Scorched: Sun Extinction: The Burnt Earth Series Prequel by Karsak Melanie

Author:Karsak, Melanie [Karsak, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2017-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The river, which extended from the sea, past The Park, and into the unknown interior, had dried up in the wake of the solar superstorm. While water still slept deep below the surface, the river had stopped running long ago. The only benefit to this was that it made the trip from The Park to Low Tide easier.

I gripped the wheel of my sister’s landship tightly and steered it down the dry riverbed. Gusts of wind came and went, but the landsailer moved at a steady clip downriver. Keyes was right that the steering column was sticky. You had to turn well in advance to miss obstacles. The trouble was keeping it steady enough to miss more than one obstacle at a time.

“Two miles done,” Nasir called from behind me.

Two miles. The furthest from The Park that I had ever been. I made out the outline of the city. The ruins of skyscrapers loomed in the distance. Hell’s Passage was certainly an apt name. As we rolled quickly down the riverbed, I spotted a dilapidated house. It was completely overgrown with odd red vines with sharp thorns and prickly leaves that seemed to cover everything beyond the wall. There were other lumps in the landscape, signs of our lost civilization, most of which was either covered in thorns, burnt, or rusted. We were rolling quickly along. We drove by a massive brick structure. Its large, empty windows stared out like eyes from between the vines.

“I’ve been in there,” Nasir said.

“In there?”

“Yeah. It was some kind of inn. Found some dishes and tools. It was…it must have been a really nice place.”

I gave the building another glance then didn’t think about it anymore. I didn’t care what the dead world looked like. All I cared about was making sure my sister survived in this world. I set my sights forward and guided the ship around a large hole, swerving again around a jumble of rocks. As I glanced downriver, I noticed the obstacles were getting more frequent.

“We’ve passed the three-mile mark,” Nasir said.

I reached up and adjusted the sail, giving it some slack. I signaled to Faraday behind me. My ship slowed a little but still moved at a good clip, faster than a bicycle, and certainly faster than by foot. Any little bit more we could make it would help. But Keyes was right. The river was rocky here. The dried mud had not buried the massive boulders. We drove awhile longer, dodging obstacles, then a wall of stones appeared in the distance.

“What is that?” I asked Nasir.

“A waterfall. Manmade. This was a vacation spot. Look,” he said, pointing toward the ruins of a building on the riverbank. “That was a hotel.”

“Manmade. Fabulous.” I signaled to Faraday as I let out the sail. The ship started to slow. “How far did we get?” I asked Nasir.

“About six miles.”

I looked at the sun. “Not bad.” As the ship neared the pile of rocks, it rolled to a stop. Nasir and I got out.

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