I’d been so caught up in my hopes for the future that I hadn’t registered the scene as the truck pulled into the long, gravel driveway.
A trail of blood and dead cows led to a cluster of infected grouped around the barn near the silo. The way the infected rocked slightly as they stared at the structure was beyond weird and not how I remembered them behaving.
My gaze flicked to Merdon, who studied the infected with the rest of the fey. With his back to me, I couldn’t see his face. Why weren’t the fey telling us to run?
The dead cows disturbed me. But the way the infected were acting, swaying and ignoring the sounds of the idling trucks, terrified me. They didn’t do that. Noise drew them. Always.
Garrett seemed to have the same thought because he cut the engine.
In front of the fey, the infected stopped swaying.
One by one, they turned. Over one hundred milky white eyes focused on our caravan.
A small, panicked noise escaped my lips.
Chapter Thirty
“It’s okay, Hannah,” Garrett said, reaching across the seat to take my hand. “The fey won’t let them get near us.”
He’d barely said the words when the majority of the fey positioned themselves around the trucks.
Merdon looked back at me, and I shook my head at him because I already knew what he was thinking about doing.
He tapped his ear and pointed at me. And the truck. He wanted me to remember my promise to do as I was told and stay in the truck.
I put my free hand on the windshield, a plea and a promise. He’d said that he’d live in the world I chose. Well, that went two ways.
“Don’t you dare die,” I whispered before removing my hand from the glass.
He tipped his head at me then faced the infected. Thallirin said something to him, and they both strode forward together.
The infected didn’t surge in their direction as I expected but stayed right where they were.
“Is that weird?” I asked, still holding Garrett’s hand.
“Yep.”
I could tell the infected were watching the fey, but they weren’t moving more than their heads.
“I don’t like this,” Garrett said.
“You’re not helping.”
Thallirin grabbed one of the infected by the head and decapitated it with one forceful jerk. The body fell. None of the surrounding infected moved.
Merdon and Thallirin shared a look then rushed forward, removing heads and throwing bodies. The savage brutality should have upset me, and maybe it would have if it’d been humans dying rather than infected. As it was, I felt nothing but relief that Merdon and Thallirin were killing so many with ease.
A single, mournful bellow echoed outside the windows.
I jumped, and Garrett’s hand tightened on mine as the infected finally surged into motion, swarming the fey.
Panicked, I looked to the right and saw Tor. I slapped on the window to get his attention.
“Don’t let him die,” I called.
Some of the infected heard me. They broke away from the main group and ran at the fey positioned around the trucks. But they had no chance. Two fey quickly beheaded ten.
When I looked toward the barn, very few infected remained upright in the decimated mass of headless bodies. Those who did gave a loud moan then fled just as Garrett had said they would.
Two fey ran after the ones trying to escape.
“Hopefully they won’t get far,” Garrett said.
The truck door opened abruptly, giving me another startle. I looked over at Tor.
“Stay in the truck. We will move the bodies and make sure no heads remain attached. I will tell you when to get out. Merdon says to listen.”
I nodded. The door closed, leaving me inside with Garrett.
“Is it like this every time?” I asked.
“Ryan usually doesn’t hold my hand this long, but pretty much.”
I wrinkled my nose and released my death grip.
“Sorry.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Just glad no one noticed. The fey are possessive and jealous, if you didn’t already know.”
“I heard about your near miss with Shax.”
“And Thallirin,” he said. “I don’t know why they keep putting you girls with me. I mean, I don’t mind the company at all. I’m just not a fan of the risk.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.”
He snorted, watching out the front window.
“I have dreams I’m being carried away without a head, and not because I am infected. I pity any guy who gets between a fey and his crush.”
I followed Garrett’s gaze to where the fey were removing the infected corpses. Then, I