Wasteland (Wasteland - Trilogy) by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan Read Free Book Online Page A

it. Sequestered in the white building, he became the hidden engine that kept the town running.
    Now he would save it again.
    “They need weapons,” she said, in a rush. “Real weapons, not just sticks or rocks. They need knives, arrows, clubs . . . whatever you can spare.”
    Levi inclined his head in a slight nod but said nothing. The purple liquid had made Sarah expansive and uninhibited. She spread her hands out in a naked appeal.
    “You’ve been so generous already,” she said. “If you could supply them with arms, they would forever be in your debt.”
    There was a long pause before Levi answered.
    “I see,” he said.
    He picked up his glass but only studied the liquid inside. An idea seemed to come to him and he looked up.
    “To be honest,” he said, “I’m not even sure if we have what you want in stock. Weapons, knives, clubs . . . I don’t know if we’ve seen much of that kind of thing around here. Have we?” He addressed this last part to his guards, who murmured negatively.
    Levi’s guards were all clearly armed. Sarah was confused. “Are you sure you—”
    Levi set down his drink and stood.
    “May I show you something?”
    The way he asked it wasn’t a question. Unsteadily, Sarah got to her feet. Swaying from the drink, she took a final, surreptitious bite of rabbit before following Levi out.
    The guards kept their distance as Sarah trailed Levi through the endless, murky recesses of the building. She struggled to keep pace with her host. It was not easy, for he walked swiftly, sure of the path. Silver things flashed on his wrists and fingers—rings, watches, bracelets—and Sarah focused on them, as if they were stars in the night sky, to keep from getting left behind.
    The crowded shelves towered above her.
    In her inebriated state, Sarah knew they represented wealth of the most genuine and therefore precious kind. In a world of poisoned rain, scorching heat, and ashen skies, even a single jug of water, one of the hundreds stored here, perhaps thousands, held the balance of life and death to the people of Prin.
    Sarah extended a hand to touch one of the cartons. But before she could, a guard materialized from nowhere and shoved her aside.
    “Keep close,” Levi called from a few steps ahead, “and don’t touch anything. There are things that can hurt you if you’re not careful.”
    Only then did Sarah realize that the shelves were encircled with loops of heavy wire, the kind she had seen on a few buildings downtown: wire studded with razors that could easily slice through leather, let alone human skin.
    Levi stopped. He pressed something on the wall and the air was loud with humming. In front of them was a wide ramp that led to a lower floor, and now it began to move on its own. Levi stepped on and gestured for Sarah to follow.
    Sarah hesitated, frightened. Then she finally stepped on because Levi was far ahead and she stumbled, nearly falling. Terrified, she clung to the moving handrail, until she reached the lower level, where Levi was waiting for her.
    He set off again through darkened aisles, then down a narrow hallway, where more guards kept watch over a battered steel door. Behind that, a poorly lit stairway led even farther downward to a series of hallways with low ceilings.
    Levi stopped at a doorway. A small sign next to it read: BOILER ROOM .
    “Here we go,” he said. Then he opened the door and flicked a switch set into the wall.
    Sarah gasped.
    The blinding overhead light revealed a windowless room that was furnished sparsely, with a desk and single chair. The rest of the place was empty except for one set of shelves. Unlike the ones upstairs, however, it was not stacked high with supplies, nor was it guarded by barbed wire. Instead it was filled with books: dozens of them, battered and mildewed. Compared to the meager collection in Sarah’s home, this was a veritable library.
    “You kept them,” was all Sarah could manage to say.
    Levi smiled. “I figured since you