Moving the beam to the forest floor, the naked infant screams in the light, its little arms and legs flailing.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, dropping the flashlight as I run to the helpless little guy.
I yank off my hoodie before bending to scoop him up, wrapping his freezing body in the material. Hugging him close to my body, I bounce—awkwardly, pure instinct fueling the movement. To my utter relief, it helps. Wails soften to whimpers.
A quick sweep shows the ground bare. No mother caught in a trap. No father in sight.
“Hi, Sawyer.”
I jolt so hard, the baby resumes his cries, and I hug him tight to my chest while turning to face Zephyr. The abandoned flashlight barely illuminates her silhouette, but I’d recognize that dainty voice anywhere. Endearing during normal circumstances, but now? Creepy. Frightening.
A blood red scarf hugs her neck, half covering her chin as she smiles—light, friendly, toothless. No concern for the crying infant in my arms.
What the fuck are you doing?I want to scream.
Instead, I nod at the baby.
“He was out here all alone. He’s freezing.”
She flicks her gaze at the child, giving it a moment’s attention. Dismissing it just as quickly. “What are you doing out here?”
The lack of surprise is even more alarming than the lack of concern.
“I was…” My lungs seem to freeze over. Every breath feels cold, too cold to form the right excuse, to even think of the right excuse. I shift the baby in my arms, holding him higher. “I mean, does it matter? There’s a baby freezing to death. We need to get him to Aurelius.” I go to step around her but halt when Zephyr puts her hand on my arm.
“Here, let me see.” She holds out her arms for the baby—seemingly soothed, for now. It feels wrong to move him, like he’ll break or burst, but my experience with babies is less than minimal, so…
I hand him over.
Without so much as a sigh, Zephyr unwraps my hoodie and hands it to me.
“What are you doing?” I flinch from the cloth. When a beat passes without me taking it, she drops it in a pile of leaves. Then lays the baby on the ground. He starts wailing as soon as his back touches cold earth.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“He doesn’t belong to us, Sawyer… Our society only has room for those who bring us value. That’s how we stay strong.”
“What?” My voice is barely above a whisper, confusion and horror battling for dominance.
She picks my hoodie back up and tries to hand it to me a second time, but again, I refuse.
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
She lowers the hoodie and sighs. “We have an unbalanced proportion of males who initiate into our society. If we kept all offspring, we would have a gender gap that would complicate mating ceremonies. Only one man and one woman share offspring.”
What? I almost ask again—an impulse, audible disbelief. But I don’t because finally, I understand. And it’s worse than I imagined.
“Are you saying you leave the baby boys out here to die?”
“Their fate is Mother Earth’s decision, not ours. If she chooses to use their bodies to create new life, it’s an honor. We celebrate their sacrifice. We don’t grieve it.”
What…
What?
What thefuck?
I blink, my lungs tight with words I don’t say. Stomach clenching into a fist, I search the ground for bones, evidence of twisted fucking logic I hope is a lie. A practical joke from an awkward, lonely woman.
