Prologue
My hands trembled as I picked up a shard of glass off the floor. It slipped in my palm, slicing through my skin. I yelped and dropped it again, sucking on the cut. Then, I clapped my other hand over my mouth for fear of being heard.
Footsteps sounded through the house, echoing on the slick floorboards, vibrating my hiding place. Behind me, the basement door creaked on its rusted hinges. My breathing was shallow and cautious, as if a single breath would betray my position.
I shuffled my feet to keep them warm, zipped up my navy blue jacket, and slid a small dagger out of my boot. I clenched it in my shivering fist, my eyes glued to the stairwell before me. Any minute now the soldiers would discover that there was no one left to kill upstairs, and surely they would come for me. Me . . . and my siblings as well.
I glanced behind me at the group of children in the dusty corner, huddled together to conserve body heat. My heart thumped harder as I made up my mind, knowing what I needed to do to protect them. As the footsteps drew nearer, I turned and my eyes met the fear-filled gaze of my brother. Although scared, he straightened his back and held my gaze without quailing. We passed a moment of silence, then I reached over and tousled his hair. In that instant, I knew; I would die for any of them.
“Hey,” a man called from upstairs, “there’s a cellar we haven’t checked yet. The kids could be hiding down there.” A steel-toed boot became visible in the air vent above my head, and dust rained down from between the floorboards.
“All right,” another man called back. “Just be careful; I heard one of them’s pretty handy with a knife.” He walked across the ceiling above me, and I bared my teeth at the stench of whisky emanating from him.
“Please,” the first man laughed, “a knife? Look at this.” He cocked a gun, and my brother whimpered. “Do you really think that a knife could stand up to me?”
The second man chuckled. “Whatever. Just make sure that they don’t leave this house alive. We need them for the last experiment.” He stomped across the room again and slammed the door behind him as he left.
“My pleasure.” The first man turned and stepped down into the doorway of the cellar. “Come out, come out, little children. Come out, come out, wherever you are.” He aimed his gun into the darkness and shot blindly at the wall near my younger sister.
Then, my brother screamed.
Chapter One
I shivered and wrapped my thin jacket around my shoulders, rubbing my hands together to get warm. I adjusted my woven wool cap on my head, careful to cover my ears, and shifted in the tree.
Any moment now,
I thought, gritting my teeth and hefting my short blade by my shoulder. My heart pounded with anxiety, and I nearly fell off my perch as I balanced my weight equally over the branch I sat on.
Suddenly, a stag erupted from the bushes, followed by two boys on coal black horses. They brandished long spears made of oak shafts and fashioned metal spearheads. One, a muscular, black-haired boy, yelled a war cry as he stabbed the stag in the haunch.
I positioned myself carefully over the stag as the boys circled it to keep it from leaving, dodging its sharp antlers and pointed hooves. As the black-haired boy drove the deer back under the tree, I jumped and landed on the stag’s back.
Before it could react to my sudden appearance, I sliced the deer’s throat and leapt off as it collapsed. My knees shook, and I sat down hard on the spongy black earth. I popped the lid off my water bottle that hung from my belt and guzzled half the container before coming up for air.
The boys reined in their horses and the black-haired one trotted over. “Hey,” he said, “that was pretty awesome. Ready to do it again?” His icy blue, x-ray-like eyes pulled me to my feet.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I laughed, and swung up onto his stallion behind him. Then, I saw that the sun was setting. My heart skipped a beat; I needed to be home before dark to get my younger siblings out of the Care Center. My grin turned into a frown. “Let’s go home first and drop this deer off,” I said.
The second boy, taller and with sandy-colored hair, dismounted and lifted the stag with ease onto his horse on the front of his saddle. He swung back on, then glanced at me, and I nodded. He spurred his mare forward, and we dashed off through the woods.
By the time we reached the camp, it was pitch black outside. I shrugged apologetically at the boys. “Sorry,” I said innocently, “but it’s too dark to go back out hunting. I need to get my brothers and sisters out of Day Care.”
The black-haired boy, Caine, grinned. “So, that’s why you wanted to come back,” he laughed. “Oh, well. See you tomorrow.” He turned his horse and trotted away, toward his own cabin.
I smiled, watching him leave, then whipped around and walked inside my own house. The second boy, Luke, tied his mare to the hitching post outside and followed me in.
“You like him, don’t you?” he asked, seating himself on a stump and laying his head on the table. His light green eyes glistened with hidden secrets.
I raised an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. “Who, Caine? No! What made you think that?” I asked, tapping my foot as a warning to shut up.
Luke shrugged and traced a swirl in the wood. “Oh, nothing really. Just that you get starry-eyed every time he lets you ride his horse. Oh, and that you’re always riding his horse, not mine.”
I grunted. “So? I do everything else with you. You follow me around practically everywhere, so I never get to do anything I want to do. And let me remind you, if you’ve forgotten, but you are my brother. I’m allowed to go hang out with other males if I want to.”
Luke sat up straighter and replied, “Yes, I’m your brother, so that means I need to watch over you so you don’t get hurt. And let me remind you, if you’ve forgotten, that I’m a month older than you, so don’t push it.”
I growled and turned away, making myself busy with widening a scratch in my arm, ripping it until it bled. “Would you quit rubbing that in my face?” I snapped, wincing as my wound began to sting.
Luke got up and walked over to me. He reached around me and grabbed a fresh bandage off the counter, then wrapped it lightly around my arm. “Fine,” he said quietly, “but something’s not right about Caine. I don’t want you to have anything to do with him.”
My eyes closed and I said slowly, “Have you noticed what era we’re living in, brother? You can’t keep me safe from everything. Go outside and to the border fence, see what waits for me and you and Caine, take a look and see our future. Can you deny me one thing that will make me happy, for once?”
Luke sighed and stepped away. “You know what, whatever. Go gallivanting off with Caine, being ‘happy’, and I’ll hang around here and fight zombies and protect your sorry butt.” He turned and walked outside, and a moment later, I heard hoofbeats as he trotted away on Holly.
I buried my face in my hands and slumped into a chair in a corner. My mind raced as the full extent of what I’d said kicked in, blinding me to anything but thoughts of what did await me beyond the fence, beyond the safe haven. Out there.
Chapter Two
In the morning, Luke still wasn’t back. I woke up early and made some hot chocolate, then went to wake up my other siblings. They were tucked away, safe in their beds, peacefully sleeping.
I gently shook the youngest one, Max, awake. He yawned and stretched, then asked, “Today do I get to help work with the horses?” in his little 9-year-old voice.
I shrugged and replied, “We’ll see. As soon as Luke gets back.” A pang of guilt washed through me, then I shook my head and added, “Maybe he’ll take you to the stables.”
The next youngest, Myra, was a little harder to wake up. Finally, in desperation, I dumped a cupful of cold water on her head. She jumped to her feet, screaming. I grabbed her arm and seated her back on the bed, wrapped her in a blanket, then slipped out before she could yell at me some more.
Everyone else was already up, considering Myra had pretty much woken the whole house with her raging. I entered my younger brother’s room to see him already dressed and ready to go patrol.
“Be careful,” I said, and he turned to face me. His face still held traces of baby fat, but the hardships we’d endured together had aged him. Him and every other teenager in this forsaken camp.
“I’ll be fine,” Leo promised, giving me a hug. “I’m only going to the border fence with messages today, I’m not fighting.” He shot me a grin that said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be okay’.
I smiled and tousled his hair. “Be careful,” I managed to say, and handed him a prepared water bottle. He took it gratefully, gave me another hug, and eased around me and out the door.
I proceeded to my sister’s room. She, too, was ready to go, decked out in cargo pants filled with food and black sneakers. Her white tank top had to be dirty by now, but she wore it anyway.
“Bye,” she yipped, and hopped out before I could even say ‘Good morning’. I watched her through the bedroom window as she slid her short blade from its sheath and bounded off toward the border fence.
“She’ll be okay,” Myra said from behind me. Max stood beside her, still half asleep, with his pants on backwards. I grinned and hugged them both, then helped Max sort out his pants issue.
After I dropped Max and Myra off at the Care Center, I made a beeline for the stables. I breathed in the crisp scent of pine trees and freshly cut grass. Once there, I headed for my horse’s stall, the last one in the row.
“Hey, boy,” I cooed, opening the stall door. The stallion within whinnied and trotted up to me, nuzzling my face and licking my neck.
I stroked his nose and clipped a halter on him, leading him out into the aisle where other people were getting ready to go on a border ride. Ignoring them, I slipped a thin leather pad onto my horse’s back, secured it, and tied a rope to his halter so I could steer him.
When I finished getting him ready, I stepped back and viewed my handiwork. His lustrous black coat shone, and his dark eyes gleamed with excitement. I fastened two saddlebags onto the leather pad, then led my prepared stallion outside.
“Where’re you going?” Caine asked from behind me. He sounded eager, and when I turned to look at him, he held the reins of his jet black horse in his left hand. In the other he held a small dagger, which he slipped into its sheath when he saw me looking.
I turned my horse, Ebony, around to face Caine. “I’m going to visit my brother. He lives up by Hunter’s Creek. I’ll be gone about a day.” I mounted Ebony and gathered the steering rope in my hands, which had balled into fists after remembering my argument about Caine with Luke the previous night.
Caine grinned and swung up onto Blackstream, his stallion. “Need a spotter?” he asked, slinging his spear down off his back. “Never leave the camp without one.”
I sighed. “Sure, why not? Besides, there’s a stable at my brother’s place; we can bed our horses down there for the night.”
Caine nodded in agreement. “How about your siblings? Do they know you’re leaving?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I left a note with the Care Center people to give to Luke when he gets back from patrol.” Mentally, I added, If he ever gets back, for a strong premonition was slipping through my brain.
“All right,” Caine said eagerly, “let’s get this show on the road!” He spurred Blackstream out of the stable courtyard and onto the trail that led out of camp. I lightly kicked Ebony’s sides, and he jumped after the other horse.
“So,” I said, as we trotted down the trail. “What do you do for entertainment, other than hunting?” My body had slowly adapted to riding the trails on my own horse, not Caine’s, like I usually did after a day of hunting deer.
Caine shrugged and slowed his horse to match my speed. “I carve,” he said, staring off along the path. “It’s nothing special, really. Useless, actually.”
Hearing the pain in his voice, I urged Ebony to walk as close to Blackstream as possible. I nudged Caine’s leg with my boot. “What do you carve?” I asked, glancing at his face as we rode.
“I carve statues,” he replied, “of the zombies.” His expression had gotten stony, and his horse shifted anxiously underneath him. I could tell he was holding the reins too tight, and I reached over and gently loosened his hands. He didn’t seem to notice.
“Of the zombies?” I asked, desperate to keep him talking. “How?” His body was rigid and he didn’t reply for a moment.
“Yes,” Caine said finally. “I carve them hunting, eating, chasing humans. I carve them dead, or impaled.” He paused. “I don’t just carve statues of zombies,” he said quietly. “They’re too gruesome to carve by themselves.”
I raised an eyebrow, and he said, “I also carve statues of you.”
My heart would have stopped, had I not seen the small cabin coming around the bend. “Oh, look,” I said, “there’s my brother’s house. Let’s hurry up.” I spurred Ebony on, who apparently was just as eager as me to get away from Caine.
Chapter Three
I slowed Ebony to a walk as we neared the house. “That’s funny,” I muttered, my fingers creeping toward my blade. “There’s usually smoke coming from the chimney. And there’s no wood stacked outside.”
Caine halted Blackstream and jumped down, tying his reins up over the horse’s neck so he wouldn’t twist his ankle if the horse had to run. Then, he offered me his hand. I took it, and he helped me dismount.
Once our horses were free of riders, they began to act up. Ebony reared, his eyes wide and white with fear. Blackstream kept pawing the ground and lashing his tail, bumping Caine with his head.
Caine raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. Suddenly, something I’d learned in zombie training a while ago came back to me. “Caine,” I said quietly, “there’s a zombie here.” As soon as I said it, someone screamed from inside the house.
Automatically, he drew his spear and dagger, and I slid my blade out of its sheath. My heart began to pound, and my blood moved as fast as a bullet train through my veins.
Caine crept toward the house, spear raised, and disappeared inside. I held my breath, then released it and began counting to 10; zombie hunters only scout inside a house with a zom in it for ten seconds, for that’s how long it takes for it to notice you.
“One . . . two . . . three . . .” I chanted under my breath, my fingers turning white from the intense hold I had on my dagger. There was another scream from the house. “Four . . . five . . . six . . . seven . . .” I began to count faster, my mind racing. “Eight . . . nine . . . ten . . .”
And Caine didn’t reappear.
Panicking now, I continued counting. My breath was coming in raspy jolts. “Eleven . . . twelve . . . thirteen . . . fourteen . . .” I lingered on the last number, knowing that zom hunters usually didn’t last for more than ten seconds in a tightly enclosed space with a zombie. “Fifteen,” I whispered, and the screams fell silent.
I dropped my head and blinked, trying to clear my mind. Caine wasn’t stupid enough to stay in the house longer than necessary, right? Right. . . I shook a drop of blood from my arm- wait, blood?
I glanced up into the tree above me, and screamed at the sight of a zombie perched in the uppermost branches. The blood had dripped from its mouth, which was opening and closing like a fish stranded out of water.
I took a step back, lifted my spear, and crouched among the tall grass. The zom clenched its fists tightly on the tree trunk, holding on with blackened nails. It howled and dropped from the tree, landing about two feet from me. I jumped up and stabbed it through the neck, and it fell like a rock.
My hands shook as I yanked my spear out of the zom and turned around, then I froze; there were at least ten more zombies standing in a loose half circle behind me. Their eyes were blank, dead, but they thirsted for blood. I could see it in the way they shuffled forward, one small step at a time, but slowly, very slowly.
“Raven! Get out of there!” Caine screamed as he emerged from the house. He was drenched in sweat, and over one shoulder he supported my brother, Aspen. He deposited Aspen onto a pile of hay, using it to staunch the bleeding in his upper leg, and shifted his spear to his left hand.
Panicked, I made a dash toward the trees, but a zom erupted from the shadows in front of me, driving me back. My mind raced as I scanned the perimeter for an escape route, but finding none, straightened my back and whistled.
Confused, the zombies halted for a moment, then the one who’d surprised me spat something in a guttural tone, and they lurched forward faster than before. I jumped up into the air and landed on the back of a zom, driving my knife up to its hilt in its skull.
“I said get out of here,” Caine yelled, appearing at my side and stabbing an approaching zom. “Do you ever listen to me?”
I smirked and kicked a zombie in the gut, sending it stumbling in another direction. “I listen to no one,” I laughed, and jumped over another undead man. “Except maybe Aspen, of course.”
“Of course,” Caine said crossly, twisting to avoid a zom’s curved nails. “You listen to no one, and I listen to you. What a perfect relationship.” He ducked as I swung my fist at him.
I grabbed Caine’s arm and dragged him out of the way of a charging zom, then spun him around and into Blackstream’s side. “Come on, we need to warn the camp!” I yelled as he hesitated. “We can’t destroy them all by ourselves.”
Caine nodded, then his eyes widened. “Aspen,” he exclaimed, looking behind me.
I turned and saw my brother hacking his way through the zoms, holding a battered spear in one hand and a long blade in the other. I swung myself up onto my horse and kicked him, dashed over to Aspen through the ever-growing horde, and snatched his arm. He jumped on behind me, dropped his weapons, and clung to my back.
Caine swore and leaped onto Blackstream, then spurred him into the woods, disappearing onto the trail hidden from view. The zombies groaned behind me, so I urged Ebony away and out into the shadows of the trees.
“Come on, Aspen, stay with me,” I yelled as my brother’s hands slipped off of my shoulders. “We’re almost there, okay? Aspen?” I glanced back at him, and my head reeled in shock as he wiped blood out of a deep bite on his neck.
“Just . . . keep riding. Don’t worry . . .about me.” My brother sagged in the saddle, and I begged Ebony to go faster. Behind us, the groans of the zoms grew louder and louder as more of them poured through the breach in the border fence.
Caine reined in Blackstream as we entered the stable courtyard. As kids emerged from the buildings questioningly, he leaped off and raced over to me. Caine lifted Aspen from my horse’s back with ease, then carried him off into the infirmary.
All of a sudden, my mind began to feel fuzzy, like someone had covered my mouth with gauze and cotton and was preventing me from breathing. I grabbed for the reins, but fell from the saddle and collapsed onto the dusty earth.