Scorched: Sun Extinction: The Burnt Earth Series Prequel Read online

  I turned away from the image and headed back outside.

  Chapter 2

  When I got back to my house, Keyes was already gone. I headed to the garage. As I approached the building, I heard the sound of someone banging a mallet, cursing, and then more banging. Keyes was already busy at work. I passed the gas pumps, now no more useful than stones, sitting in front of the old filling station. The small storefront had been transformed into a chicken coop. The chickens meandered around between the pumps picking among the dry grass. Inside the garage, however, I spotted Keyes bent over the side of one of her landsailers.

  She looked up when she heard me approach. “You left early this morning,” she said. She set aside her mallet and picked up a file.

  About a million answers flooded through my mind. The best I could come up with was, “Yeah.”

  “Where’d you go?” She started filing, smoothing down an edge inside the ship.

  “With Nasir and the others.”

  At that, my sister shot me a side-eye glance. “I see.” She filed the surface once more then set her tool down. “Check this out,” she said, motioning for me to follow her to her work bench. There, among the equipment, she had several books lying open. “This book was half ripped, but there was a section in it on da Vinci’s works. Look at this wind-up car. I think I can pull some pieces from an old steering column of one of the vehicles if it’s not too rusted. There are a couple in storage that should be okay. I’m going to work on this next.”

  “A da Vinci car?”

  “Why not?”

  I nodded. “It’s a good idea. How are the landships coming along?” I eyed my sister’s latest creation. She’d read an article in a magazine about light-weight vessels with sails that people used to drive at high speeds across frozen lakes and deserts. Given the flat and desolate condition of the land around The Park, the environment was ideal. She’d managed to build two replicas out of old fiberglass canoes, sails, and gear systems which she’d bolted onto chassis, based solely on the design described in the magazine article. I tried not to let it annoy me that my sister was smarter than me.

  “Great,” she said with a smile then leaned back. “We did another trial yesterday afternoon, and as soon as the wind gusted behind us, we were off. You really need to hold the wheel. The steering column is sticky but totally drivable.”

  “What about obstacles in your path? Can you steer around them easily?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah. You just need to show it who’s in charge. The riverbed is mostly flat and dry. Have to watch for rocks and the random rusted out car, but that’s no problem. You can get about three miles downriver before it’s time to dodge terrain. That’s as far as I’ve ever been. Ronan gets antsy that far out. But they work. And they’re fast.” She looked at me. I tried not to meet her gaze. “Why?”

  “Just…just asking,” I replied, trying to summon up the nerve to tell her the real reason.

  “Ash?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Where did you and the others go this morning?”

  “Park Building.”

  There was silence for a moment as she processed. “Park Building,” she repeated. She turned to her bench and began rearranging her tools and books, lining everything up at perfect angles.

  “Keyes—”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “No, you are not.”

  “Oh, yes I am.”

  “No. Just, no. Look, we’re leaving in the morning. There will be no discussion. You are staying here. Carrington will—”

  “I’m not a kid, Ash. You need me. I can show you how to drive these things. I can fix things quickly. I can help you—”

  “No.”

  “You don’t get to tell me no,” she said then pounded her fists on her workbench. A number of items wobbled and fell over. “Why do you get to decide? Who says you can go and I can’t?”

  “I do. If something happens to us out there, you know what we’ll face. I don’t want you to see that. I can’t risk you like that.”

  “But you can risk yourself? And you can decide for me? That’s crap, Ash.”

  “You’re my little sister,” I began. Keyes opened her mouth to protest, but I lifted a finger to stop her. “You’re my little sister. You aren’t a kid anymore, but it’s my job to keep you safe, don’t you get it? I can’t let you go. And I have to go. If I don’t, no medicines, no seeds, no chemicals for the water. We need Low Tide’s supplies. Without them, we’re going to die just like Pine Brook did back when we were kids. Don’t you remember? I have to go to keep you safe. I can’t let you come to keep you safe. But you can help me. You can lend us your landsailers, show us how to use them so we can cut some time off the trip. If we can get to the lighthouse sooner, we’ll be able to hunker down before night and finish the rest of the journey by foot more rested. You and your ships can help with that.”

  Keyes frowned. Her chin trembled just a little as she battled with frustration and worry. “You don’t have to go. The others can go without you,” she said, her voice falling flat at the end as she knew even before she finished her sentence that she was wrong. Lordes, Faraday, Nasir, and I were the healthiest, strongest, and fastest in the community. And we could fight. If some unforeseen circumstances arose, we would have the best chance of making it until dawn. I knew that, and so did Keyes. And so did the two hundred other people in our community.

  I took my sister gently by the arm and pulled her toward me, crushing her against my chest. Like Mom, she was a petite little thing. I took my height from Dad. I pressed my cheek against her head. “Key to my heart,” I whispered.

  She inhaled deeply then exhaled with a shudder. That’s how she’d gotten her name. Mom and Dad had joked she was the key to all our hearts, all of us falling madly in love with her tiny form the instant she was born.

  “Take weapons. Lots of weapons,” she said in a soft voice.

  “I will.”

  “And come back alive.”

  “I will.”

  “And bring me some Bozo’s.”

  “Bozo’s? What’s a Bozo’s?”

  Keyes laughed then pulled back. “Some kind of restaurant. They had this weird looking clown who sold sandwiches. There’s a pamphlet about it in Park Building. Someone wrote a note inside the book about how a group of people survived the riots by hiding inside a massive walk-in refrigerator at Bozo’s. They locked themselves inside and rode out the worst of it. There were these pictures in the pamphlet of Bozo’s sandwiches. It showed their whole menu. Even what they called seasonal items. They looked amazing.”

  “Better than porridge?”

  Keyes rolled her eyes.

  I smiled. “I’ll keep an eye out. Now, you need to show me how this works,” I said, looking toward the ship.

  “Okay,” Keyes said then headed back toward her creation. She paused a minute then turned to me. “Do you really have to go?”

  I nodded.

  She frowned. “I don’t like it.”

  My stomach churned hard, but I tried not to let my anxiety show. “It will be fine. Just there and back. Nothing to worry about.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Says who?”

  “Me.” Keyes sighed heavily. “Fine. All right. Get in, and I’ll show you how this works.”

  “And it does work, right?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her as I climbed in.

  Keyes went to the back of the ship and started pushing it out onto the lane in front of her garage. “Steer right. And yes, it works, as long as you don’t crash.”

  “You do see the irony there, don’t you?” I asked her.

  Pushing from behind, my sister got the ship rolling. A light breeze caught the sail. Moving quickly, Keyes jumped into the seat behind me.

  “I do. Now, grab the wheel because we’re about to move.”

  A moment later, the wind gusted over the wall, and the sail overhead billowed. Holding the wheel tight, I couldn’t help but smile as the wild breeze shove
d the ship forward. In that single moment, I was hurtling quickly and chaotically out of control. The feeling thrilled and terrified me.

  * * *

  That afternoon, Lordes, Nasir, Faraday, and I were standing in front of the home I shared with my sister. We busily checked our weapons and packed our supplies. Carrington crossed the courtyard to join us.

  “I prepared this for you,” she said, setting a box down on the table. It was a med kit. “Hope you don’t need it.”

  “Thank you.” Lordes accepted the box and put it in her pack.

  “Well then, the route is set?” Carrington looked at the map Nasir and Faraday had laid out on the table.

  Nasir nodded. “I’ve only scavenged out about seven miles. But the others who’ve been to Low Tide and back added a lot of detail to the map. We’re going to take the riverbed. We can get farther in the landships using that route,” Nasir said, trailing his finger along the map.

  “And that route is a shorter distance to the lighthouse,” Faraday added as he checked the aim on his pistol. He kept his expression calm and focused, but I couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. Five years back, he’d gone out with a group to make the trip to Low Tide. Someone was injured on the way, and three people died, overrun by the wailers at dusk, including Faraday’s father. It was incredibly brave of him to go out again.

  I slid my pistol into the back of my pants and joined the others.

  Keyes sat on the front stoop of the house looking through a notebook. She twisted the end of her hair as she read, her forehead furrowing with concentration.

  “With luck, and with Keyes’s ships, we’ll make it to the lighthouse by tomorrow afternoon and get secured there for the night. We can finish the second leg of the trip the following day,” Nasir said.

  “You go through the city on the second day. It goes without saying that you need to be careful. Don’t explore,” Carrington said.

  Nasir was about to reply when the sound of someone coming close drew his attention. I followed his gaze to find Ramsey standing there. He set a packet on the table. “For the leader of Low Tide,” he said.

  “What is it?” Lordes asked.

  Ramsey raised an eyebrow at her as if to ask where she got the nerve to inquire but didn’t answer. He turned to the map and stood looking it over, his chin tucked into his chest as he considered.

  “You’ve been there and back, haven’t you, sir?” I asked.

  Ramsey gave a curt nod. “Once. When I was your age.”

  “Once?” Lordes repeated.

  “Once, I found, was enough. Well then. Be safe,” Ramsey said then turned and headed back toward Park Building.

  “That’s encouraging,” Lordes whispered.

  I looked at Keyes. She was watching Ramsey go, a dark expression on her face.

  “Gutierrez brought us some extra ammo. I think we’re ready to go,” Faraday said.

  “Be sure you all rest well tonight. Sleep early. I’ll be by in the morning,” Carrington said, and with a nod to me, she left.

  I sighed and looked at the others. “I think we’re ready.”

  Faraday grabbed his bag. “I…I need to go see Maria. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said then turned and left.

  Maria was his girlfriend. That was a conversation I didn’t envy him.

  Lordes picked up Ramsey’s package and added it to her bag. “I’m good too,” she added. She slung two shotguns over her shoulders, gave a little wave, then headed off.

  I watched as Nasir folded up the map.

  “Wait,” Keyes said, standing. “Leave that with me tonight. I want to make a copy.”

  “Of the map?” Nasir asked.

  She nodded. “A backup. I have some paper inside.”

  “All right,” he said then handed the map to her. He turned to me. His dark eyes were full of things he wanted to say. He took a step toward me then stopped, shooting a glance at Keyes.

  I laughed then turned to my sister. From the look on her face, I could already see she was a million miles away, lost in her thoughts. She probably didn’t even realize she was standing beside two people who really wanted to kiss each other—if she wasn’t fixed right there.

  “Weren’t you going to get some paper?” I asked her.

  “Huh?” she said then turned back to me. “Oh, yeah,” she said then looked from Nasir to me. “Yeah, sorry.” She smirked then headed inside.

  Nasir reached out and took my hand.

  With a quick look around the yard, he stepped in close to me and set a soft kiss on my lips. His mouth tasted sweet; his lips were warm but dry. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. The feelings between us had been building for months. This kiss, however, said something different. This kiss confirmed what my heart had been feeling, hoping. That this wasn’t just for the moment. The kiss told me that he was mine.

  “I’ll be back in the morning,” he whispered when he finally let me go. He pressed his cheek against mine. He gently took a handful of my hair and inhaled deeply.

  “Okay,” I whispered, unspoken words of love trembling on my lips.

  He kissed me again once more, a quick, soft kiss, then grabbed his gear and headed home.

  Taking a deep breath, I gathered the last of my things and went inside.

  “Well,” Keyes said playfully, lifting an eyebrow.

  “Well,” I replied in kind.

  We both giggled.

  “I know one thing for sure,” Keyes said.

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re going to be safe.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if he loves you, he won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I won’t let anything happen to me…or him.”

  “Of course you won’t let anything happen to him. You love him too.”

  “Yeah,” I whispered. “I do.” And at that moment, the admission made my heart feel so light it was as if it were dancing on the wind.

  Chapter 3

  As the sun dropped from the sky, the community became dark and still. I stood in the doorway and watched as the lights inside the little houses went out. People closed up their homes and bolted the doors. It became eerily silent. Ronan and the others swept the massive wall that surrounded our community, The Park. I heard the clank of locks being checked and rechecked.

  It had been years since any of them had gotten through. Years. I had not seen it, but I remembered Mother’s terror and the gunshots outside as the men fought and killed what had once been something—a man, an animal—I didn’t even know. We knew them only as wailers.

  They weren’t there from the start. In the aftermath of the CME, society had fallen and lawlessness ruled. The wall had been built to keep the survivors safe from marauders, not monsters. Communities like ours had popped up in those early days, communities like Low Tide and Pine Brook, and so many others we heard tell of. There was a map in the library listing all the ones we knew of. No one from The Park had ever traveled any further than Low Tide. Only the Dead Troupe, nomads that they were, were brave enough to travel from community to community. It was mainly through them that we learned which communities still survived.

  While the solar superstorm had fried electrical grids around the planet, it had also changed us. In the months that followed, the radiation sickness started killing off mankind by the droves. And not just mankind. Vegetation died. Animals died. And those animals who were born shortly thereafter were horribly twisted—and so were the people. Even now, after prolonged exposure to our diseased planet, the weak or elderly succumbed to the solar sickness, as was happening to Ramsey.

  Then there were the wailers. These mindless creatures could not stand the sunlight. They hungered for meat, for flesh.

  And tomorrow night, I would be out among them, away from the safety of The Park’s walls. I shuddered.

  I had to go. For Keyes. For everyone. We had to know what happened to Low Tide.

  Sighing heavily, I closed the door, locking it behind me.
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  “I brought you these,” Keyes said, handing me a pair of bolt cutters. “They aren’t light, I know, but if something goes wrong, bolt cutters are a girl’s best friend.”

  Thanks,” I said, setting them beside my backpack.

  I sat down on my bed. Keyes took a seat beside me. She was holding that same notebook she’d been looking at earlier. She opened it up and showed me what she had been reading. Inside, someone had drawn image after image of the wailers.

  “What is this?” I whispered.

  Keyes shook her head. “I don’t know who wrote it. It’s a journal. Someone who went out several times—who fought and survived more than one attack—kept this log,” she said, turning the pages slowly. “I found it in the library. It was shoved into a box under the shelves, almost like someone was trying to hide it.”

  “The wailers,” I said, reaching out to touch the page, but my fingers recoiled in horror, and I drew my hand back. “What are they?”

  Keyes turned the page. At the top, someone had written The De-Evolution of Man. Below that, they had taped in an excerpt from another book. In the image, it showed man changing from an ape into a human. After the last photo, someone had drawn the wailers, showing the warping of mankind into what was now unrecognizable as human. The last hand-drawn image depicted a bent creature, not unlike the first image on the diagram, but all teeth and claws, hair like strings, and large, dark eyes.

  “Here,” Keyes said, pointing to the name Darwin written under the image. “I read about him. Darwin believed mankind evolved like this,” she said, following her finger under the images, from ape to man. “You know what this means, right?”

  I looked at her. A million answers were possible, but I wanted to know what she had concluded.

  “If they are like us, at least physically, then they can be killed as easily as a man.”

  “If they come from us, why don’t they think like us?”