Slowly, Bryan released his grasp on his spear. The weapon thudded into the sand. More wind gusted, blowing Raj’s curly hair over his face. He kept his weapon aimed, and his voice even.
Focused on Bryan, while talking over his shoulder, Raj said, “Neena is right. Bryan doesn’t care about any of us. He wants to use us, so that he can hold his position of power, just like Gideon. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. I heard what he said. He killed my friend, Darius. And now I’m going to kill him.”
Raj walked forward, aiming the weapon at Bryan’s chest, while Bryan backpedaled, moving diagonally away from the building and to the side of Neena’s group. Neena followed his movements.
For the first time ever, she saw fear in Bryan’s eyes.
“The device can only hurl one spear!” Bryan reminded Raj loudly, as Raj backed him farther up the path and away from the crowd. “If you miss, you’ll die before you put another one in.”
In a sure tone, Raj cried, “I will not miss. Now, back up, away from the rest of us!”
Reluctantly, Bryan obeyed.
Neena’s heart hammered. She looked from Raj to The Watchers. What was Raj doing? Once he used the weapon, he’d be defenseless. She searched through the faces of The Watchers at the doorway, and the confused people behind them. She couldn’t tell what any of them would do when Raj used the weapon. But if they came toward him…
Stepping away from her group and toward Raj, she said, “Raj! Wait!”
Raj glanced sideways at her, but he kept the weapon poised. She lowered her voice so that she was talking only to him.
“Let me have the device.”
“This is my fault, Neena,” Raj said, tears welling in his eyes. “I made a mistake in coming here. And now I’m going to make it right. I’m going to put a hole in his body, so that he never hurts any of us again.”
“Let me do it!” Neena said, loudly enough that only Raj could hear. “I’ll take the weapon, while you get behind us.”
Raj shook his head. “I can’t…”
Neena let a hand off her spear and took a step toward him, but Raj sidestepped. Tears rolled down his cheeks. His hands shook. Neena felt a stab of regret in her heart. Maybe if she’d done something differently, she could’ve prevented this situation. But it was too late now.
“Raj! You don’t have to be the one to decide what happens to him!”
“I’ve already decided,” Raj said. “The moment I figured out what he did to Darius, I decided. I wish you hadn’t come down here for me, Neena. I wish you were safe on the cliffs. And I wish Darius was safe there, too.”
“The cliffs?” Bryan yelled, recoiling when he heard the words. “You mean, where your people killed Sherry?”
The Watchers shifted uncomfortably. A few looked up to the cliffs, obviously worried about their women.
“Who knows who else they have killed?” Bryan roared, picking up on their fear. “These Right Cavers come down here with their falsehoods, and yet they call me the liar!” Bryan’s face reddened with rage. “Regardless of whether this boy uses his device, we will make them pay. Not only for Sherry, but for her unborn baby.”
“The child was already gone,” Neena called out sadly.
“Lies!” Bryan barked.
“It died before we confronted her,” Kai reinforced, stepping forward. “Your other women told us.”
“I don’t believe it!” Bryan yelled, even though he was already looking at Tanya for confirmation.
His words carried past The Watchers, echoing off the walls of the Comm Building where his people stood, nervously clutching their clothes through the debris. The dark clouds were directly above them now. Shielding his face from a nasty gust of wind, Bryan jabbed a finger across the fifteen-foot distance between him and Raj.
“If you are going to use that weapon, make sure it kills me,” he yelled. “Because if it doesn’t, you’ll be the next to die. And then all of you will pay for what you’ve done.”
Raj’s hands shook on the device’s handle. He squinted against the swirling sand, which had thickened enough that it was getting hard to see.
“Do it!” Bryan screamed, his rage growing. “Fire your spear! And when it’s done, be prepared to face me! All of you!”
Through the sandy haze, Neena saw Louie inching toward one of the other Watchers.
And then Raj did the unthinkable.
He fired the weapon.
A loud click echoed across where everyone stood, as the weapon discharged and the spear shot out from its end. Too late, Bryan tried to move, but he wasn’t faster than a powerful device. He cried out as the spear hit its mark.
Raj’s aim was true, but not true enough.
The spear grazed his side and kept going, thudding into the ground a few feet behind him and splashing up sand.
A hush fell over those who watched.
Shocked, Bryan looked from the end of the weapon to his side, where only a shred of clothing was torn. Neena saw only a tiny trickle of blood—nothing that would stop an angry man.
Her heart dropped in her chest.
Oh, no!
Bryan’s shock turned into a smile.
“You’ll die for that!” he screamed, taking a vengeful step toward Raj. “You’ll—”
An explosion of sand burst from underneath him.
An enormous, teeth-filled mouth emerged from the ground, encompassing Bryan’s body, ripping him upward, just as the wind, sand, and debris grew to a shriek.
Men and women screamed and panicked.
Two things became clear to Neena.
The sandstorm had reached its peak.
And the monster was here.
Chapter 69: Neena
“Raj!” Neena screamed, as the beast rose higher through the storm.
She struggled to see through the blasting sand. In mere moments, the area around her had fallen to chaos. People scattered everywhere, running away from the caving ground and the monster. The beast’s enormous shadow blocked out everything but its silhouette. Neena riveted her eyes on the ascending dark shape. As soon as its tail curved over her, she skirted around the edge of the sliding sand, running blindly toward where she’d last seen Raj. The monster’s guttural screech filled the air, competing with people’s desperate screams. Was that Bryan screaming? Raj? Or both of them?
“Raj!”
Sand peppered her mouth and nose, making her feel as if she might suffocate, but Neena didn’t stop moving. The sandstorm’s shrieking gale pierced her ears.
The shadow above her made her feel as though she was in that nightmare tunnel, running through a maze without an end. But this was reality. And perhaps the last reality she would ever see.
She groped blindly through the whipping sand and dust, relying on her last glimpse of Raj for direction. Somewhere behind her, the beast crashed into the ground, taking Bryan and whomever else with it. Ignoring the cacophonous screams, Neena blinked through the storm, frantically searching for her brother.
She crashed into someone.
Arms grabbed her. Clothing brushed against hers.
Something hard hit her stomach, knocking the wind from her.
A metal object.
Raj?
“Raj!”
His hands shook beneath her as he clutched the strange device and screamed something she couldn’t hear.
“Come on!” she yelled back through the pelting wind and sand. Pulling his arm toward the only place she could think to go, she shouted, “Let’s get to the Comm Building!”
Chapter 70: Bryan
Bryan screamed, falling from one sticky place to another. He threw his arms out and tumbled, unable to stop his endless fall. His body shrieked with pain. He couldn’t see where he’d ended up, or where he was going, but it felt like he was in a dark, winding cave.
What the hell was this?
A cloying odor filled his nose. Vomitus liquid gagged him and plugged up his ears. He spit and screamed at the same time.
He tumbled over and
over, unable to find which way was up, and which was down.
And then his body struck something soft.
More of the sticky substance covered his body, binding his clothes to his body. More searing pain shot through him.
In a petrifying instant, he realized what was happening.
The beast hadn’t chewed him.
It had swallowed him whole.
He was in the creature’s stomach.
Bryan opened his mouth, choking on a scream he couldn’t manage. Somehow, he broke away from his sticky prison, but he couldn’t find his footing. Each time he got his balance, a violent jolt sent him plunging to another part of the beast’s insides, where he stuck and burned. The moving beast tossed him back and forth like a piece of sand in the wind. Hot, sizzling goo burned worse than any pain he’d felt. His skin sloughed off, exposing the blood and bone beneath.
The creature’s digestive juices were peeling him away a layer at a time.
More abrasive liquid filled his mouth and his nose.
No sound came from his last scream.
Searing, white-hot pain overtook him.
And then Bryan felt no more.
Chapter 71: Neena
Neena pulled Raj through the screaming wind, clutching his hand. The rumble of the beast and people’s screams had merged into a single, frightening sound. Awful guilt filled her as she took her brother in the opposite direction from her people, who probably needed help.
It was move or die.
Billowing dust and sand barred a glimpse of whatever lay ahead. She’d lost her sense of direction. She could no longer locate the Comm Building, or anything else for that matter. Grasping her spear, she held her breath, trying not to swallow the pelting sand. The horrible noises behind them grew farther away.
Squinting, she saw something ahead.
A wall.
Neena scraped her spear along mud brick, searching for an opening while keeping hold of Raj. Uneven sand, piling along the perimeter, nearly tripped them up. They rounded two corners before they came across a door, kicking it open. She and Raj fell into a dwelling, gasping for breath, while the storm continued raging. Dragging a hand across her mouth, Neena cleared away enough sticky sand to speak.
“Are you okay?” she asked frantically.
Raj’s eyes were wild and frightened. He nodded, clutching the weapon he’d managed to hang onto.
Neena’s eyes flew around the ramshackle dwelling. Cookware, bedrolls, and flasks blew back and forth. Blankets bunched up near the walls. Unslinging her bag from her back, she sifted around inside, pulled out a few pairs of goggles, and handed a pair to Raj, before donning one herself.
They looked back through the open door.
Through the whipping debris, she saw a few silhouettes, fleeing. Where were Kai, Samara, Salvador, and Roberto? Had Bryan’s men made it back inside the Comm Building, or were they trapped outside, too?
Her heart fluttered with panic at the thought of her people, coming down here to confront Bryan and his marchers, only to face an unexpected battle. They’d known the risks, but no one had expected it might go like this.
She pictured Bryan flying up into the air, assumedly eaten alive. He deserved his fate, for what he’d done to Darius. But now, others might die, too.
This had to end.
Looking over at Raj, her eyes riveted to the strange, incredible device.
Pulling her brother close, she leaned over and said, “Raj! I need you to show me how to use it!”
Raj watched her with fright.
He took his bag off his back and withdrew one of the weapon’s spears.
And then he showed her.
Chapter 72: Kai
Kai shielded his eyes, struggling to peer through the wind and flying sand. The once-unified group of his people had descended to turmoil. Right Cavers ran in every direction, screaming into the gale. He looked frantically around, but he didn’t see Neena or Raj, nor did he see any of The Watchers.
Bryan, of course, was gone.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw the tail end of the monster curve into the ground, creating an avalanche of sand, while the loud rumbling continued. Kai kept hold of his spear and ran toward where he’d last seen Neena and Raj.
An awful feeling took root in his stomach.
They’d been right near the monster when it rose.
Where were they?
Pushing through the storm and the wind, he protected his face with his free hand, while clutching his spear in the other. He didn’t stop, or slow, until he reached the dark hole from which the beast had emerged. Scanning left and right along its edge, he found nothing.
Panicked yelling drew his attention right.
Kai turned in time to see a woman running towards him through the storm. The wind pinned her clothes to her body. Her face was a mask of fear.
“You have to help! They’re hurt!” she screamed against the gale.
Kai’s heart hammered against his rib cage. Was she talking about Neena and Raj? He opened his mouth to ask the question, but she was already hurrying away.
Sand exploded behind them.
He turned to see the monster rising up about thirty feet back—an enormous shadow cutting through the storm. With an ear-splitting boom, the beast hit the ground and tunneled to darkness.
Gasping for breath, he pressed on after the woman. Nearby screams of pain and panic told him they were close to whomever she was talking about. And then they stumbled across three figures. A Right Caver bent over Salvador and another man, both of whom lay on the ground, hollering in pain.
“What happened to him?” Kai shouted, pointing at Salvador.
“He almost fell into the monster’s hole! He shattered his ankle!”
Horror overtook Kai as Salvador let his hands off the wound, revealing the awful injury. Blood leaked around a piece of jutting bone, which was twisted at an ugly angle. A few feet farther on, the other man clutched his bloodied face.
“Are you okay?” Kai asked.
“I think it’s just a flesh wound!” the man cried, but given the amount of blood on him, and the way he screamed, Kai couldn’t tell for sure.
To the uninjured man and woman, Kai asked, “Have you seen Neena or Raj? Samara? Roberto?”
“No!” shouted the man.
Kai stared frantically around, looking past the three people and the woman who had retrieved him. Staying out in the middle of the storm was an easy way to die.
Spinning in all directions, he looked for a place of refuge. He couldn’t see anything clearly, but he could hear the direction of the monster. Any place was better than running that way.
“Help them up!” Kai instructed. “Come on! We need to move!”
Together, he and other uninjured man propped up Salvador, who grunted and groaned, while the woman helped the man with the bloodied face.
“Which way?” yelled the man on the other side of Salvador.
Kai pointed.
They bore in the opposite direction of the creature, hobbling for uncertain safety. Kai used his spear for balance, helping Salvador keep his weight off of his ankle. With any luck, they’d find shelter.
Two unrecognizable people tore past them.
“Wait!” Kai yelled, but they were already gone, leaving only their screams.
He had no idea if they were Bryan’s people or his own.
They hurried through the storm, scanning the desert for more survivors. With each step, Salvador felt heavier. The man’s intense pain was slowing him down. Kai felt as if he were in the middle of the desert, or a nightmare from which he’d never awaken, rather than in the center of a colony.
A while later, they saw the shadow of the Comm Building, looming high above them. They must’ve somehow circled back to it. A dozen or so silhouettes stood in front of it, holding their long, pointed spears. A few looked in the direction of Kai’s group, while others huddled near the doorway. Kai slowed, wondering if they’d have to defend their lives, until he recogn
ized some of his own people. One of them, a Right Caver with bushy eyebrows, jogged toward them.
“What’s happening?” Kai asked him over the wind.
“A few of The Watchers ran inside, but they won’t let us in!” the man cried desperately, cranking a thumb over his shoulder.
Kai wasn’t surprised. He watched his people pacing nervously by the door, looking out into the storm.
“We thought we might be safe near the walls,” the man said, tossing up his hands in despair.
“Nowhere is safe,” Kai said grimly.
He looked out into the desert, spotting another cavernous hole, and glanced at Salvador. The injured man looked as if he might collapse. They needed shelter from the monster, not an uneasy refuge at their enemies’ threshold.
“What should we do?” the bushy-browed man asked Kai, through gritted teeth.
“Before the storm started, I remember seeing some intact hovels to the south of the Comm Building,” Kai recalled. “Now that I know our direction, maybe we can get to them! Come on, let’s go!”
Chapter 73: Neena
A cloud of dust found its way inside the abandoned hovel where Neena and Raj squatted, filling the room with a murky haze. The door they’d kicked in was now broken, allowing the raging wind inside, scattering cookware and blankets from one wall to the other.
Neena looked at Raj’s bag of miniature, carved spears, and then down at the weapon in her hands, which Raj had shown her how to use.
“Are we heading back outside?” Raj asked.
She glanced from her brother into the storm. The decision to go outside had been easy, when she’d first made it. Now she reconsidered. She couldn’t imagine leaving Raj alone in a hovel, after going through so much trouble to find him. Nor could she imagine bringing him out into danger again.
What should she do?
“We’re staying here, where we have a chance at living,” she said, looking away.
Sensing her conflict, Raj grabbed her arm. “But Kai, Samara, and the others are out there. We have to find them.”
Neena struggled with an answer. “It’s too dangerous for us to be out there.”
Sandstorm Box Set Page 71