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One of the runners was a boy named Ezekiel. From what I’d seen of his interactions with Matri, he was something of a leader among the children. I put his age around ten, which meant he was only a couple of years from being transferred to the mines. His shoulders still had the narrowness of boyhood and his eyes, impossibly large in his skeletal face, were shadowed with a knowledge too old and dark for his young body.
“Everything okay?” I asked, approaching him.
His eyes were on the children farther down the rows. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You can call me Bravo.” I bent down to try to catch his eyes, but he stared
fixedly down the rows. “Ezekiel?”
“Yes, ma’—Bravo,” he said, correcting himself quickly.
“Where did Matri take Mica?”
His eyes skittered toward me but quickly moved back to their original position. “The barn.”
“Magda said there isn’t a shipment of pigs for a couple of days yet. Are there other animals to tend to?”
“You could say that.”
Something in his tone made my spine feel like it was crawling with fire ants. “Tell me.”
He angled his face to look up at me, as if trying to figure out if I could handle whatever he was going to say. I shook his shoulder to urge him on. Finally, he sighed. “They ain’t tending to any animals. They is the animals.”
I took off running before I made a conscious decision to do so. On some level, I was vaguely aware of Ezekiel’s voice shouting after me, telling me to come back. Then, louder voices, more commanding. Halt! Halt! I spurred my legs faster, pushing with everything I had toward the gray metal building on the opposite side of the field.
Halfway across, black figures swooped toward me from both sides like crows. Adrenaline spiked, giving me an added burst of speed. I broke out of the rows and across a flat section of dirt. Ahead, two guards were at attention on either side of a wide-open barn door. Along one of the gray corrugated walls, a line of guards stood, obviously waiting to go inside.
Pain exploded in my back. I flew forward and gravel scraped my exposed skin. A heavy weight landed on my back, forcing my face and stomach into the ground. The crows swarmed me. Rough hands were all over me, ripping me off the ground, pulling my limbs and scratching my skin.
I kicked and clawed as much as I was able, but the effort was futile. I couldn’t overcome a group of vampires. Especially when the scent of my blood heightened their excitement and their desire to inflict pain. The tide carried me toward the open doors, but before entering, they veered off to the left.
I craned my neck to see inside. Part of my brain tried to fight the urge, afraid of what I might see. But I had to know. Through the open doors, I saw large lights hanging in a room the size of an airplane hangar. A flash of a small white arm lashed to a table. A tube snaking from the vein in the crook of the elbow, sucking blood like a parasite. A tiny face, white and pinched in fear.
A tall male in black hospital scrubs bent over Mica. At the sound of commotion, he looked up from the arm he’d been inspecting. He wore a surgical mask and two black-marble eyes flashed dangerously when he saw me. It was like staring at Death himself.
“Bravo!” Mica screamed.
I fought. I fought with every ounce of strength in my being. But the hands restraining me were too strong. I turned my face up to the dark, ashen sky, and screamed my rage.
Eleven
Meridian Six
The next morning, I felt as if I’d been flattened by a boulder. Despite my exhaustion, I’d been unable to settle my mind enough to get any significant rest—especially after that moment in the dark with Zed.
Scraping at the crust in my eyes, I cursed and tried to wake up. Today would not be a fun day.
The sound of a child’s laughter echoed down the hall. A sharp emotion curled in my gut—envy. Those children had never known safety or the freedom we’d all taken for granted before the war, yet they still managed to find joy in this dark world. I longed for their ignorance.
“Six!” Rabbit called from the doorway.
I jumped and put a hand to my chest to still my skittish heart. “Damn it, kid!”
He cringed. “Oops, sorry. Saga wants everyone in the book room, like now.”
I scratched at my head and yawned. “I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Hey, did you know Zed could juggle?”
