Free Plaguelands (Slayers Book 1) by Jae Hill Page B

that only an hour or so had elapsed since our departure.
    The darkened freight car had no windows, so I couldn’t see what was going on outside. I fumbled for my headlamp in my backpack and, switching it on, I found an emergency door release latch. I contemplated pulling it open, but then feared I might set off some type of alarm. I waited with my hand on the latch for a few minutes, then decided to pull it open. The door slid open a few centimeters and I jumped outside, closing the door quickly.
    It was bright and sunny in a way that I hadn’t seen in a very long time. The earth was brown and covered by sparse grasses. Some mountains rose high in the west. I could only assume I was now on the east flank of the Cascades.
    “Goddamned power flux,” I heard a voice yell.
    I dropped to the ground and crouched against the side of the train. I peered around and didn’t see anything. The train operators were likely on the opposite side of the train. Since the track was powered down, they couldn’t see under the freight car.
    “Control says they’ll have the grid reenergized in just over two hours,” another voice grumbled. “We’ll just have to hang out here for a bit in the sun.”
    “At least we’re not in the Plaguelands,” the first voice stated. “Better here than there.”
    “Ellensburg isn’t much better than the Plaguelands,” voice two replied.
    “The women here aren’t as attractive as the plague fiends,” voice one chuckled. “Tired, old hags.”
    Both laughed.
    I crept around the train until I reached a break between the cars. I poked my head through and saw the operators heading back to the front of the train. In front of me, just a few hundred meters away, was a town.
    The townspeople were staring through their windows at the stalled train. I didn’t even know there were towns on the east flank of the mountains until my father and Ebenezer had recently told me of their existence. Our geography courses focused on our place in a giant galaxy, not on the tiny villages over the mountains inhabited by the rejects of the medical procedures.
    Curiosity got the best of me. Confident that the operators were safely aboard the front car, I bolted for the village. I looked at my watch as I ran. 13:40 hours. I could be back aboard in a half-hour and still make my destination. I closed the distance between the train and the buildings and hid around the corner of one, out of sight of the train.
    Two older women were eyeballing me curiously from the sidewalk. I looked at them and smiled weakly.
    “Uh, hi?”
    One of them waved gently, with a confused look on her face.
    “What are you doing here, kiddo?”
    “Um, I’m hitchhiking to Yellowstone,” I replied meekly.
    “But the trains are free….” she trailed off, now with even more confusion.
    “They can’t know I’m riding the train,” I whispered. “This is a secret trip.”
    “Are you in trouble?” the other lady asked.
    “No, no, no,” I said. “I promise, I’m not. I just have to get to the Preserve without them knowing. Please don’t turn me in.”
    “You’re sweating,” the second lady noted. “You’re a real boy.”
    “We’re not going to turn you in,” the first lady said. “We’re not exactly on the best terms with the Republic, if you didn’t know.”
    “I didn’t know until the other day that communities even existed on this side of the mountains,” I said.
    The two old ladies looked at each other and didn’t say a word before looking back to me.
    “I’m Athena,” she said, smiling. “This is Hera. Welcome to Ellensburg.”
    “I’m Pax.”
    “We don’t see too many young people,” Hera said. “We can’t breed, of course, just like you can’t.”
    “Why don’t you come inside and have some tea?” Hera asked, motioning me to the door.
    I entered the building and they closed the door behind me. The house was sparsely furnished but clean. Old, but with modern lines. Hera went into the kitchen just off the