Page 58 of Hollow Child

Suddenly, she clamped down, biting into my flesh.

“Ow!” I screamed and tried to pull her off, but she growled and sunk her teeth deeper.

It didn’t make any sense. She was a newborn baby, without any teeth and hardly any strength. But she was latched onto my breast with the ferocity of a rabid zombie.

Blood soaked my cotton nightgown in red, and I screamed as I tried futilely to rip my baby off of me. But she refused to let go.

“Help!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but nobody came. I didn’t want to hurt the baby, but she was consuming my flesh and blood.

The door to my room wouldn’t budge, and I could hear the baby growling and chewing. I ran to the window, hoping to open it and run for help. But just on the other side of the glass was the same little boy I had seen in my nightmare before Fae was born. His brilliant emerald eyes and ashy green skin were unmistakable.

“Stella!” Max shouted, and all at once, I was back in my bed. He was kneeling beside me, trying to comfort me. “You were having a bad dream.”

“Where’s Rafaella?” I asked between ragged breaths.

“She’s right here.” Max leaned back, and I could see Boden in the rocking chair, holding the babyagainst his chest. I looked over to the window, still expecting to see the zombie child, but he was gone.

“Fae’s just fine,” Boden assured me. “You haven’t even been asleep for that long if you want to keep resting.”

“Will you stay with me?” I asked Max. I was tired, but the intense, vivid nightmare still clung to me like a cobweb.

“Of course.” Max laid down beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’ll stay with you for as long as you need.”

I felt his arm, safe and strong around me, but I was hesitant to close my eyes. My chest still ached, and even with my eyes wide open, I could still feel the pain of the baby chewing on my flesh.

34

Remy

We’d agreed on 6:00 pm for dinner, because it had seemed like a good idea. Boden, Serg, and I were going over to visit Lazlo and Nova. I hadn’t had an opportunity to meet Nova yet. She never came to the old farmhouse with him because she was needed back at their homestead with their daughter, the same reasons that I didn’t bring Boden or Serg with me.

By the time the night of the dinner rolled around, it felt like a very bad idea. Max and Stella had only been home with the baby for a week, and it didn’t feel right leaving them alone so soon.

Boden came up with an answer for that, though, and he invited Jovie to hang out with them while we were gone. He seemed to really be looking forward to the dinner, and I couldn’t explain why, but the whole thing made me feel uneasy.

“I don’t know why it’s so important that we go out tonight,” I said with ten minutes before we were set to leave. “We can have dinner with them another night.”

Boden scowled at me. “That’s ridiculous. You did your makeup and dressed up already. Rafaella’s had a good day, and she’s asleep. Max and Stella had supper, and Jovie is here now. Everything is fine, and we should go.”

Serg, Boden, and I had all cleaned up the best we could, because we had so few excuses for it anymore. I had traded a few pelts from rabbits I’d hunted for asmall makeup kit. Just eyeliner and eyeshadow, but it was more than I usually wore.

For my clothes, Harlow had given me a dress she made. Something woven from pale thread in a loose-knit midi-dress that I paired with my sneakers because I wasn’t going overboard on this whole thing.

“You’re right,” I said, because I couldn’t keep making excuses.

“And you hardly ever leave the house,” Serg added. “It’ll be good for you to get out.”

I cast a look at him. “Are you two ganging up on me?”

Serg shrugged. “We only do that when we’re worried.”

“Well, there’s no reason to worry, so let’s go,” I announced.

Lazlo and Nova lived on the northern side of Emberwood on a small farm. On Eliot Lane where we lived, with the newest housing, the homes were small and compact with little slivers for yards. It was to make the most of the finite amount of land within the fence. They could – and likely even would need to – expand the fencing around the town someday, but it was difficult, dangerous work with the zombies, wildlife, and Canadian weather.

The closer we got to the fence in the northside, the more spread out the houses. They soon became small farms with enough room for livestock. Most of the vegetables were grown in the greenhouses, but there were fields of corn and wheat along with pastures for grazing.

Still, Emberwood wasn’t that big, and it only took us a little over twenty minutes to reach the address Lazlo had given me. The house itself was similar to ours, but there’s also had a side pen made of tensile wire. That seemed a bit excessive for farm animals, but then I saw the pair of wolves relaxing in theshade. I had forgotten that Nova kept them as pets.

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