Frenzy (The Frenzy Series Book 1) by Casey L. Bond Page B

night.”
    The sound of the Infected woman’s neck snapping filled my ears. “Where?”
    “Downstream. Roman had a few night-walkers help search for her. We’re going to lay her to rest in the cemetery. I thought you’d want to know right away. Roman said you all can go straight to the pavilion.”
    I thanked him and rushed away, unable to stop the tears from flowing. Saul ran after me, catching me between two houses, just across from the square where the vamps were already waiting for us. “Stop,” he said, grabbing my arms and turning me to face him. “Shhh.” He pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me. Saul didn’t offer any other words. He must have known they were pointless. He held me against him, absorbing my grief and pain. When the others caught up with us, glancing at me with a mixture of pity and disappointment, we walked out of the yards and across the street, his arm wrapped around my shoulder.
    Saul walked me to the concrete bench where I numbly sat down, my entire body spent from the exhaustion and sadness. I didn’t look at Roman before he fed. I barely felt anything at all as he pulled me back to him and sank his fangs into my flesh.
    I stood and began to walk away before he could seal the wounds he made. “Wait, Porschia. You have to let me heal the bite.”
    When his hand found my forearm, I tugged it away. “I don’t need anything from you!” The blood. Meg was surrounded by blood. “Did you do it? Did you bite her?”
    “The girl who was found in the river last night?”
    “I found her yesterday evening further upstream. She had bite marks on her neck, Roman! Did you do it?” I looked behind him at the night-walkers now rising to their feet, hissing at me for speaking to their leader with such disrespect. It was so much more than that. They had no idea.
    “None of us killed her. It would violate—”
    “The treaty?” I scoffed. “Like any of you give a shit about the treaty, or about any of us. We’re only good for one thing, right?”
    Roman pushed his dark hair from his eyes and stared at me. “We don’t kill humans, Porschia.”
    “Something did. Something with sharp fangs.” And with that, I left him standing behind me.
    Saul caught up with me and we walked in silence to Mrs. Dillinger’s house, my temporary home. I hoped she was okay with the arrangement. Ford had no doubt explained the situation. “I’ll meet you at the cemetery,” he said, before turning and walking toward his house.
    On the porch, I shrugged off my heavy, wet coat and wrung it out into the soil below. Floorboards creaked from within the house and Mrs. Dillinger opened the door for me. “You’ll catch your death.”
    “It seems contagious,” I deadpanned.
    “I know you were friends with Meg.”
    “I was.”
    “I’m sorry, for what it’s worth,” she offered.
    “Thanks. I’m sorry, too, for snapping at you.”
    Mrs. Dillinger waved me inside. “Bring your coat. We’ll hang it by the fire to dry.”

 
     

     
    I found my belongings on a bed upstairs, in the room Mrs. Dillinger had told me was empty and available. When I told her this arrangement was only temporary, she rolled her eyes. “Stay as long as you’d like, child. Don’t rush your life.” When life was so fragile, and survival so difficult, rushing seemed like the thing to do. It only made sense.
    Peeling my clothes off, I found a dress to pull on. It wasn’t warm but it was dry, and that feeling alone was like heaven. Drying my hair, I quickly braided it and pinned it in place at my nape. Slipping my feet into my old, too-tight boots, I realized that they were a reflection of me. My emotions were spiraling out of control, like my body was too small to hold them in and I might explode at any moment.
    Tears pricked my eyes. Between Mother’s bitterness, the burning of my sister’s memories, moving in with Mrs. Dillinger, Saul’s sweetness, and finding Meg yesterday, not to mention being food for the