Planet Urth: The Savage Lands (Book 2) (5 page)

We walk for much of the day
, pushing ourselves harder and faster than the day before, and stop only once to fill our canteens at a seasonal stream.  The sky is a chalky blue and the sun’s rays are weak.  A soft breeze stirs tall grasses and treetops.  The air carried on it is cooler, less humid.  I search the landscape for mossy ridges and rocky formations for a second day.  I do not see either.  I do notice, though, that some of the leaves are beginning to lose their rich green coloring.  When the leaves change from shades of green to shades of red, orange and yellow, I know shorter, colder days will follow.  By then I hope we are living in a safer environment, protected from the elements and no longer concerned with Lurkers.  I do not know whether my hope will become a reality.  I will do everything in my power to see it come to fruition.

In the distance, I see that a
stone wall rises from the ground.  It encircles a building also made of stone, but with ones that are more uniform in shape and size and colored a faded reddish hue.  With steep roof pitches and a bell tower that looks as if it pierces the milky sky above, I feel as if the elaborate sprawling structure is familiar.  I feel as if I have seen it before.  

“Oh my goodness,” Riley inhales sharply then says. 

“Whoa, what is that?” Oliver asks and points to the entire setup.

“A stone wall
that protects a building,” I say absently as my eyes roam the length of the wall that is visible.  They search my memory in time with my brain. 

“Yeah,
a building Urthmen occupy for sure, and one we should get as far away from before something terrible happens,” Will says and places a hand on my shoulder. 

I turn and face him.  His
features transform instantly.  He drops his hand.

“What is it, Avery?” he
searches my face as if he is seeing my mind piece together the puzzle.

“This wall, this place, I don’t know.  Something about it is familiar to me,” I say. 
I look to the wall again and allow my eyes to travel along its perimeter.  I strain them to see a chain-link gate with a giant padlock securing it shut.  I lick my lips and my heart rate accelerates.  Then recognition lands like a blow to my chest and nearly stops it from beating altogether.  I place my hand over my heart and I know.  I know exactly where I am.  “Oh my gosh,” I breathe. 

“What’s going on?” Will asks worriedly.

“This place,” I say breathlessly.  “I know this place.  This is where I used to live before the Urthmen stormed it and killed my mother and everyone else who lived here.”

Images flicker through my mind’s eye.  Fragmented flashes and disjointed images streak by in a dizzying whirl.  I see my mother, pregnant and beautiful, sitting with my father.  Then I see chaos
, and blood, so much blood.  Clips of utter darkness follow, then a burst of light, and after that a club striking my mother again and again.  I squeeze my eyes shut and rub my temples.  I try to consciously purge my mind of the memories blinking in my brain.  But the building, the stone wall and the locked gate bombard my senses.  Even the odd scent of musty leaves remains. 

I feel Will’s hand on my shoulder again.  He gives it a gentle squeeze. 
Reflexively, I reach over and place my hand atop his, just as I would do with June.  But the sensation of June’s skin never causes me to feel as if a miniature bolt of lightning has passed between us as Will’s touch does.

“We need to get out of here,” Will says.  “We need to get far away from this place.”

“I agree with Will,” June says.  I hear her approaching.  I drop my hand from where it rested on top of Will’s hand.  “The building, the wall, the whole layout creeps me out.” Will drops his hand and I turn to face June.  Her arms are wrapped around her waist again.  She is hugging them to her body.  “I don’t want to be here.  I don’t want to be near the place mom died.”

Her fear is
evident.  I am about to speak when Oliver chimes in.

“Yeah, I’m with June.  Stumbling on a small fortress loaded
with Urthmen is not somewhere any of us should be,” Oliver says.  There is hardness in his voice, an edge that borders rage and fear.  I understand it.  I feel it too.  But a thought occurs to me. 

“Urthmen aren’t here,” I say.

I feel four sets of eyes on me instantly.  I look at each of them then Will’s voice captures my attention.

“Urthmen stormed this place.  Why would you think they would leave?” he asks.

“What reason would they have to stay?” I counter quietly.

The muscles around Will’s jaw are flexing.  “I don’t follow,” he arches a dark eyebrow and says.

“Think about it,” I say.  “There’s nothing for them here in the forest.”  I search Riley and Oliver’s faces then look at June.  “Unless you count Lurkers hunting you every day from sunset to sunrise,” I add sarcastically.  But no one finds my sarcasm amusing in the least, not even Will.  His arms are folded across his chest and his features are gathered.  He looks serious. 

“What about the gate?” he asks.

“What about it?” I shrug and do not quite get where he is going with his question.

“It’s locked.  If Urthmen don’
t live there, why is it locked?”

I hold his gaze briefly.  He h
as made a decent point.  But I’m still unconvinced that Urthmen live within the walls of the stronghold.  “I’m going to see why it’s locked.  I’m going to take a closer look,” I say impulsively.  My statement draws gasps and grumbles. 

“No! Avery, you can’t,” June
cries out, her voice a hoarse whisper.  “Please, don’t go.  It’s too dangerous.”

“So is staying out here,” I say and cringe at the expression on her face after the words leave my lips.  I soften my tone.  “It will be dark soon,” I remind her. 
“And we don’t have a place to stay for the night yet.”

“We can find another tree,” she says a
nd tries to persuade me to stay. 

“You and I both know I can’
t spend another night in a tree, not if I want to live until morning, at least,” I admit truthfully.

“Then it doesn’t have to be a tree.  We can come up with something else, anything.  Just don’t go near that place,” she pleads. 

I want to shout at her
Look around June!  Do you see anything remotely resembling a safe place to spend the night?
  But I don’t.  I know my short temper is just fatigue getting the better of me.  So I say nothing.  I turn and start walking toward the gate before the stone wall.  I ignore the whispered attempts to call me back, even Will. 

I streak through the tall grasses and weeds and remain low, crouched.  I hide in bushes when I am close.  I look back, over my shoulder and see that both June and Will wear similar expressions.  They both look furious.  Their brows are furrowed and their lips are pursed.  June’s hands are on her hips and Will’s arms are folded tightly across his chest with his fists balled.  His is pacing back and forth, shaking his head slowly. 
When June sees that I am watching her, she gestures for me to come back before tapping Will’s shoulder and alerting him to my position.  He begins gesturing animatedly as well.  I do not heed their calls.  Instead, I turn away and dash toward the wall.  I press my back to the cool, rough stone and inch my way closer to the gate. 

When I am right beside it, I steal a glance and chance being seen.  My head darts out then back quickly.  But I am able to make out an empty space.  No one is milling about, none that I saw, that is.  I wait a few seconds and am about to return to Will, June, Oliver and Riley and endure stern lectures when the faint sound of footsteps is accompanied by a shape flashing in my periphery. 

I spin and see what appears to be a man.  I retreat and pull back, but curiosity nags at my brain.  I need to know whether my eyes deceived me, whether I did, indeed, see a human.  I poke my head out and look again, only this time I focus on the being’s head.  I see that it is shaped properly.  It is oval in appearance and has hair therefore it is a human being, not an Urthman. 

I tuck my head and body back behind the concealment of the wall. 
My breath catches in my chest.  A human is living at the compound I used to call home before Urthmen seized it.  I begin to fantasize that Urthmen left immediately after storming the village and that humans happened upon it and repopulated.  I know it is a farfetched dream, but it gives me hope in an otherwise hopeless world. 

My heart rattles loudly in my chest.  I cannot resist looking again.  I thrust my head out
a second time and am shocked to see two more humans. I can tell both are male thanks to the long shaggy beards they wear.  The men are armed and appear to be patrolling the wall.  I realize I must make my presence known.  If there are more like them, the children and I, along with Will, could align ourselves with them.  The prospect energizes me.  But before I call them over and share with them my plan, I gesture to Will to stay where he is, to wait and remain hidden.  I need to make sure it is safe to proceed.  I need to get a sense of how these humans operate without putting my sister and friends at risk. 

I take a deep breath and step
away from the wall.  I place myself directly in front of the gate and say, “Hello!” in a loud clear voice.

The three men
startle then freeze in their tracks and turn to face me.  They stare, still motionless, looking completely shocked for several beats until one of them makes his way to the gate followed by the others. 

The closer they come, the better able I am to see their faces.  I immediately notice that they look much older than I do.  Their skin is weather
ed looking and ashen in color.  Teeth are missing and their clothing is filthy. 

A tall
, meaty man with frizzy hair the color of rust smiles broadly at me and reveals his front tooth is missing.  “Oh gosh!  Wow!  Where’d you come from?” he says and does not hide the surprise and excitement in his voice.  He does not wait for me to speak either, and continues to rattle on. 

“
Sorry to react as I did a second ago.  It’s just that we don’t see many other humans around here,” he says. 

“Oh, yeah, I guess not,” is all I can think of to say. 

“I’m Ross, by the way.  And this is Tal,” he says and points to a lanky man with small eyes and a prominent nose, “and this is Jay,” he says and points to a shorter, sturdier looking man with stringy hair that falls to the middle of his back and has several teeth missing on the bottom who looks a good fifteen years older than I am.  They all appear to be at least fifteen years older than I am.  And while they look creepy and in desperate need of a soak in the nearest river, their greeting is warm and welcoming. 

“Hi Ross, Tal and Jay, I’m Avery,” I introduce myself. 

“We’re very happy to meet you, Avery,” Ross says. He exchanges a sidelong glance with Jay, and a distinct uneasiness scurries across my skin that I cannot quite explain. “It’s always good to find another survivor,” he continues.  “How did you manage to survive out here all by yourself?” he asks. 

His question is one I would ask as well, and a harmless one at that, still I can’t shake the suspicious feeling scuttling about when I hear his voice and watch the three men interact wordlessly with one another.  They seem friendly enough on the s
urface.  And they are humans.  The experience of living among humans when I was young has taught me that humans are not out to hurt other humans.  We stick together when we find one another.  We have shared interests; we all share common enemies: Urthmen and Lurkers.  I have no reason not to trust them.

“I am not alone,” I say and watch as one of Tal’s brows tics slightly.

“You’re not?” Ross asks and looks past me. 

“The
others, the people I’m with, they’re hidden,” I say.

Ross and Tal’s eyes scan the landscape. 

Ross’ features gather.  His concern seems genuine when he says, “I suggest you get them in here before something happens to them.  These woods aren’t safe. Those hideous creatures prowl these woods at night, and we saw Urthmen not far from here scouting.  Out in the open is no place to be if you want to live.”  He clutches his weapon and his eyes look off into the distance.

His words chill me to my core.
  They ring with hard truth.

“No, I guess they’re not,” I agree with a shiver.  “I
’ll get my friends,” I tell them.

I step back and
check the cluster of bushes Will, June, Oliver and Riley are hiding behind then whistle once, a flat, monotone sound.  June’s head sticks out first.  I catch her eye and her face brightens.  I wave my arms and gesture for her and the others to join me.  She hesitates at first, but eventually grabs hold of Will’s arm and leads him toward me with Riley and Oliver in tow. 

Everyone
appears skeptical as they draw near.  June’s eyes round when she sees how unkempt Ross, Tal and Jay look and Riley recoils when they greet her.  Their reactions do not go unnoticed by the men.  I cringe inwardly when Ross’ expression withers and he looks down at his clothes self-consciously.  Will nudges me lightly.  I am sure there is something we should say at this point, some excuse that justifies the children’s reactions.  But both of us come up empty.  I shift my weight from one leg to the next and consider grabbing the kids and venturing out again when Ross’ gravelly voice rumbles.