Colony Z: The Complete Collection (Vols. 1-4) by Luke Shephard Page B

with a bloody bandage wrapped around her arm.
                 
    “What happened to my baby?” She cried. “What happened to her?”
                 
    The rest of the colony stood silently while Owen continued to cry.
                 
    “She was bitten.” Eric said.
                 
    And that was it.
                 
    Hannah and Owen stood crying in each other’s arms while the rest looked at the ground in sorrow. Even James lowered his head, for even he knew what this would mean.
                 
    Even he knew what would have to be done.
     
                 

Morning had come. But the camp had not changed in its silence. The night had come and gone and, with it, so had the lightness of the traveling.
                 
    Hannah and Owen sat with their children away from the rest of the clan. They didn’t speak to them and they didn’t speak to one another, though they assumed everyone was giving them time to decide what to do.
                 
    Judith Marie had not awoken yet. They were both terrified of what would happen when she did.
                 
    Michael sat impatiently squirming in his father’s arms. Though he was scared for his sister, he didn’t understand she would die. And he wanted to see the girl from the night before. He wanted to go play with his friend.
                 
    “I want to play with Eva.”
                 
    “Why don’t you go play with Eric, sweetie? I’m sure he’d like that.”
                 
    “…but I want to play with Eva.”
                 
    “Not right now, baby. Go play with Eric or Aaron.”
                 
    “…okay, Mommy.”
                 
    And he left it at that.
                 
    “Who’s Eva?” Hannah asked her husband quietly.
                 
    “She’s a girl he met in the woods last night.”
                 
    “There were people in the woods?” Hannah spoke up, and looked at her husband. “Where are they? Maybe they can help us.”
                 
    “They can’t help us, Hannah. They can’t.”
                 
    “Why not? Damnit, our daughter needs treatment…”
                 
    “Our daughter can’t be treated.”
                 
    “Don’t say that!” Hannah slapped Owen across the face with as much power as she could manage. Then she stood and stormed off, Judith Marie closed in her arms.
                 
    She would live. She had to live. She had to be okay.
                 
    Owen sat for a moment, the stinging feeling setting in. He was sure there was a handprint on his face. But he stood and followed his wife anyway.
                 
    “Hannah, we need to figure out what to do.”
                 
    “This is your fault. If we had just stayed on the highway, everything would have been fine! But you just had to come into the woods and see what you could see, didn’t you, you coward? You didn’t want to stay in the open? That’s fine, you win, because now our daughter is paying for it!”
                 
    This time, it was Owen who slapped Hannah across the face, though not nearly as hard as she had hit him.
                 
    “…I thought I was doing the right thing, Hannah.”
                 
    “Do you still think you’re doing the right thing?”
                 
    “…Hannah, I want our daughter to live.”
                 
    “…I do too.”
                 
    “Then what do we do about this?”             
                 
    It was quiet for quite some time after that. Hannah fell into Owen’s arms, their daughter between them, warm with sleep. Hannah sobbed and Owen held her, comforting her for the first time in what seemed forever.