by Maya Riley
He still sat there, straddling me, staring down at the arrow in shock. I pushed him off to the side and looked over. Jonah lowered his bow, and I touched the tips of my fingers to my chin and then moved my hand downward in thanks. He nodded, and then I looked around.
The other two had been taken care of. The man was laying on the ground, burned and motionless.
The lady was trapped underneath a car, also motionless. I glanced over at Adam, who nodded. Apparently blowing random methods of transportation at scavers was going to become his thing. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d blow around next.
I got up and slowly walked over to the boy. He flinched away, but he didn’t run.
“Are you okay?” I extended out a hand, which he took after a few moments of hesitation.
“You saved me.”
I smiled. “It’s what we do.” I pulled him up to a standing position.
Maura hurried over. “Hi, I’m Maura.” She pulled out a first aid kit from the side of her bag. “I have some band aids, and a rag we can get wet to clean up your face.”
The boy gave her a quizzical look, then smiled. “I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary.”
“You wouldn’t want your injuries to get worse though. It’s best to take care of them.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.” He looked around, studying each of us for a moment. Even Puppy walked up to him and sniffed him, before rubbing her head underneath his palm in a gesture of acceptance.
He smiled and stuck out his other hand. “Hi, Maura, I’m Ethan. It’s nice to meet you.” Maura took hold of his hand and shook it.
“So, earlier…” He looked around, making sure he had all of our attention. “You said you were looking for something. Well, I can’t tell you, but I can show you.”
“Where is this kid taking us?” Mateo grumbled as we climbed another big hill.
We’d been following Ethan for quite some time. It seemed as though he was taking us the long way to where we wanted to go, detouring through the city so that we’d have a harder time remembering the exact way. Which I could understand, if we were people they should be wary of and try to banish. Really, though, it was super tiring and rather annoying.
But I kept my mouth shut. I was too excited to get to this place, and didn’t want to ruin any chance we had of getting there.
This city wasn’t flat, like most of the other areas we’d run around. There were a lot of hills, and each one was more difficult to climb as our energy wore down.
We dragged our exhausted bodies over the top of another tall hill and stood there. Below us was a valley, containing a series of buildings surrounded by a somewhat short walled perimeter, with the large body of water on one side that had a chain link fence rather than a solid wall. This was the Gulf, and the largest body of water I’d ever seen. The vastness of it was absolutely stunning.
In a few areas, there were some rotters standing outside the wall, reaching their fragile hands to the top, or even through the chain link fence to get to what was on the other side.
The most astounding sight before us, though, was all the people. There were a lot of people, all alive and healthy looking, milling about as though a rugged paradise in the middle of rotter lands was merely another Tuesday in the before times.
Sounds of children laughing carried on the wind. I shared a brief smile with the others, each of us having the same thought. We still had a way to go to get to where we needed to be, but we finally made it to this part of our journey.
We made it to the Salvaged Lands.
Missing Assistant
Pain shot through my hands as I banged them against the steering wheel in a moment of frustration. The trail was growing cold, and the signs were growing few and far between.
We now had a full tank of gas after siphoning it from elsewhere, but I couldn’t figure out which direction to go now. All the trails seemed the same and were getting harder to identify. We’d guess on the first direction to go in, but even I was beginning to question my tracking skills. For all I knew, we could actually be following the completely wrong thing.
I let my head fall back against the headrest and sighed.
The passenger door opened as Michael stepped inside and sat down. “You okay, Mr. Milaney?”
“Fine.” I opened my eyes and put the car into drive. “We’re too far to turn back now. At this point, all we’re doing is driving around, and I’m not even sure it’s worth it anymore.” I turned the car out of there and continued in the direction we’d been heading.
“On the bright side, at least the air conditioner is still working.” Michael reached over and began fiddling with the knobs. In the process, the radio static crackled, and we paused when we heard the voice that would tell us we were, in fact, headed in the right direction.
Survivors…Beaumont…
At least, we’d be heading in that direction if a large man wasn’t now standing in front of the car with a gun pointed at us.
To Be Continued...
Also by Maya
Releasing the Magic Series
Infected
Salvaged
Reclaimed (2020)
Standalones
Where the Blue Thorns Grow
Acknowledgments
There is a form in my readers group on Facebook for Build-A-Rotter, where readers can create a rotter and submit it and have the chance for their rotter to appear in one of the books in this series. The rotters that were chosen for Salvaged include the following:
Mandy Sandidge – Panda (Ch. 10)
Dee Bridges - Stumpy (Ch. 13)
Mandy Northam - Dillon (Ch. 18)
Thank you to my amazing betas and arcs.
Each and every one of my authors friends. Your never ending support means the world to me, and I can’t thank you enough for always being there.
And most important of all, thank you to you, my readers. The amazing response to my first book, Infected, gave me so much motivation to keep going, and I can’t wait to give you the rest of this series.
Stay Maniacal.
About the Author
Maya Riley enjoys coffee, long walks on the beach, a little hair pulling and—oh… let’s start over.
Currently living in the South with her husband and personality-filled turtle, Maya has been experiencing the journey of good ole Southern cuisine, humid summers, and sassy idioms. While she can’t handle sweet tea, she more than makes up for it with her obsessive coffee consumption. When Maya is not writing or occupied by any of the millions of hobbies she has, she’s working on her fixer-upper home, laying by the pool—or in the pool, most likely with a margarita or a floating wine glass—or plotting world domination.
To keep up-to-date on releases, teasers for upcoming projects, and all-around craziness, join her reading group—Maya’s Maniacs – A Maya Riley Reading Group
You can also check out her website and subscribe to her newsletter here: www.mayariley.com
