Part Four: Family Business
"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."
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Mikasa and Nix stared at Eren in total silence for more than two minutes. The stew in the pot began to bubble and burn; the waterfall roared softly in the background. Somewhere deep in the cave, water dripped with the constant rhythm of a metronome. Eren stood there and waited out the silence.
"You are crazy," said Mikasa.
"Probably," said Eren.
"Are you serious?" asked Nix.
"As a heart attack," said Eren.
Mikasa took the burning stew off the fire and set it on the rocks. She leaned toward Nix. "Is he . . . damaged?" She touched her head to indicate where the suspected damage might lie. Nix held one had up and seesawed it back and forth.
"Opinions vary," she said.
"It could work," said Eren.
"We could die, Eren," Nix said.
"We could," admitted Eren. "Maybe we will."
"Maybe not," said Mikasa, and they both looked at her. A crooked smile had worked its way onto her lips, and she appeared to be re-evaluating his plan.
"Maybe not," repeated Eren.
Nix ran her fingers through the red tangles of her hair. "Maybe not," she agreed eventually, although with far less conviction.
The shadows made the cave seem as vast as outer space.
"You do understand that this plan is crazy," Nix said.
"Yes," said Mikasa, tapping her skull again. "Very crazy."
"No doubt." Eren nodded. "But it's also justice."
Nix snorted. "Justice is dead."
Eren broke out into another twisted grin. "It sure as hell is."
The Lost Girl turned to him, and her smile was every bit as big and bright and dark as his.
It took Nix a few seconds, but then the crazy sense of it took hold in the cracks that had been torn in her heart by Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer. Then she too smiled.
Anyone seeing those three teenagers smiling the kinds of smiles they wore would run in terror.
Eren w as counting on it.
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Damage & Decay
AdventureIn the zombie infested world Eren has grown in, teenagers must work once they turn fifteen-or they'll lose their food rations. Eren isn't interested in taking on the family business, but he reluctantly agrees to train as a zombie killer with his bor...
