Nomas  (English, Paperback, Payne T R)

Nomas, a curious inquisitive boy of fourteen summers, sought out the people who passed through his community in a caravan. He had a unique skill that would help him with a job that the Elders in his community were desperate for him to carry out. He needed to find out where these mysterious people lived and how they stayed hidden from the rest of the world. They had possessions that the Elders wanted for the Community—security, technology, wealth, and food. Nomas discovers the world is a very different place than his very ordered and controlled life in the Community. Nomas struggles to survive as he travels, fighting off wild dogs in the valley, escaping renegades on the roads, avoiding marauders in the devasted city, and going through a putrid forest. He finds shelter and friendship in the hidden Village. Gilia, the red-haired girl with a small dog, shows Nomas that life can have joy and happiness even if hard things happen. Nomas travels with the Villagers to a wild trading Bazaar and a city that is run by the AI machines. Nomas, once afraid of anything new or unknown, uses his unique abilities to fight an evil that rules the people in a shattered world.