Prophet of the Badlands (The Awakened Book 1) (29 page)

“That’s a toilet! We don’t drink from that. It’s for doing your business.”

“What’s business?”

Karina explained.

“Why would you waste water by doing that to it?” Althea blinked.

“It takes it out of the house, so we don’t have to dig holes.”

Karina twisted a metal thing on the wall by the long bowl. A pipe sticking out of the tile belched water, which began to fill the vessel.

The astounded look on Althea’s face made Karina laugh.

“Wait here.” She tapped Althea on the nose and walked out.

The running liquid was too tempting, and she put her face in the flow and gulped down her fill. Karina returned with two large pails of steaming water and almost dropped them laughing at the sight. After shutting off the faucet, she poured the buckets into the tub and smiled.

“You are filthy. Before you eat, we have to clean you up. Do you know what a bath is?”

“Yes.” She answered with a polite tone. Now the big bowl made sense; it was not like the metal tubs she had seen before. “Is this for me?”

“Mm hmm.” Karina nodded. “I’ll give you some priv―”

Althea hooked her thumbs under her skirt and shoved it over her hips to the floor. The chest cloth followed, and she lowered herself into the warm water. Dirt stained it brown in seconds, and she glanced up at the shocked woman, wondering what was wrong.

“I guess you don’t want to be alone.” Karina giggled.

Althea took the washcloth and bathed herself, ignoring the strange white block.

“Aren’t you going to use the soap?” Karina knelt behind her, nudging the bar.

“Soap?” Althea blinked.

“Soap is what makes you clean.” Karina took the small brick and rubbed it into the washcloth, making suds. She ran the cloth over Althea’s shoulder while offering a sad smile. “Let me do your hair then. The bubbles hurt if you get them in your eyes.”

“Okay.”

While Althea played boat with the soap, Karina worked the lather through her hair. She rambled on about how pretty it was, and admitted a little jealousy of the color. By the time she had a decent foam going, Althea was bawling. Out of nowhere, the tenderness with which this woman treated her touched upon a nerve that had atrophied years ago, and made the past six hurt much more.

“What’s wrong?” Karina leaned over.

Althea bowed her head. “You are nice.”

“Why are you crying?”

“People aren’t nice to me.” She spoke between sobs. “When I was little, a man kept me in a cage.”

Karina pulled her into a hug, soapy hair and all, and consoled her. “Why would anyone do such a horrible thing?”

Althea sniffled. “I’m the Prophet.”

“You?” Karina sounded surprised. “I always pictured the Prophet as a man in a white robe with a beard.” She laughed. “Esteban thinks it’s a pretty woman with big boobs.”

The sobbing sputtered into a giggle, but levity was short. “He had a cart, and took me all over the Badlands. He would make people give him things so I would help them. If they didn’t pay him, he would not let me help.” Tears bored holes through the foam upon the opaque water. “Some died right in front of me.”

“Aww.” Karina cuddled her over the tub wall.

Althea stared at the thick layer of soap and dirt. “One day men with guns refused to pay. They killed him and took me. People always take me away.”

Karina’s fingers resumed working their way through Althea’s hair. “You’re in Querq now. There are a lot of us here. We have an army. We will ask the council to let you stay if you like; you can be safe here.”

Althea slid down into the water, resting her head against the porcelain and almost falling asleep. She looked at her toes poking up through the muck, and curled them over the far end of the tub. “I have to find Den.”

“Who’s that?” Karina scooped water into one of the pails. “Sit up, please, and keep your eyes shut.”

Althea complied. Water fell over her, taking the soap out of her hair. “A boy. We were to be joined.”

Karina worked the washcloth over her back. “Wed? How old are you, ten, maybe eleven?”

Althea leaned forward and hugged her knees. “Twelve, I think.”

“If that’s true, you aren’t eating enough. You’re a stick.” She smirked. “Sorry, I guess that’s kind of mean, if you were kidnapped.”

“He is the son of Braga, the chief. The only boy who wasn’t afraid of me.” She closed her eyes, adoring the feeling of being cared for.

Karina stroked her hair. “I see. Well, the Badlands are a big place. We can ask the council, but I think you will be happier here with us.”

Althea shivered. “Am I…”

Karina’s hand offered a gentle squeeze to her shoulder. “No, Althea. You are free to leave if you wish, but you should stay. You’re too little to be out there on your own.”

She poured another bucket of water over Althea’s head, sending the last bits of soap from her hair sliding down her back, and went to leave.

Althea sat up, reaching. “Don’t stop…”

Karina could not resist the desperation in her tone, and repeated the hair-washing process. Althea’s need for tender contact was obvious to anyone with a heart.

“If you’d like to stay, we could be sisters. Would you like to be my sister?”

Althea picked at her fingernails under the water. “We don’t have the same mother.”

“That does not matter. You need a family, and we have room.”

Althea looked up into the girl’s brown eyes, sensing genuine warmth. Her hand rose out of the muck, clasping Karina’s as she leaned almost nose to nose with her. “I would like that… to have a sister.”

She stood. “Come on, dry off now and let’s go get something to eat.”

Althea climbed out of the tub and started for the door, but a hand on her arm arrested her nymph walk.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Outside to dry off.” She blinked at Karina, confused.

Another lesson followed; how to use a towel. Air-drying was strictly for Scrags who lived out in the weeds. This was civilization, and people did not do such things here. Althea thought it silly to be ashamed of one’s own body, but offered no protest.

Once she had dried herself, she dressed and followed Karina out into the hallway.

“We’ll need to get you some proper clothes.”

“I like it.” She clung to the leather tatters. “I made it.”

Karina shook her head. “You’re too old for a security blanket.”

Althea stopped walking and smirked at Karina as if she were dumb. “This is a skirt, not a blanket.”

The matter-of-fact stare was too much; Karina continued laughing when they got to the kitchen where a man sat at a battered table with three place settings laid out. Karina had traces of his features; Althea could tell the relation just by looking at them.

A thick black moustache spanned his wide face, and his flannel shirt resembled the sleeping bag guts she had slept in at the raider camp. As she sat in the chair Karina pulled out for her, she got a glimpse of his leg and went wide-eyed at the sight of blue cloth.

His scent was familiar; he had found her in the woods. Sensing no malice in his thoughts, just a raised eyebrow at her glowing eyes, Althea smiled at him.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“You look like a different person, without all the dirt.” He grinned.

She stared, bewildered by the presence of a man who did not look at her as some kind of prize. The genuine kindness that lingered in the tiny wrinkles around his eyes stole the words from her mouth.

They ate eggs and some meat cut into thin strips. Karina sent odd looks her way as she ate with her hands, but said nothing about it. Her hosts conversed in Spanish here and there over the meal, Althea picked out just enough to understand Karina asked her father if she could stay with them. After the meal, they left the house together and walked along a white stone path. The area resembled the Lost Place, but was less run down. Karina told a story of how this was once a massive city, and only a small fragment of it remained. Their people had found it and built it up, creating a wall around the inner parts.

On the way to the center of Querq, Father introduced her to passing people. They paused by a garage where several men covered in grease set about keeping cars working. The fuel the machines ate was made in small quantities, so they were only used for emergencies. Karina’s father knew one of the men, and wanted to bring Althea to see him. He had been with the group that found her, and was curious about her health.

Continuing, they passed under a large hanging sign where two roads crossed. The greater part of it was plain, shiny metal where the paint had shattered away around ancient bullet holes, and the entire left end had cracked off. A little right of center, a strip of green remained with white symbols on it. Karina explained it read as the name of the city, “Querq,” but Althea thought the scrap of metal was far too long for such a short sound.

She held her new sister’s hand as they walked, stepping on dirt or grass whenever possible to evade the hot white path. Other citizens came out of homes ranging from houses like Karina’s to dwellings that looked like they used to be cars or trucks no longer able to move.

Querq was an island of life in an ocean of destruction; to the north and east, the skeletal remains of ancient towers loomed, covered in nature’s attempt to reclaim the Earth. A foreboding evil wafted about the crumbling mass of steel and concrete, as if the decay itself stared into her heart. The sight struck Althea with a sudden, somber quiet, hiding her face against Karina’s side.

“What’s wrong?” The older girl patted her on the back.

Althea pointed at the crumbling blight.

“She can feel the death upon the old buildings.” Father spoke, English this time, and offered her a comforting glance. “Such sadness in your eyes, child.”

Althea looked up at him. “Yours are sad, too.”

He straightened and gazed off over the horizon. Karina leaned forward and whispered with her cheek against Althea’s head.

“My mother died trying to have my brother. We lost them both. He never talks of it.”

Althea nodded. When she reached out and grasped his hand, he twitched as if startled, then looked down at her with a melancholy smile. A minute passed in silence as they stood at the corner of an old street.

“Well.” Father took in a breath. “The council is waiting. We should go.”

hey brought her to a white building where she met a man they called Doctor Ruiz. He gasped at her glowing eyes, astonished, and wanted to see her right away. Althea sat in obedient quiet as he poked and prodded her with various bits of cold metal, asked her to take deep breaths, shone lights in her ears and mouth, and bonked her in the knee with a little hammer. She did not much care for the thing that went around her arm, hissing in puffs as it tightened, but he took it off before she could complain.

She giggled when he ran a finger over her spine and tapped her back. After asking her to touch her toes and stand up slow, he guided her to step onto a wobbly slab and played with some little weights on a sliding bar. Clucking his tongue, he indicated the exam table again and she climbed onto it once more with her legs hung over the edge.

“You are undernourished and small for your age.” He glanced at his papers.