Planet Urth: The Savage Lands (Book 2) (12 page)

I wish he would finish.  He never wanted to what?  Kiss any of the girls he’d met?
I want to know but do not have the courage to ask. 

My stomach is cartwheeling and I worry the food I just ate will launch at any moment.
That would be brilliant, wouldn’t it?  He tried to kiss me and I missed what was happening and as I try to patch things up I barf on him.  That sounds like something that would happen to me at this point. 

My stomach roils anxiously, sending worry, and bile, rocketing up my esophagus. 

“Anyway,” I hear his voice and my heart stutters for several beats.  I swallow hard.  “Let’s just forget about it and get where we need to get,” he shrugs and says. 

But I don’t want to forget about it.  I want to experience what I felt last night again. 

The churning stops, and instead of feeling like a sea amid a violent storm, my belly feels like a boulder tumbling to the ground below. 

“Okay,” I say with conviction I do not feel. 

“Okay,” he agrees and smiles.  His smile does not reach his eyes.  He starts to walk back toward the dining area then pauses and turns.  He looks at me as if he wants to say something, but turns away from me quickly. 

I am left standing there for a moment.  My hand moves to my chest and clenches the strange ache there. 
I breathe against the hollow sting until I am confident I will not cry.  There are enough things in this life to cry about; kissing boys should not be one of them. I roll my shoulders back and make my way back to June, Riley, Oliver and Will. 

Everyone has finished eating and is ready to leave when I return.  We say our good-byes t
o Mary and the other women who come to see us off.  We head back into the forest and leave the compound, and all that occurred within its walls, in the past. 

We hike for the entire morning.  Trees become fewer and grow farther apart
, and we are able to cover more ground in less time.  The sun is high overhead when we see an end to our wooded home. 

A blackened road
made of asphalt appears suddenly and is thinly concealed by tall stems of dying growth. 

“We made it,” June says.  Her eyes are round as she stares at the blacktop.  “Is that a road?” she asks in wonder. 

“Yep,” Will answers for me.  “It sure is.”

On the other side of the road, squat structures with rectangle cutouts that look like eyes are interspersed. 
Many sag and look dilapidated.  Very little of the lush greenery we are accustomed to seeing carries over into the new landscape before us.  In fact, much of what we see is dirty and bare looking.

“I still can’t believe
we’re here,” June adds.  Her voice is fraught with nerves.  I share her nervousness.  Still, I feel compelled to forge ahead. 

“Are you ready?” I look to each of the children then to Will and ask.

I hear murmurs of agreement.  “Okay, then let’s stick to the side of the road.  We’ll follow the line where the pavement meets the woods.”

“What happens when we run out of woods?” Riley asks. 

I do not have a firm plan in place.  I do not have a plan at all, in fact.  “We’ll make that decision when we have to,” I answer cryptically.  “For now, we’ll just stay close to the woods.”

We step from the shade of the trees out onto the street.  I immediately feel hotter that I have ever felt.  The sun beats down from above.  Without the cover of leaves and limbs I feel exposed, vulnerable.  Yet I cannot imagine retreating to the forest again and contending with both Lurkers by night and Urthmen by day. 

We are not on the road long when the rhythmic patter of booted footsteps causes me to freeze.  Will’s eyes dart from the woods to me then back again. 

“Hide,” he says.

I do not waste a moment.  I grab June’s hand and yank her into a tangled mass of bramble.  Will, Oliver and Riley are right behind me.  We squeeze together and watch as an entire patrol of Urthmen march down the road we were just on.  I know we should withdraw deeper into the woods but the sight before me, before all of us, holds us. 

A male Urthma
n is perched beside a female Urthman, a rare sight.  They are dressed in clothing I have never seen before.  A fur lined cloth is draped across the female’s shoulders.  It is the richest, brightest hue of red I have ever seen and looks as if it would be soft to the touch.  The male Urthman wears a similar cloth, but his is a vivid blue shade.  Both are adorned with ornate gold stitching.  The gold stitching matches the golden crowns balanced on their misshapen heads.  The clothing and crowns do little to improve the ghastliness of their appearances, but they do give them an air of importance. 

My eyes wander from their attire to their mode of transportation.  They do not walk.   They are sitting beside one another in a wheeled contraption.  I believe it is a wagon. 
But my father once told me wagons were pulled by horses, an animal long-since extinct that used to serve humans. 

Animals do not tow the wagon
I see now, though.  Human beings do. 

Six humans, in all, walk atop the burning blacktop barefoot.  They wear only a thin garment that covers their pelvis
es and are chained to the cart they draw.  Their ribs are visible.  Their knees, elbows and cheekbones are prominent.  They look as though they have not eaten in some time.  A nearby Urthman, also in the carriage, sitting on a rectangular structure right behind them, continually lashes them with a long strap of leathery looking material. 

The sound of the whi
p cracking makes me jump.  Inside, I feel as if my blood is hotter than the midday sun, boiling and about to bubble over.  I have never heard of humans enslaved by Urthmen as I see them enslaved now.  First, I learned of Ross and Tal’s imprisonment and torture of women, and now I see this.  The abundance of atrocities committed staggers me.  I want to run out in front of the carriage and behead the monster whipping the humans.  I want to spear the grotesque pair perched in the rear.  But I know I cannot.  I am outnumbered.  I would be killed for sure, and June, Will, Riley and Oliver would suffer the same fate.  I will not jeopardize their safety any more than I have already.  So I wait and watch in horror as the cart rolls by and the patrol passes. 

Once all have passed, I hear a rumble.  I look through the interlaced vines and down the road and see a large truck bringing up the rear, a vehicle I have heard about and seen pictures of but have never seen in life before.  My jaw drops as the massive metal machine passes. 

I turn to Will and whisper, “Have you ever seen one of those?”

The expression on Will’s face looks as mine did seconds ago.  His mouth is a
gape and his eyes are pinned on the truck.  He tears his eyes away from it and answers, “No,” then returns his gaze to it. 

I scan the faces of the children.  They are all transfixed
by what they have just seen.  When the truck is past us and no longer visible, I am bombarded by a flurry of questions.

“What was that thing?  Was that
a truck?” June asks.

“Why were
the Urthmen dressed like that?” Riley asks.

“Why were human
s pulling them along like that?” Oliver asks. 

I answer their question
s to the best of my knowledge.  Will helps and, together, we are able to appease much of the curiosity.  With the children calm, I decide to confer with Will and form a plan.

“I think we should rest now, go a little deeper into th
e woods and rest.  Lurkers don’t live this close to the road and shouldn’t be a problem,” I say.  “I think our best bet is to travel at night so we can move unseen.  What do you think?”

“I agree,” Will folds his arms across his chest and nods.  “I didn’t like being out there on the road in broad daylight.  I felt too open, you know?”

“I do, I felt the same way.”

“And you’re right.  Lurkers don’t come this far out of the forest.  Not even at night.  I think we’ll be fine a little further in.  Let’s rest now and ready ourselves for nightfall.”

We inform June, Riley and Oliver of our decision.  The children are hesitant at first, but prefer the idea of moving about in the dark to doing so by day when, at any given time, a team of Urthmen can simply appear and fill a street as they did moments earlier. 

I lead us away from the side of the road to a small thicket of bushes. 
The children lie, completely concealed by the bushes.  Will and I rest beside them, only partially covered.

A
quick peek at Will reveals that a haunted look veils his features.  He levels his aquamarine stare my way and I try to gauge what is behind it.  I try to read what he is thinking.  But all I see are twin pools of tropical water I once saw in an old photograph.

“What is it?” I ask Will. 

Will does not answer right away.  He looks off into the distance.  The small muscles around his jaw work and flex.  “If what we saw today, that parade of Urthmen with humans as slaves, if that’s all the world has to offer, I don’t know what we’re doing out here or where we’re heading,” he says.  His tone is infused with an edge of equal parts desperation and sadness.  I wish I could throw my arms around his neck and tell him I know exactly how he feels and that everything will be all right. It has to be.  But I can’t.  I am not brave enough. 

“There are more of us out there,” I tell him.  “I can feel it in me, in my bones.  They’re out there.  We
just have to find them.”

“And then what?” he asks.  “What happens after we find more humans?”

“We fight,” I reply.  “We fight for our freedom, for the freedom of all those who’ve fallen before us, all those who have been enslaved.  We fight for what is ours.  We fight for our right to exist.  We fight for our lives.”

Will
holds my gaze for a long while.

“
I know there’s hope,” I tell him.  “There’s got to be.”

I hope I am right, but after what I saw at the compound and what I saw on the road, I am not so sure anymore. 

Chapter 7

Will and I nap
in shifts.  When I wake from mine, I see that night has fallen.  As soon as my eyes focus I realize it is time to go.

“We need to move,” I say to Will.

He nods and we begin waking the children.  June and Riley wake first. 

“Where are we?” Riley asks in the first few moments after her eyes open.  She is undoubtedly groggy and confused. 

“We’re at the edge of the forest, near the street,” Will reminds her gently. 

“The street,” she says as awareness and panic collide.  Her eyes
hurry from side to side.  “I remember the Urthmen, and the humans chained to the wagon.”

Will places his arm around her shoulders and brings her close.  “It’s okay,” he says soothingly.  “They’re gone, and we’re not going anywhere near them again, okay?”

“Okay,” she says reluctantly. 

“We’re going to find other human beings, like us, and things are going to be
fine,” he tells her.  I hope he’s right. 

“Of course things will be fine,” June chimes in and gives Riley a sisterly nudge.  “How can anything go wrong when the sky looks like that?” she says and point
s overhead. 

“Ooh,” Riley says as she casts her gaze skyward.  “Oh my gosh, it’s so beautiful.”

“I agree.  It’s hard to imagine there are bad things in the world when something that magnificent is above for all to see.”

They
continue to marvel at the night sky.  Though they’ve seen it more than once, the sky is exceptionally clear. 

“The twinkly thing
s, the stars, they look like jewels,” June comments.  Then she turns to me.  “We’ve seen jewels,” she gestures between the two of us.  “Well not in real life, but we’ve seen them.  Remember, Avery? Remember when dad showed us pictures of diamonds?”

“I do,” I tell her.  I remember the day well. 
An ancient book called an encyclopedia had managed to survive the war and the carnage that followed.  It had an array of information contained within its pages, most of it about places and people I’d never heard of.  But it was interesting, nevertheless.  “And you’re right.  The stars look like diamonds.”

“I like the moon best,” Oliver
joins the conversation and weighs in.  “It’s bigger and brighter.”

“
The moon’s light will help us find our way out of here,” Will tells him as he grips his hand and helps his brother to his feet.  His act prompts us to get moving.

I help the girls to stand as well.  Together, we make our way out onto the road once again. 

The temperature has dropped considerably and there is a distinct nip in the atmosphere that suggests a season change is near.  I inhale deeply and feel the crisp air fill my lungs.  It is different from the air in the forest.  It’s dustier, drier. 

June is at my side and Will is behind me.  We stay close
to one another and move quickly.  My heart keeps pace with the frenetic patter of our feet.  I continue to scan the land in front of me while looking over my shoulder at regular intervals.  We are alone as far as I can tell.  Still, the woods on the side of the road are watchful.  I cannot shake the feeling that countless eyes are minding our every move, waiting with bated breath to see what happens next.  Urthmen, Lurkers, deranged humans who hold innocent women and children captive and an assortment of forest monsters have left my nerves frayed.  Still, knowing that my imagination is overacting doesn’t stop me from glancing that way from time to time as we go.