Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition III (August 2017)

H. J. Nelson presents: Kaden's Birthday, a deleted scene!

Hey, Everyone! H. J. Nelson here! You might know me from The Last She Duology in Sci-Fi Hot, one of the Top Ten Most Read Books on Wattpad for 2016. By popular demand, I've decided to share with you a previously deleted scene featuring Kaden and Ara, from The Last City.

Hope you like it!

If you're interested in reading more, please come over to my page to read the rest of the book!

Now, without further ado, enjoy...

*

Ara

The fire reached up through the trees, a red glow that shone like a beacon through the forested peaks. The last light of dusk disappeared as Kaden and I lay side by side in a thick grove of trees watching the fire below.

"It's a big fire," Kaden said, even though I knew that without the binoculars. I squirmed, eager for my time. Of the two of us, I had the better eyesight, a fact I'd proven many times in the last few weeks hunting in the mountains. Finally he passed me the binoculars. "I counted thirteen, but there's something strange about their faces." He pitched his voice soft and low, and I nodded in return.

I pressed the binoculars to my face and trained them on the camp below, something desperate growing within me. It had been my idea to follow the group. They were headed North, same as us, and finding the city my father had spoken of was turning out to be more difficult than I'd thought. The world fell into ruin around us, making it almost impossible to follow the map. But if these people were headed to the same place, maybe we didn't need the map.

The camp came into focus. The horses had their rumps to me, and I slowly counted them with a tinge of jealousy. Ten horses. They were well fed and healthy looking, grazing beside the stream that snaked through the grove of trees. The men were harder to make out, as they moved in and out of the puzzle of trees. Finally one stopped in a space between the trees, his face trained up to the hills around us.

I brought his face into focus, and a cold filled me.

"What? What is it?" Kaden pressed into my side, but I didn't answer. I couldn't. The man's face was demonic. It caught the firelight, glowing a twisted metallic silver with a devil smile and dark pits for eyes. I started when he suddenly moved and disappeared from my vision, almost forgetting that I was watching him through a lens. I slowly trained the binoculars through the entire camp, and then stopped when I brought the rest of their faces into range.

"Kaden," I whispered, something cold building inside me as I dropped the binoculars and dipped down beneath the trees. "They're wearing masks."

"Masks?" His face furrowed in confusion. "What kind of masks? Why would they need masks? And in the mountains..." he wondered aloud. We lay side by side in the grass, both thinking.

"Maybe they're ugly?" he whispered, and even though the situation wasn't funny, I had to press my lips together not to laugh.

"Maybe they got really bad nose jobs. Like really bad," he whispered, and this time I actually did laugh, holding my hand over my mouth to stifle the noise. He rolled over in the grass, until I could feel the heat of his body against mine. He dropped one hand up on an elbow, looking down on me, the picture of ease. High above the stars were impossibly bright, the Milky Way like a web holding the stars. It was almost like we were two kids in love, laying on our backs and watching the stars.

When I turned from the view to his eyes, I was filled with a warmth, a sense of power. Even the beauty beyond didn't compare to him.

"We could use some horses though..." Kaden said, his voice hesitant. "Especially since we lost Dinner. What do you think, Princess?" He was serious, and I knew that whatever I said, whatever decision I came too, Kaden would follow me absolutely. It was a blessing and a curse.