A Darkness Absolute (Rockton 2)

"You stay away from them, like everyone out here."

He shoves his hands into his pockets. "Even more than most. If I think I hear one coming, I take off. I know that makes me sound like a coward..." Another glance in the direction Dalton went.

"Eric would think it made you smart."

His expression says he's not listening. Or he hears, but it doesn't make him feel better. He turns back to me. "You need to know if hostiles could do this. If they could take a woman captive and..." He inhales. "I know what this guy would have done to Nicole. I know ... I know it happens. Even out here. Maybe especially out here. Not that I know what happens down south or ... What I'm saying is that it does happen. And I ... know that. There was this guy, when I was a kid, maybe fifteen, sixteen. A settler from the first community. I had skins he wanted. I'm good at curing. But what he wanted to trade..." He takes his hands from his pockets. Kicks snow off his boot. "He wanted to trade me for a woman. A hostile. He said he could catch one, and I could--But I didn't. As soon as I realized what he was saying, I told him to get the hell away from me. I wouldn't have anything to do with him after that."

"This guy--"

"He's gone or I'd have put him at the top of my list. His father went back down south, and he followed a couple of years ago. The point is that I got the impression he did that, and he didn't think it was a bad thing, that those settlers didn't consider hostiles human. So it happens out here. The question is whether hostiles would do it."

Val's story answers this, but before I can comment, he continues with "They would. I know they would. That's why I panicked when you wanted to consider them as suspects. That'd mean talking to them. You shouldn't. At all. They could do it. I know that. From experience. Which is why I stay away. Far away."

He's holding himself still, tense, waiting for me to make him explain. I just say, "Okay."

He looks over.

"I get it," I say. "That's why you asked Eric to leave. You don't want him to know."

"I--I was a kid. It was even before that guy ... offered ... But the question is whether hostiles could take someone captive and do that. They can. They do."

He's got his hands shoved into his pockets so far his parka bunches. When he sees I've noticed, he relaxes and says, "I'm fine. It was a long time ago."

"I understand why you don't want to tell Eric, but I'm going to suggest you need to tell someone."

A humorless quirk of his lips. "Just did, didn't I?"

"It's a start."

"And an ending. Sorry. I don't--I just don't have anything more to say about it."

"Okay."

He looks over, and I check for signs that he's hoping I'll push. There are none. When I don't prod, he relaxes, and I say instead, "The guy--or guys--who did that, are they--"

"He's not around."

"And you're sure of that?"

"Very sure."

Jacob means he killed him. I can tell. I just can.

"That's all I have," Jacob says. "I can tell you that it's possible, but I can't tell you anything more about them. You do need to stay away from the hostiles, though. I was serious about that. Just stay away. Please."

FORTY-TWO

As I expect, Dalton and I barely get out of Jacob's earshot before Dalton says, "What was up with that?"

"He wanted to apologize."

"And...?"

When I don'

t answer, he shoulders up beside me, pushing aside vegetation to walk in tandem.

I glance over at him. "You are an awesome brother. You know that, right?"