Survival Colony 9 (22 page)
Authors: Joshua David Bellin
The package contained a book. But unlike the bunny book, this one appeared homemade. Its cardboard cover was charred and wrinkled, smelling both musty and pungent. Loops of string loosely bound the whole. When I opened to the first page, I saw a picture of a baby, a charcoal drawing. Thumbprints smeared the image and the edges of the page had been eaten by time, but I had no doubt who it was. Its huge, soft eyes stared back at me across the years, years I couldn’t remember, years I might never get back.
I flipped through the rest of the crumbling pages. They were all blank.
“I wasn’t able to keep it up,” she said apologetically. “But happy birthday, Querry.”
She brushed hair from my eyes. It seemed as if she was about to say something more, but she only smiled. Then she turned and walked off to supervise the others.
I tucked the book away with Matay’s pocketknife and lay on my back, hands behind my head, staring into the wide open sky.
How much memory, I wondered, does it take to make a life? The oldest member of our colony had over seventy years worth, the youngest member fewer than six. I owned no more than a tenth of his memories. But the ones I did have, were they enough? Me and Laman playing catch. Me and Korah sitting by the pool. Me and Aleka daring a rescue. Me and Keely marching through the dead of night. I remembered loss, and fear, and pain, and some small amount of joy. I remembered others. I remembered me.
And I remembered what Laman had told me, what he’d told all of us.
Life
, he’d said that day in the compound,
isn’t a penance for the past. Life isn’t about looking back. It’s about looking ahead.
So much had changed since then, I could hardly believe he’d said it just over a week ago. I hadn’t remembered that today was my fifteenth birthday, but it seemed like a good day to begin to live the lesson he himself couldn’t always live.
What I would find in the days ahead I couldn’t guess. Maybe I’d find the world of dust and ruin endless, the monsters we’d struggled to slay in pursuit of us still. I might find that my memory had vanished for good. Or, worst of all, I might find that there was nothing left to find.
But I had found a mother. I had found a family. I had found their faith, and maybe, in time, I would find the strength to make it mine. I might find there was still life, and hope, and beauty in the world. I might find a friend. I might even find myself.
So I’d go with the survivors of Survival Colony 9, be with them, live with them, fight with them. I’d let no enemy steal what was best about us, the love that made us strong. I’d do what I could to make sure what we had lasted. Though if it came to that, I’d die with them, too.
But I wouldn’t lead them. I wouldn’t pretend I had all the answers. I’d find another way, my own way. I’d be who I was. Whoever I was.
Querry.
That was the name my mother had given me, the name of the child in the baby book. But I had another name too, and I’d carry it in honor of the man who had willed it to me.
Querry Genn.
I tried the name on my tongue. For the first time, it sounded right.
“My name is Querry Genn,” I said to the stillness of the newborn world.
Then I rose to meet the dawn.
About the Author
Joshua David Bellin has been writing books since the age of eight (though his first few were admittedly very, very short). When he’s not writing, he spends his time drawing, catching amphibians, and watching monster movies with his kids. A Pittsburgh native, Josh has taught college English, published three nonfiction books (one about monsters!), and taken part in the movement to protect the environment. You can find him online at
JoshuaDavidBellin.com
.
Survival Colony 9
is his first novel.
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MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Joshua David Bellin
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Book design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian and Irene Metaxatos
Photo-Illustration and jacket design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian
The text for this book is set in ITC Stone Sans Std.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bellin, Joshua David.
Survival Colony 9 / Joshua Bellin.—First edition.
p. cm.
Summary: Querry Genn, a member of one of the last human survivor groups following global war, is targeted by the monstrous Skaldi, although Querry has no memory of why.
ISBN 978-1-4814-0354-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4814-0356-6 (eBook)
[1. Space colonies—Fiction. 2. Memory—Fiction. 3. Monsters—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B41463Sur 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013034595