Read The Dawn of the Lost: Prequel to The Lost and the Wicked for Free Online Page A

dozens of people headed our way. Their bodies are covered in some type of white gunk. They move in strange, robotic movements.
    “What the heck is that?” asks Gia, her face registering a mixture of shock, anger, and fear.
    “No time to explain,” comes Summer’s muffled shout. “Let’s move.” She takes off on the motorcycle, leaving a cloud of dust behind her.
    I draw a breath, take a seat in the driver’s seat and take off after her, determined to keep my sister alive. This time, I do not look back.
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

 
               Cole Dalton (13-year-old 8 th Grade Student)
    Year: 2101
    Location: San Diego, California
     
    “What in the world is that?” asks, Giza pointing at the wave of brown falling from the sky. We had been making good progress on our way to school. I even thought we were going to be a few minutes early for once. But the sight before us seems to have changed all that. She turns to me, her red hair flowing wildly behind her. In this scared state, every brown freckle in her cheek seems to deepen into a deeper shade.
    “It looks like it’s sand,” I answer, not believing the words coming out of my mouth. Wave after wave of a golden sand continues to pour from the skies, as if it were rain.
    She looks back at me, her eyes wide. “That’s coming over from the Point Loma part of the city.”
    There is no need for her to word what she means. I know it full well. Her little brother attends school in that area of town. It is a special school for handicapped kids like John, who has autism.
    Suddenly, the entire sky grows a deep red, almost as if were bleeding. I barely have time to notice that my heart rate has spiked to epic proportions when a mass of fire descends from heavens. Seconds later, another wave of flames follows it, scorching toward the city.
    The calm, suburban street, which had been empty a few minutes ago, save a few other kids walking to school like Giza and I, is now full of house moms, running out of their homes in a panic. Some rush to their vehicles. Others rush to the school, which is only a few blocks away from where we’re at.
    Giza’s eyes remained locked on the sky, as waves after waves of flames continue to pour down.
    “C’mon.” I yank her by the top of her blue dress. Today was the day she was supposed to perform in front of the entire school. The day she was going to finally going to get over her fear of stage fright and we would finally hear that beautiful voice she’d been hiding for so long. The one she would use to sing to me in many of our ‘private concerts.’ It was also today when I would finally confess my feelings for her. The same feelings I had kept bottled up for half my lifetime. Somehow, I doubted any of us would be conquering our demons today. “My dad said I could drive the car, but only if it was an emergency.”
    She forced her sight away from the flames, and toward me. “You know how to drive?” The tone of surprise in her voice offends me a bit.
    “Yes. My dad has been teaching me on the weekends. C’mon. I think the keys are in the pantry at my house.“
    We rush back through the street, passing frantic people all around us. I ignore their frantic screams and shouts. I have to hurry if I’m going to help John. Part of me tells me it’s too late, though. The amount of sand that fell was immense. It almost seemed as if someone was trying to bury that entire part of the city.
    We reach my home, a light-blue home with a two car garage. Giza’s house is right next to mine. Like every other house in this neighborhood, it looks exactly the same as mine, though hers is a deep green.
    “How are you getting the car to start?” she asks, struggling to catch her breath. “Didn’t your dad take the keys with him?”
    Normally she was right. My dad always took the keys with him when he went out of the city on his business trips. I suppose he didn’t trust me with the car. He was probably right;