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It was dark enough to be unnerving to the man—even as a boy he'd balked at shadows, and now he'd only gotten braver, not less afraid. Maybe the war hadn't helped with that. The fevered dreams and corvid-people certainly weren't. His gaze lingered on the messy writing, illegible enough that it...

Concealing the relief he felt at his ruse's success was not a difficult proposition—it was easy for exhaustion and sobriety to be the most prominent emotions written on his face, given everything. Clearly, the guard was averse to explaining what, precisely, this 'thing' that could not be spoken...

There were valid points raised by this man in a uniform Noah once shared. He was correct in that, should any member of this last sanctum fall ill, there would be ineffable consequences—ones that could lead to the death of all. This awful nightmare conjured recollections of too many soldiers'...

"Mm. I'd overheard rumors, but I was hoping they were false, in light of all the other ill fortune that has befallen us of late," Noah answered, glancing up to the building pensively, mind flipping through any leverage he had. Of course, his name held some weight here, but he couldn't do...

i. Introduction "No, I simply believe you ought to have more of an open mind when you turn in vampire dust, severed werewolf heads, and the hearts of demons for a living." The voice delivering this line was utilized with the utmost calm, lilting in a low, legato tenor that was tainted lightly...

Table of Contents i. Introduction

Taking on the face of an orderly wasn't a bad idea. It was, however, a time-consuming one, and that was one resource that Noah was incredibly short on. Drying blood notwithstanding, he was the only local doctor, and the one who'd been spearheading this plague since his arrival. If an orderly was...

"To the contrary, I'm trying to save someone on a rather tight clock," he said, stopping when the boy started moving back. "I need medical supplies, quickly, but I've a suspicion that we're both encountering a similar problem in obtaining anything the apothecary has." Stealing didn't quite sit...

Noah buckled his bag shut as he stalled and surveyed, finally putting it back over his shoulder instead of grasping it in his fingers. When his attention fell to the boy, he made the decision to approach, raising his finger to his lips in a gesture to keep quiet and not draw attention to either...

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Realizing that the packing might do more harm than good, he retracted enough of the gauze to keep it from becoming a lid keeping the blood inside. Grabbing his bag and holding it shut with his hand rather than taking the time to buckle it, Noah sprinted back outside...

How in the living hell someone could end up resembling a survivor of a flamethrower out here, Noah had not the faintest, but he didn't take the time to wonder. Not a second passed from his entrance to his swift approach and his bag's hasty opening, the snatching of gauze from its contents, and...

His mind worked through every observation as if it were gold and he a beggar. Remembering the symbols, the colors, the attire, the nature of the woman's movements and the hides and the poles. It took discipline to keep from lagging behind the girl. He almost stalled upon the man's approach until...

Word must've spread faster than he expected, for this girl to so quickly expect--then again, he wasn't so easily mistaken for someone else, wearing wool and with a doctor's bag slung over his shoulder, but as far as he could tell no one come ahead of him. How, too, she'd escaped his notice, he...

Yes, those people. As if they hadn't been able to figure that out from the context of his initial query. Did they have no thought for the valuable time being wasted? He ignored the sarcasm and avoidance until he got his response--engaging seemed useless--and only dipped his head and uttered an...

"Well...yes," he affirmed, albeit somewhat awkwardly. What had he expected, really? This to be simple? "I don't mean to imply otherwise, I apologize if I've caused offense. I was referring only to the..." 'Barbarian' was a sure way to have someone want to cave his head in. Tribesmen? Native...

The plague seemed to have done little to convince people of the wisdom of avoiding each other. It was alive as ever, something to Noah's chagrin, pressing his lips into a straight line. They already knew what he told them; was saying it again going to do anything aside from incurring their...

Perhaps the orderly wasn't wrong to be concerned over it. It elicited a certain nervousness in Noah, too, but there were few hands and six thousand people to feed within hours. Noah's face remained neutral when the news was delivered, but it wasn't optimal. Did he have time for this? But what...

Noah swiftly approached the orderly, uttering an 'excuse me' to announce his appearance. At least progress was being made somewhere, and he was hopefully following through on his promise to the townspeople. He needed their faith, of which he had none. "Sorry to bother you again," Noah...

Cleaning the bodies prevented spreading infection from them, but he didn't say it. Didn't bother to defend himself. Was she wrong? Sacrifices had to be made, and even when it was the correct decision, it could still be ruthless. Where would they even bring the children, who would take care of...

What about the children? Her question resounded distantly in his ears, as if he heard it through reverberating ringing. The children, who were high-maintenance, who could easily succumb to sickness, who required care and did nothing for the community. The children, lives of innocent potential...