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They got to their feet and continuedtime Then they found the strea, and there they found the blood-spattered ree of the creek, neither of the to take another step up the bank

"God," whispered Nix in a voice that was filled with horror

Benny spotted so and made himself climb the slope to the camp He bent and picked up a stuffed rabbit It was smeared with blood He held it out to Nix, but she just shook her head

"There must have been an attack," he said "That’s why Eve ran In the confusion she ear, it looks like there were a lot of people here We only saw her parents and that girl, Riot"

"Benny, look," Nix said, pointing to the streaht at the next bend They walked cautiously down and saw that they were truly dead Neither was a reaper They were ordinary-looking folk, and savage blows to their heads and necks had probably killed the An unintended mercy buried within a heinous crime

A few yards away they found a third body, and they squatted down to exaed woman, and it was clear that she had been stabbed in the chest Nix tilted her head to one side and grunted

"She wasn’t quieted," she said "No head wound, no incision at the brain ste here, too Not all of the dead are reani," said Nix

"It was for Toround for a few seconds, then nodded "I’m sorry"

He shook his head In silence they rose andthe stream They found other bodies Many others

This had been the scene of a terrible slaughter Here and there they found dead reapers, too, and each of these had been quieted by knives to the base of their skulls Butwhen the toll reached fifty Men, women, and children

No one had been spared

No one

Nix’s lips curled back frorin "Who are these freaks?"

Benny sat down on a rock and looked at his shoes Then an idea struck him "I think this is some kind of death cult," he said

She turned sharply "What?"

"Think about it," he said "What else could it be? You said Thanatos was the Greek god of death, and Saint Jerk-o kept talking about the ‘gift of darkness’ Seems kind of obvious"

Nix snorted "I said Thanatos was one of the Greek gods of death The nice one, the one that takes away suffering These reapers don’t see Besides--I can’t think of anything stupider than a death cult after an apocalypse"

"Maybe," Benny said dubiously

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

Benny looked at her, surprised "Really? You’re telling me that you can’t see their point?"

"Their point?"

"Shh, keep your voice down"

Nix stepped closer "Benny, what are you saying? That you agree with--?"

"What?" He alreed with anything All I asked hether you could understand their point"

"What possible point could there be to a death cult?"

Benny stared at her "You’re serious?"

She punched him on the arm Hard "Of course I’ht you were the one as always all torn up about people back ho on about how people have just given up That’s e’re out here, isn’t it? Trying to find some survivors who still believe that there is a future"

"That’salive"

"We do, sure, but that’s you andand Lilah Maybe a few others Everyone else is still acting like they’re at a funeral for the hurief and depression," said Nix, "not a freaking death cult"

"Maybe those things aren’t all that far apart C’mon, you’ve heard all those stories about how ht Mayor Kirsch said that almost half the people who settled Mountainside killed thehteen months"

"It wasn’t nearly that many," Nix said defensively, but it was a weak parry

"Yes, it was I heard Captain Strunk talking to To did a sermon about it"

Nix holstered her pistol "I must have missed church that day"

"Okay, then what about the way-station et bitten because they think it’s what God wants They think the zoms are the meek that are supposed to inherit the--"

"I know," she said bitterly

Benny paused, studying her face "Are you really going to sit there and tell ht about it?"

Nix’s head whipped around so fast that her flying hair brushed across Benny’s face "I would never killabout--?"

"You did You askedmyself"

"No, I didn’t," he insisted "I asked if you ever thought about people in town killing themselves"

"That’s not what you said"

"It’s what I meant, and you know it"

Nix narrowed her eyes at hilare and half an inspection of his eyes

"Whatever," she said, and turned away again She drew her bokken, then stood there, pretending to study the landscape

Benny stared at the back of her head and did not dare say anything else Nix had been absolutely correct He had asked her if she ever thought about killing herself

The thing washe did not knohy he asked that

He wondered if beating his head against the tree trunk would help the moment any It seemed like the most reasonable option