Sandstorm Box Set Page 7

Chapter 15: Neena

  Morning sunlight found its way through the cave’s hazy entrance.

  Neena sat up, blinking twice to ensure she was awake. What little dozing she’d done was filled with dreams of a looming, massive beast coming from the ground, devouring her. More than once, she had peered through the darkness in Kai’s direction, thinking he might change his nature and come for her.

  He hadn’t.

  She adjusted her goggles as spears of daylight illuminated her surroundings. Kai sat a few feet away, clutching his knees, breathing softly. He met her eyes.

  Neither of them dared speaking.

  Their look said it all.

  We’re alive.

  Slowly, they crawled over to the cave’s entrance. A small bed of sand and sticks was spread across the opening, creating an uneven platform near the cave’s entrance. Reaching it, they stopped, as if an invisible line stood between them and the outside. Neena looked beyond. A few, scarce weeds around the cave’s entrance were bent over and crusted with sand. Some small rocks around the cave’s entrance had broken, fallen, and cracked at the threshold.

  The desert was covered in a dusty cloud. The silhouettes of the dunes were flattened, or reshaped. Light emanated from high up in the sky, in the direction of the sun and the twin moons.

  She saw no monster.

  No jagged, waiting teeth.

  With the sun piercing through the dust, and the wind gone, it would be easy to think they were safe, if she didn’t know better. If the beast was out there, they might be dead as soon as they took a step outside.

  Kai surveyed the landscape with the same trepidation. The three markings on either side of his hairline seemed even darker in the daytime. The dark, heavy bags under his eyes showed he hadn’t slept or dozed much, either. After a while of watching, Kai raised an arm and pointed in the distance, on the eastern side of one of the flattened dunes, where the sun shone through the dusty landscape.

  Leaning close enough that Neena could smell his nervous sweat, he hissed, “Do you see that?”

  Neena squinted, spotting what had gotten his attention. A large, black hole sat in the ground about fifty yards away, and another fifty yards north.

  “It surfaced, looking for us,” he whispered.

  “Is it gone?”

  Kai shook his head. Of course, he didn’t know. Slowly, he dragged a hand across his dry, cracked lips. He must be as parched as she was. Neena removed one of her two flasks and handed it over.

  “We’re running low on water,” she warned.

  Kai sipped modestly. After a small drink, he said, “Several times, I thought I heard it in the night, and thought we might have to run.”

  Neena nodded. She had thought the same thing, even though the cave was supposed to protect them. She recalled what Kai had told her the night before. I can’t promise our safety.

  A scuttling noise ripped their attention behind.

  Neena spun.

  She thrust out her knife.

  Her eyes flitted from floor to ceiling, as she waited for the ground to shake, or something to crash through a wall.

  A sand rat sat in the middle of the rocky floor, staring at them with unblinking eyes.

  It watched them a moment, before scurrying off and burrowing in a crevice in the cave’s wall. Neena lowered her knife with relief.

  “That’s a good sign,” Kai said, at a more normal volume.

  “What do you mean?” Neena asked.

  “The animals won’t come out if the creature is close. It is something I’ve learned, in my time being chased,” he said, scratching the stubble on his chin. “The creatures in the desert are as afraid of the Abomination as we are. They sense the rumbling underground, before we hear it. Or at least, that’s what I think.”

  A recollection hit Neena, as she thought back to the moments preceding the frantic chase. “The Rydeer knew the beast was coming.”

  Kai nodded. “The animals have other instincts we do not have. In any case, their fear is a good indicator of when it is close.” He took another small sip of her flask, before handing it back. With his pronouncement made, Kai stood, stretching his legs. He seemed cautious, but a little less anxious.

  “Yesterday, you knocked me to the ground,” Neena remembered, finally voicing her appreciation. “You saved me, before the creature could eat me.”

  “And you saved my life, by giving me water,” Kai said honestly. “But if the Abomination catches us, neither of those things will matter.”

  “The Abomination,” she repeated, pronouncing the word the same way he had. “What is it?”

  “No one knows for sure, but it has plagued our colony for as long as I can remember.” Kai quietly brushed off his clothes. “If the stories are to be believed, it has existed for generations, feeding on our people, mostly in the desert.”

  “Where did it come from?”

  “No one knows that, either,” Kai said.

  Neena’s eyes grew wide. “I still can’t believe my people wouldn’t know about it.”

  Kai shook his head. “Maybe it lives far enough away that you’ve never seen it. In any case, you are fortunate.”

  The questions that had plagued Neena the night before came tumbling back into her head. “You said New Canaan is far from here, or at least you suspect that it is. Are you alone?”

  Kai looked at the ground. “I wish I was with others. The rest of my hunting party is dead.”

  “Dead?” Neena couldn’t hide her shock.

  “I’m the last of my group.” Sadness crossed Kai’s face as he looked from Neena out into the desert, to the two murky holes. “The Abomination killed the hunters I was with.”

  Dread filled her stomach. “How many died?”

  “Ten.”

  Neena shook her head. “And you’re certain they’re dead?”

  “I’m certain.” Kai lowered his head. “I heard the screams. I saw the creature swallow them whole, as it erupted from the ground. Its massive body crushed those who weren’t eaten. The wake of sand threw me to the side, or I would’ve been killed or eaten, too.” A wave of emotion hit Kai as he lifted his goggles and dabbed at his eyes. “Everyone I traveled with is gone.”

  “I’m sorry,” Neena said, feeling a wave of empathy that she hadn’t anticipated.

  Kai shook his head in grief. “I knew most of those hunters for years. We grew up together. It is difficult thinking about their loss.” With a long sigh, he explained, “We were a few days away from my colony when it happened. One of us had shot a Rydeer, but the shot wasn’t fatal, and we were following it while it bled out. A few of us were moving quickly, hoping we didn’t lose sight of it. We must’ve made too much noise. The creature’s rumbles came up so loud and fast that we didn’t have much time to react. I was thrown to the ground when it erupted. My bag went one way, and my spear, the other. In my haste to get away, I had no time to retrieve my belongings. I suspect that most of my gear was buried, or fell down the holes, but I’ll never know, because I didn’t go back.” Kai shook his head at the memory. “I ran as far and as fast as I could. My instinctive response almost killed me, because the creature followed my vibrations, tracking me across the desert. Eventually, I stumbled upon a cave and stayed there for almost a day.”

  “By the stars.” Neena shook her head.

  Kai shook his head as he relived that panicked time. “In the cave, I had no water, or a way to collect it. My flasks were with my bag. I was on the verge of dehydration. But I feared going back to New Canaan, knowing that was the direction that I’d last seen the creature. Eventually, my thirst drove me to move. And so, I continued south, hoping to lose it.”

  “For a while, I had luck walking softly, moving from cave to cave, but the creature was never far behind. When the sandstorm hit, I took the opportunity to move faster, using the noise to cover my travels. I intended to circle back to my colony. That’s when I lost direction. I trekked for a while in the storm, hoping to gain enough ground to be rid of it. But it foun
d me. It found us.” Kai looked down, ashamed. “And now we are both in danger.”

  “How far away is your colony?”

  “I have no idea anymore, because I have no idea where I ended up.” Kai looked around, confused.

  They stood in silence for a moment, scanning the desert. Kai lowered his head, clearly feeling the loss of his fellow hunters, and still confused. Neena felt a commiserating pit in her stomach. She knew the pain of losing people. Clipping her flask onto her belt, she stood and looked out across the desert.

  After a long, sad silence, Kai said, “I wish I could bring back my friends, but, of course, that is impossible.”

  “I am sorry you lost them.”

  After a few more moments, he turned to look at her. One of a dozen questions flickered through his eyes as he pushed past his sadness. “Where are you from?”

  Neena hesitated. Since the night before, she hadn’t revealed more than a few things about herself. She watched Kai for a moment, thinking of the warnings her father gave her when he realized he was dying and she would be alone. Neena knew better than to trust blindly. And yet, she had spent a night alone with this strange man, and he had not attacked her. He had saved her from the creature when he didn’t have to. And he had clearly lost some of his people.

  “My colony is called Red Rock.” She looked for recognition in his face, but saw none.

  Sensing her caution, he softened his tone. “If you do not want to tell me too much, I will not pressure you. I’m sure you are careful, as my people are.”

  “I was out hunting, as you guessed.”

  “Alone?” he assumed.

  Her eyes flicked over the desert. Of course, he probably knew the truth. “Yes.”

  Kai scanned the desert, where a few birds soared past. “How far away is your colony?”

  “Three days,” Neena answered.

  “Three days,” he repeated. “Not close, in other words.”

  Neena shook her head, wishing she had another answer. “Unfortunately, not. But it sounds as if your colony might be farther.”

  “Even if I wanted to go back, I have no idea which direction to go,” Kai said.

  “What do we do now?”

  “If we stay here, it will come back for us,” Kai said, knowingly.

  Looking out into the desert, Neena couldn’t imagine taking a step outside the cave. At the very least, she wasn’t ready to make a hasty decision. “You said that it has followed you for days, always finding you. Maybe if we wait longer, we will lose it.”

  “If we stay, we will die,” Kai reiterated.

  Confusion struck Neena. “What do you mean?”

  “When I stayed in that first cave, I made another mistake,” Kai explained. “I waited too long for it to leave, and I nearly died of dehydration.” His face took on a new level of concern, as he looked at her flasks. “Unless you have water that I am not seeing, we will need more.”

  Neena nodded. All she had in her bag was a little sand rat, some blankets, and game pouches. Kai was right.

  “Is there anything to drink nearby?” Kai asked.

  Neena shook her head. “Not here.”

  “Where is the closest water source?”

  “A large rock formation a few klicks away,” Neena replied, thinking, but not saying, that was also the direction of her colony. “There’s a stream that runs next to it.”

  “Perhaps we can head for the stream. At the very least, we will be moving further away from the holes, and where we last saw the creature.” Kai shrugged. “If we hear rumbling, we can come back. It is all I can think to do.”

  Neena looked out at the desert for a long moment. Kai was right. They hadn’t heard the creature in a while. And they wouldn’t last more than a day in the desert without water.

  She didn’t like the idea of stepping back outside, but at least heading for the stream was a plan.

  Chapter 16: Raj

  Raj and Samel hurried through the alleys. Raj would never forget the old, sand-covered woman he’d helped pull from the rubble: her vacant eyes, staring at the heavens, her lifeless fingers clutching at nothing. A growing fear told Raj that he’d find Helgid buried in a layer of wreckage and sand, or a group of people hovering around her body. Helgid wasn’t feeble, but the storm didn’t discriminate. What if her house had collapsed, too?

  Skirting between two houses, he watched some people comforting an older, frightened man. The elderly man smeared sand from his nose, looking disoriented and confused. Seeing the rattled man deepened Raj’s fear.

  He kept running until his lungs and legs hurt. Samel sucked in rapid breaths, barely keeping up with shorter strides.

  Neither slowed until they reached a familiar alley.

  Helgid’s dwelling was little more than an outline in the encircling haze, but it looked intact. Raj wasn’t ready to believe his eyes until he found her. He and Samel raced the last few-dozen steps to the threshold, frantically looking around.

  No rubble.

  No grieving, circling people.

  A good sign, he hoped.

  Raj didn’t bother knocking. He opened the door, keeping Samel behind with a protective arm.

  A few, small holes seemed to be the only damage. The holes made spears of dusty light that shone from the wall to the floor, filling the dwelling with the same dusty cloud that occupied the alleys. Piles of tied-up belongings sat in sheets near the walls. Helgid had heard the horn and reacted.

  But what if she’d gone out, right after the storm started?

  What if she went looking for us?

  Raj didn’t voice his thoughts to Samel, who was already frightened.

  “Come on, Samel. Let’s check with the neighbors.”

  Leaving the hovel, they spotted a middle-aged man with a shock of black hair named Amos, one of Helgid’s neighbors. Raj hurried toward him, about to voice the question on the tip of his tongue, when someone called his name.

  “Raj!”

  He and Samel spun.

  A figure strode quickly down the alley about thirty feet away, cutting through the dust. Despite the obscuring conditions and her shawl and goggles, Helgid’s gait was unmistakable. Raj and Samel changed course, running to meet her.

  Raj opened his arms and embraced her, flooded with relief. He and Samel hugged her for several moments, as if she might disappear.

  Stepping back, Helgid appraised them, with the same concern on her face that they certainly wore. Long, gray hair poked out of the sides of her shawl. Her brown eyes shone underneath her goggles.

  “You’re okay,” Helgid whispered.

  “We were worried about you,” Samel said.

  “I’m fine.” Helgid’s eyes creased as she smiled beneath her goggles. “It will take more than a sandstorm to bury me.”

  “We tried coming back last night,” Raj explained. “The storm got too bad, too quickly.”

  “I know. I started for your house, but Amos said he saw you run home. He urged me back inside.” Helgid looked as if she was still processing her relief.

  “I’m just glad you’re safe,” Raj told her.

  Helgid urged them toward the threshold of her dwelling. “Come on. Let’s get inside and out of so much dust.”

  **

  After brushing off their clothes, they walked inside the house. Samel spilled the details of their journey, telling of the collapsed house and the buried woman, and Raj’s attempts to dig her out. He told of the crowds of people, helping to unbury the woman, and her wailing, frightened granddaughter. Helgid listened with a grim expression.

  “You are brave for what you did,” Helgid told Raj, dusting more sand from his shoulders.

  Raj swallowed, but he didn’t say anything. What did bravery matter, when someone was dead?

  Seeing the anxious expression in his eyes, Helgid asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “I feel bad for the woman’s family, that’s all.” Raj lowered his head.

  “Of course, you do.” Helgid patted his shoulders. “But
you did what you could. You helped her, before others came. That means something.”

  Raj nodded. Her words reminded him of what Dad might have said, if he had been around. He surveyed Helgid’s kind, weathered face. He had only known her for two years, but it felt as if he had known her his whole life. Raj had been eight when he met her. Samel had been four.

  It was the first time Neena had gone hunting since their father left, and most of the charity from the neighbors had run out. One of the close neighbors—a mother named Irma—was supposed to be looking out for Raj and Samel, but her hands were full with her own children. And so, they went to the river by themselves, assuring her that they would be all right. Helgid had been with a circle of elderly women, chatting, when she saw Raj and Samel struggling with two buckets of water.

  At the time, she was a stranger.

  Without a word, Helgid broke from her friends and helped them. Afterward, she invited them to her house for a meal, sharing her meager rations.

  What started as a neighborly gesture became a familial bond.

  Helgid cared for them as if they were her grandchildren, and Raj felt for her as if she were a grandmother. Sometimes Raj suspected that the only reason Helgid asked for help with chores was so that she had an excuse to feed them.

  Pointing at the holes that he had seen in the wall, Raj said, “You have some damage.”

  “Not too much. Perhaps you can help me patch them,” Helgid said, smiling. She took the pieces of broken mud brick on the floor and collected them, temporarily plugging the small openings.

  With Helgid safe, Raj’s thoughts wandered to his sister. “Have you seen Neena?”

  “No.” Helgid noticed his expression. “But your sister is savvy. She’ll be back soon.”

  Raj wanted to believe that. Still, he felt an anxiety in his chest. He wanted to wander to the edge of the colony and survey the desert. His uneasiness compelled him to move.

  Sensing his thoughts, Helgid said, “Watching the desert for her won’t bring Neena home any sooner.”

  Raj nodded, even though he was still worried.

  “When was the last time you two ate?” Helgid asked.

  Raj struggled to remember. In Raj and Samel’s frantic rush from the river the night before, dinner hadn’t crossed their minds. They’d been too preoccupied with surviving the storm.