Dread Nation (Dread Nation #1)(68)

“So, the Spencers brought you here voluntarily. That must have been tough for you.”

Lily shrugs. “It’s been mostly okay. A few of the families came here because they ain’t got a lot of sense. They talk a lot about how the Negro should be serving white folks, that we needed to reinstate that ‘natural order’ the pastor is always going on about. That’s why everyone is mad right now. The drovers they brought here to oversee the Negro patrols and fortify the border think the Negroes in your part of town should be taking all the risk to herd the dead, not them. Of course, Miss Katherine says everyone is right to be concerned, that this place ain’t safe, no matter what kind of precautions we take.”

“Kate is here?”

“Yeah, she lives next door. She’s the one that’s got people to talking about safety and such. She’s so pretty and smart! She’s brilliant at smiling and saying a few words that gets everyone to thinking the way she does without them even knowing it. I want to be like her when I grow up.”

I scowl. “Figures, I’m starving and she’s over here having tea parties and pontificating.”

“Anyway, Pastor Snyder says that the Lord will deliver us from hardship, but Miss Katherine says it’s all a lie, and after what I seen . . . I’m scared, Jane. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

“Well, I’ve been out on the walls for a week now, and I don’t want to make you feel any worse, but I’ve seen one too many fresh shamblers to feel like these folks have the protections of Summerland figured out.”

“It ain’t the walls or border patrols that concern me.”

I blink. “What are you scared of, then?”

She sighs heavily. “Right. Okay. Let me get my boots, and I’ll show you.”

She disappears and comes back carrying the rifle awkwardly and a pair of boots. She hands me the gun. “Just for a minute. That’s mine.”

“Where’d you get it from?”

She pulls the boots on. “I won it fair and square from the Elkton boys up the street. I got a pair of boots out of it as well. You never seen a couple of stupider boys.”

I grin. I always did like Lily.

“But it’s how I won it that caused this whole problem I’ve got,” she continues. “Come on.”

We make our way outside, Lily leading the way. We’ve walked a little ways before it occurs to me to ask, “Ain’t you scared to be out this late by yourself? What will the Spencers say?”

Lily snorts. “Nothing. Things’ve gone straight to hell since we got here.” She gives me a quick look. “Don’t you dare tell my brother I swore.”

“Wouldn’t think of it.”

“Anyway, soon after we arrived, things kind of fell apart. Mr. Spencer’s been hitting the whiskey pretty hard and meeting in secret with folks who want to get rid of the sheriff; Mrs. Spencer’s fallen into the laudanum.”

“What about the little ones?”

“The baby got the colic and passed right after we got here. It’s just me and Thomas right now. We’re getting by, barely.”

Her voice is heavy with emotion, and I realize that I ain’t the only one who’s had a hell of a time here in Summerland. “But . . . what about the other families? Are they happy with the electric lights, and the gourmet meals, these big houses?”

“Some of them are, sure. But if people feel a bit safer here than they did in Baltimore, it’s only because they don’t know what I know. This whole town’s got a rotten soul, Jane. Everything is built up on a house of cards that’s gonna come crashing down sooner or later.”

“What are you on about, Lily?”

“That’s what I’m about to show you.”

We stop in front of an unmarked building that looks rather like the tinkerer’s lab. A sign on the door reads “DANGER: ELECTRIC—Keep Out!” There’s a picture of a lightning bolt through the sign. I frown. “We’re going in here?”

“I ain’t,” Lily says, a tremor in her voice. “The Elkton boys told me this place was haunted, that they heard strange noises coming from it at night. That’s how I won my rifle—I went in on a double-dog dare. I ain’t never going down there again if I can help it. But if you want answers, that’s where they are.”

Before I can tell Lily thank you she’s heading back toward her house, head down, gait determined. For the first time in my life I have a real regret. I should’ve told her about Jackson.

Well, there’ll be time enough for sorrys later. I hope.





Auntie Aggie worries about you, too. It’s a cruel world, with cruel people. I hope you haven’t run afoul of too many of them. This world is a place that can eat a girl alive, even smart ones like you.





Chapter 26


In Which I Make a Terrible Mistake


The building isn’t locked, and the door swings out on silent hinges. My heart pounds in my chest, and there is a part of me, the cowardly, yellow part, that urges me to turn around and scamper on back to bed. But there was too much nonsense in Lily’s words, and my brain hates a mystery the way dogs hate cats, so before I can talk myself out of it I’m descending the stairs.