He kept a watch out for the rades. The one rade Archer had killed was no longer in the yard. Now Alvin found it curious, since Archer seemed to have such a vested interest in the rades, why he hadn’t taken this one for himself. Maybe he didn’t want the burden of carrying it. Maybe he was afraid Alvin would think it was strange and refuse to follow him into his Shucking Room. He looked up at the sky, trying to find the moon, stars, something, anything to let him know he was still on the same planet. But the only things to remind him of that were the silent houses all around. What was he going to do? He couldn’t just wander around in this perpetual night for the rest of his life. That was ridiculous. He needed answers. He needed to get back to April. He reached the end of the alley and to his right, his house. What used to be his house? Now he didn’t really know what to call it. He walked up through the yard. He couldn’t let himself believe things had become as strange as they seemed.
