Deadlands – Lily Herne

‘Check this out,’ he said, lifting it up by its roots to reveal a wooden trapdoor underneath. He grabbed the metal ring handle, and hefted it upwards. ‘Ladies first,’ he said with another infectious grin. I peered down into a gloomy space, a rope ladder stretching into the dark beneath. ‘Where does it go?’ I asked. Although it was obvious: it snaked underneath the enclave fence.

‘Home, course. Cool, innit? Like James Bond.’ It didn’t even occur to me that I might be walking into a trap. There was just something so trustworthy about Ginger – something so reassuring and safe. Climbing down, I found myself in a low tunnel. The walls were solid earth, propped up with metal and wooden struts, and I tried not to think about the weight of the city on top of me.

I could just about stand upright, but Ginger had to bend almost double. There was a faint rumbling sound in the background. ‘What’s that noise?’ ‘The generator, of course.’ ‘Generator? You mean you have electricity?’ ‘Well, duh. Of course. How else would I watch my DVDs?’ ‘Oh.’ I nodded as if what he’d said made perfect sense. Halfway along two tunnels split off in opposite directions and in the dim light I could make out several doors cut into the earthen walls.

‘Where do these tunnels go?’ I asked. ‘Dorms. Where we sleep, you know.’ ‘You live down here?’ ‘Duh,’ he said. Ginger edged past me as the tunnel curved sharply to the left, ending at a small wooden door. He pulled it open and I followed him through into a huge, bare room that was so brightly lit I had to blink several times before my eyes adjusted to the light.

The walls were lined with pangas and several gleaming swords, and in the corner of the room stood a roughly carved man-shaped block of wood. There was a tang of sweat in the air. ‘This is the training room,’ Ginger said. ‘Training for what?’ I was beginning to sound like an echo. ‘What do you think?

Got to keep in shape. Otherwise them Hatchlings, well, you know.’ Yet another miniscule door was cut into the earth at the far end of the room. ‘We’re hoooooome!’ Ginger called, opening the door and stepping back so that I could go first. By now I was so tired and hungry and bewildered that I wasn’t feeling even slightly wary. I walked into another huge area that was furnished like a room from before the War.

Squishy couches were dotted around randomly, the roughly plastered walls were painted a vivid blue and there was even a carpet on the floor. But of course I only really took all these details in later.

Lily Herne divides her time between Cape Town and Norwich, UK, and can sometimes be found in both places at once. Her interests include chainsaws, steampunk and cake. You can follow her on Twitter at @Herne13 or friend her on Facebook – she’d love to hear from you.

OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com Constable & Robinson Ltd 55–56 Russell Square London WC1B 4HP www.constablerobinson.com First published by Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd 2011 First published in the UK by Much-in-Little, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2013 Copyright © Sarah Lotz and Savannah Lotz, 2011 The rights of Sarah Lotz and Savannah Lotz to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental. A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-47210-090-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-47210-091-7 (ebook) Printed and bound in the UK 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Cover design: Gray318 OceanofPDF.com Part One This story begins with a funeral.

I know it’s a bit of a downer to start it here, but it just feels right. I could begin ten years ago when the War ended, or even start when I discovered my ‘special skill’, but if you don’t like it, as my friend Ginger would say, ‘Not my problemo, mate.’ Oh, and I should probably warn you that it ends with a funeral as well.

But I’m not going to tell you whose. You can find that out for yourself. OceanofPDF.com 1 My name is Lele de la Fontein. I’m seventeen and a bit, and the first funeral I was telling you about was my grandmother’s.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• Unique ID: 60f974d4ea00f40a
• File Extension: .pdf
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• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781472100900, 9781472100917
• Pages: 271
• Language: English (en)

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