From the Earth (Ember Society Book 2)

by AR Colbert

  I looked at Dax again, eager to hear what he’d come up with. And once again, I should have known better than to leave things in his hands.

  “Well as we discussed, force is not our best option. We don’t know how many Outsiders are in each camp or what kind of weapons they may have. Besides, we’re not all trained in combat here.” He looked pointedly at Emilio and me.

  “But luckily, Claren has some connections out here.” My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. What was he doing? I shot him a look that should have been pretty clear. Shut your mouth, Dax.

  But he just kept right on. Aiden, suddenly straight-faced, had his eyes locked skeptically on me. And even Rider was suddenly more interested in looking my way. If Dax was trying to get me killed, I wished he would have done it back home instead of driving me all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.

  “You know Claren’s brother was involved with the rebels. And he lost his life for it. But before he was killed, Claren was able to infiltrate a few meetings. That’s how she was able to help Emmaline capture their leader in the first place.”

  Aiden nodded, understanding what Dax was getting at. I was relieved to have his scrutinizing gaze off of me, but still uneasy about what Dax was going to suggest. Rider still looked uncertain as well.

  “Maybe she could do it again. How many amplifiers do we have, Emilio?”

  “We’ve got four with us. They’re working on more, but they take some time to make.”

  Dax bobbed his head, mulling something over. “Okay, so we know there are more than four camps out here. Which means we have to be careful about the placement of the amplifiers. We don’t care about their daily operations so much as their big picture plans. Which means we need to find their leadership.” He turned back to me. “Claren, do you think you might be able to find the leaders again?”

  “I think—”

  “Wait, wait, wait.” All eyes turned to Rider as he interrupted me. He rarely piped up in these meetings, so we were all very interested in whatever he might have to say.

  “If Claren got their leader arrested, there’s no way they’re going to allow her to enter the camps again. They’ll kill her instantly.”

  “They don’t normally resort to violence if they don’t have to,” I said.

  “Ha! Tell that to the guy Justice Hosch found beat to a pulp in that pond!” Aiden hollered from the front seat.

  My stomach twisted into a knot. But I couldn’t dwell on that now.

  “I don’t always agree with Aiden, but I do think we need to be a little more aggressive here,” Rider said to Dax.

  “Well I wasn’t suggesting we send her in alone! I would go with her to make sure she’s safe.”

  “No offense man, but there’s no way I’m letting her go into those camps with you alone,” Aiden said.

  “We’ll take Emilio with us, too,” Dax suggested. Emilio grinned in the front seat and I almost snorted. This argument was going nowhere. Emilio was the last person in this vehicle capable of adding protection.

  “We’ll all go,” Rider said definitively. “I’ll keep my distance and watch through a scope. I agree that if they see a big crowd of us walking in they’ll become defensive. But she can’t go alone. I don’t trust them.”

  “You can stay back with Rider,” Aiden added. “And Emilio, you can wait in the van if you want. I’ll go with Claren.”

  “No,” I said. “I need Emilio there in case I have issues with the tech. And I’d really like to have Dax with me. Besides, look at him. The Outsiders would never be intimidated by this gangly guy. You on the other hand with those broad shoulders...” I raised my eyebrows, and Aiden puffed out his chest with an arrogant smirk.

  “You’re right,” he said. “We don’t want to intimidate them.”

  Dax rolled his eyes and I smiled at my small victory. Playing to Aiden’s ego was too easy.

  “I’ve got a box of walkies here,” Emilio lifted a box of black electronic devices. Noting my confusion, he handed me one. “You push this button on the side to talk, and we’ll all be able to hear you. It’s a way for us to communicate with each other outside of shouting distance.”

  “We don’t want to be shouting out here anyway,” Aiden said.

  “Right. So everyone take one of these.” He passed them around for us.

  “So do you know where the first camp is?” I asked Dax.

  “Not exactly, but I know we’ll be better off on foot than if they see us all roll up in a government vehicle.”

  “True,” Aiden said. “So we better get moving.”

  CHAPTER 10

  We walked together down the broken concrete remains of an old sidewalk, stepping around tall weeds and discussing different scenarios that may take place. I only kept one amplifier in my own backpack. We left two in the van, and Emilio kept the fourth in his bag, just in case mine failed for some reason. I was only going to place it if I was certain there would be high-level discussions taking place among the “rebel” leadership at the camp.

  The town was small, with most of the old businesses situated together on two city blocks. The windows were broken from the decrepit old buildings, and I was certain any supplies inside had been raided long ago. A couple of small neighborhoods sat beyond the businesses, but within fifteen minutes we found ourselves completely outside of the old city and back into thick brush as we entered an overgrown forest.

  Aiden led the way through town, but now Dax stepped forward, examining the tree line ahead.

  “Let’s move a little further south. I think it’ll be pretty obvious when we find the way to their camp. This is all too overgrown to travel through. They probably have a well-worn path ahead.”

  I pulled my jacket tighter and readjusted my backpack as we continued forward. And Dax was right. But it wasn’t a worn path we found. There was an actual road winding back through the forest.

  Dax stopped, turning to face the rest of our group. “This is where I think you ought to hang back.”

  Aiden nodded. “We’ll try to stay behind the trees, just in case your arrival isn’t a welcome one. We’ve got your back.”

  Dax, Emilio, and I moved forward, and my heart rate picked up with every step. I wasn’t getting tired from our hike, but the anticipation of what we might find ahead was killing me. I looked to Dax, and his silent nod confirmed that we were on the right track.

  Would Raf be waiting to greet us at the camp? If not, would the other Embers be willing to speak to me? I couldn’t even be certain they knew we were coming. Dax had been spending his time in the Center with me, and I didn’t know who else would be relaying messages back and forth.

  After another twenty minutes, I found myself getting winded. The tip of my nose was growing numb from the cold, and my anxiety was starting to get the best of me. I’d gone from imagining a welcome party at the camp to picturing an ambush as we stepped into a clearing, with angry Outsiders attacking us the way that young man in the pond in Morton was attacked. I didn’t know what to expect anymore.

  And I wasn’t the only one growing impatient. A crackle on the walkie attached to my backpack stopped me in my tracks. Aiden’s voice came through, his irritation evident.

  “You sure this is the right way, Dax?”

  Dax stopped briefly to grab his own device from the bag on his shoulders. “I’m positive. And no more talking, we’re almost there.”

  I bit my lip, nervous that Dax revealed too much. He sounded a little too confident. But he was unfazed, marching forward. Emilio shrugged, and together we followed behind him.

  Not five minutes later, I saw a clearing in the trees up ahead. He was right. And thankfully there was no ambush waiting for us on the other side.

  A dirty wooden sign at the edge of the road read, “Dripping Springs,” and underneath were small square pictures of a fish, a fire, a restroom symbol, and a tent. We were entering an old campground from before the war. Of course, this was a perfect spot to set up camp. Old houses were too obvious, but a camp
ground on the lake still had everything they could need—fresh water, fish to eat, and good cover from the trees.

  “Here goes nothing,” I said. Dax and Emilio gave me nervous smiles, and together we walked forward.

  My eyes moved back and forth over the scene before me, expecting, I don’t know, some obvious idea of what to do next. But I was clueless. Raf didn’t come running out, unfortunately. No one did.

  The settlement was almost completely void of people. There were a couple of worn cabins to the left—structures that probably existed before the war. They weren’t pretty, but they were definitely functional. Smoke rose from chimneys on their little rooftops.

  To the right were newer, more rustic looking cabins. They were a far cry from the modern new construction in our city’s Center, but they were calming in a sense. It was evident that they took lots of time and skilled craftsmanship. I was impressed by the Outsiders’ ingenuity already.

  A man walking alongside the cabins on the left carried an armful of firewood. He didn’t stop or speak when he saw us. He simply locked his sights on us, looking neither frightened nor excited. But I could feel his apprehension. I was so transfixed by the man that I didn’t see the woman on my right until after she’d raised her gun.

  Dax spotted her first, and it was him raising his arms in surrender that caught my attention. I wondered what Rider and Aiden were thinking as they watched from the woods—if they were still watching. For all I knew they’d already been taken by some of these people.

  “Why is she here?” The woman asked Dax.

  “We’re here to talk to Frank,” Dax replied. He wasn’t afraid. He spoke with a steady tone, straight to the point. Beside him I thought Emilio might be about to wet his pants, though.

  The woman looked at me, gun still raised, sizing me up. Maybe the Outsiders weren’t as innocent as I thought. Could it be that they really did harm Raf? Maybe he said or did something they didn’t like. Maybe he defended me. I clearly wasn’t on their good list.

  “Frank’s not here,” she said, keeping her eyes fixed on me.

  “What about Tim?” Dax asked. “Is he around?”

  The first man with the firewood came jogging toward us then, arms empty after dropping the wood near his doorstep. “Everything alright, Shelly?”

  “They want to talk to Tim,” she called out.

  The man nodded and jogged off to a different cabin on our right. Shelly kept her gun pointed at me, but Dax relaxed, dropping his arms to his side.

  “Where have you been?” she asked him.

  “I’ve been in the Center,” he said. “Gathering information for Frank and keeping an eye on her.” He gestured toward me. His tone wasn’t menacing, more annoyed than anything else.

  “And?” she asked bitterly.

  “And you can drop the gun,” Dax said. “Frank knows what he’s talking about.”

  Shelly looked skeptical, but finally dropped her arms. I inhaled deeply, suddenly aware of all the tension I’d been holding. Thank goodness Rider didn’t shoot from wherever he was hiding. It looked like I’d be safe. For now, anyway.

  Firewood guy reemerged from one of the rustic cabins, followed by a shorter, stocky man with a slight limp. The corner of my mouth twitched up. I was hoping he was the Tim who Dax was referring to.

  I first met Tim the night I followed Cato to a meeting with the other Outsiders. I thought he was going to kill Cato until I realized they were a friendly group. And by friendly, I meant not deadly. Tim was actually kind of a hothead. But he was a familiar hothead, at least.

  Dax stepped forward and met Tim halfway. They shook hands and Dax leaned in to whisper something I couldn’t hear. Tim looked up at me, and they continued over to where I stood with Shelly and Emilio. I didn’t dare move with a hostile Shelly still burning beside me.

  “I wondered when we would see you again,” Tim said with a straight face.

  “Here I am,” I said with my arms out to the sides of my body. “And for what it’s worth, I’m glad to see you.” I gestured around the clearing. “This place is amazing.”

  Tim nodded. “It works for us. Come inside, it’s freezing out here.” He glared at Emilio before turning back toward the cabin. Emilio was playing on the right team, but he obviously wasn’t familiar with his teammates. He was practically trembling as we followed Tim back to the cabin. Like me, this was Emilio’s first time out of the city.

  “Claren!”

  A young woman with fiery red hair ran and pulled me into her arms as we entered the cabin. “I’m so glad you’re okay. And I’m so sorry about Cato.” She squeezed me tighter at the mention of my brother, and I felt tears begin to sting at the back of my eyes. I swallowed hard and tried to focus on the present, leaving my grief in the past.

  “Thank you,” I said. She pulled away, practically glowing with love. “Sarah, right?”

  She laughed and nodded. “That’s right. I feel like I know you so well through Cato and our updates from the Center. I forget that we’ve only actually met once.”

  I smiled as well. “That’s okay. It’s nice to see a friendly face.”

  She walked over to Tim and took his hand. “Well we’re glad to have you here. We’ve known you’d be coming for some time now, but we weren’t expecting you today. Frank isn’t even here today.”

  Our group moved into a small living area. There wasn’t much in the way of furniture, but what they had was clean and tidy. I sat with Dax on a small wooden bench covered in throw pillows, and Emilio stood beside us.

  “Has he gone back into the city?”

  “No,” Tim said. “It’s too dangerous for him there now. Frank hasn’t gone back since we left the courthouse.”

  “Where is he then?”

  Tim and Sarah looked at each other as if asking for permission to say more. Dax sighed and said, “It’s okay. She’s on our side. For real this time.”

  “And this guy?” Tim said nodding toward Emilio.

  “He’s good too. Can’t say the same about the numbskulls waiting out in the woods, though.”

  “Don’t worry about them. Dave and his guys set up to watch over them the second we knew you’d parked in town.”

  Dax nodded. “I figured as much.”

  Sarah folded her hands in her lap. “This is where we live and work, but Frank is more of a nomad.”

  “I’m sure he’s not a nomad,” Tim interrupted. “He’s just discrete. He’d tell us where to find him if we needed to know.”

  Sarah shrugged with a crooked grin. “Maybe. But he travels quite a bit either way. There are several different settlements around the lake. We’re cautious not to allow any one area to grow too large. Obviously the government could find us if they really wanted to, but we’re not going to make it easy for them.”

  Tim nodded in agreement. Then he turned back to me, brows furrowed in the middle. “What are you planning to do when you find him?”

  “Tim. I told you—” Dax started but Tim raised a hand to quiet him down.

  “I know what you’ve been saying, but I want to hear it from her.”

  I set my hand on Dax’s knee. “It’s okay. I’ve got this. They already know what’s going on, right?”

  Dax nodded, staring at the floor.

  “The Leadership is concerned about missing citizens. I understand you’ve been recruiting a fair number of people from Classen City recently?”

  Sarah grinned, but Tim looked less than thrilled to be discussing this with me.

  “So they’ve sent us out to gather information about your plans, and I need to find out what Frank wants me to tell them. I have this technology they want me to set up in your camps. If I don’t come back with some kind of information, they’ll just send someone else out. They believe you’re going to attack.”

  Tim snorted and rolled his eyes.

  “And actually,” I hesitated. “I’m definitely not accusing you of anything, but there have been some attacks... Do you know anything about those?”


  Tim leaned forward in his seat. “It’s probably your own Leadership trying to scare the people into submission.”

  Emilio spoke up then. “I don’t think it is. The patterns from these deaths are unlike anything I’ve ever seen discussed inside the Leadership. If they were going to take matters into their own hands like that, they would do it with a lot more flair—make a big production out of it to not leave any doubt in the minds of our citizens.” He ran a hand through his hair twice and swallowed.

  “Who are you to come in here and accuse us—” Tim stood angrily, but Dax stepped in front of Emilio with his hands blocking Tim from moving any closer.

  “He wasn’t accusing you of anything,” I said. “None of us are. I just wondered if you knew anything about it. Actually, I was hoping to talk to Raf. He might have more insight since he spends so much time in the city. Is he around?”

  Sarah shook her head. “No, Raf is still in Morton as far as I know. He keeps sending more and more people our way.”

  My heart sank and I felt the blood drain from my face.

  “What’s wrong?” Sarah asked.

  “Raf’s not in Morton. No one knows where he is. But there was a body found near his work...” my voice shook too much to finish my thought.

  “Oh, sweetheart.” She came over and knelt beside me, taking my hand into hers. “I’m sure he’s fine. I’ll ask around for you, okay? We’ll find him.”

  “Unless the Exiled got him,” Tim said matter-of-factly.

  “The Exiled?”

  Sarah pursed her lips. “Not everyone Outside of the cities is good. But don’t you worry about that right now. Come on.” She pulled me into a standing position. “I’ve got something to show you.”

  She shrugged on an oversized puffy coat hanging near the door and gestured for me to go first. Leaving the boys behind, we walked a few yards to the cabin next door, and Sarah knocked on the door. “Liiiiz! We have a visitor!”

  Another young woman opened the door. I recognized Elizabeth from the meeting with Cato as well, but I didn’t recall her abdomen looking quite so swollen. She grinned widely, resting one hand on her belly and swiping a strand of blue streaked hair out of her face.