[ Exclusive Content ]
Here you will find an exclusive continuation of the book The World Ender, while you wait for Book 2: The Blackbox.
This story takes place in the space between the end of Chapter 29 and the first few paragraphs of the Epilogue.
If you haven't read that story, you can find it here: The World Ender
After the World Ended
Chapter 1 - The Stonebrickers
When the Anatolia arrived in Ireland 6,000 years ago, they merged with the indigenous tribes of the emerald island. They shared their knowledge, shifting the wild, nomadic hunter-gatherers toward the permanence of agriculture. Only then, could the story of a new people take root.
But the land fought back. Every inch of dirt that was dug to make the ground useful, was filled with stones. Large stones. Small stones. Smooth stones. Jagged shingles of stones. The land was fertile with rock.
Inch by inch, acre by acre, the ground was tamed and the stones were laid like bricks, without mortar, into walls that defined the perimeter of a farmer’s land. Each stone was carefully laid, interlocking with those around it, with enough air between them so the land could still breathe, and the walls would still stand.
These walls of dry stones, bricked by the calloused hands of ancient tamers of a brutal landscape, still stand today. They were the first Stonebrickers… but they weren’t the last.
Charles pressed the button on his watch, turning off the chiming alarm that had been set for the end of the world.
It hadn’t happened, even though he was sure that it would. When the truth of the moment hit him, his heart began to race, his pulse went thin and his face turned pale. He’d followed Greycloud through hell, sure that he was going to die one way or another. He’d embraced his decision… but now? Now? The terror of living began to creep inside his skin. The terror of knowing how close death had been.
Greycloud looked up at the night sky under the shadow of the base of the dome. Blinking satellites zipped across the horizon. Small objects burned through the atmosphere until they were consumed and their light ended abruptly.
Charles looked at the carnage all around them. Warbots torn to pieces. Small fires burned in the mud. Their battle car twisted and dug into the earth, propped on its side. Little blinking red lights still shone through the clay where robot eyes were still active, torn from their bodies. A new fear shot across his mind.
“You think they’re watching us?”
“I’m sure of it,” growled Greycloud. He looked at Charles and followed his blank stare. His eyes had taken him across the ground of the battle they’d just survived, toward the metal face of the dome’s outer wall. He could still see the seam of the gate that he’d desperately tried to enter before it closed, before it locked them outside, and locked his daughter in.
Anger still burned. His desire for revenge hadn’t been sated. Those responsible for all of this were safe inside their fortress, out of his reach… for now.
Charles swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He focused on his breathing until his heart stopped pounding in his chest. When he finally felt calm, he opened his eyes and locked away that cold panic behind the steel façade of a trained soldier.
“So what now?” asked Charles. They’d risked their lives to save his daughter and failed.
“I’m not leaving her here, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Sure, but… we’re not getting inside tonight. So…”
Greycloud hung his head. Charles was right. They needed to find somewhere they could rest for the night. Somewhere they felt safe.
He looked at the car underneath them. They needed someplace within walking distance.