Page 78 of The Dead Don't Talk
Shit none of us could come up with.
Things likewhy the raiders left us aliveorhow the buildings are still standing.
I know part of that is due to the team of Guards I have in place.
They took a hit, a few of them injured, one dead. But they protected this place as they were trained to do.
And the raiders escaped with most of their lives, leaving a mess behind for us to clean up.
It’ll take time to recover.
But what doesn’t make sense iswhy now.
Which is why I’m back at town center, entering the back of the elder’s quarters and taking the stairs two at a time.
The door is cracked open when I reach it.
I don’t bother attempting to dampen the noise it makes when I push it out of my way and step inside.
The windows are the first thing I notice, wide and overlooking the town as the people below tend to their friends and families. Their shops and goods.
The second thing is the man that ruins everything he touches perched in his corner chair like nothing is amiss.
“Hello, son.”
“Don’t call me that,” I growl in response and step closer, the hilt of my blade digging into my palm. “We lost good people because of you.”
Micheal sighs out a long, unbothered breath and crosses his legs, one knee over the other.
“It’s the cycle of life, and of death, dear Moros.”
I scoff as he folds his hands over his lap as if this is just any regular day. As if there isn’t chaos and destruction just down those stairs.
As if his fellow elders aren’t all down there trying to help.
“I should have fucking killed you then.”
He shrugs. “Why didn’t you?”
I growl and grip the hilt tighter.
I can tell that he knows by the tilt of his lips.
I wasn’t ready then.
“There’s nothing stopping me now. Except one thing.”
“What’s that?”
The way his spine subtly straightens gives away his unease at not knowing and the sense of satisfaction I feel from that is better than that damn incense they burn to help weed out the infected.
“You signaled them to come, didn’t you?” He sits even taller. “And then you called them off. Why?”
His nostrils flare and his fingers grip each other tighter.
“I got what I wanted.”
I snarl and step in close enough to reach out a grab him up from his seat by his neck with one hand, tip of my blade held against his gut with the other. “And what was that?”
