Page 31 of Shadow of Death

I shrugged. “Then we leave. But we’re here. How do you not go see them?”

“Fine. We’ll go.” He nodded as if he agreed, yet I couldn’t find the smallest trace of a smile, oranysigns of happiness, for that matter. “This village is our best shot of finding a bike, but I don’t want to stay here tonight. We can head to my family’s lands tomorrow if we don’t hear from her by then.”

He sounded a little too wishful in his hopes that Death would reach out before then. How horriblewashis family? My father had disappointed me, but I still would’ve taken the opportunity to see if he was well. Kicks didn’t say anything else about them, and I wasn’t going to press—not now, while a gang could jump out of a building at any moment. The place seemed deserted, but I spotted a cat that seemed too plump to be fending for itself.

Still, no one showed their face. This world had become devoid of trust in strangers. Maybe one day that would change, but I might be dead before it happened.

Or maybe not. I wasn’t sure how long I’d live with this new magic flowing through me. If Death was immortal, and her magic was in my veins, what did that mean for me? I could deal with living longer, but immortality? Seeing all the people I loved die?

A noise jerked me from my thoughts, and I spotted another fat cat. I scanned the buildings, knowing someone was here, maybe with a rifle pointed at us right now. Just because they liked cats, that didn’t mean they liked people.

Worrying about immortality in this world might’ve been premature.

We spotted a bike pretty fast in the second garage we checked, but it wouldn’t start. We had to go a couple more blocks until we found another, which also wouldn’t start.

“We’re too close to the ocean,” Kicks said. “Connections rust out faster here. Let’s use those.” He pointed to some regular bikes leaning against the wall. “We can find something usable on the road. These roads aren’t as congested, so even a car might do.”

We were only a couple of miles away when we spotted a motorbike on its side, its rider decomposing in place. Kicks did the honor of pulling the body off and straightening the bike. It roared to life.

“Let’s go,” he said.

I climbed onto the motorcycle, saying a silent prayer for the unknown man.

The landscape blurred as we sped through the countryside, the motorcycle’s engine roaring over the silence of a devastated population.

By nightfall, we had covered significant ground, with Kicks’ family lands getting closer and no word from Death. The sun hadn’t set yet, but Kicks navigated the motorcycle into the woods. He rode it farther in until it was impossible to see us from the street.

“How far away are we from your family?” I asked as I got off the bike.

“Not far, but I’d rather go in the morning, after we’ve both had a chance to get some sleep.”

That didn’t bode well. How badwerethese people?

Chapter Fifteen

The sun had risen,waking me and also the worst case of nerves I’d had in months. It wasn’t from bad sleep. At some point in the night I’d woken to Kicks’ warm body surrounding me, keeping away the chill. Nothing to do with expecting some gang to ambush and kill us, either. This had only one very normal cause: I was meeting Kicks’ family.

What if they hated me? Wouldn’t even speak to me because I was human? How much would he care? It wasn’t as if he spoke to them.

But still, it was hisfamily. This was his blood, the people who’d created him. Meeting them was making me feel like a teenager about to enter high school with a bad haircut, hand-me-down clothes, and the worst breakout in history.

I splashed more water over my face, telling myself that I was being ridiculous. It didn’t work, but not from lack of trying.

Kicks was using his boot to move dirt over the embers from the morning’s fire as I walked back into camp.

“How close is your family’s home from here?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. Him knowing I was all twisted up would only make the situation worse.

“About forty minutes or so if the bike makes it the whole way,” he replied, not looking up from his task.

That wasreallyclose. My jerky breakfast wasn’t sitting so well, and it had nothing to do with how sick of jerky I was. I looked down at my cleanest shirt, covered in dust from the road. My black boots were now a tannish gray. “Is there a store around here?”

He stopped and looked up at me. “Why? You look fine.”

Fine. He didn’t mean it in a bad way, butfine? That was like a gut punch.

“I look like I’ve been bathing in a dust bowl.”

He grew rigid. “You don’t need to impress anyone.”

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