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Augustine reared, the breath coming from his nostrils already so cold it no longer billowed. The reins burned inside the tight grip of my fist. I wouldn’t let go.
“Hardheaded bastard.” I righted the harness before I led the mule to the cart. “Come on now!”
Augustine’s demeanor grew frenzied, whinnies taking on the wheezing qualities of the corpses in the pit.
He reared once more.
A hind leg slipped.
Augustine staggered.
Leather ripped with acrrk-shk, slapping my cheek like a whiplash. I stumbled back, my shoulder crashing against the mule’s unforgiving rump. Heels sunk into the mud before I slipped.
The ground pulled out from underneath.
Thud!
Pain spread through my skull.
Darkness crept into my vision
Something tugged on my ankle.
“Help! Catch the mule before the beast drags her to death!” Pa’s voice hollered around me, but it soon faded into theclip-clopof shod hooves.
That, and the incessant cries of a babe.
Chapter2
Ada
Damp fabric clung to my skin.
Thud.
Something knobby prodded my spine.
Thud.
Pain ate away at me, inside and out.
Thud.
What had happened?
I blinked my burning eyes open, staring at a dark lavender sky. Was it… almost morning? God’s bones, where was I? Anotherthudaround my shoulder and my head tilted to one side, pupils catching on tattered clothes, gaping wounds, black-veined skin—
A scream formed at the back of my throat, but it lodged between raw muscles. Shocked into silence, I stared at the corpses lining my left and right.
They stared right back at me.
A young man missing a hand.
Thief.
A boy with blisters on his skin.
Pox.
