Bricks of Ash and Blood

Chapter 10: Sparks

SIMON

I watched absentmindedly as the boy wolfed down bowl of stew. On my mind, the scavengers. Thomas had written a pretty barebones letter. Not much detail, about anything. I'd have to get as much information as I could from the delivery boy. I still didn't know his name. To be honest, I didn't really care. I was surprised to hear, however, that there were people living on the Island down south. A big group, apparently. Hope flickered. If they were living on the Island, they probably fish.

"Done. Thanks. It's good to eat something that's not fish or canned vegetables." He joked, as he placed the empty bowl on my desk.

I was right, fish. "Do you eat much fish on Sevis Island?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "There's heaps of it, so if you're not off looking for other stuff during the day, you're fishing."

"How much do you catch, every, day or so?" I asked.

The boy shrugged. "No idea. More than we can eat, that's for sure."

I struggled to contain a smile. This was it. We would eat fish. But first, I needed to figure out what we could offer the Islanders. "So, why do you all live on the Island? Safety?"

"Basically. At first, it was 'cos of the zombies, but they're pretty much gone. It's the raiders now, mostly."

"Are there a lot of them?"

"Heaps." He splayed his arms out to emphasize his point. "They all have real proper weapons, and some of them even wear armor."

That wasn't a good sign for anyone. Raiders becoming more organised and skilled meant trouble for us too, down the line.

He continued. "I haven't seen any raiders up 'round here though. You guys must have killed them all."

I narrowed my eyes. "Killed them all? Why do you think that?"

He laughed. "I heard all about how the scavengers killed a group of raiders in the city. Old ben was there, he told everyone about it. I guess it's news to you though."

I sighed. "It is."

"But anyway, you guys are real good at killing. Even Freya was impressed."

"Freya?" I asked.

"Oh. Sorry. She's our leader."

"Right. And the raiders down south, they're causing you guys problems?"

"Not me. I'm too fast." He grinned. "But yeah, no one on the island is good at fighting them off, so we get attacked pretty often. It's bad."

"Okay. Well. I'll ask you to wait for a few minutes, while I write a letter that I'd like you to bring back to the Island with you. Is there anything you need from me?"

He shook his head, so I put a fresh piece of paper in front of me, and began to draft a letter. I wrote a second copy, and then finally a third, making sure there were no errors, spots of ink, and my words looked neat. First impressions were important. I folded the paper, and slid it into an envelope.

"This is ready. It's sealed, and inside, I've mentioned the envelope, so no peeking."

The boy almost looked dejected. I passed it to him, and he shoved it in his pocket. "I'll head off then, I guess."

I led him from my room, through the school and back to the front gate.

"Oh, I haven't asked." I mentioned, before he left. "What was your name?"