Call Me Zombie: Volume I: Rose by Jasmina Kuenzli

Author:Jasmina Kuenzli [Kuenzli, Jasmina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-02-02T07:00:00+00:00

October

We Fight

“I’ve heard about you,” Chase folds his hands on the table like he’s at a board meeting, his eyes sweeping the room.

We’re all sitting at the big dining table in the restaurant. Mason and Malia share the head seat, while the rest of us are scattered around in varying states of attentiveness. It’s been a long day, and I’m ready to go to bed.

Chase, the one who made Mason call this meeting, is sitting directly in the center. I don’t like him there, right in front of us. It reminds me who he is.

In spite of his background, Chase has fit in well with the others over the past week. So well, in fact, that most of them seem to have forgotten the circumstances of his arrival.

But Malia remembers; I can tell by the way she looks at him, tense, leaning forward, like she half expects him to leap up and start attacking someone.

I’m watching him just as closely. I haven’t forgotten, either.

“Well that’s nice,” Mason says slowly, “All good things, I assume?”

“We heard that you take in people and protect them, teach them how to stay alive. We heard that you care about your people. Both of you,” he nods at Malia and Mason. “People are calling the Hunters a safe haven.”

“And what did the Jackals call us?” Perce’s eyes narrow. He’s still wearing that stupid red bandana, but his hair is neater now, like he brushed it before putting it on. His gaze flicks to me for a moment, then away.

I lean toward Chase, forcing myself not to look at Perce a second longer than necessary. I’ve been avoiding him since that night on the rooftop, but there was no way to avoid him today.

“They called you the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced. Jake, the guy Malia shot, he…” he swallows. “He called you his sheepdogs. Because you herd everyone and everything they have into one area. He called you his trap.”

There’s silence after that, until Lucia speaks up. She’s the youngest in the room, but Malia wanted her here. She told me before the meeting that Lucia has a good mind for strategy. And she’s been lied to enough times to know when it’s happening.

“I don’t understand,” Lucia says, “You—the gangs—you just rape and kill—why?”

“Because we can,” Chase shrugs. “Because the whole world’s gone to shit, so why not do whatever we want, whatever feels good?” His fist clenches on the table, “Because if nothing matters, then nothing hurts. It’s just feeling good. It’s easier.”

Lucia sits back, but she doesn’t look stricken, the way I did when I first found out about Ben and Turk, and their friends, and the reasons that pushed them over an edge into a place they never came back from. She looks angry, and her voice is even deeper now. She practically growls, “You’re cowards.”

Chase looks up at her, “I am.” He says. “I spent months there with them, and I felt it every time someone died, every time someone screamed, every time Jake walked into a building and came out covered in blood.

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