Scorched: The Last Nomads (The Burnt Earth Series Book 1)

by Melanie Karsak

  “Wait,” I said and stepped forward to investigate.

  Enrique followed along behind me. “It’s a drawbridge,” he said.

  My eyes followed the lines of steel rope that led inside the community where the pulley system was housed. It was a brilliant design. Once the bridge was lifted, there was no way a wailer—or a person—could get inside.

  “Bridge is down,” Lrya observed. “That’s good, right?”

  “They keep it down during the day, and pull it up at night,” Enrique said.

  Legba eyed the tall doors ahead. They were open just a crack, only wide enough for a person to pass. I also realized Legba was straining to listen. There was no noise coming from inside. Nothing.

  It was eerily silent.

  “Just like The Bridge,” Bodi whispered to Legba.

  Legba nodded. “We will look. If I give the word, we all go. All of us,” he said, turning to look at Enrique—who nodded—then to me. His eyes locked on mine.

  I nodded.

  Moving carefully, we headed toward the gate. Bodi and Nara went in first, their weapons drawn. Lara and Manderly took the rear, Enrique, Legba, and I in the middle.

  “Stay here,” Legba told Tiny.

  Slipping through the crack in the gate, we entered the community of Low Tide where dozens of people lived.

  Only to find it completely deserted.

  Chapter 19

  Inside the walls, the boardwalk widened. Little houses lined the walls. Small shacks had been built in between the older structures. What used to be a restaurant sat in the middle of the space, dividing the community into two paths. The building had once been painted blue, but the color had faded to a grayish color. There was the shadow of a mermaid painted on the wall. Someone had touched up the paint over the years. Rope bridges had been strung overhead connecting the ramparts above the houses. Boats and other fishing equipment sat everywhere. I could tell from the architecture and windows that some of the original buildings had once been shops or restaurants. In fact, one building still had the faded image of an ice cream cone painted on the side. I tried to keep my mind from tumbling down the rabbit hole chasing dreams of banana splits, hot fudge sundaes, and strawberry shortcake. It was the strawberries that most intrigued me. Aside from the minimal crop of melon we managed to produce, I’d never tasted anything sweet except honey. The idea of cake and strawberries and sweet cream was more than my imagination could take.

  I sighed then turned my attention back to the reality of my miserable world.

  We moved slowly down the pier, away from the converted ice cream shop.

  It was jarringly silent.

  Where were they?

  Somewhere in the distance, I heard the soft peal of wind chimes. Otherwise, there was nothing.

  As I looked around, I began to notice odd patterns. The doors of people’s houses were wide open. Through the open doors, I saw that goods were strewn about. All the houses seemed unkempt in this way. I stopped at the open door of one house and looked inside. The owner had hung a chime made of seashells in the window. It wagged in the breeze, the shells gentling chiming. Inside the house, I saw that the kitchen area cupboard was open and some items had been tossed around. But the rest of the house looked very different. In the small living area, laundry sat, partly folded, on a table. The rest of the clothes still sat in the basket. A stuffed teddy bear lay forgotten on the floor. A half glass of water and an open book sat by a chair by the window, the pages of the book fluttering in the breeze.

  I picked up the book. It was a novel, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I closed it, protecting the pages, then set it back down. Hopefully, I’d be able to find the owner to ask to borrow it.

  But a sinking feeling rocked my stomach.

  These people had not packed up in an effort to go somewhere. It was almost like they’d stopped right in the middle of whatever they were doing. Why? Where were they?

  My hands shook.

  And where was Ash?

  I looked out the open window to see Bodi, Lebga, and Manderly talking in low tones while the sisters canvased another building. After a few moments, the twins returned. Nara shook her head to indicate nothing that had been found. Legba directed them to use a rope ladder nearby and go up to the ramparts for a look. Manderly headed up the other side.

  Stepping out of the house, I joined the others.

  “Anything?” Bodi whispered.

  “No,” I replied.

  “The community center is at the end of the pier,” Enrique said. “If they are huddled up somewhere, it will be there.”

  “Do they have a safe place inland? Somewhere they may have gone if there was trouble?” Bodi asked.

  Enrique shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Bodi looked at Legba, who nodded stoically.

  We worked our way to the building that sat at the very end of the pier. It had broad glass doors through which I could just catch a glimpse of the ocean on the other side.

  Motioning to us, Legba entered, the rest of us following behind.

  The main room, filled with chairs, a table at the front, seemed to be their meeting room. It was empty. Everything was still and quiet.

  Legba motioned to us. Enrique took the south end of the building, Bodi the north. Legba motioned for me to check the balcony to the east. I crossed the room to the other side where a glass door led out to a balcony that looked over the sea. Reluctantly, I pulled out the small gun Tiny had given me and clicked off the safety.

  I stepped outside only to be met with a terrible briny smell. Bracing myself, half expecting to see the waves below littered with floating corpses, I went to the rail. I stared out at the ocean. In all my dreams, the ocean had been blue. I was wrong. Maybe it had once been blue, but not anymore. The living sea had become very still, the waves only lapping a little. The water had turned a sludgy green color, slicks of black liquid floating on the surface. The water was dense with alga. It smelled terrible and looked even worse, but I also knew the alga was an essential ingredient in making the medicine to help slow solar sickness. Otherwise, the ocean looked ill, just as sick as the land beyond it. There were some small rowboats docked in the water below. Thankfully, there were no bodies.

  A wind chime made of bamboo hung on a pole nearby. Its soft music filled the foul air.

  Pulling out my lens, I scanned the diseased ocean. There was nothing on the horizon. Nothing.

  There was no one here.

  I squeezed my eyes closed. I felt hot tears prick at the corners of my eyes.

  My sister was not here.

  No one was here.

  Had she made it here then something had happened?

  Had she even gotten this far?

  Was she on the road home or somewhere else?

  I turned and headed back inside.

  “These are the supplies,” Enrique was saying. I could hear the sound of someone shifting crates. “It’s all here.”

  I stared through the open door into a room in the back. Enrique was going through a pile of goods. The supplies for The Park were still here. And if the supplies were still here, then where was Ash?

  “It doesn’t make sense. If Ash and the others made it here, they would have brought the supplies back. They either perished on the road or whatever happened here, they were here to see it,” Enrique said, unaware that I had come back inside.

  His words hit me like he’d reached into my chest and yanked out my heart.

  Not wanting them to know I had heard, I went back outside.

  I glanced around the little community. Was I wrong about what I’d seen at Bozo’s? Maybe my sister had died at the lighthouse or on the road afterward. I’d seen with my own eyes that the wailers were everywhere. Hell, they’d almost nabbed me.

  I sat down on a barrel just outside the door of the building. The words Boardwalk Tourism and Education Center were written on the wall in rusty letters. Turning the gun over and over in my hands, I thought about what I had seen. Everyone was gone
. It looked like they’d left in a hurry, items of sentiment had been left behind. Why?

  And where was Ash? Maybe she’d never even gotten this far. But if she wasn’t here, where was she? Was she still alive? A soft breeze blew, carrying with it the disgusting smell of the ocean. A sense of despair washed over me. Tears welled in my eyes. I would have to go back now and wait. Ash could be anywhere. Or dead. I didn’t even know for sure if she’d made it to Low Tide. What we’d found at Bozo’s could have just been a coincidence. We’d have to search downriver from the lighthouse. Maybe I could find her body there. If the wailers had left anything behind. My heart was breaking. My stomach rocked, and for a moment, I thought I might throw up. I knew something was wrong, but I’d expected to find Ash here. I had honestly believed—no, that was wrong, I had hoped—she would be here. I suppressed a sob.

  Ash, where are you?

  Hot tears streamed down my cheeks. I dashed them off angrily. Through the haze of tears, I stared at the wooden slats of the boardwalk. What had happened here? Then, a flutter caught my eye. Among a stack of wooden boxes, a piece of clean white paper with red print thereon flapped in the breeze.

  It looked out of place.

  Rising, I walked over then knelt down to pull out the paper.

  To my shock, it was a paper cap from Bozo’s.

  My hands shook. I stared at the little paper cap.

  She’d been here.

  She’d made it here.

  She’d been right here.

  I scanned all around looking for anything, any other sign.

  I caught sight of a familiar looking leather satchel lying under a bench nearby. Rushing over, I retrieved it. It belonged to Nasir. I dug around inside to find a map, notebook, and other supplies. I also spotted the parcel Ramsey had given to Lordes—another in Ash’s group—before they left.

  My hands shook. They had made it here. I pulled out the parcel Ramsey had given Lordes and opened it. Inside, I found lists of supplies and other numbers. But there was also a letter. As I scanned the contents of the message, I felt the color drain from my face.

  “Oi,” Nara called down, startling me. “Find anything down there?”

  “I think—”

  “Tell Legba to come up. We have something.”

  “Someone?”

  “Something. Tell Legba to come.”

  I stuffed Ramsey’s letter back in the pouch. I would look at it again when I didn’t feel like my entire world was crumbling out from under me. I turned and headed back inside, the paper cap clutched in my hand, the satchel pressed against my chest. They had made it here, but then what? Where were they?

  “Did you know they were looking at sites offshore?” Bodi was asking when I stepped back inside.

  “No. But they have been scavenging the islands for years,” Enrique answered.

  “Legba?” I called.

  The tall man stepped out of the back room.

  “Nara asked you to come.”

  He nodded then crossed the room and headed outside.

  Bodi looked me. His brow flexed, looking worried when he saw my face. Leaving Enrique behind, Bodi joined me. Guiding me gently, his hand on the small of my back, he led me back outside.

  “What is that?” Bodi asked. He searched my face. “You’re upset.”

  I handed the cap to him.

  He looked it over, his eyes going wide. “Your sister was here,” he said.

  I nodded.

  “She must have taken it from the restaurant.”

  “And I found this. It belonged to Nasir, my sister’s boyfriend. They traveled here together with two others.”

  “We need to tell Lebga,” Bodi said.

  Bodi and I hurried after Legba. On the rampart above, Nara and Lyra were pointing to something near the wall.

  “Same as the others,” Nara was saying as we arrived.

  I followed her gaze to a small device sticking out of the wall.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Legba turned and looked at me. He gave Bodi a look that spoke something I could not read then turned back. “A dart,” Legba answered then opened his bag. From inside, he pulled out a small metal box which he handed to Nara. Slipping on a pair of gloves, he pulled the dart out of the wall then dropped it in the metal case alongside several others that looked just like it. There was yellow liquid inside all of them.

  “A dart,” I repeated. “For what?”

  No one answered.

  “Legba, my sister was here.” I held out the little paper cap for the others to see. “That dart. What’s inside it? What does it do?”

  The sisters looked from one another to me and then to Legba.

  After a long moment, Legba looked up at me. “It renders people unconscious.”

  “Unconscious,” I repeated. Frowning, I turned and looked back over the little community. I scanned the empty houses. I saw food bowls sitting with food still inside at a fire pit. I thought about the half-folded laundry and the forgotten teddy bear. The people here hadn’t left, they had been taken.

  “How many communities have you found in this condition?” I asked Legba.

  “Over the last year, six. Including Low Tide.”

  I looked at the little box. Someone was coming in and clearing people out of the communities. But for what purpose? Whoever was doing this wasn’t killing people, they were taking them. Where?

  “Why didn’t you warn Ramsey? The Park needs to be on alert. Whoever these people are, they could come for The Park next,” I said.

  Legba nodded patiently. “I did tell Mister Ramsey.”

  A terrible knot formed in my stomach. Someone had come here and taken everyone. Everyone, including Ash, Nasir, Lordes, and Faraday. They could come for The Park next. Why wasn’t Ramsey doing anything? Why hadn’t he told everyone? Was that why he and Carrington were so insistent that I not leave because the Dead Troupe had warned them what might have happened here? But more importantly, to where had everyone been taken and why? I posed the question to Legba.

  “Why? Why are people being taken? What happens to them?” I asked.

  Legba looked to Bodi.

  Bodi sighed heavily. “Keyes,” he said softly. “Back at The Park, we told you there are some bad communities out here. And there are. There are a lot of terrible places, and those places are not only thriving, but they are also growing stronger. Communities like The Park are growing fewer and fewer. These people,” he said, pointing to the darts, “belong to one of those communities. They’re scavengers. Well, more accurately, they’re slavers.”

  Slavers. The word echoed through my mind. I could barely wrap my mind around what I was hearing. Slavers.

  “Where…where are they going? Where are they taking them?” I tried to fight away the image of my sister gagged and bound, her wrists in irons, or worse. But I could barely choke the images away. I squeezed the paper cap in my hand and made an attempt to overrule my imagination.

  “They are headed north. We are right behind them,” Bodi said.

  “Then I need to go after them. We need to go after them. If they have my sister, I need to get her back.”

  Nara and Lyra looked at one another again, nodded, then turned expectantly to Legba.

  Legba rubbed his chin thoughtfully then looked at the sky overhead. “It’s getting late,” he said.

  “Legba!” Nara protested.

  He chuckled. “There was a wheeled car sitting just inside the front gate. Did you see it?” he asked Nara.

  “Yeah, but—”

  “You and Lara go help Enrique load up the supplies intended for The Park in the cart. After that, ask Enrique to help you start closing up Low Tide for the night.”

  “You sure it’s safe?” Lyra asked.

  “Yes. But even if they do come, we are the Dead Troupe. Everyone knows our names. And we are welcome everywhere we go.”

  “Legba,” I said then, trying to divert the conversation back to the topic of Ash. “You said you’re going north. I wa
nt to go with you. I need to.”

  Legba cast a glance at the sisters who had lingered to hear his answer. Catching his look, they turned to go.

  “Fine,” Lyra said then she and her sister turned and headed back down the rampart.

  “Is he going to send her back?” Nara asked her sister as they walked away. I could tell by the sound of her voice that she intended Legba to hear.

  “He better not be,” Lyra answered. “She’s been a huge help. And she’s a valuable asset.”

  “And after all this? She should come with us. I mean, it’s her sister,” Nara said.

  “Definitely. I agree,” Lyra answered.

  “It would be stupid not to bring her,” Nara said, directing her voice back over her shoulder at Legba.

  Legba chuckled then looked at Bodi. “I don’t think I need to ask what you think.”

  “I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best not to argue with Lyra and Nara.”

  Legba looked at me. “I cannot promise you anything. I cannot promise we will find your sister. We may never find her or anyone from Low Tide. I cannot promise that your sister is still alive. I cannot promise that if we do find her, that we can easily rescue her. The burning road is a friend to no one. And the wailers always come out at night. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. My stomach hurt like someone had punched me in the gut. I squeezed the paper cap in my hand. My sister was alive, and someone had taken her. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t risk to get her back. “Yes.”

  “And if we don’t find her—or if we find tragedy—it may be many months, if not years, before we make it back to The Park. If you come with us, you will become one of us. We rely on one another to survive. We are all willing to give our lives to protect one another. I will not bring you if you are coming only to find your sister, but I will bring you if you’re willing become one of our troupe. At least for now.”

  My hands trembled both with fear and excitement. “Will I have to learn to breathe fire?”

  Bodi and Legba both smiled.

  “No. But you will need to find something inside you that you did not know was there before. If you do not, you will not survive the burning road. But solving problems does not seem to be a problem for you.”