Read The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles for Free Online Page A

way.”
    Ajax and I moved ahead of the others. “We’re coming out,” I said.
    “What for?” the boy asked.
    “To talk about the terms of surrender,” I said.
    Ajax and I slowly made our way to the tall slender boy. I got a glimpse of two others crouched down nearby, behind a defunct street light.
    The tall boy’s face struck me as… incomplete. He had all the right parts, two eyes, a nose, a mouth. They just didn’t have any… depth.
    “What are your terms?” I asked.
    “Terms?”
    “Are we prisoners? Do we just get to leave? Maybe you want us to join your crew…”
    “Can’t join,” he parked. “We are the…”
    “The Throwaways. You said that about a billion times. I get it.”
    The tall boy pointed at Ajax. “He looks funny.”
    I furrowed my brow and snickered. “He’s not exactly the kind you want to insult.” I struggled to pinpoint what was missing from the tall boy’s face. “What’s your name?” I asked.
    “I lost it,” he said.
    “You lost your name?”
    He nodded.
    I turned to look at Ajax for answers. He shook his head and grinned. I noticed his thick brow cast a shadow across his nose, and that’s when it hit me. I turned back to the tall boy. No part of him cast a shadow.
    “I have decided my terms,” he said.
    I was busy examining his face and nearly forgot what we had been discussing. “Oh, okay.”
    “We want to join your story.”
    The request surprised me. “Story?”
    “We don’t want to be Throwaways.”
    “What do you mean by story?”
    He turned to his friends for guidance. They stood and approached cautiously. They were even less defined than he was. It almost appeared as if… part of them had been erased. In fact, one them had only half a right eye, and one arm appeared to be considerably shorter than the other.
    The tall boy shrugged and said, “Story is just… life.”
    “Life?” I was starting to understand. “I accept your terms,” I said.
    The tall boy and his two friends smiled.
    “How many Throwaways are there?”
    “We are all Throwaways,” he said confused.
    “No, I mean how many will be joining our story? Is it just you three?”
    He thought about the question. It was obvious he wasn’t all there. He turned to the back parking lot and shouted. “Come forward. They have surrendered.”
    Three more of the strange looking Throwaways stepped forward… except for one. He or she… or at least half of a he or she was rolled forward in a cart by another with no face. There was just a flat blank surface where its eyes, nose, and mouth should be.
    I was already beginning to regret the terms of surrender I had agreed to.
    ***
     
    The Throwaways sat in silence near the first register in the Walmart. Kimball sniffed them when they first entered the store, but quickly lost interest. Ariabod didn’t even acknowledge them. The front of the store was lit by a series of kerosene lanterns. The light did not do the Throwaways any favors. Their bizarre appearance was even more unsettling.
    I offered them food. They hesitated as if they weren’t sure they ate food. Finally, the Ttll boy took a bag of beef jerky from my outstretched hand. He smelled the bag. He knew enough not to eat the plastic, but he wasn’t quite sure how to open it. I took it from him, ripped open the bag, and handed it back to him. He looked terrified as he pulled a piece of jerky out and examined it. Slowly, he brought the dried meat to his mouth and took a bite. There was a delayed reaction as he chewed. His face puckered and he swallowed. He smiled and turned to his friends. “Food.” Those that had mouths followed his lead.
    Gordy pulled me aside. “Excuse me, what exactly are these… things?”
    “Throwaways,” I said as if he should have figured that out on his own.
    “If Throwaway means butt-ugly, then that makes sense,” he said.
    Wes joined us. “What are you planning on doing with these… fellas?”
    I shrugged. “They said they wanted to be part of our