“I don’t want to do this anymore.” I snapped my head up at Angel’s soft words, my eyes wide. He was lying by my side, curled up and staring into the fire. It was hard to believe that he was an adult now. Still young, but he’s about the same age as when I’d first left my own family. “Do you want to leave?” I asked him. I knew he’d made some new friends in the city, so maybe he wanted to live with them instead. Angel shook his head. “No, I mean this whole… thing. I know I can’t finish what my mom started.” I frowned at that. No one’s been able to make a cure. Sure, Sheppy seemed close to it, but all she could manage was developing an effective sedative. Angel’s managed to refine the processing, made it easier to concentrate. It could still treat the sickness, but it wasn’t foolproof. Doesn’t even seem to help break the fever earlier, it just… reduces the chance of a bite. The shepherd’s dark eyes seemed much older than they should be when his gaze meets mine. I flicked my eyes away, a guilt compressing the air out of my chest. “It’s not your fault,” Angel murmured, voice soft. He’s said it before, but somehow, it felt different. Sure, logically, it’s not my fault that Sheppy was killed—it was the horde, not me—but I quickly realized that he was just echoing what Zhenya had once said to me. Inconsolable and crying at the lake’s shore. We never found her body. “But it is my fault. You know it.” I felt ashamed as the words fall out my mouth, I couldn’t even look at him. I desperately waited for his *no, it’s not your fault, Jakey*, but it never came. Angel had never lied to me before. Why would he start now? When I finally looked back up at him, he wasn’t looking at me at all. He’s gazing towards the north, where the lake is.