Spirit Lion: A Post-Apocalyptic Climate Survival Thriller (Rainbow Warriors Book 3) by Shirley Bear Fedorak

Author:Shirley Bear Fedorak [Bear Fedorak, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: YuJu Publishing
Published: 2021-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Frozen Water

The sun was setting by the time we rolled into a big village with many rows of huts in all colors and sizes.

“Whoa, look it all them huts!” Bo said.

“Houses,” Quahah said.

“This place is bigger than Goshe.”

“It’s so spooky,” /Tasa said. “No people.”

/Tasa was right. Not a person, not even a dog, moved on the road between the houses. But flickering lights shone from some of the windows.

“Must have candles or kerosene lamps,” Felix said as he slowed the train to a jerky stop. “No electricity or solar, that’s certain. Not for many years.”

We jumped off the train.

“Two hundred thousand people lived in this town, and they had a booming wine industry. Many left when the vines died. Those who stayed keep to themselves.”

“Why don’t you live here?” Quahah said.

Felix ducked his head. “Had a bit of a misunderstanding with the authorities, such as they were, a while back.”

Quahah clucked her tongue. “I’ll bet.”

Gutayone knocked on the door of a white house with dead shrubs lining the pathway. A tired-looking woman answered, and a little boy about Opie’s age peeked around her skirt. “Can I help you folks?”

“Yes ma’am. Our baby is sick. Do you have any medicine to spare?” Gutayone said.

She shook her head. “Can’t help you none, but the hospital’s down the road about a kilometer. They might have something.” She pushed her boy back into the house. “Been lots of sickness in these parts, don’t need to catch any.”

Gutayone backed away. “I give you thanks and well-wishes, good woman.”

We wandered down the eerie street. Abandoned machines on wheels, smaller than trucks, littered the road, some of them burned into jumbled piles, others heaps of rusting metal.

Felix pointed to one of the rusting machines. “These parts never did go for sliders or skimmers. Folks drove good old-fashioned fuel cell cars.”

The driver’s door hung off its hinges on one car, and the body of a young woman sprawled half in the car and half on the road. She had a hole in her forehead. Her dead eyes stared straight ahead, and her hand reached out for a square box, its contents spread on the ground.

“Oh yuck,” //Koka said. “Why would people kill each other when there’s so few people left? Seems we should be helpin’ not killing.”

Gutayone nodded. “Times like these bring out the best in some folks, but the worst in others.”

“You suppose they kilt her for them clothes in the box?” Dawid said.

“Could be, but who knows?” Quahah said. “Those are children’s clothes. I wonder where her children are now?”

I turned away from the sad scene. Her poor kids. Were they waiting for her at home or were they already dead?

Bo rubbed his feet on the soft street. “It’s a melting road, like the highway.”

The highway. How long ago that seemed. A hundred years since we said good-bye to our kin. I needed aiya. My head was spinning, and soon I would lie down on the sticky road and not move again. Then who would look after Tin!kay?

//Koka pointed to a red and white sign with a smiling elderly man on it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.