Edge of Mercy (Young Adult Dystopian)(Volume 1) (The Mercy Series) Read Free Page A

room to sit at a small round table in the corner.
    “I slept even…a little bit. Could you hear it down here?”
    He shook his head, chewed, and swallowed. “Noah came by to speak with me about it this morning. He wanted my opinion as to why the attacks were more intense lately.”
    Noah was a member of the Council and Thomas’s father. Thomas looked like a younger version of him, and both seemed more pensive than most of the men here. Yet, unlike the other members of the Council, Noah often sought out advice from those in the community before making decisions. I liked him.
    I scooped up my sister and danced around the room with her.
    “Be careful. She just drank her milk, and I can’t guarantee it won’t end up all over you.”
    Recently, Quillen introduced Star to some of the daily veggie special, but she still got her belly filled with goat’s milk every meal. It didn’t smell pleasant if she spit it up, so I didn’t perform any more twirls as I moved.
    The goats had the life, if you asked me. They got to hang out in the sunshine all day, grazing and playing. Then at night, they were brought down to the sanctuary for safe keeping. There were only four remaining, so they’d never become the night’s dinner. The milk they produced was much more valuable than their meat, and currently, they were the only livestock in the community. They were treated better than the human members here.
    “Why do you think the attacks are worse?”
    He cocked his head to the side and chewed slowly, as if in deep thought. “I told Noah I thought it was the time of year, and the infected are running out of random victims. Most of the healthy people have either left the Dead Forest or been turned.”
    I hung my head and rubbed my thumb over Star’s chubby knee. It was not pleasant to think about all the lost people. If not for the community bringing me in, I would be one of them.
    “Is there anything we can do about it?”
    He shook his head but stared at me out of the corner of his eye. “Nothing right now, but I suggested Noah might want to move everyone down to the sanctuary.”
    “What did he say to that?”
    “What do you think? He said Jonas would never go for it. Too much work involved clearing out space, and we couldn’t spend the electricity to light all the rooms down here.”
    I did not like Jonas. Besides the fact he considered himself the leader of the Council, and most people just accepted it as fact, he often made decisions that though might be the right ones for the community, often benefited him in the end. I wasn’t exactly clear on why, but no one dared oppose him most of the time, and his son Peter took full advantage of his father’s position, treating the rest of us like the dirt we tilled and the weeds we pulled. I really didn’t like Jonas.
    “Figures.”
    I brushed and ponytailed her short, curly hair and played with Star as long as I dared delay the inevitable. But I knew Zeke would be waiting for me, so I passed my sister to Quillen and turned toward the door.
    “Charlie…”
    I turned back, ready for his usual advice. It had become part of our routine.
    “Trust no one and stay out of the forest.”
    With a nod, I opened the door and swiveled to go. He’d said the same thing for months.
    “You…you are in real danger now, Charlie, in ways you couldn’t even imagine in your evilest nightmares. It’s more important than ever that you be cautious.”
    Confused, I stood in the dark hallway and stared at the closed door, my small handheld light pointed in the direction of Quillen’s room and the ominous words still hanging in the air. Huh . His last words—he’d never said that before.

Chapter 2
     
    The air was cool, raising goose bumps on my skin as Zeke and I hiked to the fields. A glance at the sky showed clouds moving in, and the lack of sun brought on a shudder. To me, the sun was protection, and I hated the idea of a season where it only shined occasionally. Bad memories of last