A Fate So Cruel

Chapter 9 - Lemon + Salt

"My Granddad said they can't be killed."

Boston wrinkled his nose. "Everything can die."

I played with the short stem of the lemon. "It doesn't matter. There's too many of them and they're too strong...My grandad says—"

"Your Granddad doesn't know everything," Boston snapped.

I reared back.

Boston had never spoken like that about my Granddad. Since he'd moved to Valmont with Cass nearly 3 years ago, he'd treated my granddad with the utmost respect.

Boston licked his lips, peering out across the expanse of the park. "I just feel like no one is even trying."

They did try though. For three miserable weeks the human government—which had the most powerful military in the world at the time, Grandad said— tried to fight off the lycan with no success. I'd even heard some adults whisper that the only reason it took three weeks instead of three days was because the Lycan were trying to ease the transition.

My memories from that time were hazy. I remembered that my Granddad and I didn't leave the house for nearly a month, seeking shelter huddled in the hallway away from any windows. When we finally emerged outside, the world had changed.

I looked down at the crust of salt on the lemon, suddenly feeling less hungry than I had moments before.

"What kinda stuff do you remember about what things were like before the Lycan?" I asked.

Boston frowned. He didn't like talking about his life before arriving in Valmont and especially didn't like talking about life before Cass took him in a few months prior to that.

I knew that he lived with his mom. He'd been born in a city called Boston, which was where he got his name, but they moved around a lot. She always had struggled with drinking and drugs, but after the Lycans' coup, her problems got so bad she couldn't care for herself, let alone Boston.

Sometimes, he let things about his time living with his mom slip. Images of dirty, decaying houses and loud strangers.

It was a vast difference from my memories of baking cookies with my mom and being read books by my dad after being tucked into bed.

But my world ended two weeks before the Coup when my parents died.

My dad had been a renowned fashion photographer. He'd met my mom—a model—on set. After she'd retired when I was three, she became his assistant on shoots. They'd been traveling to a shoot on the day that the drunk driver ran a red light and ended their lives.

Everyone else had to wait two more weeks for their world to end.

Boston's, on the other hand, didn't even truly begin until a few months later when Cass came back into his life. When I thought about it, Boston was probably one of the few humans whose life got better after the Coup.

My stomach turned.

What was wrong with me? That was an awful thing to think. How could I even think that?

"It doesn't matter what things were like before. It doesn't make how things are now any better."

He was right. And I was a jerk for even thinking otherwise.

Boston shook his head as if silently responding to my unspoken thoughts.

"Come on." He stood, dusting off his hands before offering one to me. "Cass asked me to find some chickweed for dinner. Let's go look."

┍━☽【❖】☾━┑