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

  Keyes opened her mouth to reply, but her voice fell flat as the first sound echoed across the wasteland. A sharp wail danced across the night’s sky. Yips answered the wail. Soon, other yowls sounded.

  I reached out and snubbed out the candle nearest us. Keyes sighed and closed her book. It took a few minutes, but eventually, my eyes adjusted to the dark.

  After a while, Keyes whispered. “What if they were people, but the sun damaged them, twisted them into these…creatures. Maybe the part of the brain that used to process higher information no longer functions. I don’t know.”

  I sighed then leaned back in my bed, pulling my sister beside me.

  We lay there and listened as the night sounds began.

  The wails started in the distance as they traveled from wherever they sheltered during the day. Most of the night they would stay out in the wasteland, hunting, I guessed. But every night, there would always be a few who drew close. The strange wails—not entirely human, not entirely animal—would grow louder and closer. It wasn’t until they were just outside the wall that you could also hear an odd chatter, like teeth clacking together.

  “Go to sleep,” Keyes whispered so low that I almost couldn’t hear her. “I’ll stay awake for a while. You need to rest.”

  I nodded then rested my head on her shoulder.

  Outside the wall, the keening continued. The strange, terrible sound occasionally punctuated with odd yips and howls. The sounds ebbed and flowed as the wailers came to the gates then left again. I reminded myself that people were outside keeping guard. We were safe. And I forced myself not to think about the fact that tomorrow night, I would have to sleep outside the safety of The Park.

  Chapter 4

  It was just before dawn when we gathered near the gate. The sky was a strange pale purple color as the sun began to approach the horizon. It had been quiet for the last hour as the wailers retreated. Enrique and Maria stood in the watchtower looking out through binoculars at the river and the wasteland. At least half of the community had come out to see us off. Nasir and the others chatted with the community members while I stood watching Keyes make the same adjustment on the sail rigging once again.

  “Tight, like this,” she told me, pulling the line once more. “And to decrease speed, just let it out.”

  It was the third time she’d told me. “Got it,” I said.

  I watched my sister work as the sky slowly turned pink and orange. A soft hand took my arm.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll watch out for her. You just come back safely,” Carrington said.

  “I will.”

  “There is the possibility Low Tide has fallen,” she said in a whisper.

  “I know.”

  She patted my arm. “Be safe. May your mother’s spirit watch over you,” she said then turned and left.

  The wind blew across the compound. The sails on the landships shuddered in their bindings, yearning to be free.

  I winced as the sun crept over the horizon. Its bright rays reflected off the metal plates at the top of the wall.

  “All clear. Watchtower says go,” Lordes called.

  I stared at Keyes. She didn’t look up as they began to unlatch the gate. And I didn’t take my eyes from her. There was a grinding sound as the locks opened.

  A sharp gust of wind blew in from outside, carrying with it a whirlwind of dust. I closed my eyes and turned my head. After a moment, the wind subsided.

  “Let’s go,” Nasir said.

  I paused for a moment but didn’t look back at the others gathered there. I knew what I was going to find. People looking at us like they were seeing us for the last time, weeping for those they thought were going to their deaths. No. I couldn’t see that. Instead, I bent to steady the back of the landsailer Keyes was leading.

  “Got it,” I told her.

  She nodded, and we headed out behind Ronan and Faraday, who were guiding the other ship. No one said anything as we made our way across the landscape toward the riverbed. The Park, which had been a natural recreation area, had once been surrounded by groves and fields. There were old postcards someone had saved of the natural splendor that The Park had been. It had been a lovely camping place for families, the river nearby for fishing, swimming, and canoeing. Now, you had to dig thirty feet in the ground to find water. Even then, the water still needed to be treated to make it suitable for drinking.

  At the mere thought of it, I checked my canteens again. Two bottles. One for today. One for tomorrow.

  We rolled the ships down what had once been a dock to the dry river bed. Here, the mud was cracked like the sole of a person’s foot. It flaked in large patches but was flat enough for the wheels on the landships.

  “Line them up one after the other,” Keyes said. “Don’t try to drive beside one another. Distribute the weight. Lordes and Faraday in one, Ash and Nasir in the other.”

  None of us argued.

  Keyes set wooden blocks in front of the front wheels then waved for Nasir and me to get in. Ronan helped Faraday and Lordes.

  “Take these,” she said, handing me a pair of goggles. “It will keep the dust out of your eyes.” She gave a pair to Nasir as well.

  I looked back to see Ronan giving Faraday and Lordes similar pairs.

  Keyes unfurled the sail and wrapped the line tight. “Remember what I told you. Just let the line out if you want to reduce speed. You’ll roll to a stop. If you have to stop fast, pull that lever. But it’s better if you can avoid it.”

  I nodded. My heart was beating hard, but I tried to keep my expression calm. I adjusted my pack between my legs then gripped the wheel.

  Keyes suddenly laughed, surprising me.

  I looked up at her. “What?”

  “You look ridiculous in those.”

  I smiled.

  My sister knelt and set her hand on my shoulder, leaning in to put her forehead against mine.

  “Be safe,” she whispered.

  “I will. You too.”

  “Of course.”

  “Love you.”

  “I love you too.” Keyes rose. I saw her chin tremble, but she looked away, turning to Nasir. “Keep her safe.”

  “Will do,” he said, his voice catching with shyness, or was it something else? Was he afraid?

  Keyes stepped back and signaled to Ronan.

  I looked back to see him nod to her as well.

  Moving quickly, my sister yanked the line that held the blocks in front of the wheels and tossed them aside. She then went to the back of the ship and gave it a hard push. A moment later, the wind gusted from behind. The sail snapped as it filled with air and suddenly, we were racing forward.

  I gave one last look behind me. Faraday and Lordes were following, racing down the waterless river on the same wind. Turning for just a moment, I looked at Keyes. Her red hair was blowing all around her. She’d clenched her hands together and was covering her mouth with her hands.

  Turning back, I held the wheel and sped away from the one person I loved the most in the world.

  Chapter 5

  The river, which extended from the sea, past The Park, and into the unknown interior, had dried up in the wake of the solar superstorm. While water still slept deep below the surface, the river had stopped running long ago. The only benefit to this was that it made the trip from The Park to Low Tide easier.

  I gripped the wheel of my sister’s landship tightly and steered it down the dry riverbed. Gusts of wind came and went, but the landsailer moved at a steady clip downriver. Keyes was right that the steering column was sticky. You had to turn well in advance to miss obstacles. The trouble was keeping it steady enough to miss more than one obstacle at a time.

  “Two miles done,” Nasir called from behind me.

  Two miles. The furthest from The Park that I had ever been. I made out the outline of the city. The ruins of skyscrapers loomed in the distance. Hell’s Passage was certainly an apt name. As we rolled quickly down the riverbed, I spotted a dilapidated house. It was completely
overgrown with odd red vines with sharp thorns and prickly leaves that seemed to cover everything beyond the wall. There were other lumps in the landscape, signs of our lost civilization, most of which was either covered in thorns, burnt, or rusted. We were rolling quickly along. We drove by a massive brick structure. Its large, empty windows stared out like eyes from between the vines.

  “I’ve been in there,” Nasir said.

  “In there?”

  “Yeah. It was some kind of inn. Found some dishes and tools. It was…it must have been a really nice place.”

  I gave the building another glance then didn’t think about it anymore. I didn’t care what the dead world looked like. All I cared about was making sure my sister survived in this world. I set my sights forward and guided the ship around a large hole, swerving again around a jumble of rocks. As I glanced downriver, I noticed the obstacles were getting more frequent.

  “We’ve passed the three-mile mark,” Nasir said.

  I reached up and adjusted the sail, giving it some slack. I signaled to Faraday behind me. My ship slowed a little but still moved at a good clip, faster than a bicycle, and certainly faster than by foot. Any little bit more we could make it would help. But Keyes was right. The river was rocky here. The dried mud had not buried the massive boulders. We drove awhile longer, dodging obstacles, then a wall of stones appeared in the distance.

  “What is that?” I asked Nasir.

  “A waterfall. Manmade. This was a vacation spot. Look,” he said, pointing toward the ruins of a building on the riverbank. “That was a hotel.”

  “Manmade. Fabulous.” I signaled to Faraday as I let out the sail. The ship started to slow. “How far did we get?” I asked Nasir.

  “About six miles.”

  I looked at the sun. “Not bad.” As the ship neared the pile of rocks, it rolled to a stop. Nasir and I got out.

  Pulling out my binoculars, I climbed the heap of stones and looked downriver. In addition to the rocks, someone had dug out the river on the other side to give the water, I supposed, a dramatic cascade onto the boulders at the bottom. Even if we could get the ships around that obstacle, the riverbed between the waterfall and the city was a mess of holes and obstructions.

  I shoved my binoculars back into my bag.

  “No good from here on, even if we could get the ships down there. Let’s store them here. We’ll leave them right against the rocks. Maybe they’ll blend in.” We all worked quickly to lower the masts and tie them alongside the ships, which we then rolled alongside the stones.

  “River or road?” Lordes asked, looking to Faraday.

  “The river will take us to the lighthouse,” Nasir said.

  “Could you see it from there?” Lordes asked, pointing to the heap of stones.

  I shook my head.

  “Let’s go,” Faraday said.

  Working carefully, we climbed down the bank to the bottom of the waterfall. There, unrecognizable debris, plastic, and metal had been rolled into a ball among the rocks and decaying wood. Once we reached the riverbed once more, we headed out. The blistering sun shone down on us. I pulled a cloth over my mouth and nose as the dirt and grime blew across the landscape.

  “Keyes’s goggles are tinted. Keep them on,” Faraday said, pulling his goggles back in place.

  Without protest, we slid the eye covers on. No one said a word as we headed downriver toward the lighthouse. All of us walking at a quick clip, it didn’t pay to make small talk when every breath would get you closer to safety. We drank as we walked, ate as we walked, and kept our eyes and minds focused on our task.

  I tried not to pay attention to the broken world around me, but again and again, my eyes went to some strange building, or broken thing, or stone house, or other structure that begged for investigation. If we could explore more in the cities, what might we discover? Cures for illnesses? Other ways to get water? Other ways to grow food? It was as if the answers to our survival lay just behind each doorframe. Yet, at the same time, the wailers waited. In the day, they hid in dark, cool places. In buildings, underground, and in the old subway tunnels. Their very existence made our survival doubly impossible. I shook my head. It didn’t matter. That world was gone. Dead.

  I nearly ran into Nasir when he stopped cold.

  Lordes and Faraday fell in line beside us.

  “What is it?” Lordes asked.

  “There,” Nasir said, pointing.

  Ahead on the dry riverbed lay a bloody heap. Bones and pink sinew glimmered under the sun. Insects swarmed the carcass. From the smell of it, it had been lying there for hours.

  “What is it?” Lordes asked.

  “An animal,” Faraday answered.

  I frowned. We’d walked half the day and hadn’t yet seen a single animal. A terrible thought twisted at my stomach. “You don’t think it could be…” I said, but couldn’t bring myself to say the words that died in my mouth, a person.

  “Low Tide?” Lordes said for me.

  “That’s why we’re out here. That’s what we need to know,” Nasir answered.

  Nodding, I approached the mangled remains. The others followed along slowly behind me. I heard Lordes adjust her rifle. Nasir also pulled his handgun. I stepped slowly, looking over the remains.

  I lifted my goggles to inspect the carcass. It was almost unrecognizable. Whatever had gotten into it had decimated it. If it was someone from Low Tide, I was going to be sick. I stepped around the oddly twisted carcass to get a look at its head.

  Then, I stopped.

  Long arms, most of the flesh ripped away, lay limp on the ground. Long, black claws glimmered in the sunlight. The chest and stomach area had been completely ripped out. Only one of its black eyes remained. It stared vacantly toward the sky. Its mouth open wide, I could see the rows of sharp, pointed teeth.

  “Not a person,” I said.

  Slowly, the others approached until we all looked down at the broken face of the wailer.

  “One of them,” Faraday said.

  “What killed it?” I whispered.

  “It looks like…like maybe another of their kind? Something…ate it. Well, part of it,” Lordes said.

  I stared at the creature. It looked just like the drawing in the notebook Keyes had found. I gazed down into its empty eye until dread washed over me. “We need to go,” I said.

  No one protested.

  We turned and continued our trek, all of us moving faster than before, the horrible sense of foreboding filling our hearts.

  Nasir held the map in front of him as we walked briskly. It was already midafternoon. We’d seen no other signs of the wailers, and to my relief, even a few vultures had finally appeared overhead. While they might be hoping we’d die, at least there was some other sign of life out here.

  “About two miles,” Nasir finally concluded. “We should be able to see it soon.”

  “Let’s jog,” Faraday suggested.

  My feet hurt. I was tired and hungry and thirsty, but none of that mattered. Once we were at the lighthouse and secured inside for the night, we’d be okay.

  We moved quickly downriver.

  Again and again, Nasir looked at the map. “Keep an eye out for it. It’s tall. I mean, it’s a lighthouse, right? We should be able to see it,” he said.

  I scanned the horizon. There was nothing there.

  We kept moving, but still, we saw no sign of the lighthouse.

  Nasir slowed to a stop. “Look,” he said. He pointed to the markings on the map. It showed where the land jutted out into the river. “We’re close. Just around the river bend.”

  We all rushed forward, but as we did, my mind was yelling things at me that I didn’t want to hear. If we were that close, where was it? If we were that close, we should be able to see it by now. I looked up at the sun. Midafternoon. About six hours until dark.

  Faraday ran ahead, rounding the bend in the river and out of sight.

  Still, I saw nothing.

  When I rounded the bend, I found Faraday stan
ding perfectly still.

  And then I saw why.

  The lighthouse was there. Well, what was left of it, anyway. It had burned, from the looks of the remains of the building, from the top down.

  “Lightning?” Lordes whispered. “There was a storm two weeks back. If Low Tide made the trip then, they would have found the lighthouse like this. Maybe they just went back.”

  I stared at the building. “Yeah, that’s possible.”

  “It burned from the top down,” Faraday said. “If they were inside and something caught on fire…”

  “Then they perished, along with our supplies.”

  Without another word, the four of us headed toward the charred structure. The thorns and grass that had grown around the building were scorched black. The embers were cold. Whatever had happened, it had happened a while ago. I stared up at the spiral staircase that used to lead to the top of the lighthouse. Now, it led nowhere. It was strangely warped, deformed by the heat of the fire. The base of the lighthouse still stood, but everything else was burned to ash. Broken glass littered the ground all around.

  The lighthouse, the safe harbor between the communities, was gone.

  There wasn’t enough time to get to Low Tide before dark.

  And there wasn’t enough time to return to The Park.

  We all turned and faced one another, knowing our lives were now in jeopardy.

  Chapter 6

  “The inn? The one where you found the dishes,” I said to Nasir. “Can we make it back there in time?”

  Nasir shook his head. “No.”

  “Dammit,” Faraday swore.

  “By the waterfall? What about that building?” Lordes asked.

  Nasir grabbed his map then pulled out a little notebook from inside his pack. He quickly scanned through the pages. Frowning, he shook his head. “No. The building is compromised. The front wall is caved in.”

  “We could go to the city,” Faraday said. “There are a lot of buildings. Surely we can find somewhere to hole up.”

  “And if we do, we’ll be even closer to the wailers,” Lordes replied.