Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame by Meg Long

Author:Meg Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER 20

The slowing of the ATVs draws me out of my haunted memories. The rain has lessened into a thin mist. Artificial lights peek through the brush and spider vines up ahead. Voices and heartbeats of a couple dozen people, the movement concentrated around a few structures. A scavver camp.

The transpo breaks through the trees into a clearing, smaller than a city block. Piles of wood and other materials litter the space, the broken-down remains of makeshift buildings. Some structures still stand, though they’re mostly posts and cloth. Lights hang throughout the trees around spider vines, illuminating the clearing. Small magnetic generators sit along the border, emitting a low-frequency pulse to keep the major preds from coming too close. We’re too far out in the jungle for the mag zone, so the scavvers have made their own. Though I don’t think the puny generators would be enough to keep out a herd of batimalu. Especially the crazed ones controlled by Taggert.

Emeko pulls over beside the structures along with the other ATVs, where more servo trucks are parked, and kills the engine. The scavvers who were scurrying around before slow and stop in their tracks. Waiting.

The scavver leader grins as she faces them. She raises her voice loud, letting it carry across the clearing.

“The Vega stands with us.”

A few cheers and whoops erupt from the scavvers, but not all seem thrilled to see syndicates standing in their jungle. My brain subconsciously marks their faces as Emeko raises her arm for silence.

“We move at dawn.” More cheers at that, more genuinely pleased expressions. Emeko grins once more, then lets the authority slip away from her tone as she turns to the dozen or so syndicates around us. “But right now, I’m guessing you lot are hungry. Hope you like bush meat stew.”

She points to a half-standing structure. “Over there’s what’s left of the kitchen. Barracks are behind. Find a cot and get some shut-eye. I’ll send the doc over if anyone’s got wounds that need tending.”

The syndicates climb off the ATVs and head for the kitchen. Sena lingers, watching as they mingle with scavvers. I stretch my back, idly staying near her, then I turn and find Kiran behind me. His damp dark hair is pushed back from his face; his expression is oddly open as he looks at me, glancing down, scanning for injuries.

“What?” I snap, trying not to focus on the scar I gave him.

His near-onyx eyes jump up to mine. “Are you … okay?”

I stare at him. “Yeah. You saw me run through the jungle for miles. I’m clearly okay.”

He nods to Sena on the opposite side of the ATV. “What about your … friend?”

My stare turns into a glower at the emphasis he puts on the word “friend.” He didn’t like it when Alora was my friend, and now he’s got a problem with Sena? Or is he trying to remind me that I involved her because of my instincts?

“My friend is fine.” I decide right then and there that Sena is here because we are friends, regardless of why I asked her to come.

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