Extinction: Planet Urth, #6 by Jennifer Martucci & Christopher Martucci

Author:Jennifer Martucci & Christopher Martucci
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult science fiction, dystopian, young adult dystopian, The Scorch Trials, science fiction, action adventure, fantasy, post-apocalyptic, young adult survival, young adult post-apocalyptic, hunger games, The Hundreth Queen, pe
Publisher: Jennifer Martucci
Published: 2017-11-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

I stop walking for a moment to gawk at all that I see around me. Past the gate is the path of cobbled stone on which Lucas, June and I stand. The path splits, dividing into two separate ones that border a grassy rectangular courtyard. In the courtyard, people of every age who milled about seconds earlier stop, staring at us in shock. Men, women, children and elderly folks—and anyone in between—come to a halt. Though they watch us with wide eyes and wonder marking their features, I am in awe, unmoving and certain I’m as expressionless as a boulder. Right before my eyes is a small civilization of people who have not only survived the harshness of the forest in which they live and flourished, but they’ve also managed to remain hidden well enough to survive the brutal world that exists beyond the forest. This village has sustained itself secretly, tucked deep within the Great Forest.

I study the people. They appear well-kept and well-fed. The space is tidy. The only aspect of all that I see that strikes me as odd is that no one is training. The thwap of arrows hitting their marks and the clang and clack of sparring swords clashing is absent. A few targets made of animal hide stretched over hay and painted with bull’s-eyes line the perimeter of the courtyard, but they sit alone, unused. Before I’m able to turn and ask Lucas why that is, a young man, similar in appearance to Lucas only taller and broader, jogs toward us.

“Hey Lucas,” the young man says. Positioned as close as he is to me, I can easily see that he’s at least a head taller than Lucas. Thick through his chest and shoulders and muscular, his intimidating physique is tempered by a boyish grin. Smiling and flashing even teeth, he shakes his head. “Leave it to you to go hunting and come back with a couple of people.” A hearty laugh echoes from him just as two younger children, a boy and a girl, race across the grass to stand beside him. “Ara, Pike, look what Lucas found when he went out hunting?” He makes a silly face at them as he clips his chin toward June and me. The boy blushes and smiles, while the girl covers her mouth with one hand and giggles. She reminds me so much of June when she was that age that an involuntary smile curls my lips. Everything about her right down to her mannerisms strikes a resemblance to my sister, who was once upon a time my little Junebug. Reed-thin and with translucent eyes the palest shade of green, the girl’s face is framed by golden ringlets lightened in streaks by the sun. The physical likenesses are uncanny.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Lucas says and rolls his eyes. “Avery, June, this is my older brother Kohl.” He gestures to the tall, muscular young man. “Kohl thinks he’s funny.” This time it is Lucas who rolls his eyes.

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