SWAB (A Young Adult Dystopian Novel) (3 page)

We argued for a while longer before I gave in and let Ray wander around unsuccessfully for a half-hour. Finally, he followed me to the other side of the ridge. The beam of my flashlight fell upon the cropping of bushes, and lo and behold, there were the packs.

“Oh, yeah! Who was right?” I rubbed it in with a little victory shove to his chest.

Ray rolled his eyes. “I just wanted to make you feel smart for once.” We strapped the packs to our shoulders and cinched the straps around our waists. The packs were heavy. Ray was used to carrying heavy logs down from the mountain, but I wasn’t.

We started back downhill. A thick covering of clouds built up. In minutes, the clouds covered the moon and stars. Our flashlights were the only light, and the going was slow. Twenty minutes more and the
sky ripped with lightning. Thunder crashed, and rain showered down on us.

Ray took my hand, helping me down the slick rocks. By the time we reached the tree-line, our clothes were soaked, and I was shivering.

“I’m freakin’ c-c-cold,” I said through chattering teeth.

Ray scanned the trees around us. “I saw a cave a little further down from here. We can stay there for a while.”

“Sounds good,” I exhaled in relief.

Ray hunted around the rocky hills some until he found the cave. It wasn’t much more than an overhanging of rocks, but that was okay. The ground was dry and shallow, which meant there wasn’t a bear or mountain lion sharing the space with us. Ray shook out his jacket and spread it on the ground for us to sit on.

“You’re freezing,” Ray said and wrapped his arm around me, pulling my head onto his shoulder. My heart beat so fast I thought it was going to jump out of my ribs. “Relax,” he told me and absently played with a long lock of my wet hair with his fingers.

I breathed in the cool smell of his wet skin and clothes. Finally, I was close to him.
If only it wasn’t because of the rain and cold. Why is it so hard to read him?

The sound of rain pelting the leaves and rocks filled the night air. Every now and then another crack of lightning would rip the sky and blast the tree trunks and limbs surrounding us with light.

“Ray?” I asked, looking up into his face and trying to summon the courage to ask what I needed to. His eyes were closed, and his head was leaning against the rock.

“Hmmm?”

“If there were no scarb, do you think things would be different?”

He opened his eyes. “What do you mean?”

I took my time, terrified of his answer. “If we didn’t have to fight all time. If life were normal. If you hadn’t found Nathan and me in
Denver all those years ago. Like, if we’d just met in math class or something, would you still want to be with me?” I bit my lip and waited.

He looked like he might laugh, but when he saw my seriousness, his expression softened.

“Yeah, I would.”

Is that my heartbeat echoing off the wet rocks
?
“I would want to be with you, too,” I whispered. I prayed he understood just how much I meant it.
I want to be with you always. I want to be with only you. Forever.
Even if it meant going into the heart of the scarb colony, I would do anything to be with him.

“I love you, Catherine,” he said lowly. His eyes were wide and fully awake now as they looked down into mine. Their brown softness seemed to wrap around me like a sun-warmed towel. The heat of his body beside mine caused steam to rise into the air. Even with our bodies touching, I still felt we couldn’t get close enough. His fingers touched my cheekbone and ran in a line of shivers down to my chin. Our breath became short and fast. I felt the rise and fall of his chest beneath my head. His other hand rested against my shoulder blades, and he began to rub his fingers against my back.

Gently, he tilted my chin up with his hand so that my neck arched back slightly. His face was inches from mine. “Cat.”His breath grazed my nose and cheeks. Then his mouth was coming closer to mine. I closed my eyes. His lips barely touched mine at first, but the contact made my eyes shoot back open. Lifting my head, I kissed him back. Softly. We kissed deeply and fully in the dark of the storm splashed night.

“I want to be with you, Catherine,” Ray told, me as he stroked my soaked hair. “Now, and no matter what happens. I love you.”

Rain washed the night. Leaning my head against Ray, I let my eyes close, dreaming of a day when there’d be no more scarb and only the warmth and steadiness of Ray.

Chapter Two

Beetle-Brains

That night, I dreamed of the first time I met Ray. Tall silhouettes of skyscrapers rose up out of the plains of Denver like empty beacons of a lifeless civilization. We’d heard the scarb weren’t as bad here yet. There was food. I ran my fingers over my narrow stomach.
Soon, Nathan and I will eat
.
We entered the city just as the sun started slipping behind the distant western mountains. An orange glow glanced off the puffy clouds.

We avoided entering any of the dark buildings or getting too close to the alleyways. Scarb loved dark, closed in places. We didn’t see any humans either.
Is that a good thing or not?
I pulled Nathan’s bony shoulders closer to me. Out of habit, I clenched my father’s fishing knife in my right hand.

It was getting darker. We needed to find a place to rest for the night. I didn’t like the shadowy doorways and the roads were rough and full of abandoned cars and trash. We entered a shopping district. I imagined it would’ve been bright with life and people months before. The sign above the street read “16
^th
Street Mall.” A large black crow flew off a broken-down light-rail bus.

“In there?” Nathan asked, deep shadows under his eyes.

I peered through the bus’s shattered windows and saw rows of dusty seats. The light-rail was better than a building, but I still didn’t like how cramped it felt. Like being in a cage. Trapped.

“No, let’s keep looking.”I steered him away and wondered where all the humans were. My stomach grumbled. Without people, there wasn’t a good chance of finding food. We followed the light rail
tracks several blocks and then took another street north. The buildings cleared, revealing a large city park. There was no sign of scarb or humans in it. If we avoided the tall cottonwood trees, this would be as safe as any place to spend the night. Overgrown grass tickled our calves as we made our way to the center of the park toward a statue of a rearing horse. The open space allowed our nerves to relax some. Nathan’s step got a little bounce back in it. I didn’t grip my knife so tightly. I even set the weapon down with my pack at the base of the statue. Nathan flopped his down beside mine. That was our first mistake. Before I knew it, a wild looking man with uncut gray hair sprung out from the other side of the statue at us.

The man grabbed at a strap on Nathan’s backpack. “Stop!” he shrieked. I grabbed the other strap and tried to get it back, but the man was older and stronger than me. He wrestled the pack out of my grip and ran off up a gently sloping hill and into the shadows of the trees.

“Blast it,” I cursed. We shouldn’t have been so careless. Now half our supplies were gone, along with our only first aid kit.

“I’m sorry—” Nathan started to apologize, but I wouldn’t allow him to feel guilty.

“It was my fault,” I insisted. Nathan stared after the man. “I’m going after him,” I told him, picking up my knife.

“Don’t, Cat,” Nathan grabbed my arm. “He’s really big.” He was really big, but we needed that pack. It had the first aid, several handfuls of acorns we had picked yesterday, and all of Nathan’s clothes and his fishing pole. Nathan’s eyes were two pools of green fear. “What will I do if you don’t come back?”

I couldn’t bear to think about that. Gently, I took his hand off me. “I’ll come back.”

With that, I jogged off up the hill in the direction the thief had gone. When I reached the top, the ground was cast in deep shadows from the trees. I set my hand against the trunk of the tree closest to me
and listened. The wind moved through the branches. Several birds called to each other. A twig snapped from the trees at my right. What was it? Scarb? Or human? I tried to keep my breathing still but my heart pumped furiously. A shadow moved from that spot. Certain it must be my thief, I ran at the shadow just as it stepped toward me. In the low light, I saw that it was a man, but not my thief. He stopped, and I saw he was not really a man but a teenager, about my age. Black, shaggy hair hung over his ears and fell in gentle waves around his face. His eyes were dark, too, but his features were strong. I would’ve rather encountered my thief than this young man. Though thin, his arms and legs showed strong muscle. He kept his left foot slightly in front of his right, his knees bent. He was a fighter.

Gripping my knife, I prepared to face whatever was going to come next. But as the boy gazed at me, his posture relaxed, and his eyes softened. He put his hands up and spoke to me like I was a kitten he didn’t want to scare. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

My eyes darted quickly around the trees for others that might be lurking there. Was this a trap? Was he in league with the thief? He took a step toward me, and I jumped. “Sorry,” he said softly. His hand went to something on his shoulder. A weapon. I prepared to be the first to lunge. “Easy now,” he said, holding his other hand out to me. “I saw what that guy did. Taking the kid’s backpack. I just wanted to return it to you.”

I blinked, trying to understand. Slowly, he lifted the strap of Nathan’s backpack off his shoulder and held it out to me. “Here. Take it.”Something I hadn’t seen in a long time spoke in his brown eyes: Trust. He took another step, within striking distance. But there was the pack, right there. I made a split-second decision. Not releasing the grip on my knife, I quickly grabbed the pack. I should’ve turned and run right there, but the boy smiled, stopping me. “I’m
Ray,” he said and then waited. I didn’t know what to say or if I was even capable of speech. “And your name is?” he prompted.

I shifted my weight. It was apparent that he wasn’t going to take the pack or try to kidnap me or anything, but that didn’t mean I was going to trust him. I really should’ve just run back to Nathan. Instead, I found myself giving this stranger the last thing I really possessed. “Cat.”

“Cool,” he said, brushing the hair out of his eyes. Another awkward moment passed. “Is it just the two of you here?”

Why is he asking
?
That’s none of his business.

“Yes.”

“Oh,” he nodded and rubbed his arm, his hand picking at a mosquito bite. “Is he your brother or something?”

“Yes.”

“Cool.”

A chill breeze brushed across my neck. I needed to go. “Thanks for the pack,” I said and turned.

“You can stay with me if you want,” he said quickly. “I have a good spot that’s pretty safe from the beetle-brains. And I have food.”That last part made me turn. I eyed him skeptically. I’d heard of men who would lure women with promises of protection and food just to take advantage of them. That wasn’t going to be me.

“It’s just at the top of this hill. I have fresh rabbit I trapped this morning and potato chips,” he added. I licked my lips at the memory of salty, greasy potato chips. “I don’t have anyone else with me.”I could feel the loneliness in his words. “I’m a pretty good fighter. I was actually a double black belt before. I can teach you and your brother, if you want. We might be able to help each other.”

I bit my lip.
Can I really trust him
?
His brown eyes pled with me. There was sadness in his face, a desperation that mirrored my own. I tried to imagine what this crazy world would be like if I were all alone
like him: no Nathan, no one to talk to, no one to live for. “I promise, Cat.” He said my name like it was something sacred. “I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Chapter Three

Bodyguards

I awoke as the first rays of sun peeked over the eastern mountains. The rain had stopped, but pools of raindrops from the previous night’s storm had collected on the leaves and fell down to the forest floor with soft plops. My neck had a crick from resting on Ray’s shoulder, and I stretched it out. Ray’s eyes blinked open. He squinted around at the waking forest, then with an “ugh,” he set his head back on the rock and tried to go back to sleep.

“You’ve never been one for early mornings,” I said, getting up and stretching my back.

He peeked one eye open at me. In a groggy voice, he said, “You know our conversation last night about how different things would be if there were no scarb?”I nodded, curious to see where he was taking this. “Well, the first thing that’ll change is that no one will see me until at least ten.”

Not what I expected,
I thought but laughed anyway. “And play video games until one every morning, too, I’m sure.”

“Oh, yes.” He gave a sleepy grin and closed his eyes again. “Every night.”

For some reason, that thought made me happy. “And Nathan will drive us both so crazy with his non-stop questions that we’ll have to—”

But my words were cut short by the sight of two long green tendrils dangling from a nearby aspen branch.
Scarb.
Their color was so close to that of the surrounding trees that I wouldn’t have seen them at all if they hadn’t been moving. The tendrils—like long octopus
arms—attached to the ankle bones of a nearly naked female scarb, and swung as she moved like a cat across the thin tree limbs toward us. Her skin even had a green tint to it, which was something I’d never seen on a scarb before. The green hue was a striking contrast against the bright red vibrancy of her long hair. Silver studded stars clung to those locks. She also wore them around her wrists, at her navel and in a halo around her neck. She was beyond beautiful. She was captivating. I should’ve been moving, screaming, fleeing, but I didn’t budge. The sway of her hips as she moved down the limb closest to us was hypnotic.