planted, shoulders square. He’s not scared of Dane, not even with a blade against his skin.
How can I be as brave as him? My hands are steady, but inside I’m terrified. What if Dane does kill him? What do I do then?
“We do it because we have to,” I say quietly and, eyes fixed on Dane’s, I take a step forward.
He says nothing.
“We do it becausesomeonehas to, and we can, and we’re rewarded for it.”
“You’re so naïve,” Dane scoffs. “They were never going to give you what you wanted.”
I shake my head. What I wanted? All I wanted was a space of my own. Something small and safe.
I can’t even have that? Dane might be out of his mind, but I don’t doubt that part of it—I don’t doubt that we were hand-picked to die out here. Blake was too aggressive. Rae is too strong. Otto was too observant. My eyes flick to Autumn. Too timid, despite her training.
And me? Too defiant. Too queer. Even if I tried not to be.
“The necromancer,” I say, and Dane perks up again, anger sliding off him like it was nothing. “You have him? They said he was gone.”
Dane stares at me for a second, then tosses back his head and roars with laughter. I bare my teeth, cheeks heating. I don’t like this. I don’t like that I’m missing something because that means he might have the upper hand, and I can’t let him have that, not for a second.
“Fuckinghell, Isaac,” Dane says, then drops his smile all at once. “You’re such a fucking disappointment.”
“I—What?”
“I really thought you’d figured it out. It’s partly why I didn’t kill you. The other part, well—” He sweeps his gaze over me, andfor the first time, something shifts in Mason’s expression. He was angry before. Now he’s murderous.
“What do you mean?”
“You were standing next to the grave. Think! It was all laid out for you, and you can’t even put the fucking dots together.”
I shake my head. I was looking at that grave, the one that clearly had been the first to burst open, the one—
Mason said the necromancer raised someone from the dead.
