The Vanished Read Free Page B

any breakfast?”
    “Later,” Ali replied.
    “Oh, okay. That’s cool.”
    I gave Sebastian a sideways glance wondering why he’d turned into a nervous wreck. He shrugged his shoulders. “These people don’t like me one little bit,” he hissed in reply, low enough that Ali didn’t hear.
    I saw the Compound in the daylight for the first time. We were walking through a large campsite dotted with tents on the left and trailers on the right. Clothes fluttered on the clothing lines, kettles whistled over campfires, trailer doors opened and shut and… I stopped walking and stared. Children. Children laughed. Children played. Children ran. Children pushed, kicked, pinched, giggled, tripped, cried, jumped… they were everywhere. My breath caught. I’d never seen any Blemished children before, only GEM children who appeared with the family one day and remained quiet and withdrawn until they were old enough to go to school.
    “Look,” Sebastian pointed out a baby, the tiniest living human I had ever seen.
    I couldn’t help it, I stared. The mother scowled at me and turned away, covering her tiny baby, which snuggled into the crook of her arm as though it weighed nothing.
    “What’s the matter, kid? Never seen a… oh,” Ali said. “Of course ye haven’t. Well, this part of the Compound we call the crèche and ye can see why.”
    The young mothers of the children gathered together in the middle of the crèche and pointed at us. Ashamed, I looked away.
    “Are they pointing at me?” Sebastian said.
    “I think they are pointing at both of us,” I replied. “Probably because we’re staring at them and their children.”
    “Good point.”
    We turned away and I concentrated on learning the layout of my new home. The campsite was split down the middle by a long gravel path, the same path that Reg had driven the Scavenger van onto in the late hours of the previous night, and the same path that the medics had taken Daniel away in the ambulance. I followed the gravel with my eyes and saw that it led to a large three storey stone building which looked a lot like the old castles my dad had shown me in his textbooks. It had two tall turrets on either side of a flatter middle section. This building was guarded and closed off by another large gate with sharp spikes that made me shudder.
    On the left of the castle, far enough in the distance that I had to shield my eyes from the sun and squint, looked to be enough acres of land for a farm. Ali confirmed this by explaining which outhouses contained which animals and which fields grew which crops. Then he turned to the right and pointed out the market place behind the crèche.
    “There are some of us who keep stalls there te sell our goods. We don’t have any money on the Compound – as far as we’re concerned money doesn’t have any value in these times – we barter an’ exchange like medieval times.”
    “What do you have to exchange?” Sebastian asked. “There can’t be that much to bargain with in this place?”
    Ali gave him a stern look. “We do leave here sometimes, ye know. We’re not called the Scavengers for nought, boy.”
    “You go out looking for bounty?” I said.
    “In a sense, yes,” Ali replied. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. We all come here with something of value.”
    My fingers found my throat and found Daniel’s necklace. Ali watched my fingers rise and grinned. I’d just given away a weakness. I flushed.
    We walked the rest of the journey in silence, each contemplating our treasures, or so I liked to think. Ali led us down the gravel path towards the castle. It loomed down like a watch tower. I wondered why there were so many tents when the castle seemed spacious enough to house dozens of people. But I knew better than to fire off immediate questions. I remained quiet.
    “Mornin’ Cameron,” Ali said to the guard. “Meet the new recruits – Mina and Sebastian.”
    I nodded and Sebastian shook his hand. Up close I