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I exhaled a shaky breath, doing my best to keep it together as I put the knife away. The guy didn’t make a rush for me.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Ryan.” He held out his hand, and I cautiously took it.
“I’m June. That’s Adam.”
Ryan nodded and released my hand.
“It’s not smart to stay too long in one place. If you’re okay with it, one of these guys can take Adam out to the truck.”
“You have a truck?”
“Several. For the cattle and any supplies we find along the way. We don’t waste the gas. When we leave Tolerance, we scavenge what we can to keep everyone fed.”
“What are the chances Adam and I will be coming back here?”
“We’re not kidnapping you if that’s what you mean. You’ll be able to leave whenever you want.”
“And if that’s not what I meant?”
Ryan studied me for a minute. “If you’ve been here all along, you might have missed what’s been happening. The infected are getting smarter. It won’t take them long to figure out there are humans keeping the cattle alive.”
I nodded, thinking of the one in the blue coat who’d left.
“Then we have a lot of supplies to take with us.” I moved away from the door and motioned for Ryan to enter.
“Fallor and Etri, can you dispose of the infected?” He looked at me. “June, do you mind if the rest of the fey come in?”
“No. It’s fine.” In reality, it was anything but fine. But what were my choices?
I watched the pair of them pick up the infected with ease and head out as the rest crowded into the hall.
“Would you mind closing the door?” I asked. “It feels wrong to leave it open.”
One of the fey shut it but didn’t let it latch. I guessed that was better than nothing.
Motioning for Ryan to follow me, I stepped over Adam, showed Ryan the supplies in the kitchen, and then led him farther back to the aquaponics. He didn’t hide his excitement.
“This is amazing, June. You have no idea how starved people are for greens. Did you and Adam make this?”
“No. His uncle did.”
He started studying all the components.
“I think we could replicate this in Tolerance.”
“Ryan.”
One of the fey stopped in the doorway and tilted his head.
“What is it?” Ryan asked.
“I think someone yelled hellhound.”
“There was one in the silo,” I said, standing. “We can check the cameras.”
By the time we reached the control room, though, the monitor showed an empty barn.
