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Botanicaust

Botanicaust

Titel: Botanicaust Kostenlos Bücher Online Lesen
Autoren: Tam Linsey
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around for indications of people. Cannibals could be hiding anywhere. Hunting.
    She hurried to the river, knife once again clutched in her hand. She thought about leaving it with Levi, but he couldn ’ t see to use it anyway. Avoiding the burned clearing, she wandered further downriver. Tamarisk trees grew thick along the banks, and she had to ease her way through the trunks to reach the water. Trapped between the river and the weeds, she filled bottles with brownish water. Across the channel, she saw a spiky stand of the weeds Levi harvested for roots, the fluff at the tips of the stalks drifting lazily to the sluggish water.
    Maybe there were some of the plants on this side of the river. A water bug skated by, but she was too slow to catch it. Her stomach purred at the thought of beetles. She hadn ’ t had protein in days. If she could catch a few bugs, she and Levi could both eat.
    Tucking the knife inside the basket, she searched the water around the base of the trees. The skating insects were too quick. She wondered how Mo found beetles when he was on the Burn. He said they were in the trees, and these were the only kind of trees she ’ d seen besides yuvee trees.
    She studied one of the reddish trunks. A bead of dried sap clung to the scaly, purple bark. Did beetles eat sap? A flutter above her head drew her attention. A tiny brown and grey bird darted between the branches. She ’ d only ever seen birds from afar, dots in the sky at the edge of the Reaches — carrion creatures cleaning up after the Burn Operatives.
    “ Bird, ” she whispered. Could a bird be dangerous? Like the scorpion Levi had named for her? This animal looked harmless. Maybe even friendly. The Protectorate taught that the world past the Burn was devoid of anything but toxic plants and cannibals. But that wasn ’ t true. She thought about the beetles Mo brought back. The agave pines the candy maker rendered into sugar. The muskrat Levi had cooked over the fire. There was more diversity out here than she ’ d been led to believe.
    The tiny bird landed in the crotch of a branch. Tilting its head, it turned a bright eye on her. Then it plucked something in its beak before flitting away. A shower of fuzzy seeds floated down around her head.
    Poison! Her brain shouted like the children in Albert ’ s class.
    She batted at seeds as they lodged in her hair. Some went up her nose and in her mouth as she sucked in panicked breaths. She choked, swallowing granules in the process. Retching, she leaned forward, grasping a trunk for support. Sticky resin coated her palm and she jerked her hand away in terror to wipe it on her skirt, but the stuff wouldn ’ t come off. More seeds drifted down around her, surrounding her like the cannibals who ’ d attacked Levi.
    Water bottles forgotten, she crashed through the trees. Before, she ’ d done her best not to touch the trunks, but now she shoved them aside in terror. All her years of being warned about plants crowded into her brain at once. She couldn ’ t get away. The floating seeds followed her. Showers of fluff rained everywhere. Sap stuck to her hands and skin as she blindly lurched from trunk to trunk, panting in dread. She finally cleared the trees and collapsed on the dry red soil, chest heaving until her vision spun out from under her.

L evi woke, his right shoulder throbbing in time with his heartbeat. Unable to open his eyelids enough to see anything but a slim crack of fuzzy light, he sat up. His left wrist shot bolts of pain up his arm and he fell back in agony.
    “ Tula. ” His voice creaked from his throat like a rusty door hinge.
    No answer. She ’ d gone for water — how long ago? Everything since the flying machine felt like a bad dream. Forcing one eye open a tiny bit more, he spotted the open emergency kit holding a few meager packages of gauze and a spray bottle of antiseptic. Outside the blanket tent, something moved on the rocky ground. His heart lurched. Cannibals? What if they ’ d already gotten Tula? Her ploy last night had worked brilliantly, but if they caught her unaware, she ’ d be skewered.
    He rocked forward without using his hand. Hot blood trickled across the cracked burn on his shoulder blade, tracing trails of fire along his spine. He held his breath against the agony of the bruises on his lower back as it wrapped a fist around his kidneys and clamped his belly in a vice. His heart seemed to stop and he once again collapsed. They had to get out of

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