Crisped + Sere (Immemorial Year Book 2) by TJ Klune Page A

After what they’d seen, they took no chances.
    It was midday, and the clouds above were growing fat and gray. The wind had started to pick up, pushing at their backs as if hurrying them back to Cottonwood. Not much was said between the three of them, but there didn’t have to be. Things were different now from when they’d left the day before.
    “Stop!” a voice cried out from the wall.
    They stopped.
    “Cavalo?”
    “Yes,” he called back.
    “Bad Dog and the Dead Rabbit?”
    “Yes.”
    “You alone?”
    “Looks like.”
    Silence. Then, “They’re not coming, are they. Grangeville.”
    Cavalo allowed his voice to harden. “Either shoot or let me in.”
    For a moment Cavalo fully expected a bullet. Instead, the southern gate began to rise.
    Lucas pulled his knife.
    “Easy,” Cavalo said.
    So you say.
    Hank stood in front of a small group that gathered inside the gate. Aubrey stood at his side, a rifle slung up on her shoulder. Cavalo thought he saw Alma, but he couldn’t be sure.
    “Put the knife away,” Cavalo said.
    No.
    “You’re making them nervous.”
    They should be.
    Hank reached him first. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” he asked.
    Cavalo met his eyes. “No. Bill and them get off okay?”
    “Yes. They’ll be back in a few days.”
    “SIRS?”
    “At the prison. Is it bad?”
    “Yes.”
    “They’re not willing to help? That doesn’t sound like Cordelia.” He frowned, and Cavalo could see he didn’t truly believe his words.
    “They’re dead.”
    He took a step back. “What?”
    “We were too late.”
    Hank looked shocked. “ All of them?”
    “As far as we could tell.”
    “How?”
    “Dead Rabbits.”
    Cavalo did not miss the thunderous glance Hank gave Lucas. “How do you know?”
    “I watched them. Patrick. His people. Cordelia was still alive. Mac. Another. They said….” He stopped. Looked up at Hank. Hank was right. They’d been friends. Once. Maybe they still were. Things had changed. “They killed them. Burned the bodies. All of them. I think they came at night.”
    “But Grangeville had at least five hundred people in it!”
    “And Patrick has an army.”
    Hank shook his head. “Can we do this? Do we even have a chance?”
    “You know what the alternative is,” Cavalo said.
    A low cry went up behind Hank. A woman in the crowd had heard them. Another was running toward town. It would spread. Quickly.
    “You’ll have to convince them,” Hank said, looking shell-shocked. “We’re alone now, and you’ll have to convince them.”
    “No,” Cavalo said. “I’ll tell them the truth. There’s no one coming to help us. We’re in this on our own. It’ll be up to them to convince themselves.”
    He saw Alma then. Standing in the growing crowd, hood pulled over her head. Their eyes met. He didn’t know what she saw, but whatever it was caused her to look away.
     
     
    THEY GATHERED in front of Hank’s house, all of them, as the snow began to fall again.
    At first there were whispers:
    How can they all be dead ?
    Dead Rabbits.
    What do we do now?
    My brother lived there!
    Dead Rabbits .
    How did they die?
    Were they burned?
    Eaten?
    Murdered?
    Dead Rabbits.
    Did they suffer?
    Was there suffering ?
    The voices raised:
    Dead Rabbits.
    They did this!
    How can we beat them?
    They’re going to come for us next!
    Dead Rabbits!
    We’re all going to die!
    We need to run!
    We need to leave!
    We need to fight back!
    We can’t be scared anymore!
    It’s his fault.
    It’s that Dead Rabbit. That Lucas .
    People began to shout. To scream:
    DEAD RABBITS!
    GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
    HOW CAN YOU HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN?
    WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?
    WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?
    DEAD RABBITS!
    IT’S HIM THEY WANT!
    NOT US!
    GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
    THEY’LL LEAVE US ALONE!
    THEY ALWAYS HAVE!
    WE’VE SURVIVED THIS LONG!
    WE DON’T CARE ABOUT POWER!
    GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
    GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
    GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!
    Cavalo knew the power of the combined