“For one thing, the guys that work there tend to be real pricks, and they’re usually armed,” Henry said, glancing around as he spoke as if realizing he ought to make sure there was none of them around to overhear.“The other reason is that they get up to some weird shit down there.”
“I’ve heard about Cold Shore, but I don’t think I know quite what it is,” Fergus said.
“Down at the harbor is their outpost, but the main HQ are way up in the Alaska Territory, where the sun doesn’t shine for months at a time,” Henry explained.“They’re supposed to be a team of the best and the brightest from all around the world, coming together in an underground bunker to rebuild civilization.”
“Sure that’s not all that strange, given the way things are going,” Fergus reasoned.
“Fair enough.I’ve never got a good vibe from them,” Henry said.“The higher ups almost never leave the outpost, though the low-level guards like to have drinks around town.They prefer the brothel and casino, but we get them here from time to time, too.”
“Have you ever been inside the outpost?”I asked.
He shook his head.“Never, and I wouldn’t want to.Sometimes people go in, and they don’t come back out.”
“Oh yeah?”Fergus asked.“Who’re you on about?”
Henry leaned forward, speaking more quietly as he did.“A couple years back, these two odd little kids rolled up in town.They were with one of the Cold Shore cronies, and the rumor was that these kids were some kind of zombie hybrids.A little boy and a little girl, can you imagine that?”
But I didn’t have to imagine that.I knew exactly who he was talking about.
I’d first learned of the hybrid children and their disturbing conception inThe Book of Mercy.Mercy had claimed to get pregnant with newly infected men to produce her offspring, and if I hadn’t met her son Chosen myself, I don’t know that I would’ve believed it.
Chosen was the one that I had taken from Emberwood and left in the Tarik Copper Mines.Then it had broken my heart to leave him, but I had to return to my daughter, and I didn’t know where a zombie hybrid child was supposed to fit in this world.And then it had broken my heart again when I found the pit was full of nothing but blackened, burnt corpses.
I had mourned him twice, and I regretted my choices, even if I still couldn’t see any other option.My daughter had been just a newborn, and a zombie child like Chosen was far too dangerous.From what I had seen, he could make choices beyond what the pheromones commanded, which meant that I might not be able to stop him if he tried to eat my daughter or attack – andinfect– someone else.
His sister Valorous I had never met.According to her book, Mercy had left her young daughter back at their farm during the assault on Emberwood.I had sometimes wondered how she fared, but mostly I tried not to think too much on the Loth family and what had become of them.
“The children are here?”I asked, trying not to sound as desperate for information as I felt.
“Theywere,” Henry said.“But that was years ago.They’re probably dead or up in the Alaska Territory by now.”
“Well, that is certainly an intriguing idea,” Fergus said, since I had lapsed into a stunned silence.“You really seem like you have your finger on the pulse of things around here.”
“Well, I certainly try,” Henry agreed with a proud smile.“If there’s anything that you want to know, feel free to ask me.”
“Um, I think right now we’d like to know your recommendations on what to order to eat,” Fergus said.
“Two bowls of stew and our finest summer ale, coming right up!”Henry announced.
“Thank you, mate,” Fergus said as Henry departed, presumably to get our orders.Once he’d gone, Fergus rested his arms on the table and leaned in closer to me.“So, you knew them zombie kids, yeah?”
“What?”I asked.“How’d you know?”
“There’d been rumors that it was a hybrid child led the zombies through Emberwood,” Fergus explained.“And then you turned white as a sheet when Henry said that they were dead.”
“I don’t really know them, but…” I trailed off, because I didn’t know how to explain the connection or responsibility I felt toward Chosen.
Before I could find the words to continue, Henry reappeared at our table carrying two steaming bowls of stew and a pair of mugs filled with summer ale.He set them down in front of us with a cheerful nod, and the savory aroma instantly cut through the heaviness of our conversation.
67
Remy
After Stella left, I paced my room because it was the only thing that felt right to do.Ripley was sprawled out on my bed, licking her giant paws, looking more content than she had in a long time.
She missed Stella, Boden, Fae, and Edie.So did I.I’d known we would when we left the Barbarabelle, but I thought it was the right thing to do.
It didn’t matter if we loved them.It didn’t matter that seeing them all again made my heart feel like it was going to explode in my chest.
