Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: You do not risk your life because someone talks badly about me

"You found the crack and did not tell me."

Nilo began crying.

"Old males say Mama wrong."

"I do not care what old males say!"

Her voice broke.

"You do not risk your life because someone talks badly about me. You do not crawl under the ground to prove I am right."

Nilo’s tears fell onto his hands.

"Wanted Mama win."

"I nearly lost all three of you!"

She pointed at Kairo.

"And you. You heard ’dark tunnel’ and decided to lead everyone inside?"

Kairo sobbed.

"Wanted help."

"You help by staying alive!"

Her gaze moved to Miko.

"You followed them."

Miko cried harder.

"Brothers go."

"That does not mean you go too!"

"Nobody stop Miko."

"That is because you run faster than everyone’s common sense!"

Miko sniffed miserably.

Then Swanly turned toward Tavi.

Tavi immediately hid his face against Tilla.

Swanly stared at the back of his soft brown head.

"And you knew it was dangerous."

His tiny voice came out muffled.

"I said no."

"Then why did you follow?"

"They friends."

"That is not an answer."

Tavi peeked up.

"It is little answer."

Tilla looked down at him.

"No. It is not."

Tavi’s ears fell completely.

Swanly dragged one trembling hand down her face.

"You four nearly formed a chain straight into rot water because none of you thought to call an adult."

The cubs cried quietly.

"Do you understand what would have happened if Soren had arrived one breath later?"

No one answered.

Swanly pointed at Miko’s wrapped foot.

"That water burned him after touching him for less than one second."

Nilo stared at the bandage and began sobbing harder.

"I held tail."

"Yes. You saved him."

Nilo looked up.

Swanly’s voice remained stern, but it softened for one moment.

"You all held each other. You were brave. You saved one another."

Then her expression hardened again.

"But none of you should have been there!"

Kairo cried into his shoulder.

"Sorry, Mama."

Nilo pressed both hands over his face.

"Never again."

Miko reached toward Swanly.

"Miko almost fall."

Her anger cracked.

He grabbed her clothing.

"But brothers no let go. Nilo hold tail. Kairo hold Nilo. Tavi hold Kairo."

His little arms shook as he lifted them.

"Everybody hold."

Swanly made a broken sound.

She dragged all three sons against her chest.

"You nearly died!"

They clung to her.

"I do not care what anyone says about me. Do you understand? You do not crawl into dark holes. You do not search for infected. You do not prove danger by almost falling into it!"

Kairo cried into her shoulder.

"Sorry, Mama."

Nilo pressed his face against her neck.

"Never again."

Miko could barely breathe inside the hug.

"Mama squish."

"Good."

"Too squish."

"You scared ten years from my life. You can survive being squished."

Kael wrapped his arms around Swanly and the cubs from behind.

His face pressed into her hair.

He was still shaking.

Kairo reached one small hand back and touched his arm.

"Papa scared?"

"Yes."

The honest answer made all three cubs cry harder.

Miko twisted enough to reach Kael’s face.

"Sorry, Papa."

Kael kissed his small hand.

Nearby, Tilla held Tavi’s face between both hands.

"You are still recovering. You could barely hold Kairo."

Tavi cried.

"But if Tavi let go, all fall."

Tilla’s anger disappeared beneath fresh terror.

She crushed him against her chest.

"You did well holding him. You did terribly following them."

Tavi nodded into her shoulder.

"Both?"

"Both."

Swanly pulled back and looked at her three sons again.

"Never do this again."

Three heads nodded rapidly.

"Say it."

"Never again," Kairo said.

"No dark hole," Nilo whispered.

Miko sniffed.

"Ask Mama before almost die."

Swanly stared at him.

"No. You do not almost die at all."

Miko nodded.

"That too."

Nahla struck Kairo, Nilo and Miko lightly on their heads with three fingers.

"All of you are foolish."

Tilla lifted Tavi slightly.

"Four."

Nahla turned and tapped him too.

"Four foolish cubs."

Tavi lowered his ears.

Thalara crouched beside the tunnel entrance.

Her black claws touched the cracked earth.

"The passage is old."

Soren moved past her.

His tail slid carefully over the stone as he entered the broken tunnel again.

Kael followed him to the edge.

Soren examined the claw marks.

The dragged bones.

The black roots growing toward Riverbone.

Then he looked toward the narrow crack beyond the barrier.

His face became still.

"This tunnel passes beneath the outer wall."

Raku’s jaw tightened.

"The barrier does nothing against it."

Nahla stared into the darkness.

"Could infected enter?"

"They already have."

Soren touched one of the deep marks in the ground.

The groove was fresh.

Wet earth had not yet settled inside it.

"Something large passed through recently."

The former elders had gathered outside the sleeping hollow.

One of them looked pale but still forced himself to speak.

"The cubs may have made those marks while crawling."

Raku turned toward him.

"Are their claws larger than your head?"

The elder shut his mouth.

Another muttered, "The fox female may be using this accident to frighten everyone again."

Swanly’s head snapped around.

Kael growled.

Tilla stood with Tavi in her arms.

"My cub nearly fell into rot water, and that is what you say?"

Nahla raised her medicine stick.

"Come closer. I want to test whether your skull is as empty as your words."

The elder stepped backward.

Soren said nothing at first.

He watched.

The first elder avoided Swanly’s eyes.

The second stood close to Garran.

A third former leader looked genuinely frightened by the tunnel and moved toward the cub families instead of joining the accusations.

Soren remembered that too.

Fear showed loyalty more clearly than peace ever could.

Finally, his silver eyes turned toward the elders.

"Anyone who believes Swanly created this danger may enter the tunnel first."

Silence.

Soren’s tail tapped the broken stone.

"No rope. No guard. No weapon."

No one volunteered.

"Then close your mouths."

He looked at Swanly.

The anger in her face had not faded.

Neither had the fear.

Soren’s voice lowered.

"They found your proof."

Swanly looked down at the three cubs still pressed against her.

She had wanted proof.

Not like this.

Never like this.

Kael stared deeper into the passage.

His pupils narrowed.

The trail in the dirt was wide.

Whatever had passed beneath Riverbone had dragged a body larger than Raku’s crocodile form.

He reached for Swanly and pulled her and the cubs farther from the opening.

"We seal it now."

Soren nodded.

"And prepare to move."

Far inside the darkness, beyond the reach of their voices, something shifted.

A long claw reached around the stone corner.

Its black tip scraped slowly across the wall.

Once.

Twice.

Then it disappeared.

No one saw it.