Blood Moon by Gwendolyn Harper (books for students to read .TXT) 📕

said, even over a meal of squirrel stew and cornbread.

Everyone knew what was coming.

Max took a seat next to Caitlin, quietly slipping Fancy a few pieces of meat from his dish.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said.

She glanced up from her cup of Gatorade. “It’s not my first time seeing something horrible.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Picking his cornbread apart, he was silent for a moment before saying, “Our group used to be much bigger. We thought it was impressive, you know? Having that many people in one place, surviving together, cohabitating peacefully. We worked surprisingly well, despite the odds.”

“How many of you were there?”

“Nearly a hundred.”

Caitlin almost dropped her plate. “You’re kidding.”

Max smiled. “Nope. Not all of us came from the same Ark, but I guess we managed to think enough alike that we wound up in the same spot.”

“What do you mean?”

Fancy whined for more food, and Max shushed her with a chunk of what looked like a potato.

“We all set out to get away from hot zones and goon squads, but we didn’t want to get too close to any of the cities because of the rotters,” he explained. “So we found ourselves in the woods, farmland, rural middle of nowhere places that could make for a decent landing spot for a few days at a time. Eventually we started noticing signs of other people—tire tracks, old fire pits, that sort of thing.” He smiled to himself. “Finding more people felt like a miracle. We didn’t want to let go of that.”

“And you just… took people in? Just like that?”

He shrugged. “Well, we made sure they weren’t psychopaths or infected,” he said. “No one’s perfect, but we’re safer in numbers. And humanity isn’t meant to be alone. We’re pack animals. Like dogs.” He punctuated the sentiment by scratching Fancy behind the ears.

“But you’re nomadic,” she said. “That’s hard enough with one person, or three, but dozens?” She sipped her drink. “That’s got to be painfully difficult.”

Max grew quiet for a moment, staring into the small cooking fire.

“We weren’t always,” he murmured. “We’d set up a place just over the Tennessee boarder. There was a dilapidated farm with a ton of land. Nathaniel, Edward, and I all watched it for a couple days to see if anyone had been using it, but it was untouched. The group had so much space to spread out and really start making something, you know? We had plans. Fix up the house, build higher fences, maybe even start farming the next year.”

His gaze fell to the ground between his feet and Caitlin knew.

“Is that where you lost a lot of your group?”

Max nodded. “Militias rolled through one night. They… We think they saw the cars lined up along the drive and came looking.”

“You didn’t know about the military base near Memphis, did you?”

He shook his head. “They mowed people down like it was nothing. Women and children. Just ripped through them like they weren’t real. Like they were already dead.”

Inhaling, he cleared his throat.

“We went from being a group of almost a hundred to less than forty of us left alive.” Max set his plate down on the ground for Fancy to finish what he didn’t have the stomach for anymore. “Ever since then, we’ve been too afraid to try to set down roots anywhere else. But we know we’ll have to eventually. We just…”

“Don’t know how.” Caitlin nodded in understanding. “I lost the first group I was with. They were in a house that got overrun with Geeks. I was the only survivor.”

Max looked over at her, eyes brimming with sympathy.

“For a long time, it was easier to just… exist. Keep moving, keep going, don’t think about it all. But eventually, you want more. For yourself, and for them. To honor their memory.”

A soft smile curved his lips. “I knew you weren’t one of the bad ones.”

“I’m not exactly one of the good ones either.”

“None of us are,” he said simply. “Not anymore anyway.”

Emerging from a tent, Nathaniel spotted her, expression tightening for a moment before he ducked his head and strode towards one of the other clusters of people.

“So, I know it’s none of my business,” Max started. “But…”

Caitlin sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“Got it,” he said with a grin. “Another time then.”

Facing him, she thought about explaining her relationship tangle.

“I’m sorry I didn’t like you at first,” she blurted out instead. “I think… I think you kind of reminded me of… Well, me.” She bit the inside of her bottom lip. “Er, the me that might’ve been.”

“You might’ve been a gay man with a dog named Fancy?”

She laughed. “No, but I might’ve been… more trusting. More open. Instead, I’m a little… prickly.”

“Nothing wrong with prickly,” Max said. “You clearly still have good instincts, even if you’re not the leader of the welcome wagon.”

“Maybe one day you can teach me.”

He squinted at her, smirking. “Nah,” he drawled. “But I bet one day you’ll teach me how to glare people into submission.”

Caitlin covered her mouth to stifle her giggle just as Nicole returned from Francesca and Carolina’s tent and all mirth died on her tongue.

“How is she?” Max asked.

Nicole pressed her lips into a line. “She’s holding on. But I don’t think it’ll be much longer.”

“They won’t let her turn though, right?” Caitlin asked. “They’ll end it for her before then.”

Max’s expression was grim as he glanced over Nicole’s shoulder at the tent.

“I don’t think anyone will sign up for the job of killing Carolina.”

Caitlin frowned. “But it isn’t murder. It’s the most humane thing to do.”

“Is it?” Nicole crossed her arms as she sat. “At least this way she has more time with her sister.”

She wanted to argue but