It was dead. But it moved. And as Cara dropped it with a shout of horror, it opened its mouth impossibly wide, drooling blood and tried to bite her.

“God!”

The [Singer] ran back. Violetta swung her tongs as the rabbit began to pad forwards. No—a Zombie-rabbit. It stared at them with its crooked head.

“Undead? But I thought—”

Cara backed up in horror. To be fair, the threat of a zombified rabbit was…low, especially since zombies didn’t have an infectious bite besides the normal hazards of being bit by things. But she had no weapons. And it was so unsettling.

Violetta swung her head to eye Cara. The [Singer] was backing up, looking for a stone. Terrified. The village-girl hesitated. She raised the tongs, pushed the rabbit back as it tried to pad at them. Then she reached for something.

Cara O’Sullivan saw the long, all-purpose belt-knife come out. She saw Violetta, who was shorter, pale from lack of sunlight, and clearly unprepared for this in her day, drop the tongs in her other hands. She strode forwards, grabbed the rabbit from behind as it twisted to gnaw at her—and planted the blade in its neck.

The young Irish woman made a sound. Violetta put her foot on the rabbit as she sawed. Her blade cut through bone, tissue, fat—and the rabbit’s head detached with a soft ripping sound. She tossed the head to one side. Cara saw it bounce and roll. The dead rabbit’s body lay there. Devoid of life.

Violetta wiped the knife on a handkerchief. Then she sheathed it. She glanced up at Cara, saw the young woman’s white face, and kindly explained in a matter-of-fact voice.

“This is Noelictus, Miss. Someone should have told you. You have to take the heads off animals or they come back. Same as people. Don’t worry. You can still eat the rest.”

She offered the bloody body to Cara. The young woman, who had thought of herself as somewhat rough-and-tumble despite not having lived on a farm, met Violetta’s eyes. She forced a smile. Then her

eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted backwards onto the ground, taking care to protect her head.

Violetta stared at the unconscious Cara. She looked around wildly, and then tossed the rabbit’s body in her basket and ran off, shouting for her father. The dead rabbit’s head stared into oblivion.

After a few seconds, Cara cracked open one eye. She stared at the rabbit. It stared back.

“Sorry about that.”

To her relief, the head didn’t reply. Cara lay her head back down and waited for the girl to bring her father.

Fainting. It worked every time.

——

Afiele was a small region in Noelictus. The Kingdom of Shade, and unofficially—the Kingdom of the Undead.