Dark Water Rising by Hale Marian

Author:Hale, Marian [Hale, Marian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Itzy, Kickass.to
ISBN: 9780312629083
Amazon: B0043D2BNO
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Published: 2006-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

15

Climbing down from the ridge seemed more difficult than going up. One blunder and we’d end up sliding across the broken slate and glass that stuck out everywhere. It was slow going, and before we were even halfway down, I heard another faint call, a man’s voice this time. I stopped and listened.

Josiah tugged at my arm. “We can’t hep ’im, Mister Seth. We needs saws, lots of ’em.”

I jerked free of his hand, angry at our mounting helplessness, then glared at him. “My name is not Mr. Seth. It’s just plain ol’ Seth.”

He stared at me, eyes weary, brimming with misery. “Not for me, it ain’t,” he said and continued down the ridge.

His words sucked the air right out of me, leaving me almost too weak to move, but I recognized the truth in them. The very people who went out of their way to make sure I made something of myself, like Papa, Uncle Nate, even Mr. Farrell, were the same ones who kept Josiah right where he was.

What I’d asked of him was impossible.

I heard another weak call from deep in the debris, and it propelled me down. I searched the wreckage ahead for help, and not far from us, I saw a half dozen men loading bodies onto wagons.

“We need help!” I called, long before they could hear us well.

An older man with a gray beard turned to watch while we struggled across the muddy ruins toward him.

“People are trapped back there. We need saws!”

They continued to stare but never offered a word.

“I said,” yelling louder, “there are people back there, trapped, still alive!” I pointed behind me, breathing hard. “I heard them calling for help.”

The bearded man nodded slowly. “We heard you, son.”

“We ain’t got no saws,” another man said, pulling a dirty rag from his back pocket.

I felt an angry heat building inside me, and my glare bounced from one set of hollow eyes to another. “So we’ll find some,” I hissed.

Pain swept across the bearded man’s face. He hung his head, pulled in a breath, and when he looked up again, the grief I’d glimpsed only a moment ago had been veiled. “Don’t worry, son,” he said. “Go on home. We’ll take care of those people.”

“No, sir.” I shook my head hard. “I made a promise.”

The man with the dirty rag mopped sweat from his neck. “We already told you boys,” he said quietly, “we ain’t got no saws.”

The rest of the men shifted uneasylike, avoiding my eyes.

“We’re doing all we can, son,” the bearded man said.

I stared past them to the wagon, to the pile of bodies, the muddied arms and legs, already stiff under the hot sun, and just stood there till Josiah backed away, his head bobbing.

“Thank you, sir,” he said to them. “Mister Seth here sure do ’preciates all you is doing.”

They nodded, and Josiah pulled me away.

“The man be right,” he whispered. “We needs to get home.”

“I can’t, Josiah. I promised her.”

“Yessir, I knows that, but the girl, she already sees how things really is.

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