"Taken." she said it flatly, no inflection in her voice, no expression on her face. The farmers flinched at her tone nonetheless, and I reached forward to put my hand on her shoulder. Chasity started to jerk away, but I tightened my grip, just the least bit, and she let it be. "What do you mean, taken? Taken where?"
"Into the ruins," the man said, answering the second question first. "They was scavenging on the edges, when it happened. My boy saw it, ran to tell me. By the time we got there, they was gone, no sign of 'em at all."
"You just let them go?" asked Tex, derision heavy in his voice. "You didn't even try to go after them?" Several of the men looked ashamed as they shook their heads.
"We don't go into the city," one of them said. "Horrible things lurk there. No one that's ever gone in has ever come back out. Not ever." Chasity turned toward the speaker, her body tense with outrage. I squeezed her shoulder gently.
"Chas," I said quietly. She shot me a murderous glare, and I dropped my hand.
"We're going after them," she said. I opened my mouth to argue. We knew what sorts of horrors had made their shelters in the corpses of dead cities. We'd all had our share of close scrapes. Instead, I saw something in Chasity's eyes, behind the anger and the fear. I saw her, and I knew that I wouldn't say no. Doc must have sensed something of my feelings as well, because he spoke up behind me.
"Damn right we are."
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