The Flicker: Chapters 8–14

by H.E. Edgmon
A year after a solar flare changed life on Earth for good, stepsisters Millie and Rose go on a perilous journey in search of hope and family.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapters 22–28, Chapters 29–37
15 words 27 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hubbub
    loud confused noise from many sources
    Bells, in all the hubbub from finding the Lost Boys and setting out together, she’d forgotten the message that’d come through earlier.
  2. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    Millie’s standing over a jerry-rigged camping stove, dried-up twigs shoved tight together inside what mighta once been a hubcap from a car, smoldering all yellow and orange.
  3. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    In the silence that follows, Millie mutters, all condescending like she always is, “The closet. Obviously.”
  4. ignorant
    uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
    Rose don’t appreciate some city boy from Pittsburgh coming down here and basically calling her an ignorant hick.
  5. interrogation
    an instance of questioning
    Somehow, Millie thinks he must know that was just about the only thing he coulda said to actually get her to give up on the interrogation and follow the rest of them.
  6. spindly
    long, thin, and often weak or fragile
    Noah is asking, pointing at Sammy, who’s strapped to Rose’s back and babbling nonsense up at the spindly, dead tree branches overhead.
  7. science fiction
    genre involving the imagined impact of technology on society
    Now that everything’s dead, the hills still look like something out of a story, but this one’s science fiction.
  8. withered
    having lost all moisture
    Naked mountains, covered in the crispy, withered husks of trees, really don’t look like they’re from Earth.
  9. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    She thinks maybe it’s his adrenaline that gets hers going, too.
  10. contagious
    easily diffused or spread as from one person to another
    His anxiety’s contagious, and it spreads through the bus, putting everyone on edge.
  11. convoy
    a procession of land vehicles traveling together
    “They might actually let you on a convoy soon.”
  12. logical
    capable of correct and valid reasoning
    “I lost my go bag,” Noah admits. “It was bag or dog, and I chose dog.”
    It wasn’t a good or logical thing to do.
  13. invaluable
    having incalculable monetary or intellectual worth
    Noah’s bag was full of emergency snacks and medical supplies....They’re basically invaluable.
  14. gibberish
    unintelligible talking
    “This … is gibberish.” Ben shakes his head.
  15. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    Scribbled in Ben’s handwriting — for real, Rose has never seen a grown.up with worse handwriting than her, until Ben’s, sheesh — is another one of the Sanctuary’s cryptic messages.
Created on Tue Jul 08 04:33:26 EDT 2025 (updated Thu Sep 25 19:14:17 EDT 2025)

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