The Land of the Shadow Read Online Free Page A

craned his neck.
    “Oh, hey, Carly.” He slid down to the end of the bench and sat up, wiping his forehead. He had hair and eyes almost as dark as Justin’s, but his skin was so pale that the dark shadow of his facial hair was visible even when freshly shaved. His cheeks were pink from heat and exertion. “What’s up?”
    She nodded toward the portable radio CD player he was using by the tractor’s wheel. “I heard the music.”
    He grinned at her. “Great, isn’t it? I’m not much of a Garth Brooks fan, but I found this in the house. It’s just awesome to hear music again.”
    “Yeah, it is,” Carly said. “But we shouldn’t waste the batteries. They’re a finite resource.” They had a few that could be recharged by the solar panel Bryce had rigged up, but they didn’t last very long.
    “Aw, come on, Carly. It’s just a few D cells.”
    “I know. But we shouldn’t use them if we don’t have to.”
    He chewed on his lip, considering. “Is Justin around?”
    “Why do you ask?” She met Jason’s eyes until he looked away.
    “Yeah, okay.” He leaned down and switched off the CD player, then opened the back of the case and pried out the batteries. He offered them to her in his outstretched hand.
    She shook her head. “You keep them. Just don’t use them if you don’t have to, okay?”
    “All right. Sorry.”
    She gave him a smile. “No need to apologize. How’s the tractor coming?”
    Jason brightened and launched into a discourse on carburetors, to which Carly just nodded and smiled, having no idea what he was talking about. She knew she probably ought to try to learn this stuff, but it was like her brain went numb whenever anyone tried to discuss the inner workings of an engine. When Laura came through the gate and into the yard, she nearly sighed with relief.
    Laura had a stack of plant books with her and a basket on the other arm. She smiled at Carly and kissed her husband on the cheek. Laura and Jason had been together for almost a year and had been living in one of the guard towers at the prison until Justin spotted them during one of his scouting missions. Good thing, too, because they had very little food since the prison hadn’t been replenished during the Crisis, and she and Jason had been living off the edible plants she found and the small animals they were able to catch in traps.
    “Find anything good?” Jason asked.
    “Just some comfrey and sassafras,” Laura said, lifting her dark ponytail to fan the back of her neck.
    “You didn’t go near the swamp, did you?”
    Laura didn’t answer, dropping her hair and shifting the basket from one arm to the other.
    “Laura, come on, we talked about this. The alligators—”
    Carly stepped back with a little wave of her hand. “I should be going. Miz Marson is helping me can today.”
    Laura and Jason both said goodbye, and Carly darted around the house just as Jason started in about the alligators again. She heard enough of that from Justin. It was one of the reasons why he and some of the other residents had worked so long to put up the fence that circumnavigated the island. Prior to their efforts, the Wall had consisted of stacked shipping crates that barricaded just the roads in and out of town. Every inch of Colby was now encircled by a combination of chain link—provided by the prison where Jason had worked and the athletic field behind the elementary school—and wooden privacy fences they had taken from yards. Everyone felt a little safer having it up, and not just from alligators. The swamp was a natural barrier to the outside world, but the fence provided a bit of additional protection.
    Carly wiped the sweat from her face and headed back to the house. The heat seemed to shimmer up from the sidewalk in lazy, humid waves, and the air felt like soup. Alaskan summers could get warm, but this was something entirely different. This felt like living in a sauna, and unlike back home, before the Crisis, there was no relief to be