Shaynen ran. He ran back through the winding mountain paths. Getting lost in the dark labyrinthine paths. Even though he was lost among the winding paths, he kept running. Flashes of nightmare creatures hid around every corner and under every scraggly bush. Coming out of every shadow.

By pure luck, he broke free from the mountain paths. Not stopping for a second and skidding down the cliff side on his knees.

“Shaynen? What’s wrong?”

Shaynen was completely out of breath as he plowed into the first adult he saw. Gasping for air and wheezing out incomprehensible words. Shaking violently enough to stretch the man’s shirt. His heart was beating so hard it was making him nauseous.

“Th-there was s-s-something…” Shaynen forced out breathlessly. “G-giant h-hole in the ch-chest.” Shaynen gulped down more air and shoved his face into the man’s chest again.

“Somebody wake Aelius and Kiylla.” The man yelled. Turning back to Shaynen. “Go get your parents, okay? Shaynen shook his head no. He couldn’t move or unclench his fists. All he could do was hold on tightly and shake.

“Gather a group together and see about scouting the perimeter,” the man directed.

“Shaynen!” His mother yelled as she and his father both ran over from the wagon.

“What’s going on?” His father asked. Shaynen abandoned the man he was clinging to in favor of latching onto his mother.

“I’ve got a few out scouting the perimeter already.” The man said. “Something must've spooked the boy. There’s two others out there somewhere.”

“Why?”

“Gathering wood for the fire.”

Shaynen could feel how tense his mother was by how harshly she was holding his wrists.

“No one goes out of sight of the camp. If we need firewood… Pull from the wagon.” His father said.

“The wagon? But what if?”

“Start from the top. We don’t know what’s out there and we don’t want to be caught in the dark.” His father said sternly.

“Right,”

Shaynen listened to the man run. He held onto his mother tighter than his father moved away from the pair.

“What did you see?” His mother whispered to him.

“It was one of the people we left behind.” He whispered. His throat was sticky and clinging to the words as they escaped. “He had bones sticking out. Stuff was coming out of his chest.”

“Undead?” His mother said.

“What? Why? How!” His father moved back to them. Shaynen felt his mother shrug. “Okay, we.. We’ll figure out that part tomorrow. We’ll find it tomorrow. When there’s light and we’re stronger. Tonight, we’ll stay together and keep everyone as close as possible.”

“Sleep rotations?” His mother asked.

“We’ll make them tight,” His father said. “Overlapping as much as possible.”

“Right,” his mother nodded. She knelt down and pulled Shaynen out of her shirt. “Shaynen, I need you to be really brave right now. Okay? I need to go help your father, and I need you to stay right here. Okay?” Shaynen shook his head no and tried to pull himself back to his mother’s shoulder.

“No, Shaynen, I mean it. You need to go stay in the wagon and I need to go help everyone else.” His mother shook him so that she could look him in the eye. “You need to be big and strong right now, okay?” Shaynen clenched his jaw and swallowed. He didn’t want to. Everything in his head and body screamed to hold on tight and never let go. But he did.

“Good, I’ll be right back. I promise.” She said with a quick kiss to his forehead. Shaynen watched, unable to move, as his mother ran after his father. He choked and trembled. Fidgeting with his fingers. He swallowed, spinning the beads on his wrist, pulling and dropping the beads. The campsite was alive around him. The handful of remaining villagers were running around. Some taking apart the wagon and other’s keeping the fire going on the bare minimum. People ran back and forth around the camp. Shaynen tried to keep direct sight with his parents, but they vanished up the steep basin walls and vanished.

As soon as his parents vanished, Shaynen unfroze. Before he recognized what he was doing, he was running forward.

“Stay in the camp!”

Shaynen ignored the yell and climbed up the cliff side and back into the dark of the mountains. Sparing a look over his shoulder at the people running about the camp. There were so many faces missing. Looking at the paths and knowing how easy it was to be lost in them, Shaynen started climbing. Finding the barest handholds on the rock face and scaling up to the next highest vantage point. Climbing the rock wasn’t like climbing trees. It made his fingers hurt, his knees scraped against the abrasive surface when his grip wasn’t good enough and he dropped. His already overworking heart would skip when he slipped.

He hauled himself up over the ledge, his chest hurting from the effort it took to climb. But from his vantage point, he could see the paths and in them were his parents. They’d gotten together with a handful of others and were talking. Shaynen felt relief, and he inspected the dull pain in his fingers from the hard climb. While he was blowing on his fingertips, a slight motion caught his eye from in the trails.

Down the path stumbled one of the undead. It was approaching from behind Shaynen’s family where they couldn’t see it. Shaynen scrambled around in a panic before scooping up a fist-sized rock. He over-arm launched it at the creature shuffling toward the group. The rock broke to pieces on the ground at the shambler’s feet.

Pale, empty eyes looked away from the gathered group and up at Shaynen. The boy scooped up another rock. Grateful that he could see his family reacting and coming for the undead shambler. Shaynen covered his eyes as his family ran to attack the undead. He sat back and looked down, suddenly wondering how he was going to get down.

“You see anymore up there?”

Shaynen heard his father yell at him. He peeked over the edge and looked out around the paths.

“Uhm…” Shaynen yelled down, just to prove he was listening. He scanned what parts of the landscape he could see. “I don’t see anything moving.”

“Great job, now get down from there!” His mother yelled up at him. Shaynen looked down from the ledge he stood on. His stomach churned as he had to climb back down. He mumbled a few choice words to himself, far out of his parent’s earshot. He crawled to the edge where he could see the camp. The fire was barely glowing, but still a tiny little cinder in the large basin next to the waterfall. The moonlight bounced off the falls and illuminated the camp more than the campfire did.

Shaynen swung his legs over and kicked them against the flat wall, straight down. Debating on if he could just slide down. He held out his hand to gauge how far it was down. Grinning, he scooted to the edge and slid off. Entering freefall for a fleeting second before a shower of golden light flashed, and he hit the ground. Landing wrong and scraping up his knees. A flutter of autumn leaves came floating down and vanished as the light did.

Proudly, Shaynen brushed off his pants. Inspecting the gravel ground into his bloody knees wiped the smirk off his face.

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“Moooom!” He yelled, holding still and waiting for his mother to come and care for his wounds. When she didn’t immediately appear, he yelled again, louder.

“I’m coming!” His mother yelled as she rounded the road. Shaynen shifted around to face her. “What is it? Are you hurt?” Shaynen nodded and pointed to his scraped knees. His mother slowed to a stop and looked at the scrapes. She breathed out in relief and sat down, Shaynen slowly lowered to the ground. Sniffling and hissing. Overreacting to the small stings his scrapes gave him. His mother bit her lip to hold her smile back.

She pushed his pants up to get a better look at his knees.

“What is it?” His father yelled as he led the group around the road.

“Just a pair of skinned knees,” his mother called. His father’s running slowed.

“Is that all?” He asked. “With all the whining, I thought you were dying!”

“I am!” Shaynen sobbed. “All my blood is escaping!”

“Honey, you’re not even bleeding anymore.” His mother chuckled as she picked up and eased his leg around to inspect the scrapes. “Come on, let’s get you into the camp. We’ll get some water and clean you up. Then it’s bedtime.”

“Bedtime?” Shaynen’s tears dried instantly. “But what about the things around the mountains?”

“We checked, and it seems there was only one.” His father said. Coming around and picking Shaynen up. “When the sun comes up, we'll build walls and take some precautions."

"That's like forever from now." Shaynen whined. A yawn interrupted his protest.

"It isn't," his father said. Sliding down the basin and into the camp. Alongside him came the bulk of the camp citizens. Shaynen’s father put him down next to the campfire. His mother hummed as she brought a bowl of water and a cloth.

“This might sting a little.” She said. Picking up her humming as she dabbed at the blood drying on his legs. Trying to brush away the gravel without hurting him. Shaynen jerked and yelled with every touch. Playing up how much pain he was in. All the way to his mother, bandaging him up and turning him loose. He limped toward the wagon. Whining and moaning over his grievous injuries when he passed another person. He climbed up onto the driver’s seat and draped himself over it pathetically.

His parents rolled their eyes and looked at each other. The concern on his father’s face wiped the smile from his mother’s.

“What’s wrong?” She whispered.

“The dead are trying to rise.” He whispered back. Walking away from the fire, she followed him to a secluded area. Where they could talk under cover of the roaring falls in peace.

“We checked our makeshift graveyard. Nothing was tainted, but the two we lost were heading to spread the corruption.” Shaynen’s father said. Speaking right into his wife’s ear to be heard. She paled. Fiddling with her necklace.

“We have to dispose of our dead. Dispose of them so fully there is nothing left to corrupt.” She said in a panic. She turned to look at the fire. “We don’t have to fuel for a pyre.”

“There’s another option.”

Shaynen sat up. He prepared to yell at his mother but didn’t see her in the camp.

“Hey Reo, where’d mom go?” He asked as they headed for the back of the wagon. Reo yawned and looked about.

“Dunno, kid.” They shrugged. “What’d you need?”

“Not tired,” Shaynen said.

“After all that’s happened, I can imagine.” Reo climbed up alongside Shaynen in the driver’s seat. “But that’s life for you. It just keeps coming at breakneck speed.”

“But it has to slow down sometime, right?” Shaynen asked.

“Sure, and once it slows down and stays slow. You’ll be begging for adventure.” Reo winked at him with a smile. Shaynen wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t like adventures. These sucks.” He said. Reo laughed loudly.

“You sound like your mother,” they shook their head. “Well, you may not be tired, but I’m exhausted. Why don’t I hand you a blanket? You can be warm while you wait for your parents.” Shaynen shrugged, but didn’t stop Reo from dropping the heavy quilt over him.

“Goodnight,” Reo said. In a few minutes, the back of the wagon went quiet. Shaynen leaned against the wagon and watched a trickle of others gathering bedcovers and finding places to bed down for the rest of the night. He sighed, more annoyed at every face that wasn’t his mother’s. He slumped down and curled tighter into his blanket cocoon. Resting his head on the back of the wagon when it grew heavy. His blinks got longer, and he nodded. Phantom movements from the people moving in the camp blurred with sleepy images that faded into dreams.

Shaynen startled awake as they moved him. He looked up at his mother, who had shifted him into her arms. Shaynen squinted, barely processing how pale she looked.

“What you doin?” He mumbled.

“Putting you to bed, you were asleep sitting up.” His mother whispered.

“M’k” Shaynen relaxed again. Mostly asleep, but not unaware yet. He was lifted and placed in the back of the wagon on top of another blanket pile. The blankets beneath him were cold. Shaynen rolled in the warm blanket he was in until it was all warm again. He sighed and drifted back to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to the sharp pangs of hunger. He groaned and curled into a ball under his blanket. Waiting out the pain before peeking out from under the blanket. The blinding sunlight outside the wagon burned his eyes. Hissing, he disappeared back under the blankets. It didn’t last long before Shaynen got bored and threw the blankets off. Sitting up abruptly, despite keeping his eyes closed.

He rubbed his eyes and scratched his hair. Untangling his hands from the knots in his unkempt hair. With a grimace on his face, he crawled to the back of the wagon and sat back. Trying to force his eyes to adjust. The wagon was empty. The shadows told Shaynen it was nearly noon. He stumbled out of the wagon and stretched up as high as he could go. Another hunger of pain hit his stomach hard, doubling him over. When it passed, he rounded the wagon, looking for something to eat.

The campfire was cold, with no smoke or cinders in it. All the dishes and utensils were washed and set upside down to dry. The sight brought tears to Shaynen’s eyes. Huddled together near the falls were the adults. All listening to Shaynen’s parents talking. He huffed and took a step to storm over, but paused when he had to sit down. Another cramp made the trek not worth the effort. He inspected the bandages on his knees. Blood had stained the off-white cloth and turned muddy brown.

Movement caught Shaynen’s gaze. He looked up at the crowd that was dispersing. Hastily, Shaynen got up to his feet as his father came toward him.

“You slept in,” his father said. The tone was cheerful, but it had a broken and hollow note to it. Shaynen nodded miserably.

“I’m starving,” he mumbled pitifully. “So hungry. My tummy hurts.”

“Yeah, I think your mother’s working on something big for dinner.” His father coughed. “So let’s get you some water and see if you can wait that long.” Shaynen looked at the ground, trying to stop his quivering lip and blink back tears. He didn’t trust himself to speak. He could feel his throat thickening.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Shaynen shut his eyes tight and nodded. “No, you’re not.” His father knelt down beside him.

“I’m trying to be,” Shaynen whispered.

“You’re doing a good job,” his father said. “It’s just a bit longer, okay?” Shaynen nodded and sniffed.

“Okay, let's get you a drink.” His father held out his hand and Shaynen took it. He was lifted to his feet and led to the edge of the river. Shaynen’s father brought a cup and filled it from the river. Shaynen drank until the water put weight in his stomach and took the edge off his hunger.

“Wow, you were thirsty.” His father said. Shaynen shook his head.

“No, it just makes me less hungry.” Shaynen said. His father’s face fell, but was forced back into a smile.

“Why don’t you help with the walls? We’re collecting rocks. If you can make a pile of the biggest rocks, you can carry all the way up there.” His father pointed up on the cliff side where a few were already bringing and taking large boulders. Shaynen felt a bit of dread and shrugged.

“All right, stay out of trouble.” His father said. “And stay out of the water. There’s no supervision today."

"Okay," Shaynen yawned. He contemplated going right back to bed. Sleeping until food was ready, but there was no guarantee anyone would wake him up for it and then he'd be even hungrier and have to wait until dinner.

Instead, he wandered around the camp. Keeping an arm’s length from the water as he walked up to the base of the falls. He stared up at the falls, catching brief glimpses of rocky coves hidden by the water. Hanging plants grew and thrived on the ledges, harboring small flowers. Shaynen wondered if the plants were edible, so he made a mental note to ask Crina when he saw her next.

He walked along the wall of rock, running his hands along the dusty surface. Thinking to himself about the lack of plants or even animals anywhere near. The realization made him stop and look about the camp a second time. The stags were gone. He hummed and walked up to where Reo was helping make carved stairs into the basin walls.

Shaynen stood and watched for a few minutes, completely unnoticed. Until one adult looked up with a surprised gasp that quickly changed to an annoyed sigh.

"What's up?" She asked. Reo turned and startled by Shaynen standing there.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Making stairs so it's easier for us to get up and down." Reo explained. "Want to help?"

"No." Shaynen said. "Where'd the stags go?"

"Oh." they said awkwardly. "You didn't hear?"

"Hear what?" Shaynen asked.

"They passed. Just this morning, something got at them while we were preoccupied last night." The woman whispered. "We only found one."

"What got them?" Shaynen asked.

"Dunno. That's why we have to build walls." Reo said with a shrug. "Can you hand me that rock?" Shaynen fetched a rock and in only another second, Reo had him working to help build the stairs.