Page 42 of The Dead Don't Talk
But I do what I do, and I answer honestly.
“Yes.”
It’s because we won’t produce offspring and increase the population, and therefore the workforce that helps keep everything running. The grunts and brutes that do all the labor that keeps the community running smoothly. It’s because it doesn’t follow the law of scriptures listed in the ancient texts the elders live by. It’s because our bloodlines end with us.
Disposableis what my father called us.
The memory of him twists my gut.
The sniffle coming from Amo has me flexing my fists.
“I didn’t give a shit when it was just me,” I mutter. “I was okay with being excluded.”
“But now?” Amo asks, still not looking at me.
“Now I’m fucking furious.”
Chapter 19
Now or never
Wilson
“Baby, you’re here.”
My stomach flips as I step into Moros’s cabin and my grin grows at the sight of curls. They’re bunched up on top of his head today and his shirt is a yellow that makes his hazel eyes seem even brighter than they were in my dreams.
“Wilson!” he shouts and runs across the room for me, slamming his body into mine.
I catch him the moment his legs wrap around my waist.
“Missed you,” he murmurs into my neck and the heat rushes to my cheeks.
“Missed you, too.”
The way my eyes still scan the room, connecting with Moros’s, has my heart squeezing then dropping at the deeper than normal scowl he’s toting.
“What’s going on?” I ask him outright and let the door close behind me. Amo attempts to unlatch himself, but I hold him tighter. Keep him close.
“What do you think?” he half snaps in response but I’m used to it. Look past the prick and sting and sigh.
“The elders?”
“We had a fucking deal, Wilson. Me and you do this shit, and they leave the next gen alone.”
The center of my chest craters at the thought that they found out about Amo before he was ready. That they gave him this life without him even knowing what they’d taken from him. That my poor baby was going to be stuck out here, living just to survive, for the rest of his life.
Just like me and Moros.
Just like all those that came before us.
Not on my fucking watch.
“What’s the plan?”
Chapter 20
They’re cute when they’re prickly
