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

  “No. No, there is a place. Here,” Nasir said, pulling out another map. This time, it showed the city. “At the edge of town. Here. A bank. It has a safe. It’s secure.”

  “How far?” Faraday asked.

  Nasir looked up at the sky and frowned. He didn’t answer for a long moment.

  “Nasir, how far?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Too far.”

  “How far is too far?” Lordes asked, and this time I heard the panic in her voice.

  “If we make it, we’ll just make it,” he said.

  “Then let’s go. Now. We’ll go as fast as we can. Look, we’re closer than the notes say because we’ve been following the river, not the road. And we can keep an eye out for somewhere else as we go. But we need to go. Now,” I said.

  Nasir nodded and quickly folded up the maps, shoving them and the notepad into his backpack.

  We all took a drink from our canteens, and then we set off in a run.

  While my body protested, my mind worked as a taskmaster.

  Run, Ash.

  Run like your life depends on it.

  Run like Keyes’s life depends on it.

  My throat burned, and the stitch in my side ached.

  “We’re going to make it,” Nasir whispered to me. “Keep going. We’re going to make it.”

  Faraday ran ahead of us. Behind us, Lordes struggled to keep pace as the sun dipped toward the horizon. We needed to be clear, to be safe, by dusk. At dusk, they would begin to wake.

  Nasir slowed to check his map as we approached a bridge. “Here. We need to turn here,” he called to Faraday.

  We paused a minute to let Lordes catch up. She opened her canteen, but it was out of water. I handed mine to her.

  She shook her head then opened her canteen for tomorrow, taking the smallest drink. After a moment, she nodded to us, and we all turned and headed inland.

  “Owl Creek Bridge to High Street. It’s a straight shot,” Nasir said.

  Moving carefully, we climbed up the river bank. The thorns growing there poked my hands, but my rough leather protected me. Struggling, I pulled myself up the rocky river bank. When I neared the top, Faraday leaned down and helped me. Brittle grass and vines covered the ground. Shifting dirt had filled much of the old highway. I looked back at the bridge as we raced away from the river. It had rusted to its dark red color. Only faint flecks of pale blue paint remained. Vines had grown over much of the structure.

  Turning back, I rushed to catch up with the others.

  I had never been this close to the city. The crumbling buildings looked like massive tombstones, monuments to a world long gone. As we pushed closer, we saw more dilapidated and burnt buildings. There were, however, some signs of life. Trees, grass, and even some kind of cactus grew in the shade of tall structures.

  We rushed forward. My eyes scanned everywhere, and I struggled not to let panic take over. I tried not to think about anything. We just needed to get to the bank. We would get there, and everything would be okay.

  No one talked.

  No one stopped.

  We ran as fast as we could.

  From the position of the sun in the sky, we had to be close. We had to be. If we weren’t, we were in trouble.

  “Nasir,” I whispered, catching up to him.

  Nodding, he stopped for a minute and pulled out his map. “This way,” he said, leading us forward.

  As we rushed down the street, I gazed at the tall buildings. Their windows, like eyes, watched us. The sun sank low, the skyline turning dark red as the sun dropped toward the horizon.

  I picked up my pace.

  In the distance, I heard a wail.

  It was low and far away, but it was audible.

  Lordes looked at me, an expression of terror on her face.

  Nasir turned a corner.

  We followed behind him.

  And then, he stopped.

  Before us stood the bank. Its roof had collapsed. The inside was completely barricaded.

  “Oh my god,” Lordes whispered. “Oh my god.”

  Another wail echoed across the city. This time it was answered with a series of yips.

  “No, no, no, no,” Faraday said. “We need to hide. We need to get into one of the buildings. It’s too late. We need to hide.”

  Terror gripped my heart. I looked all around. There was nowhere. Nothing. Just a bunch of ruined old office buildings and stores. Nothing. There was just nothing.

  “Dammit, what do we do? What do we do? Ash?” Lordes said.

  I scanned all around.

  Faraday pulled his gun and clicked off the safety.

  “There’s nothing. Nothing else is marked until the other side of the city,” Nasir said as he flipped through the pages of the notebook.

  He was right. There was nothing.

  Nothing but a Bozo’s.

  The small restaurant sat at the end of a parking lot nearby.

  “There, there,” I said, grabbing Lordes and Nasir by the arms. “Faraday, come on.”

  We rushed across the parking lot, passing rusted out cars and broken light posts. On the brick wall of the building, the paint had faded to almost nothing, but I could see the faint outline of a clown’s face. A large white face, red lips, a red nose, and big blue eyes stared at me. The sign outside had fallen to the ground and was rusted, but the raised plastic showed the name Bozo’s, America’s Juiciest Burgers.

  Another wail sounded.

  I raced to the door. Someone had locked it with a chain. I yanked Keyes’s bolt cutters from my bag, snapped the rusty chain off, then pushed the door open. Inside, we found white tile floors and red plastic benches. Over the counter, faded images showed vague silhouettes of sandwiches and drinks.

  “The kitchen,” I said, looking around.

  Faraday kicked down a pole near what looked like a place for children to play and barred the door with it.

  “There,” Lordes said, pointing behind the counter.

  We headed into the back. “There should be a walk-in refrigerator. A big one. Come on.”

  Outside, we heard the howls again. This time they were louder, and there were a lot more of them.

  I scanned the back wall then found the walk-in icebox. I pulled the door open. Inside, the shelves were empty. A faint musty scent lingered. The walls all around appeared to be made of metal and plastic. “This is it,” I said. “Get in.”

  “But the door,” Lordes said.

  “It can be locked from the inside,” I replied.

  Lordes and Nasir rushed by me.

  “Faraday?” I called.

  He stood staring toward the front of the restaurant. “I see one,” he whispered. “Through the window. It’s on the road.”

  Without another word, Nasir took Faraday by the arm and quietly pulled him inside.

  Moving slowly, I shut the door.

  Everything went dark.

  A moment later, Nasir lit a match.

  I scanned the door. There, hanging on the wall, was the locking pin. I slid it into place then backed away from the door.

  The four of us stood listening.

  I willed my heart to be silent, because a moment later, a loud yowl sounded outside the building.

  Lordes covered her mouth to choke the scream that wanted to escape.

  The match burned out.

  In the darkness, Nasir reached out and took my hand.

  Chapter 7

  The keens continued, growing louder and more plentiful. There were a lot of them out there. More than had ever come to the walls of The Park.

  The four of us huddled in the corner farthest from the door. All of our weapons were drawn. We stared into the darkness.

  Glass shattered.

  Beside me, Lordes trembled hard then suppressed a cry. Faraday put his arm around her and pulled her close.

  I sat, my hands trembling.

  They wouldn’t be able to get in.

  We would be okay.

  I closed my eyes.
r />   Wails and the strange teeth-chattering sound was so close.

  Something bumped against the door.

  The door handle shook.

  In the darkness, Nasir breathed steadily. His body was motionless.

  There was a series of yowls, strange grunting sounds, and then the sound of nails scraping across the door.

  Then the pounding began.

  At first, it sounded like someone was ramming the door. After a while, I realized that the wailers were throwing themselves against the door in an attempt to break it down.

  Again and again, the door banged in its frame.

  I tried to remember how the pin looked. Was it rusted? Were the bolts on the door rusted? Had it decayed too much? Would it fall apart? I remembered then, the flash of the stainless steel in my hand as I’d slid the pin into the lock.

  I inhaled deeply then exhaled again. It was going to be all right. We were going to be all right. Tugging my hand, Nasir sank down to the floor. I slid down and sat beside him. Wrapping his fingers around mine, he lifted my hand to his lips.

  And then, we waited.

  Chapter 8

  There is a certain numbness you feel when exposed to hours upon hours of terror. It must have been around three in the morning when Faraday finally fell asleep. I could hear his soft breaths.

  After the first few hours, Lordes stopped jumping at every attack on the door. Instead, she sat perfectly still, leaning against Faraday’s shoulder. Nasir shifted and sat cross-legged, his gun on his lap. Twice, he struck a single match, checked his watch, then let it burn out. But no more than twice. Oxygen, he no doubt realized, was in short supply in the enclosed space.

  At first, I tried singing to myself inside my head.

  That didn’t work.

  Then I started thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow, we would make it to Low Tide. We’d need to stay there and provision, compare their maps and ours, consider a new route back to The Park. For both our communities’ sakes, we’d need to have more safe houses along the way. Surely there were other places we could hunker down. We’d need to make a plan with Low Tide. No one would ever have to get caught outside like this again.

  A long scrape raked the door followed by a punctured screech.

  The handle rattled.

  I stiffened.

  In the distance, a chorus of wails began, growing louder and louder until those creatures outside the door joined into a deafening sound that made my ears hurt.

  And then they went silent.

  I jumped when the door banged hard one more time.

  I heard a hiss and chatter of teeth, and then there was nothing.

  No one said a word. We sat still in the darkness.

  In the absence of light, the passage of time slows. So we sat, and we listened.

  It seemed like an eternity had passed before Nasir struck a match again. His exhale was so heavy that I felt the weight of his anxiety leaving him.

  “The sun is up,” he whispered, his voice cracking. He opened his canteen and took a sip.

  On hearing Nasir’s voice, Faraday woke.

  Nasir rose. In the darkness, he reached for me, helping me up.

  “Lordes, Faraday, stay back. Ash and I will try the door.”

  “Is there enough light? I mean, we don’t want to risk any of them hiding in the shadows,” I said.

  “It should be okay. It’s an hour past sunup,” he replied.

  “Dammit, then we need to move,” Lordes said.

  “Yes, but let’s get out of here slowly first. Ash, you open the door. I’ll keep my gun on the opening,” Nasir told me.

  I felt against the door in the dark, feeling for the pin. I grabbed it.

  “Okay, ready,” I whispered then slid the pin out. Moving slowly, I pressed down on the lever then slowly pushed the door open.

  The small crack of light that shone in made me wince. I held my breath and watched for movement on the other side of the door. There was nothing. Everything was still. Only motes of dust danced in the light.

  I pushed the door open a bit further.

  The light made a line down Nasir’s body, shining into his eyes which stayed unflinching as he held the gun ready.

  Nothing.

  There was nothing.

  I pushed the door open wide.

  They were gone.

  Turning back, I hung the locking pin back on the wall where I’d found it.

  I pulled my gun from the back of my pants and holding it in front of me, I nodded to Nasir. We stepped out into the restaurant, moving slowly.

  The place had been torn apart. The glass windows at the front had been broken. Everything that could move—the trash bin, boxes, and even the light fixtures—had been smashed. There was a strange, feral scent in the air.

  Faraday and Lordes stepped out behind us, both of their guns raised.

  The broken glass crunching under his feet, Nasir exited the building then stepped out into the street. He stared down High Street which led into the city and to the sea. After a moment, he whistled to us, signaling the all clear.

  As Lordes and Faraday exited the building, I stopped a minute and looked back. The walk-in door was closed. I saw then that it was severely dented, and there were long scratches on the door.

  “Ash,” Nasir called lightly.

  I turned to leave but saw that a box of papers had slipped onto the floor. I bent to pick up one of the papers. It was a paper cap with the Bozo’s logo and clown on the side. Grabbing one of the caps, I folded it then slipped it into my back pocket. I joined the others on the street.

  Without another word, we headed into the city.

  As we walked, I remembered one of Mrs. Lowe’s stories about the lost city of Atlantis. The great city, with its beautiful gardens and pyramids, had been lost under the waves. Water had destroyed them. Light had destroyed us.

  While the solar storm and CME had started the end of civilization, it had not finished it. We had done that to ourselves. As we walked through the city, the evidence of the real culprit in mankind’s fall was evident. The lingering scorch from fires that had been set during the riots, cars driven into the fronts of buildings or turned over on the streets, and shattered windows were abundantly clear. The sun may have knocked out the grid, but it was mankind’s reaction to the chaos that had doomed us. Maybe if the coronal mass ejection had been smaller, less widespread, people would have remained calm as the infrastructure had been rebuilt. But it hadn’t been. The sun’s burst had been ten times larger than anything ever seen in human history. The Earth had gone silent. In weeks, the riots started. In months, the water stopped flowing, food ran short, and lawlessness ruled. With most forms of communication down, no one knew what was happening. Society fell apart.

  “How did you know about Bozo’s?” Nasir asked as we made our way down High Street.

  “Keyes. She made a joke about it, something she remembered reading.”

  “Well, we’re alive because of that joke,” Faraday said.

  I nodded. My sister was the clever one. And because of her, we’d survived the night. I definitely owed her one of America’s juiciest burgers, except they didn’t exist anymore.

  I gazed up at the buildings as we walked. Even the tallest skyscrapers were covered in vines. Brittle grass grew out of the cracks on the road, inside the rusted out cars, and on roofs. The dark eyes of the buildings watched us in eerie silence. Were the wailers looking at us, or were they sleeping?

  A flock of birds flittered from one rooftop to another.

  “Look,” Lordes said, pointing at the birds. “They’re seabirds, I think.”

  Finally, a good sign.

  “Come on, let’s get moving,” Faraday said.

  Shaking off the terror of the night, we put some hustle in our steps and began moving quickly.

  It was nearly noon when we finally exited the city. We followed the exit ramp and began our trek toward the ocean. Faded road signs confirmed we were moving in the right direction. Soon, the cit
y fell behind us. After a few more hours, I caught a strange smell in the air; the scents of salt and sludge perfumed the wind.

  “What is that smell?” Lordes asked.

  “The ocean, I think,” Faraday replied.

  The ocean. I smiled. Finally, I would see something blue and bright and alive.

  Rushing quickly, we followed the roads leading to the port. The scent of salt and an odd tangy fish smell filled the air. When we crossed over the next rise, I was greeted to a vista of the seaside.

  The ocean had retreated from the land. Boats sat on the sand. Docks led nowhere. In the far distance, I saw the sea.

  “There,” Nasir said, pointing to the long pier that extended out into the water. At the very end of it, I saw the walled community of Low Tide.

  We moved quickly in that direction. As we headed toward the pier, I eyed the structure. A massive, mile-long pier extended out into the ocean. While the water had retreated, the poles at the end of the pier were still submerged under the briny waves.

  “How do they keep the wailers out?” I asked.

  “There is a drawbridge. They lift it at night,” Nasir replied.

  “But what about the pier itself? Can’t the wailers just climb up from the water?” Lordes ask.

  “Covered in razor wire, spikes, and all manner of kill-you-dead things. And generally speaking, the lore suggests that the wailers don’t swim,” Faraday said.

  We turned down the road that led to the pier. Here, we found barricades and fencing. Maneuvering around it, we reached the end of the boardwalk. At some point, Low Tide had completely caged and fortified the walkway. A person could, conceivably, walk the pier at night without risk of harm. We closed the gate to the boardwalk entrance behind us and headed down the wooden ramp.

  “No guard,” Faraday noted.

  He was right. That was odd. In fact, the place was eerily silent.

  We headed down the boardwalk. It was strange to think that water had once circulated below. Now, everything was dry. Finally, we reached the other end of the pier. There, we found a chain-link gate.

  “The drawbridge is down,” Nasir said, looking toward the other side.

  I gazed out. I could make out the rope and pulley system for the drawbridge. It was a clever design. Keyes would have been impressed. We would be able to easily cross into Low Tide. But there was no one at the gate to herald our arrival. And there was no one guarding the bridge.