Thorns & Wildflowers

had not y

y mist rolled low against the ea

his arms resting over them. He hadn't slept a wink. His ears sto

hoodie was pulled low, her face buried deep in the

nch of gravel underfoot-many of them-moving up the slope. Crunch, crunch.

acing against the doorframe unti

ve

idn't

ve

ing half her face, her

mpany. A lo

s snapp

re through the mist-thick, guttural, ras

eymane.

idestep, blocking the threshold, bu

A jagged line of torn skin split his face from brow to jaw, the healed meat gleaming in the damp dark. His left eye was a

combat suits. The red axe insignia. Some shouldered heavy rifles; others gripped long blades. A few co

d violently aro

Cain's shoulder, counted th

w m

e hun

we outru

N

ok back. His v

the rear exit. Head due east,

ot lea

ve

oftly. "I told you. You're mi

his head to

a tangled mess, and her left cheek bore the red impression of the

bobbed. He turned ba

tilting his head to study them. His glass eye rem

two settled it?

. She stood square on the wooden beam, nearly two heads shorter than the gia

, mi

her look

eave, I won't ha

in the air, swirling

is gray glass eye was motionless;

.He

at-a short, ugly sound, li

down the hillside, echoing off the ridge, layering into a deafening,

of his eye. "Little girl, d

said flatly.

ter died

, the wild blades flattened against the earth simultaneously, d

as a man's arm, black as forged iron, and bristling with dark red barbs the size of fingers, their tips catching th

undred pairs of wrists, ankles, and throats, c

he barbs biting deep into his flesh. Crimson instantly leaked o

ar-but a vine whipped upw

eam. A rifle slipped from paralyzed fingers, hitting the ground with a dull

acking under the weight. Blood seeped through the cracks of the coi

, but a solid, terrifying metal, like two coins burned red-hot in a forge. No pupils

fted upward, though

dark. The ruptured earth sealed itself shut behind them, smooth and unbroken, like ripples smoothing o

continued

rom her eyes, receding like water into sand, patches of darkne

. She turned them over, examining her palms, then her knuckle

kill peo

ound n

ook at him, tilting it s

nd her form, her hoodie soaked through on one si

ed his wrist. Her fingers

t's

, stepping over the thresh

ed loudly with every step, forcing thick mud up th

er grip, Cain

doorframe, the rotting door, the missing tiles on the roof-and inside, the stone statue still stood.

of a second,

ve of the jaw, the slope of the

dentical

, never looking back. Her shoulders rose and fell i

see it?"

called out witho

statue in t

abou

e f

bout th

Noth

nee buckling before she forced herself upright again. As she steadied herself, her hand

nd wet, a mixture of

dn't pu

of the hill as the mist closed in behi

her knuckles prominent against his skin, and through her pal

thing. Eve s

ept ru