I could almost smell the burning ash on the air, hear the pounding fists on the inside of the glass as two boys in the street watched monsters take the shape of men.
Patrick looked over his shoulder. “Whatever is alive and well in those kids back there, I reckon it was snuffed out in Gunner and me that very night.”
We had walked beyond the streetlights and claimed the middle of the lane. There was absolutely no one to stop us. I had the strange urge to spread my arms and try to balance on the cobbles. Instead, I asked, “What happened next?”
“The coppers that remained were kept scared enough that they didn’t report what happened, and in return, they got to keep the pay the government continued to send to the dead ones. My dad and the others built a tunnel to the nearest port, and they be
