Frozen: Heart of Dread, Book One by Melissa de la Cruz, Michael Johnston Page B

collapsing under his weight.
    “Watch this!” Zedric yelled, as he aimed his RPG at a pair of thin steel-and-wood beams that supported a big house across the hill. The long glass façade must have been beautiful once, but its windows were all smashed now and its roofline as wavy as a noodle. The neighboring houses were similarly perched out over the hill on tiny thin posts.
    A loud smack interrupted her thoughts.
    Wes had knocked the rifle from Zedric’s hand, which hit the boy’s nose as the gun fell to the snow. “What the hell!” Wes demanded.
    Zedric glared at him. “I was just having a little fun!”
    For a moment, Nat thought he was going to hit Wes, but the smaller boy seemed to think better of it.
    There was a pop—another explosion—but different this time, and all of them turned around to see the long white house slide down the hillside and crash into the trash pile below.
    “You shot out the supports, didn’t you?” asked Wes.
    “It was fun,” Zedric repeated, reaching for his gun as he wiped a trickle of blood from his nose.
    “Thanks a lot. You just let the seeker team out there know exactly where we are. Where’s your brother? We need to get out of here before they come.”
    Zedric shrugged, but they all knew where to look.
    “Once a scavenger, always a scavenger,” Wes muttered and Nat understood the temptation had been too great for Daran. Zedric’s hyena laugh echoed through the canyon as a second house disappeared down the cliff side.
    “I’m assuming you weren’t dumb enough to shoot at the house your brother’s in?” Wes demanded.
    Zedric glared at Wes as blood streamed out of his nose. “What’s your problem, man?” he whined. “Ain’t hurting no one.”
    “Just get him already.”
    “Daran!” Zedric called.
    “Daran!” Shakes took up the call and Farouk did, too. Nat did the same.
    After a few minutes Daran lumbered out of the house, his arms filled with a collection of junk: toasters, an electric fan, what looked like part of a blender. He ran, breathless, back to the truck.
    “Shakes—we good to go?” Wes asked.
    “Ready when you are.”
    Wes barked his orders. “Everyone in the truck! Now!”
    “What’s the rush?” Farouk asked, as they watched Daran hustle toward them, wading through the snow.
    “These houses are packed with pop-cans, every single one of them. It’s common knowledge. Daran should have known better, he does know better,” Wes said, frustrated. “C’MON!” he yelled.
    “He’s stuck,” Nat said, as they watched Daran flail in the deep snow. But as she moved to help, Wes pulled her back.
    There was another explosion. This one wasn’t from the big gun or the sound of a house skiing down the hillside. The two of them were blown backward to the ground as the air filled with a mix of white powder and black smoke.
    “Pop-can,” Wes said, kicking away a rusted can that Nat had accidentally stepped on. “An old one; that’s why it didn’t immediately explode when you hit it.”
    Nat just stared at him, too shaken up to speak.
    “You can thank me later,” he said. “DARAN, COME ON, MAN! Zedric—go help your brother.”
    Zedric stood his ground, staring at Wes, his eyes wide with fear.
    “We’re not going to leave you boys—you hear me? Go get your dimwit brother out of that trench! Now!”
    Zedric didn’t move.
    “Pop-cans have a proximity detonation feature,” he explained to Nat. “When one of those things go off, it sends a signal to the rest. This whole valley could collapse. All this so Daran can buy a hit of oxy in K-Town.”
    On cue, another explosion atomized the house behind them. Wes cursed—the explosion had sent Daran flying, and he was wedged facedown in the black snow. “Mask!” Wes yelled, and Shakes threw him a gas mask. “If you hear another pop, hit the gas—I’ll meet you in K-Town!” He put on the mask and waded through the snow and smoke toward the fallen soldier.
    “C’mon,” Zedric said, pushing