Talen

But the cooking fire isn’t hot. In fact, there isn’t an ember to be found.

“Aerin?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you smell that?”

“Smell what?” She rolls onto her back and sits up, squinting.

I stand up and take a few steps away from the trees to get a better view.

“Do you see that?” I ask.

“See what?” Aerin moves up beside me, shielding her mouth and nose with a bandana as she looks to the horizon. “What is that?”

I swallow hard as the orange glow in the distance flickers and moves across the sky. A little farther south, I see a black cloud billowing up to meet the grey residue in the atmosphere.

“It’s not ash,” Aerin says.

“It’s a fire.” My words come out in a breathless whisper as my insides grow cold. “Plastictown is on fire.”

Chapter 18

In the briefest of moments, the faces of all those I know in Plastictown fly through my head. Ava’s smiling face comes to the forefront of my brain, and without another thought, I race past Aerin and head down the mountain slope.

“Talen! Wait!”

I don’t stop. The cloud of smoke is huge—too big to be contained to the plastics factory. It’s spread, and if it has reached the other side of the river, my people are in danger.

By the time I get halfway down the mountain, I can see the flames. I pick up my pace, barely turning my feet enough to keep my footing as I half run, half stumble down the mountainside. I can still hear Aerin calling after me, but I don’t slow down.

“Talen, stop! You’re going to—”

My body can’t keep up with my legs, and I lose my footing. I fly head over heels down an embankment and come to rest when I slam into the trunk of a tree. The limbs shake above me, dropping ash-covered leaves on my dazed head.

“Talen! Are you all right?” Aerin runs up beside me with both our packs wrapped up in her arms.

“I’m fine!” I shove the leaves off and stand back up. My shoulder is a little sore from hitting the tree, and my ankle is aching, but I’m not too bad off. “We need to get to town now!”

“I don’t think we’re going to be in time.” Aerin grabs my arm, but I shake myself free. “I got a good look from up there. Those flames are thirty feet high, and it looks like the whole town is engulfed.”

“Can’t be,” I say, shaking my head. “There are fire breaks. It can’t all be burned. I have to get there and make sure everyone is all right.”

“We are still miles away!”

“So what? Do you think we should just stop?”

“I’m not saying that.” Aerin takes my hand and looks at me pleadingly. “I’m saying it’s going to take time to get there, and running isn’t going to make any difference.”

Uninterested in her logical thoughts, I jerk my arm from her grasp and head off again. My pace is slowed somewhat from the ache in my ankle, but I do my best to ignore the pain and push on. Even as I stumble, I don’t slow down. When the smell of smoke invades my lungs and makes me cough, I just cover my mouth and keep going.

When I hit flat ground and start heading due south, the smoke is thicker, but I no longer see any flames in the distance. I continue to run, dodging rocks and felled trees until I make it to the outskirts of Plastictown.

Black smoke and noxious fumes fill the air as I approach the edge of town where the first set of plastic homes and the marketplace should be. The closer I get, the more overwhelming the stench of burning plastic fills the air. Though I keep my mouth and nose covered, I can’t stop coughing. My eyes are watering so badly, I have to keep wiping at them just to be able to see.

What I see is horrifying.

Everywhere I look, I see smoldering piles of debris.