The Cellar: A Post-Apocalyptic Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

that inane old story all over again, the one about the boy who cried wolf. He didn’t even know what a wolf was. It was another mythical creature made up to scare kids.
    Logan dusted off his palms and wiped them on his pants. “Maybe I’d better haul the dirt up now before it gets too heavy to lift.”
    “Maybe if you talked less we’d be done by now.”
    “Why don’t you just say ‘shut up’ to my face?”
    “You don’t get to be the angry one!” Daren threw the slab on the ground. “It’s your stupid bell-ringing that got us here!”
    “You think I ring bells for fun?” Logan raised his voice. “You saw that thing. What else was I supposed to do?”
    “For starters,” Daren said, turning around to face him, “try not to make me look like an idiot in front of the whole damned village.” He wiped a drop of sweat off his nose.
    Logan’s eyes darkened with rage. He stepped forward and shoved Daren on the chest. Daren lost his balance and fell backwards into the trench.
    “You want an apology now, is that it?” Logan sneered as he looked down at him. “I did what I thought had to be done. Which is a whole lot better than standing around and whining, ‘What should we do?’!” Logan mimicked Daren’s voice.
    Daren got on his feet and brought his face close to Logan’s. “You would’ve stayed frozen like a scared kid if I hadn’t shaken you.”
    “Dammit to hell!” Logan turned around and kicked over the sack, spilling its contents all over. He shot Daren a menacing look. “I’d better take a break before I stab something!”
    Logan stepped out of the trench, cursing repeatedly as he stalked off. Muttering curses of his own, Daren slapped the dust from his pants and grabbed the canteen strapped to his belt. He peered inside the container, sloshed the water around, and downed a huge gulp. Screwing the top back on, he glanced at the rock wall of the village about twenty feet to his right. The two villagers Arianna assigned to watch him and Logan weren’t around. They were probably taking a break. And Logan was nowhere in sight.
    Daren shivered when he realized he was alone. Hard labor and his irritation with Logan had kept his fear at bay. Now that Logan was gone and the work had stopped, he felt a change in the air. An eerie feeling crept up his left side, as well as a growing compulsion to turn his head and look at the forest. But someone might be standing among the trees, and he didn’t want to meet the eyes that he felt were staring at him. He imagined a white film over them with small black pupils in the middle. After a few moments, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He turned to look.
    There were just trees—leafless, dead things stretching their branches to a sunless sky.
    Or were there just trees? Daren squinted at an object lying on the ground. It looked shiny and metallic, and it was right near the place where he had seen the specter glide over last night. He climbed out of the trench and walked slowly towards the object. As he got closer, he realized what it was and ran the rest of the way. He picked it up and stared at it for a moment. Then he turned it over and over in his hands trying to make sure it was real. He lifted it up to his ear and shook it.
    It was a can of beans. He could barely read, but he could tell what it was from the picture. The last time he’d seen canned goods was when a trader came over several years ago. Those cans were filthy and covered in rust, and the food in them was dangerous to eat. Still, they fetched a high price, and the village traded a trunk of weapons for them. But the can Daren held looked like it was just a few days old. He knew that was impossible. No canned food had been made since The Event.
    “Daren!”
    He shoved the can in his coat pocket and whirled around to see Arianna with fists balled, stomping her way towards him. Her blue overcoat was unbuttoned, and it flared out behind her like a cape. She didn’t forget her eye patch this