The waves lapped gently at the edge of the beach, the entire world moving on as if nothing had happened. As if Leo hadn't just died.
The survivors stared, breath held, as the body finally went still. The creature, whatever it had been, was no longer jerking or twitching. Just a boy now. Still and silent.
Sadie knelt beside him, hand hovering over his face, not quite ready to close his eyes. Her fingers shook. "He was just a kid," she whispered. "He—he wasn't dangerous. We didn't have to kill him."
Colt stood a few feet away, dripping blood and sea spray. His shirt was torn at the collar, and blood started to collect on the scratches that Leo had managed to make on him. They weren't deep, but that didn't mean they were clean, either.
But there was nothing Colt could do but wish that he wouldn't become infected with something. Here, being sick was an immediate death sentence.
