She appeared at the same time everyday, sliding through the thick shadows toward the comms building. All humans looked small to him, but this one seemed particularly petite, the drab uniform hanging off of her skinny frame. He wondered who she had been, back before everyone had fled from this contaminated world. Her face — round and heavily freckled, with pale eyes like chips of jade — didn’t seem familiar, so she probably hadn’t worked with the Miners. She also didn’t seem like a management type, and besides, those in charge had been the first on the ships when the virus had broken out.
The woman had been fortu
As soon as Ephrath had finished her morning chores, she packed some bread and cheese into a basket and headed outside. Her father’s laborers were out working in the fields, but none of them paid much attention to the woman as she slipped past them. No one ever really noticed the youngest and plainest of Adaiah’s daughters, and in a way, she was grateful for that. That invisibility granted Ephrath a sort of freedom.
It took her a long time to reach the boundary of her father’s property, but she enjoyed the walk. The air was warm but not sweltering, and a gentle breeze stirred her linen skirt. Ephrath hummed as she strolled t
“How did this happen?” Carolynn asked, although she already knew the answer. The burns were red, seeping wounds that covered the man’s arm like a sleeve. Her patient tried not to wince as she treated them with a skill that came from years of practice.
“The dragon,” the man replied. “I went out to feed my animals, and it came out of nowhere.”
Carolynn reached for some clean bandages. “You’re lucky that it didn’t bite you. Most people don’t survive their venom.”
The farmer looked at his arm, then at her. “You know, I’ve heard people in town talking about you.
Agent Delia Melki studied the ground, her hands resting on her hips. The crater was massive, big enough that she could have filled it with water and made it into a swimming pool. It was also astonishingly deep, the soil in the bottom compacted and the vegetation crushed flat. Strange patterns were pressed into the dirt, diamonds and ovals that were as large as tombstones. To an uninformed passerby, the huge hole would have been a mystery, but Delia knew exactly what had caused it. Gazing up, she saw the other craters that formed a meandering trail.
From the look of the footprints, she could tell that he had been here recently. In fact, he wa
She appeared at the same time everyday, sliding through the thick shadows toward the comms building. All humans looked small to him, but this one seemed particularly petite, the drab uniform hanging off of her skinny frame. He wondered who she had been, back before everyone had fled from this contaminated world. Her face — round and heavily freckled, with pale eyes like chips of jade — didn’t seem familiar, so she probably hadn’t worked with the Miners. She also didn’t seem like a management type, and besides, those in charge had been the first on the ships when the virus had broken out.
The woman had been fortu
As soon as Ephrath had finished her morning chores, she packed some bread and cheese into a basket and headed outside. Her father’s laborers were out working in the fields, but none of them paid much attention to the woman as she slipped past them. No one ever really noticed the youngest and plainest of Adaiah’s daughters, and in a way, she was grateful for that. That invisibility granted Ephrath a sort of freedom.
It took her a long time to reach the boundary of her father’s property, but she enjoyed the walk. The air was warm but not sweltering, and a gentle breeze stirred her linen skirt. Ephrath hummed as she strolled t
“How did this happen?” Carolynn asked, although she already knew the answer. The burns were red, seeping wounds that covered the man’s arm like a sleeve. Her patient tried not to wince as she treated them with a skill that came from years of practice.
“The dragon,” the man replied. “I went out to feed my animals, and it came out of nowhere.”
Carolynn reached for some clean bandages. “You’re lucky that it didn’t bite you. Most people don’t survive their venom.”
The farmer looked at his arm, then at her. “You know, I’ve heard people in town talking about you.
Agent Delia Melki studied the ground, her hands resting on her hips. The crater was massive, big enough that she could have filled it with water and made it into a swimming pool. It was also astonishingly deep, the soil in the bottom compacted and the vegetation crushed flat. Strange patterns were pressed into the dirt, diamonds and ovals that were as large as tombstones. To an uninformed passerby, the huge hole would have been a mystery, but Delia knew exactly what had caused it. Gazing up, she saw the other craters that formed a meandering trail.
From the look of the footprints, she could tell that he had been here recently. In fact, he wa