“The plan is we go inside and save the—”
Another cry sounded and Finnrey’s eyes widened.This time, before I could charge ahead, she pushed me behind her and gave me a look that meant she outranked me and would remind me of that if I didn’t do as she said.So I took up the rear, turning my back to brush against hers so I might watch the yard and the line of trees we’d emerged from.Finnrey moved forward, and I followed blindly.
As we stepped into the doorway, the light dimmed and the smell intensified.The Hollows had been here.No question.I had to resist the urge to retch.Instead, I put my arm to my nose, breathing shallowly against the dark fabric of my tunic.I heard Finnrey catch her breath and knew whatever we’d walked into must be bad.Still, I’d been trained well, and I kept my eyes on our egress.
“This is Finnrey of Highcastle,” she said, clearly but not loudly.“Is anyone here?We mean you no harm.”
I held my breath, listening for the cry we’d heard earlier.But no sound penetrated the thick stench or the twilight inside the modest farmhouse.
“Stay here,” Finnrey commanded.
I rolled my eyes but didn’t argue.As she moved away, I pressed my back against the doorframe and slowly dragged my gaze from the yard to the interior of the home.What I saw made my belly roil.I had to swallow and look away again.
Don’t look.Don’t look, I told myself.But some innate desire to know, to see, made my head turn back to the carnage.This had once been a gathering room in the home.A table and chairs were turned over in front of what had been a cozy hearth.Pots and pans littered the hearth area and pallets for sleeping were strewn across the floor.
The last few nights had been cold, and the family had probably been sleeping near the hearth for warmth.Had they been sleeping when the Hollows came?Was that why they hadn’t fled to their safe room?Every home had one in case of attack by the Hollows.
But it was clear that the family had not fled.The first body was unrecognizable.I thought it might have been an older man once, but his head had been severed from his body and I didn’t see it near his ravaged torso or shredded legs.His intestines spilled from the open cavity of his abdomen, looking very much like the carrion left by predators for scavengers to feast upon.Beside him was a female.Her head was still intact, and one eye stared at me.The other was gone as was most of the side of her face.I could see the bone of her jaw and the thick, black, swollen tongue inside her mouth.
I should have looked away then, but my gaze was drawn by the child.I couldn’t tell if it had been a girl or a boy.I couldn’t even tell the age.Almost nothing was left of the torso.The abdomen had been a feast for the Hollows.What was left—part of a finger, a foot, and what might have been a calf—lay haphazardly about the room.Finnrey moved among the butchery, searching for survivors, though she must have known as well as I that she wouldn’t find any.
“Look for the safe room,” I choked out.“Mayhap one of them made it.”
“Good idea.”Finnrey bent, and her short, athletic frame moved gracefully.Her skin, usually a golden hue, was tinged pink, making her appear obscenely alive amidst the death in this room.“I think it’s under him,” she said, nodding to the dead man.“Help me move him?”
I didn’t want to go near the corpse.I’d been in a hurry to enter the farmhouse, and now I was in as much of a hurry to leave.But I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and made my way across the floor, trying not to slip in the congealed blood and pieces of innards.I squeezed my sweaty hands inside the thick gloves I wore for protection against contamination.I leaned over the farmer, my gaze sliding to the form who had probably been his wife.Without a head, I knew the farmer was gone, but I couldn’t be so sure about his wife.The last thing I wanted was to be bitten for my trouble.I saw no signs of swollen red veins on her corpse or that of the child.Those were some of the first indications of the change from human to Hollow.
“Ready?”Finnrey asked.
“On three,” I said.I counted and together we rolled the body aside.Finnrey kicked at the blood-stained pallet, uncovering a trap door.She pulled at the now-exposed woven cord, and the wooden floor panel creaked open.A dank smell wafted out which, though unpleasant, was far preferable to that of death and rotting and Hollows.I peered inside.“Is anyone down there?”
For a long moment, we heard no sound, and then we heard that cry again.Fainter than before but unmistakable.“I’ll go down,” I said.
“No, I will.Stand here and keep watch in case they come back.These kills are still fresh.”
“Fine.”As much as I might want to argue, I knew better than to disobey orders.Finnrey might be my half-sister and my friend, but she would report me—if only out of a sense of protectiveness.As she lowered herself down the ladder and into the safe room beneath the farmhouse, I trudged back across the sticky floor to look outside once again.The yard was still clear, the light breeze blowing the dust about.Most of the farmers in this area grew wheat and barley.I didn’t know what this family had farmed as the fields in the back had been harvested weeks ago.With the cold weather coming, the growing season was over and the dry season upon us.
A crash and a shout sent my heart racing.“Finnrey!”I moved as quickly as I could across the slick floor and back to the open trap door.She was in the cellar now, and I couldn’t see her.“Finnrey!”
“Don’t come down here!”she ordered.Her voice sounded shrill, and that tone was so unusual coming from Finnrey that I began to perspire.
“What’s wrong?”
No answer.Another crash and a growl.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up.I knew that growl.It was one of them—a Hollow was down there.I wanted to scream Finnrey’s name, to ask what the situation was, to climb down, but if she was fighting one of them, my screaming would only distract her.And knowing safe rooms, they were small with little room to maneuver.My presence would only crowd her.
I unsheathed my weapon and hefted it in my hand.The handle was wood, thick enough that I could not quite circle it with my entire hand.The shaft was made of peneldium, one of our strongest metals.The shaft’s tip spread into two sides.One side was blunt, perfect for a hard blow.The other side had been forged in heat to a wicked point, which would penetrate flesh and bone.I called my weapon a skullcrusher.Most male warriors preferred a sword as those didn’t require coming into as close contact with a Hollow, but I found swords unwieldy and cumbersome.The younger warriors and many women used a version of a weapon like my skullcrusher.Finnrey had one like mine but with sharpened points on both ends of the peneldium head.If she’d had a sword, it would have been no use to her in the contained space of the safe room.
I stared down into the darkness, willing my eyes to see through the gloom so I could make out what was happening.I caught a flash of movement, another crash, and then silence.I held my breath and then couldn’t resist.“Finnrey?”
“I’m coming up,” she said.Her face, a pale beige now, came into view as she climbed the ladder.I held out my hand and pulled her up the last couple of rungs.Her hand in mine shook as though she were freezing.
“Mara.Am I bitten?”She scrambled away, turning to try and examine her own back, pulling her clothing away from her body and inspecting it intently.
Panic sliced through my chest, making me lose my breath.I grabbed her shoulders.I was taller than she and looked down into her dark eyes.They were wide with fear, but there was no trace of pink in her eyes.“Where did it attack you?”
“My shoulder.”She indicated her right shoulder.
