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  Found (#2 Flamestone Trilogy)

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  (#2 Flamestone Trilogy)

  By Holly Hook

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Holly A. Hook

  Found

  Copyright © 2016 Holly A. Hook

  Chapter One

  Settlement

  I kneel in the dirt.

  People surround me.

  The stockades of the settlement box me in. The light from the bonfire blazes, chasing away the night.

  Safety.

  It surrounds me. I can stop at last. There's no more running.

  That's all I can think of as I stare at my shoes. The dirt here is packed, trampled by years of human feet. I did it. I found an actual settlement out here in this world that I thought I was alone in.

  Pit, the rabbit-dog, rubs up against me like a cat. People mutter. They're wearing moccasins. They stay quiet like they're afraid of breaking my moment of relief. I catch my breath and will my heart to slow. The crackling of the bonfire cuts over everything. They might be escaped workers from the Dweller mines. I hope. They can't be friendly with the Dwellers or the Flamestone Society if they have all this light and these walls to keep them out, that's for sure.

  But will they be friendly with me?

  "She must be tough."

  "Forty miles."

  "Hardly anyone makes it out here."

  I don't feel tough. I feel drained. Almost dead. I hold the tears back and watch my fingers splay out on my jeans.

  I almost didn't make it.

  "Girl," a young man says. He's right above me.

  The run across the field still echoes in my mind. Garrett. He's out there. I can still hear the sound of me stabbing him just minutes ago. I did it with the giant centipede pincher that I still hold in my right hand. It's bloody and glistening in the light of the fire, red on yellow. I drop the centipede jaw on the ground, where it lands in the dust. Everyone goes silent again as if it's some shocking revelation.

  "He's not going to get in, is he?" I ask.

  "Who?" the young man above me asks.

  "The man who was chasing me. He was with the Dwellers."

  "I saw him. I helped open the gate for you. We are not going to let him in. In fact, we just spotted the Dwellers carrying him away in a hurry. Do you know who he was?"

  I think.

  These people must be escaped workers. If that's the case, I had better not tell them that Garrett is my stepfather. I'm new. I just arrived. Even though he was chasing me, that revelation might not put me at an advantage here. I have a feeling the Flamestone Society is very, very hated here.

  "I saw that man after I woke up in the mines." I look up. I'm lying about that part. I didn't even know Garrett was in on the whole Flamestone Society thing until half an hour ago. I want to throw up with the revelation. But there's nothing in my stomach. I'm starving. Shaky.

  The bonfire still burns, and people stand in front of it. They're shadows in front of the light. I catch glimpses of fur tunics. Leather pants. The logs that make up about two dozen cabins and a large house with a sloppy clay chimney nearby. There are half logs for seats around the fire, but no one's sitting down. These people have been here for a while. There must be several dozen here. I can't overpower them all if things hit the fan.

  And everyone's silent. Waiting for the rest of my story. A woman nearby shifts leg to leg like she's nervous. It's a redhead who looks like she should be starting college.

  I continue. "He likes to sell kids to these things in exchange for treasure. At least, that's what I overhead. He thought I was asleep when he was talking to those Dweller things." I manage to sit all the way up. “He was some rich guy, I guess."

  "Most of the Flamestone Society members are rich," the young man says. He extends a hand and I face him for the first time. He must be sixteen. He's got dark hair and olive skin and his hand is calloused. I take it and let him help me up. "We're worth a lot of money. The new Flamestone Society members might not be rich, though. They don't get their jewels until they sell their first foster kid."

  Garrett has already spilled all this to me. I can't let that on. "Really?"

  "Yes, really," the guy says. He shakes my hand. "I'm Jaden. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Wompitt."

  Wompitt.

  The name written in the cave. And the arrow I found in the rock by the river. They meant something after all.

  The kid looks to the side, like he's expecting someone to come out any second. There's no smile on his face. What are they waiting for? Does a chief come out and determine if I get to stay inside these walls or not? What if they only want tough people? People who can really pull their weight around here? The chief might take one look at me and throw me out like a tiny, disappointing catch. This isn't a place of charity. It can't be in a world like this. I might have to prove myself.

  Yes. I just fought and stabbed a Flamestone Society member. Does that make me cool enough?

  Even if it does, I don't want to admit that. It'll be like admitting that I'm anything like my father sitting in prison, even if I've decided I don't care what those kids back home on Earth think of me anymore.

  "Thanks," I say. "Thanks for opening the gate. It must have been scary for you, with all those Dweller things behind me."

  Jaden bites his lip and smiles. "Well, we weren't going to leave you out there. We figured it wouldn't be fair after you've come all this way. You did come a long way, right?"

  "Right," I say. I relax. I can speak without lying now. "I was walking down a river, and I saw an arrow painted on a rock, so I made a right and walked for two more days. I found this guy--" I point to Pit, whose orange eyes fix on me, "—and I rescued him from this hole he was trapped in. Then he led me right here. I didn't realize the man was following me until I was almost here."

  "Glad you found him," Jaden says. He scratches Pit's head and Pit stretches. His long ears stand up and his magenta spots shine in the firelight. "He's a Harehound, by the way. They're very smart. The founder of Wompitt figured that out and we managed to make friends with several of them over the years. We haven't had one in over a year now. There aren't usually enough Dwellers in this area for them to eat, so they tend to take off. This might even be one who used to hang around here, especially if he was friendly to you. Some of them even used to go out and find escaped miners to bring to us."

  "Well, I couldn't leave him in that hole to starve." I pull Pit closer to me and he doesn't resist. Not enough Dwellers out here for him to eat. What if Pit goes and leaves? We've been through so much crap together, even if it was for just a couple of days. If it wasn't for us meeting, we'd both be dead.

  "I wouldn't have, either," Jaden says. Behind him, a little boy edges closer to Pit. Pit licks his hand and the child makes a face. Someone else laughs.

  People draw closer. I study them. Everyone seems to be between sixteen and forty, except for the boy. He's dressed in furs that have yellow spots. It's the pelt of the deer I've seen bounding through the woods. The redhead's tunic has bright blue stripes on the front. These people don't have a Wal-Mart that they can run to, or a mall. I glance down at my sweater and jeans and wonder how long these clothes are going to last and when I'm going to have to start wearing animal skin. My shoes have taken a beating. My jeans have mud splatters on them. It might not be long.

  I don't want to stay here. Shawn and Travis and Talia are still down in the Dweller mines, digging out that Flamestone. Talia sold on purpose and Shawn and Travis by mistake. The Flamestone Society isn't going to let them go. Garrett won't keep that promise. They have secrets to keep. Big, scary secrets. I can't believe a word Garrett says, even the ones about taking me back to my mother if I cooperate. I have to get back to her, too. The last time I saw her, we were figh
ting. It's not the way I want her to remember me.

  "Is this some refuge for people who escaped the mines? Did all of you escape?" Hope rises inside me.

  "Some of us," Jaden says. "My parents did about nineteen years ago. I was born here. Weslie over here managed to make it out two years ago." He points to the redhead. She turns paler like some memory is washing over her. "This settlement has been going for about twenty years or so. We've managed to stay alive." He glances down at the centipede jaw, which still lies on the ground. It's eight inches of sharp and it's still covered in blood. My stepfather's blood. I stabbed him. I stabbed my own stepfather, the man who bought me a bike for my tenth birthday and let my mother and I move into his huge house with him. The man who helped me with my math homework.

  Don't tell them Garrett is your stepfather, babe, Shawn says in my mind.

  I won't.

  Jaden's mouth falls open. "Is that...a Megapede jaw?"

  "A Megapede?" I ask.

  His eyes are huge. He stares at me. "Yes. They look like giant centipedes and they live deep underground. They don't come to the surface often to hunt, but when they do...it's not pretty. Weslie's seen one down in the mines." He grimaces like he regrets his words.

  The redhead woman backs away, eyeing the jaw on the ground. She folds her arms over her chest.

  "I'm sorry," I say, covering it as much as I can with my foot. "I cut this off a centi—I mean a Megapede after it died. I found it under a tree. It made a good knife. I...I had to stab that Flamestone Society guy with it to get away. That's why it has blood all over it."

  Jaden puts his hands on his head like he wants to pull out his hair. He turns in a circle. The small crowd grows closer. "A dead Megapede? They go underground to die. You won't find one on the surface unless it's alive and well and hungry. And they scream. Haven't you heard that noise when you were walking here? The only good thing about them is that there's usually only one in any area at a time. They're territorial."

  "It was alive at first," I say. All eyes are on me. "I had to kill it. It was right at the entrance of the cave I was staying in for the night and it was going to eat me. And Pit."

  Jaws fall open. Eyes get big.

  Jaden gasps. He lets his hands slap to his sides. Even the redheaded girl's eyes grow large. It's like I've just said that I've lifted a mountain with my bare hands.

  "What?" I ask. "What was I supposed to do? It was blocking the entrance and I had to throw my axe at it. The axe hit it in the belly, and all this green stuff came out, and it retreated. In the morning I found it dead under a tree and took off the jaw since I needed a knife. And it smelled bad."

  "You killed a Megapede?" Weslie asks.

  "Yes. It was a lucky shot. There's no way I would have done it if I wasn't so close to it."

  "You saw its underside?" Weslie continues. She draws closer to me. There are bags under her eyes. She's very pale.

  "Yes. It was gross. Made me sick. It had these horrible green stripes that reminded me of Dweller eyes." I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to think about this. The Megapede—good name, by the way—is going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life. Even when I blink, I see it there, rising like it wants revenge. Its jaws click together and its yellow legs wiggle before it.

  "She killed a Megapede," Jaden says. He faces Weslie, astonished. "Now that I think about it, I haven't heard our local one screaming at all tonight. You think it's really gone?" He faces the crowd behind him as if waiting for an answer.

  "I haven't heard it, either," a thirty-something guy with a beard says.

  "The night is still new," says a woman who now holds the hand of the little boy. "It might still come out."

  You just made a great impression, Elaine, Shawn says. He sounds very proud.

  "Part the way!"

  I jump.

  There's a large man coming through the crowd.

  The guy's built even tougher than Travis even though he looks to be in his upper thirties. His shoulders are wide. Strong. His chest, stony. He wears a white fur for a tunic, one with angry red stripes. It's the only one like it here. A necklace of fangs bounces as he walks towards me, eyes hard and jaw tight.

  It's the chief.

  He's here to assess me after all. This is what they were waiting for.

  Silence falls. He stops just two feet away. I want to back up, but I can't show weakness. Not if he's judging me. He breathes on my face and towers a good eighteen inches over my head. The other people wait in a ring like they're waiting for a verdict.

  "What do you have?" he asks.

  "She just got chased here by Dwellers," Jaden says. Translation: leave her alone. At least someone's on my side here.

  "Shut up," the man tells him. "I am not talking to you."

  Jaden nods and looks at the ground. The guy returns his gaze to me. He's all business. There's no sympathy in his gaze.

  I'm liking this guy less and less.

  "What did you bring with you?" he repeats. He's eyeing my backpack, which I still wear. My knees quiver with fatigue. I need to win this guy over, and fast.

  I need these people to go and rescue Shawn and Talia and Travis. I can't leave them there. At the very least, they might be able to help me get back home and get help there.

  "I...I have a bunch of Flamestone," I say. "It's in my backpack. You can start fires with it. I found it in a cliff side and figured out how to use it. And a couple of vines."

  The man nods. "I know what Flamestone is," he says. "We can always use that here. Do you have anything else?"

  This place is some kind of commune. Everyone is expected to share. I guess it makes sense for survival.

  "I also brought an axe which I found when I was escaping from the mines. It's outside somewhere since I dropped it. And I have a Megapede jaw."

  The crowd shifts again as if they can't quite believe it. I point at the ground and lift my foot from it.

  The man looks down, bends over, and picks it up. He doesn't even flinch at the sight of blood. "This is a Megapede jaw," he says. He faces me and his brown eyes are wide. "Did you pick this off a dead one?"

  "Yes," I say.

  "After she killed it," Jaden adds.

  "This girl did not kill a Megapede," the man says, turning to him. He's smiling. This is some kind of joke. My night of horror is being waved off with a smirk and rage boils inside of me. "None of us have. Only one person I know has survived even seeing one up close." He nods to Weslie.

  She hugs herself. "This girl right here just described the underside of a Megapede so well that I know she's telling the truth."

  "Really?" He's still grinning. The man leans closer to her, cocking his ear. "Tell me what she said." She whispers something to him.

  The smile drops off the chief's face.

  He straightens up again and faces me, holding the jaw between both hands. He approaches and I tense. Maybe he wants to stab me with it. He doesn't want someone competing with him. I take a step back. "You had a lucky throw," he says, and hands the jaw back to me. Garrett's blood is getting dry and crusty. I'm shocked he hasn't asked me about that. As far as I know, he didn't hear my story yet.

  I grab for it.

  He retracts it and seizes my arm with his free hand.

  I freeze and catch a breath. What if he's going to cut me?

  "Not so fast," he says, face hard again. "Why are you wearing long sleeves out here in the warmth, anyway?"

  "It's November back on Earth," I say. "I was wearing this when I came through."

  He looks at me again, more intense than ever. "Roll up both of your sleeves. If you pass this test, you will have a bed to sleep in tonight. If not...you die."

  "Test?" Everyone around me tenses. Jaden steps back. Pit draws closer to me, hunching low. But the man glares at him and he backs away. The chief is almost as scary as the Megapede.

  "Just do it." He shows all his teeth and he holds my jaw back, ready to use it.

  My heart pounds. These people co
uld be desperate cannibals for all I know. Maybe it's really hard to find food out here and they take whatever they can get.

  He lets go of my arm.

  I roll up my sleeves.

  The man seizes one hand and turns it over, checking my forearm. Then he takes the other and does the same thing. His jaw bulges as he thinks.

  Then he lets go. The pressure of his grip is almost painful on my arms.

  "Pass!" he shouts.

  People breathe sighs of relief all around me. So do I.

  The chief faces me again. "However, I still don't like the fact that the Dwellers followed you all the way out here. They've never bothered to chase anyone all the way to Wompitt before. It's too much of a hassle for them. I'll be thinking about that very intensely."

  A hole opens in my chest.

  The Dwellers came after me because I'm Garrett's stepdaughter.

  If this chief finds that out, I might be done. I'm the only person here from wealth. The rest must come from foster homes, poverty and broken families.

  The chief turns and waves everyone away. "Bed," he orders everyone. "We have a long day of work tomorrow. Now." Then he turns to me and hands me the jaw. "Have Weslie and Jaden here show you where to go."

  People scatter. "What were you checking for?" I manage.

  The man nods. "I had to make sure you didn't have the mark. If you had, you'd be lying here, bleeding out right now."

  Then I remember.

  Garrett had the flame tattoo, the mark of a Flamestone Society member.

  If I'd had the same thing, this man might have stabbed me right here in front of everyone. No. He would have stabbed me, right in front of the little kid, even. In front of Pit. These people have seen it happen before. It's in their faces.

  "You may stay with us," the man says. "As long as you work. That's what I expect. And I will be keeping an eye on you for some time. It may simply be that the Dwellers are desperate for workers, but I will not be too careful. If I think you're in any way in league with the Flamestone Society, you're out of here."