For this, I thought, I deserve to die. I’d failed in my training. Permitted my thoughts to break my concentration. The shame would kill me if this Freak failed. Nonetheless, I aimed my left dagger at its hamstring and sliced, driving it away from the killing strike.
In that extra moment, Stalker and Fade came from either side, cleaving the Freak nearly in two. They’d cleared a path to me, the dead falling in great waves behind them. Morning sunlight limned them, darkness and light, and they both offered me a blood-slicked hand to pull me to my feet. In that, I accepted help from them both, and I sprang up, away from my humiliation; they did not chide me. Stalker handed me my fallen weapon.
We went together back into the fight, and I focused. I stabbed and blocked, kicked and struck without consideration, without mercy. By the time we defeated the last of the desperate rush, we had lost five more guards. This time, at least the growers had gotten to safety—and we’d prevented the Freaks from pushing past us into Salvation. For long, terrifying minutes, we stood out front, crimson smeared and weary, waiting for those inside to finish repairs.
I trembled with exhaustion. Fade touched my chin lightly, drawing my gaze up to meet his. “Are you all right?”
“Not my most shining moment. But thank you for saving me.” I directed my words to both of them, Stalker standing to one side. He nodded, but didn’t approach, and I ached that I’d driven him away by choosing Fade, that we apparently couldn’t have anything without the kissing. Sometimes I didn’t understand boys at all.
At last, the gatekeeper called, “Come in!”
With Fade’s help, I dragged a guard’s body inside the wall, and others followed suit. We would not leave these men to be desecrated as the others had been. It seemed odd to me that I would find that offensive. After all, down below, we had routinely put our dead out to feed the Freaks. But they had never returned any of our offerings in such a hideous fashion. They ate until they could hold no more and then they left the rest for the tunnel creatures. Perhaps, then, it was the obvious loathing those poor impaled heads represented. I had never thought Freaks capable of strong emotion, other than hunger, but it had become obvious that these were.
Once the gates closed behind us, the guards dropped the reinforcing timber. In the time I’d been here, I had never seen the great doors sealed in this way. Which established how unprecedented these attacks were. We’d warned them that the Freaks were changing, but even I didn’t expect these tactics.
My heart thumped wildly in my chest, both in reaction to the fight and the alarm at the unknown. It seemed that the Freaks got smarter all the time, but why? Then again, if I could answer that question, I could rule the world. I puffed out a shaky breath and rubbed my hands along my arms.
“Any thoughts?” I asked Fade.
He shook his head. “If we could somehow study the Freaks, catch one or two and observe them, that might help.”
I choked out a shaky laugh. “I’m sure that would go over well with the good folk of Salvation.”
Fade trailed a finger down my cheek, and it came away tacky with blood. “You’ll notice I’m not in any hurry to propose the idea to anyone but you.”
I began, “Please tell me you’re not suggesting—”
“No. I think all creatures have the right to be free, even those trying to kill us.”
“And they’re getting better at it all the time,” I muttered, shivering.
In silence, I studied the people of Salvation for a moment. Gazing on their tired, hopeless faces, I thought, They’re not equipped to fight a war. Even their guards don’t like leaving the walls. And that was probably why I’d been included in the summer patrols, considering their feelings on proper women’s work. Longshot’s support wouldn’t have been sufficient, otherwise, but they simply didn’t have enough fierce Hunter spirits to protect everyone else.
This is your mission. This is why you survived the ruins and came Topside. Silk’s voice rang unmistakably in my head, so clear that I looked around for her. The order roused the Huntress in me, spurring my desire to defend and my need for a purpose. The misery of Salvation’s citizens only reinforced the calling. Word was already spreading, and people came in small groups to claim their dead. Quiet sobs filled the air, along with whispered fears and recriminations.
Fade wrapped an arm around my shoulders and drew me away, toward the well near the barracks. I understood his intention and we washed up in silence, listening to the distant drama of lives cut short. The wound on my stomach throbbed; it wasn’t deep, but it required a bandage. As we returned, damp but clean, Longshot strode away, presumably to find Elder Bigwater.
It was beyond time for that council meeting.
Assembly
There was no building big enough to hold the combined mass of the concerned citizenry, so Salvation assembled on the green. It was a chaotic scene with everyone yelling at once and demanding answers. I stood at the back with Fade, interested in the outcome. Longshot had cornered Elder Bigwater and drawn him out.
This was the first good look I had gotten at Salvation’s leader, since I wasn’t important enough to merit his personal attention. He was a tall, thin man with cavernous cheeks, flesh sunken around the bone, and he had eyes deep-set beneath a protuberant brow. I guessed Justine took after her mother—and a good thing too. I couldn’t imagine a young girl here faring well with that face.
Momma Oaks slipped up beside me, my foster father trailing in her wake as he often did. She checked me out in a visual inspection and then relaxed visibly when she realized I was all in one piece. Edmund smiled in greeting but didn’t speak because the meeting was about to begin. Fade took my hand, and I drew some comfort from his presence, even if our safe haven had just suffered a tremendous blow. But I wasn’t as unsettled as some, who wept quietly nearby; I had long ago internalized the lesson that safety was an illusion. That was one gift they’d given me down below.
“Quiet!” came sonorous tones from Elder Bigwater. He waited until everyone had stopped talking, gimlet gaze boring into those who didn’t comply fast enough. “I collect there has been some difficulty with the spring planting.”
“Eleven dead so far,” a grower cried. “And nothing to show for our efforts!”
Elder Bigwater frowned. “I did not give you leave to speak. I’ll hear the formal report from Karl before opening the matter for discussion.”