Sandstorm Box Set by T.W. Piperbrook

Author:T.W. Piperbrook
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: T.W. Piperbrook
Published: 2021-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7: Neena

“Neena!” Samel rushed over to her, embracing her in a tight hug.

Warmth went through Neena as she looked over his shoulder to find Raj also waiting. Elsewhere, Kai, Darius, and Amos greeted a few of the other people in the Right Cave. She looked around, watching some people trickle out to the ledge to return to the two other caves, while others stayed, rejoining their families.

Over the past two weeks, Neena had gotten to know most of the people in the Right Cave. Most were people who had followed her, Darius, and Kai into the cave on the day of the Abomination’s attack. A few were neighbors she knew from Red Rock. Others she was getting to know better.

They ate together, slept alongside one another, and woke at the same times. They shared the same stories and fears. They lived under the light of the same torches. In a strange way, they felt like a new, bigger family.

Neena missed the privacy of her family hovel, but she didn’t miss the long treks out into the desert, wondering when she’d see her brothers again.

“You’re back,” Raj said, taking Samel’s place and greeting her.

Raj patted her shoulder, but he didn’t hug her the way Samel did. It seemed that every time she saw him, he changed in some subtle way.

“We survived the meeting,” she said, smiling.

For a moment, she allowed herself to feel the relief that came with getting a task done, even though another, more dangerous one awaited.

“What happened?” Raj asked.

“I’ll tell you the plan over dinner.”

Neena unrolled a blanket, cushioning the hard floor. Over the course of weeks, the people had cleared out most of the rocks, sweeping them into corners so they wouldn’t hurt their backs at night. Raj, Samel, and Kai sat nearby, while Darius settled slowly on his bedroll, making fun of his own age. Amos sat among another group.

Neena noticed Raj looking over his shoulder a few times, glancing at a girl he’d met named Adriana. He’d been spending a lot of time with her.

She thought it was cute.

“So, what’s your plan?” Raj asked, unable to hold back his question any longer.

“Tomorrow morning, we will head to the colony and scavenge through the rubble to find what’s left of the food,” Neena explained, reiterating the meeting’s outcome. “Some of the former Crop Tenders are going to assess our Green Crops. Later, we’ll figure out how to tend them. Hopefully that’ll keep us fed for a while.”

Samel and Raj nodded, but she could see they were nervous.

Hoping to reassure them, Darius said, “Kai is going to meet with the volunteers and make sure everyone knows the precautions. Everyone will be safe.”

“What if the monster comes back?” Samel’s question hung in the air.

Of course, he spoke everyone’s deepest fear.

“We will be more prepared than last time,” Neena said. “We will have plenty of places to seek shelter, if we need to. And Kai will teach everyone how to stay quiet—even those who haven’t hunted before.”

Raj and Samel looked between Neena, Kai, and Darius.

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