Enclave by Ann Aguirre Page A

he’d gone. “They didn’t hurt you?”
    I shook my head. “They’re harmless. It would do the enclave good to make friends of them, I think. Look at this place.”
    “It’s amazing. They must’ve been scrounging for generations.”
    “Thanks for waiting for me. But it was a big risk. Anything could’ve happened to you.”
    He touched my cheek very lightly. “I have your back. I didn’t mean only when it’s easy. All the time.”
    Wow. Warmth blossomed within me. Even if nobody else liked him, even if the rest of them never accepted me, I couldn’t have done better for a partner. I doubted the other Hunters would’ve acted the same. They would’ve followed orders to the letter and gone back to the enclave, leaving me to fend for myself. Silently, I thanked Silk.
    “This should be our last stop. Tomorrow, we make it home.” I got out my blanket and wrapped up in it.
    A gap in the piles offered us the perfect place to curl up. We went to sleep a whisper apart and when I woke, he lay on his side, facing me. He always seemed different with his eyes shut. The contrast of his pale skin and sooty lashes made me want to brush my fingertips across the dark and light of it. My heart thumped inside my chest as his eyes opened and met mine.
    Fade grinned. “Still tired?”
    I groaned and rolled to my feet. Lying on rock had taken its toll. I felt like I could sleep for a week. Not like that would happen. As payment for our survival, Silk would probably assign us double shifts.
    We got our things and went into the smaller tunnels. The Burrowers were already awake, and Jengu checked our bags to make sure we’d kept our word. I don’t think he had any doubt, but it reassured the others.
    After saying good-bye, we felt strong enough to handle the last leg of the journey. It would be a tough run, and there were Freaks to dodge, but we’d make it. We were Hunters, and the enclave needed the news we carried.

Homecoming
     
    A day later, Fade and I staggered toward the barricades. We’d been forced to fight a group of Freaks when we could least afford to expend the energy, and we had very little left now. The guards broke from their posts to help us. I guessed they could see we were in a bad way. My lips burned with thirst.
    Someone fetched Silk, who demanded, “Get them food and drink. They can barely move, let alone give a report.”
    She was kind enough to let us sit down in the kitchen area. I collapsed on a crate and thought I might never rise again. Gratefully I took the water and emptied the cup in careful sips. I remembered my lessons about how too much on an empty stomach could make me sick. Then I accepted a tiny bowl of stew and ate it with my fingers. It was lukewarm, which made it easier to rake it into my mouth.
    As Fade and I ate, we gathered an audience. Not just Silk and the elders—Copper, Twist, and Whitewall—but Builders, Breeders, and brats too. I guessed they didn’t think we were coming back. Everyone waited to hear what we had to say. As senior Hunter, it was only right Fade take the floor. I put down the remnants of my meal and a wee brat scurried off with it.
    “Well?” Silk demanded.
    “Nassau has fallen. It’s Freak occupied now.” Fade put the problem more bluntly than I would have.
    Disbelief whispered through the crowd. Whitewall motioned them to silence. “No survivors?”
    “Not one,” he said. “They’re living where the Nassau citizens used to and feeding on the bodies.”
    “And why is that?” Silk asked. “Were there signs of disease?”
    I wasn’t about to say we didn’t get close enough to check things out in detail. Hopefully Fade wouldn’t either. “No, they died fighting. Sickness didn’t do this.” He outlined the theory he’d given me in the little hidden room. “Therefore, we need to change our tactics. Lay more traps. We also need a battle plan in case they hit us in numbers, like they did Nassau.”
    Silk laughed. “You make it sound like Freaks are