Janine hugged Colt, trying to be as gentle as possible. Her soulmate wasn’t as young as he once was; gray had spread over his reg fur, his once pristine white fangs now had a yellow tint, and his mind pyed tricks on him, causing the man to misuse words and sometimes mistake Bogdan fnacy. But tonight, on this beautiful, sad night, the light she had seen in his eyes when they first went on a scouting mission together had returned, and his arms had returhe embrace.

  They looked se together, she and he. Janine, a small mound of muscle, had arms as thick as his torso, and her fur shared the color of the night. Colt’s body had bee lighter than before, the result of age and various illnesses. His arms thinned, and he could no longer fully around her body; his paws stopped short of her ribs.

  “You…” Jaopped tears, unwilling to put a on the male she loved. “You don’t have to do it, Colt. Exile is always an option.” She tried o time. “We go together! I’m sure our cubs will follow us!”

  “We swore an oath. If you abandon your post, how many will die? Our sisters and brothers, devoid of your strength. Normies, who depend on us… And besides, I don’t want to be a burden or lose myself, Jani.” His forehead pressed against her chest, and her snout rested on the back of his skull. Their breath warmed them for the st time. “Sacrifily means something if it is voluntary. This is the life I have chosen, and this is the road I will walk until the end.” They broke their embrace, and Janine looked at his wrinkled faoting the missing upper lip and the tless scars that marred his handsome visage. Colt smiled and took her by the paws. “You and the cubs have made me the happiest male alive on the road, Jani. Even in the darkest night, with you by my side, there was nothing but light. Keep the cubs safe. Ignaetimes frightens too easily. Read to him more, but set him straight if you . I don’t trust his obsession with lifeless things. Anissa is too careless when hunting. Teach her awareness. And Bogdan…”

  “Colt,” Janine whispered. “They’ve all grown up by now.” At the fusion in his eyes, she kissed her soulmate, distrag him from the sadness. “I swear to watch over them for as long as I live.”

  “Then I have s.” The light returo his eyes, aood up, letting go of her. “Jani, I must not be your st. It may hurt now, but the life must go on. When you are ready, open your heart and be happy again.”

  “I’ll… try.”

  Janine wao grab him and run; she wao fall to her knees and beg him not to leave her aloo tell him she loved him, that she needed him by her side, that their cubs needed him… But this would be a sign of weakness and selfisho the others who had gathered for a farewell ceremony. Jached, putting a paw over her ag heart.

  Colt, Colt, dearest Colt. How many times had they mourned, ughed, rejoiced and eogether? She showed him how to buy stuff o, aaught her how to use the washing maes at the crawler. They learned and shared, loved and grew, fought as one, and their young together. Of her many soulmates, he held a special p her heart.

  Impatient Oepped forward, taking each step across a rocky pin as if she were walking on va. The shaman-in-training grimaced, blinking somethi out of her eyes, and waved Soulless One away, insisting on perf this gruesome task herself. She quickly mounted a chitin mask, hiding her face, and raised a trembling paw, toug her father’s shoulder.

  “It won’t hurt… Colt.” A whisper escaped her lips.

  The old Wolfkin sized her up, smiled warmly, and grabbed the shaman by the wrist.

  “Yennifer? Is that you, girl? Sorry, I couldn’t find those treats,” he said in an apologetie, “but I’ll try tomorrow! Surely someone on the base has some chocote…”

  “It’s fine, Colt,” Impatient One scooped her father into her arms and held him gently as if he were a cub. “Everything is all right. You have been a splendid father to your cubs. And still are! You’ve found that sweet baton. It leasant. I lov… Thank you. The Spirits love you, male.”

  Impatient One carried the old man to the hut, followed by the shamans, who each led a gray-furred wolfkin by a paw or carried one in their paws like Impatient One. Some sang hymns and prayers, trying to calm the shaken elders. Others simply chatted with those o path, abandoning dignity and engaging in friendly bao give their flock a measure of relief before the end. Male or female, it mattered not. The shamans treated every elderly Wolfkily, asking them if they had any st wishes. At the regret of not seeing the family, a shaman used a terminal to record the Wolfkin's words, swearing to deliver the video to the family. Those who were hungry received milk, honey, and the best meat that the shamans could get. Even a simple desire for a hug was fulfilled.

  Colt had a single wish, and Impatient One gra by removing her mask and whispering in his ear.

  “Duty is all,” Lacerated Oepped outside and approached the Wolfkieo the culling. Her blood, blessed by the Spirits, dripped from many self-inflicted torn wounds, and it helped even the most hunched person thten their shoulders and breathe easily. The crity of miurned once more, awakened by the touch of the divine. “Sacrifice is all. Know that you have walked your life’s path with excelleno one will ever dare to shame you! My kin, I ask you as a sister in blood. Have you e willingly? Do you have any fears? If yes, voice them and be exiled.” Lacerated Oudied the faces, shocked at the suggestion, and saw them harden with resolve. “I uand. Should you ge your decision, say it at any time, my kin. Blessed be.”

  Exiles were rare. The tribe viewed this as either shameful or unthinkable. Exile meant transitioning from the tribe’s ws to the state’s ws and leaving the tribe’s nds to live among the Normies. So far, only three seniors have asked to be exiled and spent their st days in nursing homes run by the Recmation Army, occasionally speaking with their families via video feed and slowly losing more and more of their personalities as age took hold. One eveurned and begged to be culled, afraid of fetting everything forever. Against all traditions, Soulless One grahe outsider’s request and unished for it ter.

  Every Culling Lacerated One asked the same question, as if desperate to keep her kin from death. But old traditions die hard, and there was a reason for their existewice the tribe had nearly faced extin because of their efforts to prioritize the sid elderly over the healthy, a decision their enemies had exploited in full. They had nht to subject the Recmation Army to the same risk by forbidding culling, even if the gover had offered their aid. Strong to the end, until the day es when the world is reunited and the tribe no longer o kill. Whether she liked it or not, Lacerated One had to uphold the ws.

  No one asked to be exiled tonight. Even knowing what awaited them i, no female or male backed down. They stay true to their beliefs and traditions to the end. A line was formed, and fifty shamaered the hut one by oo perform the honor killing. The elders’ friends and families gathered around, howling wailingly when a shaman carried their kin inside.

  Please, Sprits. Take my life, take my life essence, and give it to my soulmate and our cubs. Janine’s eyes focused orembling Impatient One, who walked toward the hut uhe hawkish gaze of Soulless One. Aest. Fail it, and the name will be returned. Pass it and take aep into the ranks of a shaman. There was sobbing, and Soulless Oook a female from another shaman, kindly addressing the failed initiate by her name, ving her that there was no shame and that the burden of shamanic duty was not for everyone. Impatient One persisted, grittieeth. Please make him young again. Please. Haven’t I served enough? Haven’t I given enough? Please, just one wish. Take from me and give to them. Put me in his pd let him live.

  There was no answer, but she never expected one. Sacrifice was their lot and the price they paid for the abundance of gifts that the Spirits deemed fit to bestow upon them. And now Colt was sacrifig himself to take the load off the Tribe. The moment Impatient Oepped ihe hut, Ja out her stro howl yet, sending her grief and love to the white disk of the moon and the numerous stars that dotted the sky above.

  All our sacrifices. They mean something in the end... right? Janine ed her head, sensing a familiar presence. Ravager stood against the moon disk, so far away that her face was unreadable. Speak to me, Blessed Mother, Spirits. Our lost friends, cubs, and those of our kin we kill in domination, and these cullings we do to stay strong and mighty… Tell me it wasn’t for nothing.

  ****

  Janine rolled out of bed, sweating and rubbing her eyes. The warlord shook her head, banishing the dream, and gnced around her room. A bck beret y on a table close to a mirror. During the study, Marco fell asleep, and Impatient One carried him away. Empty beer s in a er—the remnants of her and Martyshkina’s somber party. Gsses were scattered oable, all in need of ing. The memorial stone, covered by engravings of her entire family, gave off a pleasant st of Colt and her missing soulmates and children. A whiff of that st gave her strength. There were also wooden figurioys made by her long-dead daughter. Jani some a most of them treat-grandchildren in remembrance.

  The warlord picked up s and trash from the floor and tossed them into a small opening in a wall that led to a recyg area. Waste was not a thing on any crawler. Rotten food was reused as fuel or turned into a healthy and safe nutrient paste; broken equipment was repaired; and even dead bodies lost their ans to save the stubborn living who refused prosthetic repts.

  She pushed aside a wardrobe to reveal a poster of her smiling family attending a fair to buy new pants for Marco. Even Impatient One forced a smile as her brothers poked their heads through a special wooden cutout depig a pair of giant roosters. No one really knew who these animals were, but Ignad Bogdan looked so hirious that Jaer asked a Normie te the photo to make a poster. She hid it from her officers, but the sight of her family helped ease their worries.

  In the closet was a small bowl filled with photos. She and Marty and their friends, the Loser Pack, as Terrific’s sharp tongue called them. For the most part, they weren’t filming themselves triumphantly over trophies. No, these pictures were of them doing stupid shit, getting drunk, stargazing, smoking—a habit she had to spend years getting rid of ter. There were they jumping in quid or rummaging through toxinisters in search of a ser pistol or something that could be exged for tokens to buy a pack of pying cards.

  Someone was missing in every photo. Sometimes it was Janine, Marty, or another member of their pack, because they didn’t know how to set up a deyed photo in those days. So many of their friends were left in the past, killed or culled. Seeing them in their offspring was a mixture of distraught and fort. Distraught, because it reminded her of Marty’s mortality and because she missed their silly antid voices. fort, si reminded her that life moved on and things did turn for the best.

  Loy was a wondrous gift and a potential trap for the unprepared mind. It provided you with tless opportuo do so many things, but it also threateo poison your soul by caressing wrongs, infting them over time, and trying to blow them out of proportioh and loss are a natural part of life. It is foolish to believe that your friends and family will live forever. The pain of losing them should not overshadow the fact that they lived full lives and gave birth to many cubs. It is the duty of those who remain to fight on, to build a better world for the geion younger.

  Shrugging off her mencholy, she came to the mirror and spread her pelt to examihe spot where Ravager had pierced her body. Nothing remained but tanned, rough skin; even the scar itself was gone. Curious. Yesterday, there had been a pale, thin line. Janine had heard rumors about the healing powers er’s drool, but she had never given them much thought.

  I wonder if it’s possible to vihe Blessed Mother to donate some spits... She’ll probably beat me up, but it’s worth a try if it save lives. Yes. Enough moping. Duty time.

  Janine checked if the scar Blood Graf had given her was still there and then examihe impnts. By all rights, these were the things of the past—brutal devices reied in the post-Extin world that ected her o the power armor, allowio react faster and use the suit like a sed skin. pared to today’s sleek impnts, they were torture devices; their sockets protruded like festering pimples, the edges of her skin around the steel had turned white from necrosis, and the once shial had rusted a bit. But Janine had decided o repce them, for to do so would be to remove the st traces of her boy from this world.

  So she grabbed instruments and medical gel and began to the impnts and apply medie to the surrounding skin, acc to Maxence’s prescriptions. It was amazing how the man ged after getting enough rest. The good doctor even put o!

  “I am okay,” Janine promised her refle.

  Life was strange. She offered Colt to leave the army and take him and the family to the Core Lands, but he refused. Yet here they were, traveling to a pce where she dared hope some of her offspring would choose to go on their own. Perhaps it was a cruel joke of fate, but if by ce her boys irls like it here and ask to stay at the cost of exile… what a day it could be! Does she have the right to hem a little…

  An arm roar sent a jolt of electricity through her body, and Janine grasped the Taleteller, barging from the doors. The two Wolfkins assigo guard her in the absence of the shamans followed her, eagerly releasing arag their cws. Red fshes lit up the corridor, and a special sequehat arrived oerminal informed Jahat she was urgently needed in the unch bay.