Edge of Mercy (Young Adult Dystopian)(Volume 1) (The Mercy Series) by C. C. Marks Read Free Book Online Page B

completely insane, no one begrudged him a life of leisure. True, not a single person went out of his way to spend time with Victor. Tiptoeing around him seemed to be the best way to deal.
    He reached over to the table on his right and pulled a piece of meat off the nearest tray, stuffed it into his mouth, and spoke around the food as he chewed, “Well? Am I completely invisible here? Someone who should be a hero to you. You’re just going to ignore me?”
    We all speculated why the Council never decided to give him back to the forest, but none of us could come up with a satisfying reason. The Council made these kinds of decisions occasionally. If someone came down with an illness we couldn’t treat but might infect others, they were sent into the forest. If someone stole food, water, or another essential too many times, they were given a small pack and pushed through the gates. Why didn’t the Council just do the usual and send him into the hands of the Draghoul?
    “Fine! Don’t answer me then. Pretend I’m not here. Maybe one of these nights I’ll open the fortified doors myself, and you all can experience what I went through. You have no idea what it was like out there, what I had to do to survive. They’re vicious. The monsters’s screams pierce your ears and the sick sound of them devouring the victims, the blood everywhere…I just want to erase it from my brain...to scrub it…”
    For a moment, his voice trailed off, his face screwed up in terror, and his eyes glazed as if the images in his mind were happening right in front of us all. He raised his hands to his hair and yanked fistfuls from the long tufts as he moaned forcefully. He was clearly no longer in the dining area, but back in the forest, at least in his own mind.
    It was the distraction the older men needed. They circled him and closed in, each grabbing his arms and legs. He let out a high-pitched scream and fought hard as if the Draghoul had a hold of him instead. With the singular motivation of protecting the rest of us, they dragged him toward the exit and, I could only assume, to the locked and padded room he stayed in during these moments of intense cuckoo for cocoa puffs-land.
    As his screams faded, the air filled with voices again, even some uneasy laughter, and I turned to say something to Zeke and Thomas, but only Zeke stood beside me. Sometime during the craziness, Thomas had taken Star out of the room, and I hadn’t even noticed. Grateful he’d thought to keep her safe, I felt like the worst sister for not thinking of it myself. After all I’d experienced in this crazy, messed-up world, I kept putting those I loved in danger. It should have sunk through my thick skull when my mother died because of my stupidity. Would I ever learn?
     
     

Chapter 4
     
    Thunder and lightning dominated the sky the next couple of days and nights, and the air grew colder, keeping all the members of the community inside. Though the Draghoul seemed less likely to move during rainy weather, the thick cloud cover meant a darker sky. Some speculated the water washed away the scent of humans, but without sunlight, the Draghoul might stir during the day. We never took the chance. Besides, the crops could use the rain and there’d be plenty of work waiting for us when we trekked back to the fields.
    Most of the time, I hung with Star, my goal to give Quillen a break, but he stayed with us and used his knack with my sister to calm her during the thick of the storms. He sang to her and expressed genuine care, not like a parent necessarily, but like he believed she was exceptional, special. Being the only female, as far as anyone knew anyway, of course she stood out, but Quillen spoke of her almost as if something inside her made her unique, beyond comparison with others. Other than her eyes, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Not that I’d interacted with a baby since my cousins years ago, but she seemed typical. Sure, people noticed her eyes—one very pale