Love and Decay, Kane's Law Read Online Free PDF Page B

painful to let her go,
but I didn’t like the aggressive tones of possession pumping
through my blood. It was one thing to want this girl in my life, to
assume a future with her, but my concept of her belonging to me had
become almost primitive. I’d only known her for a few minutes and
already assumed she would be mine before the day was out.
    I blamed my take-what-I-want lifestyle.
Before the infection, this mentality had been attributed to
professional athletes whenever a case of rape was brought against
them. They were used to getting what they wanted, and the word “no”
was perceived as more of a suggestion than anything. In their
privileged, celebrated lives, they could choose to accept it or
not.
    I was that person now. Treating Reagan with
respect in every way was hard and foreign, but only because I
hadn’t been expected to treat anyone or anything with respect for
over two years- save for my parents. The girls that had traveled
through my life had been more than willing and the rest of the
Colony did whatever I said.
    I enjoyed my position of authority, but I did
not like this piece of me. I was once a decent human being. And
while the definition of “decent” had evolved or de-evolved in our
case, my treatment of women didn’t have to. I was a southern
gentleman after all. I would respect this girl. I would regard her
boundaries.
    I released my grip on her arm and immediately
she stumbled. I frowned at her body, wanting to reach for her
again, but determined to keep my distance. She regained her balance
and I forced my mind elsewhere.
    “We’ve learned that if they don’t eat human
flesh, they don’t emit that noxious smell.” I stifled a shudder at
how my father had discovered that particular fact. He had a team of
“scientists” dissecting, experimenting and discovering all kinds of
pieces and parts of Feeders. “Scientists” was a loose term we used
to describe the old farmers that were given the task to figure out
how Zombies ticked. Men, too old to patrol, but needed something to
do; men that had spent their lives breeding pigs and cattle, who
knew the ins and outs of how their livestock thrived or died and
what animals needed to survive. They were experts in their fields,
and now their proficiency was being transferred to a new kind of
animal.
    I had nothing to do with that side of our
operation, though. I found the entire thing disgusting; necessary
but revolting.
    “But why would you keep them like this? It’s
cruel!” She hissed out her words, angry and disgusted.
    I couldn’t help but be shocked by her
indignity, “Are you siding with the Feeders?”
    “No!” She shifted on her feet and shot me a
sidelong glance, revealing her tell. She did feel bad for them!
How… intriguing. “But it’s unnecessary. Why would you make them
live through this? They’re starving and emaciated.”
    “They only eat human flesh,” I reminded her.
“What would you suggest we feed them?”
    “Don’t feed them anything! But don’t leave
them like this either. Shoot them. Kill them. Help solve the
problem!”
    She had a point, but so did my father. This
was a difficult argument. To defeat our enemy, we had to know them.
But it wasn’t a pretty business, no matter how I dressed it up.
    So I tried to flip her argument, “In one
breath you share compassion for them and in another you suggest
genocide.”
    She shook her head, adamant to make her
point. “It’s not that. It’s disgust for a creature that should not
exist. It’s revulsion for humans who should know better.”
    Righteous anger burned in my throat. She had
no right to judge me. I was a part of something greater than her
meager existence. We were creating civilization again- we were
ensuring that humanity could thrive again, rule this planet again.
“You’re revolted by this?” I demanded.
    “Aren’t you?” She shot back.
    That was enough to silence me, because at
times I was revolted by this- completely sickened by what