Frenzy (The Frenzy Series Book 1) by Casey L. Bond Read Free Book Online

show me his crossbow or how to use a knife that night. He made an excuse that a neighbor a few streets away needed his help and hurried out the door, leaving us gaping at his retreat, but he did wake me when the sky was still black as pitch. The stars twinkled in the clear sky and on the ground, a fine layer of frost was laid. It wasn’t the first frost of late fall, but I still wasn’t quite ready for winter.
    “You can take my lamp if you’d like,” Father offered as he led me down the steps of our house. I shoved my boots on and laced them up.
    “Thank you, but I can find the way.” We only had one lamp, and Ford or Mother might need it.
    I stood back up and looked at the lines on his face. They seemed deeper this morning than they did last night somehow, or maybe it was just a trick of the candlelight. Father held a handkerchief out to me. “For strength.”
    “Thank you.” I took it, feeling something soft beneath the fabric.
    “I want to see you before you hunt tonight. I’ll show you what I can this evening.”
    All I could do was try to smile and ease the door open quietly. Greeted by the frigid air, I shivered as I left him behind.
    “They won’t hurt you,” he called out to me.
    “I know.” I didn’t know, but hopefully my false bravado calmed his nerves. In me he saw Mercedes, his daughter who entered the rotation, left on a hunt that she’d been on half a dozen times, and never returned. He saw loss, anguish, and regret. He saw hopelessness.

 
     

     
    The frozen earth crunched loudly beneath the tread of my boots as I made my way toward the pavilion. I didn’t own a coat and Mother had locked Mercedes’ room after she fell. I couldn’t take Ford’s because he would need it when he woke up. Stuffing my hands in the pockets sewn into the skirt of my dress, I balled my fists, hoping to cling to the warmth inside.
    A bitter breeze blew against my back, parting my hair against my nape and whipping it into my face.
    “Where’s your coat?”
    I jumped and screeched, clawing out toward the voice. Saul stepped out of the shadows, holding his lamp up, illuminating his ornery grin.
    “What are you doing out here? You don’t even live near here!”
    He chuckled. “No, but you do. I thought we could walk together. I thought you might have some questions about this morning.”
    The harsh breath that left my body made a warm plume of steam. “It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?”
    Saul fell into step beside me. “Actually not really—not like you think.” He smiled and raked his fingers through his hair. “If they lick the area before they bite, it numbs the skin. You don’t feel much more than a pinch.”
    “And they always numb it?”
    “That’s been my experience,” he answered honestly.
    “How many times have you been in the rotation?”
    He sniffs. “Eleven.” My eyes widened. That was a lot of blood and time outside the Colony. “Not every hunt is for food.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “The bolts of fabric that you sewed yesterday? That came from town, from inside the flood wall. In the summer, they send you in to forage for supplies. Most stuff is depleted now, though. When it’s gone, it’s gone. A long time ago, people used to go beyond the forest where the farms were to look for lost or forgotten livestock. That’s how we have the ones at the barn.”
    The barn was close to the river, near the night-walker section of town, beyond Mercedes’ favorite section of the river but before the cemetery. Though mostly defiant and numb yesterday, I remembered the nickering of the horses, the bleating of the lambs. There were cows, goats, chickens, ducks, and pigs. Animals were only slaughtered when it was absolutely necessary, which was why the chicken in our kitchen was such a surprise yesterday.
    “Did you enjoy your chicken last night?” I asked, glancing over at Saul, who was removing his jacket. “What are you doing? It’s freezing.”
    He smiled and tucked the warm wool