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  Ever since leaving that strange cave, he’d reviewed his exploration in his head, wondering whether he might’ve missed something. He was confident he’d been thorough. He’d canvassed the tunnels as well as he was able, shining his light into crevices, searching for more passages like the one he’d found, but he’d found only miner’s marks. He was pretty sure the tunnel had no other outlets. The only thing left to explore was the other side of the passage.

  That raised another concern.

  How deep did the cavern go? For all Darius knew, it might take more than a day’s travel to search fully. In the past, he had learned the intricacies of each cave, timing his journeys to get back before daybreak and avoid risk. Even though he was older, he was familiar enough to get back in time.

  But this new passage might contain anything.

  The idea of waiting yet another day was unbearable.

  Stroking his chin, Darius looked at the torches he kept on the table. Caution fought with risk. He was an old man, with how many years left? For too long, he had searched fruitlessly, bringing back nothing but questions.

  And now he had a lead that he couldn’t ignore.

  Perhaps it was time to take a bigger risk.

  Reaching for a bin underneath the table, he pulled out more torches and laid them on the table next to the others, and then he readied more food.

  He wasn’t leaving until he found something.

  Chapter 38: Neena

  Neena and Kai were tired and thirsty. For most of the day, they’d ignored their fatigue and pushed on, but now their pace was slowing. Neena looked over the familiar landscape. Occasionally, the land curved up or down in a gradual slope, with long, sandy valleys that gave spectacular views, or with hills that blocked them. Sometimes those views seemed to go on forever, but each came with a toll on their bodies.

  Neena’s stomach growled. Her throat was parched. She thought about the last meal they’d had—the fawn from the night before. Even that meal was starting to sound appetizing.

  Ascending a long upward slope, undoubtedly feeling some of the same exhaustion, Kai asked, “Are we getting close to the shelter where you anticipated staying?”

  “It is only a few klicks away,” Neena said.

  “Good news,” Kai said. “Hopefully we can find food there.”

  “With the cover of shelter, perhaps we can catch some sand rats,” Neena said.

  Ahead of them, the gradual slope built up to a berm of sand. The natural wall blocked most of the southern landscape, but beyond it, Neena knew, was a downward slope that should make traveling easier. She pushed on, putting one foot in the other. Anxious to reach the shelter, Kai picked up his pace, getting a few steps ahead of her.

  He was almost at the crest of the slope when he stopped.

  The landscape fell deathly quiet.

  Neena looked underfoot, certain a rumble would shatter the calm, but Kai watched the berm. She followed his gaze to the top of the hill. Three ratty, staring creatures crept over the wall of sand. Neena looked from their vicious eyes to their spotted coats.

  Speckled wolves.

  Ribs jutted out from the sides of their gaunt bodies. Their fur was matted and clumped. The wolves stopped, raising their hackles. The lead animal took a slow, offensive step toward Kai, who was closer to the crest of the hill and a more obvious target.

  Neena clutched her spear, but even that wouldn’t save her, if the wolves decided to attack.

  She swallowed as she got her spear in front of her, trying to make herself larger, as her father had taught her. She faced the wolves while avoiding direct eye contact. Kai arched his shoulders.

  They both knew better than to run.

  The lead wolf bared its teeth, taking another step. Kai held his stance, neither moving, nor breathing. Neena thought about what she’d told Kai. The wolf packs she’d seen rarely bothered humans.

  But these wolves must be desperate.

  The lead wolf lunged.

  Kai cried out as the wolf darted toward him, leapt, and knocked him backward. He managed to throw up an arm before it seized his throat. And then he was on his back. The animal latched onto his sleeve, while Kai’s other arm flailed to get up his spear. Following their leader’s attack, the other wolves darted in with equal ferocity, snarling and snapping.

  “Get away!” Neena screamed.

  Of course, the wolves didn’t listen.

  She cocked back her spear, prepared to throw it, but the wolves were moving too quickly. She couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t hit Kai. Frantic, Neena raced the distance to the vicious animals, whacking the closest with a sideways blow. The animal yelped and retreated. The other wolves weren’t giving up as easily. The one on Kai’s other side nipped and grabbed at his arm. The lead wolf bit at the spear he’d managed to get in front of his throat.

  Raising her spear high in the air, Neena brought it down on the lead wolf’s back, screaming. The wolf snarled and yelped, letting go of Kai’s arm.

  It turned and refocused on Neena.

  Neena flailed backward as the wolf crashed into her legs, knocking her off balance and onto her back. Its hot breath and her frantic cries filled the world around her as they landed in a tangle. She turned her spear sideways and shielded her face, listening to the clack of its jaws on the dry piece of wood. From somewhere over the wolf’s attack, she heard Kai fighting his own desperate battle.

  The lead wolf opened and closed its mouth, finding a mouthful of Neena’s sleeve, shaking it back and forth as it searched for flesh. Neena flung up a knee, catching the wolf in the stomach. The wolf doubled down on its biting. She kneed it again, harder.

  The wolf cried out and sprang back.

  It bared its teeth and arched its back in the sand.

  Turning the spear in front of her, Neena leveled the pointed end at the wolf as it leapt again.

  Spear met flesh. The wolf yowled.

  The sharp stick penetrated the wolf’s neck as Neena rolled sideways, carrying wolf and spear to the ground. She lost hold of the spear. Quickly, she scrambled to her feet, getting her hands up defensively, but the creature kicked and squirmed its death throes. Blood spewed around the spear in its neck as it gave a final jerk and went still. Dislodging her spear, she turned and looked for Kai, her breath hitching in frantic gasps.

  Kai had managed to ward the other two wolves away with his spear and was struggling to get to his feet. The hungry animals growled and snarled, regrouping. Drawing her arm back, Neena aimed at the wolf closest to Kai and hurled her spear.

  The weapon whizzed through the air, striking her target, but not fatally.

  The wolf yelped as the homemade spear lodged in its hindquarters, it took a few erratic steps, and it spun and raced away. The third wolf watched them for a moment before following its brethren, cresting the berm and disappearing from sight.

  Catching her breath, Neena made her way to Kai.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  Kai dusted off his clothes as he stood, clutching his spear. She looked down at his arm. The wolf had opened a gash near his wrist, soaking his sleeve with blood. His pants were torn; his hair was disheveled. A few, other rips and tears showed where the wolves had tried getting to him, but he’d managed to avoid more serious damage.

  “Your wrist,” she said, calling attention to the worst of the injuries.

  “I’ll be fine,” he said, wincing.

  “Your wound needs tending,” Neena said. “Let’s get to the top of the hill, so we can make sure the wolves are gone.”

  Kai nodded as he looked around at the landscape. Neither needed to voice their other concerns. They were alive, but that might not last long, if something bigger than a wolf had heard them.

  **

  Neena and Kai made their way to the top of the berm, hunkering down. From their higher perch, they stared in all directions. They saw no sign of the injured wolf she’d speared, or its companion. The daylight was slowly dying, creating a shimmering glare over the d
esert. To the north was the long valley of sand they’d left behind. In the opposite direction: more sand.

  They heard no rumbles. No Abomination.

  They waited in ominous silence for what seemed like a long while. When they were certain no danger imminently lurked, Neena gazed at the spotted wolf farther down the hill that she’d killed.

  “The wolf will give us a meal,” Kai said, still gasping for breath. “We can dress it and take the meat with us. At the very least, it will save us more hunting.”

  Neena nodded grimly. She felt no pride in what she’d done. The wolves had done what they needed to survive, just as she had. “I just wish it hadn’t taken my spear with it.”

  Kai held out his arm, showing her the wound on his wrist. Blood fell and splotched the sand. It didn’t seem like the type of wound she could sew. Hopefully, it would heal properly. But it needed wrapping.

  “Let me clean it,” she said, reaching for her flask.

  Finding a piece of fabric that the wolf had torn from her sleeve, Neena ripped it off and used it to wrap up his arm, stopping some of the bleeding, after cleaning it with water. Kai thanked her.

  “How about you?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

  In the frenzy of the encounter, Neena hadn’t spent much time checking on herself. She looked down, finding a few scrapes and tears. She didn’t see any deep bite marks. Still, she was winded and shaken up, too. When she finished cleaning the wound, they stood and assessed the sandy valley in both directions.

  “Hopefully, we have scared the wolves enough that we will not see them again,” Neena said.

  **

  They traveled the remainder of the day in relative quiet. Kai clutched his spear, while Neena traveled with her knife out. Neena’s back was heavy from the wolf meat she had hastily dressed and placed into her game bags. For a while, she had refused Kai’s offer to carry it, but finally, he persuaded her to let him shoulder the weight for a klick. He didn’t complain as he slung it over his non-injured arm, though a few times she caught him grimacing from the wound she’d bandaged.

  The sun was fading over the horizon when he pointed in the distance. “Is that the place of which you spoke?”

  Neena nodded as she appraised the shelter in the distance. A long, angular rock the width of many houses sat in the sand. The eastern and western sides sloped up to a higher point in the center, which was about the size of the Comm Building. Underneath, a cave-sized opening allowed light to pass through, leading to a partially enclosed platform made of rock.

  “That is the alcove,” Neena said, with a nod. “It is where I usually sleep, if I get here late in the day.”

  The formation was a welcome sight, after so long of travel. And the rock should help keep them safe from the Abomination.

  Hopefully.

  “How many klicks left to Red Rock?” Kai asked.

  “We should be there midday tomorrow,” she reiterated.

  The thought of actually reaching home seemed surreal. Staring at the familiar formation, Neena could just as easily picture trudging into Red Rock.

  “Do others stay here?” Kai asked.

  “Sometimes.” Neena scanned the distance, wondering if she’d see a billow of smoke from a distant desert fire. The place seemed empty.

  No hunters. No wolves.

  No Abomination.

  Neena looked over her shoulder, as if they might see the vicious animals, or the ground parting behind them. All she saw was the setting, glowing sun, looking as magnificent as always.

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get to shelter.”

  Chapter 39: Gideon

  “Good afternoon, sir.”

  Gideon nodded as he crossed the main room of the Comm Building, temporarily forgetting about the guard he had stationed there. The Watcher arched his back, stiff from a long day’s watch. A flask sat on the ground by his dirty boot.

  Gideon looked from the guard to the strong, secure door behind him, leading to the annex. The door was thick enough that it would hold against the prisoner’s pounding fists, even if the thief got out of his cell.

  “How have things been in here?” Gideon asked, tired from a long day of overseeing the crop disbursement.

  “The prisoner yelled for a while, but he’s quiet now,” the guard said in a low voice. “Horatio and Saurab are in their rooms, resting.”

  “Why don’t you take a break?” Gideon said.

  “Thank you, sir.” The Watcher gratefully left his post. “I’ll fill my flask and be back.”

  Gideon watched the man cross the room and close the door behind him. He turned his attention to the annex door. The hallway on the other side was silent.

  Still, he could never be too careful.

  After a moment of quiet, he fished out his key, inserted it in the lock, and swung open the heavy door, revealing the offshoot hallway on the other side. Up and down the long, rectangular corridor, rows of separated rooms lined the walls, cordoned off by thick metal bars. Long, black marks scarred the walls of each of those rooms, where shelves had once hung. As he stepped inside, the smell of rodent scat and sweat clung to his nose.

  Gideon peered through the gloom until he found the man The Watchers had captured that afternoon. Huddled by the wall in the second cell, the man looked up with a gaunt face and pleading eyes. Slowly, he rose to his feet and clung to the round, sturdy bars. Gideon appraised him in silence.

  When Gideon’s eyes became too thick to bear, the man said, “Please. I have a family to feed. I did not mean to steal.”

  Gideon said nothing. The man was sorry that he was caught. But if he had made it away, that sullen expression would’ve been an expression of triumph.

  “Please…” the man said again.

  Watching the captive man, Gideon pictured a slew of others just like him, walking the streets, probably wondering whether they might have made it away. He didn’t need anyone getting ideas.

  Some of the duller colonists might’ve welcomed the extra portions of vegetables and roots, but the more intelligent ones—like this man—realized that extra crops meant cuts were coming. It was those people about whom Gideon worried.

  Gideon knew how quickly the seeds of discontent could blossom.

  One day, food might grow scarce enough that more than a manageable few would consider breaking the rules. How long would it take people to realize their neighbors were better at rationing their meat, or that their crying, starved child might benefit from taking someone else’s share? How long would it take for someone to realize they could use their knife to get food in town, instead of food in the desert? Gideon and his men brought a civility that kept them a few steps ahead of chaos, but not much more. The colony’s hunger could turn into a starvation that would kill them all.

  He, his Heads, and his Watchers numbered only two hundred. His Watchers were decisive, tough men, taught to execute orders and keep people obedient. But they wouldn’t stand up against an enormous, unruly mob.

  In the aftermath of every storm, it was important that Gideon pay attention to every wandering eye, every uttered word. If his father had taught him anything, it was that weakness led to disorder.

  Disorder led to chaos.

  He couldn’t tolerate either.

  “If you behave, I’ll let you out in a few days, as I have ordered. Keep talking, and you will be cast out of Red Rock,” Gideon threatened, before walking back through the door, leaving the prisoner and the annex behind.

  Chapter 40: Neena

  Neena and Kai bedded down under the alcove, on a flat place in the large rock, where the stone was mercifully smooth. Neena was grateful for the shelter, even if it didn’t have the full protection of a cave. Despite the open areas behind them, and an overhang that only jutted about fifteen feet over the front edge of the rock, the hard, stone floor spanned a much wider area than where they’d stayed the night before.

  It was certainly better than sleeping in the desert.

  Looking around, Neena saw a few piles
of scattered ashes, and some dried bloodstains, probably from a hunter dressing his kill. On a normal trip, the smoke from her fires would drive away the more curious animals, but of course, they weren’t lighting one now.

  Handing a blanket to Kai, she asked, “How’s your wrist?”

  “It’s fine,” he said.

  She inspected his arm in the dying light. Blood had soaked through most of the bandage. It seemed as if the wound was worse than he let on.

  “We should clean it again,” she told him. “When we get back to Red Rock, our healers can look at it.”

  Kai winced as he took a seat on his blanket, and Neena huddled next to him, slicing off a piece of the blanket’s end so she could use it as fresh gauze. In the last of the sunlight, she treated it again.

  “I can’t believe how close we are to your colony,” Kai said, keeping a brave face as she cleaned off the raw, red skin.

  “It seems strange to me, too,” Neena said. “It is always an adjustment getting back to my colony, after a while in the desert.”

  “And it will be even stranger now.” Changing to a subject that weighed on both their minds, Kai said, “I wonder how your people will react to me, when we arrive.”

  “Our story—and your existence—will surprise them,” Neena said, drying the wound.

  “Just as your existence surprised me.”

  Neena thought on it. “I’m sure the leaders of Red Rock will have many questions for you, as I have had. Maybe our people can benefit each other.”

  Kai agreed. It was a hope as much as a question.

  Finished cleaning the wound, Neena tied a new bandage over it. The upcoming meeting remained on her mind. She looked over at Kai in the dying sunlight, recalling the time they’d first met. The marks on his head would surely intrigue others, too. She studied the lines that went from his hairline to his temples, which differentiated him from anyone she’d met.

  “I don’t think I’ve asked about the marks on your forehead,” she said.

  “A mark of the heavens,” Kai explained, with a smile. “They guide our ascension, after our passing.”