12
“Are you tired?” Evie felt the burn in her own lungs as she spoke, but tried not to let it show in her voice. Jogging three circles around the town wearing heavy packs shouldn’t have exhausted her. One thing she had noticed about the Tainted was how sedentary they were. Everything they did, from their strange work habits to the way they had their food prepared and brought to them by others, smacked to her of weakness. If she wasn’t careful, spending so much time in their presence would make her as soft as one of their fluffy beds.
“Yeah,” Hunter gasped. “But better than a few days ago.”
Evie nodded and slowed to a walk, just in time to ford the market crowd at the edge of the central square. The townspeople acknowledged the passing Pure with a measure of trepidation. Evie didn’t take
