Soon, more distraught humans approached us, each with a complaint of their own. Most of the missing items were communicators and even a few weapons. But one object stood out over the others. A set of keys, which meant whoever had them now had access not only to New Franklin’s supply depots, but the armory as well.
With all the complaints lodged, Roger called a meeting with all the human community reps as well as the female guard leader I’d met earlier. I didn’t know how it happened, but I got dragged to this meeting too, even though all I wanted to do was return to the library and find my beautiful Dottie and help tidy the rest of her space before whisking her off to my seldom-used shuttle for some privacy.
By the time the meeting ended and the guards were dispatched to conduct a full sweep for the missing items inthe building housing the newest settlers—those boys among the recent arrivals—Dottie had already left.
Chapter 9: Dottie
“Hey, look! Another flower from your not-so-secret admirer.” Janice plucked the bloom off the door.
It was stuck on the inside of the room just above the door handle, which meant Ror’k had opened the door to place his gift last night, just like all the previous times. If he hadn’t been a Xarc’n hunter with barely sufficient working knowledge of human culture, my friend and I would have been a little creeped out. But Janice thought it was delightfully endearing that my purple stalker was leaving me gifts in the morning.
I took it from her and placed it in the vase next to the flower I’d gotten a few days ago.
It had been a whole week since the storage room incident, and Ror’k and I went back to our game of cat and mouse, or at least we tried to. Now that I was actually looking forward to it, the entire freakin’ settlement seemed to be conspiring to keep us apart.
We’d get as far as the whole making eyes at each other from across the room part, but the moment Ror’k even thought about taking a step toward me, something always intervened, whether it be a hunter needing his expertise or someone asking about the upcoming Easter luncheon. He was even swarmed by Mr.Chan’s entire class once, demanding their promised question and answer session.
He started leaving little gifts for me at night when I was asleep, things like single flowers and individually wrapped chocolates. And while it made me giddy to wake up to his presents, a part of me wished he’d come in and carry me away instead. It continued for four nights and then stopped. I wondered if he’d been waiting for me to make a move and had given up, but I didn’t see him around either. It turned out that he was helping out with an emergency with another hunter group.
He must be back now.
With my gift safely put away, Janice and I continued down to the cafeteria. She wasn’t on duty today, but she still snuck some breakfast burritos out for us so we didn’t need to stand in line.
“Please keep all electronics and weapons on your body or locked up in a safe location at all times until further notice,” Melissa’s voice said through the building’s PA system.She was Roger’s wife, and after he’d sworn one too many times through the PA in the early days, she’d taken over the daily announcements. “Remember, today is the first day of spring planting, so check the foyer for your assigned time and let’s get those seedlings in the ground!”
I shook my head as I took another bite out of my breakfast burrito. How the hell did Melissa sound so awake and cheery this early in the morning? Since I usually took the second shift at the library, it meant I rarely had to wake up super early for the morning shift. I just wasn’t a morning person. Luckily, the library had no shortage of librarians happy to do the morning shift, like Cecilia and Gordon.
I’d insisted everyone worked their shifts in pairs since the break-in.
It hadn’t just been our books that had gone missing that day, but a bunch of electronic devices, medical supplies, and the worst thing of all? Seeds. Dozens and dozens of packets of seeds we’d been meticulously saving from previous years.
It wouldn’t really affect us right away, since our seedlings were up and ready to go into the ground. In fact, today was the first planting day of many, and everyone was taking turns and putting aside their normal tasks to help out. But those seeds were our backups! And what about the fall planting?
“I can’t believe they even broke into the church.”
Janice and I sat in front of the window in the cafeteria, looking out at the still-dark sky.
“I can’t believe it either. It’s not like we have a tithe box. They didn’t take anything, so I wonder what they were looking for. It was clear what they were after in the library and the first aid station.”
“I heard they have guards at every building’s first aid station now. Some people think it’s one of the new settlers. Maybe those boys.”
I frowned. “One of them visited the library. He seemed like a good kid. And haven’t they been trading with us? Why would they ruin a good thing?”
“No clue. But who else could it be?”
Who else indeed! It only left the other newcomers. I didn’t think anyone who’d been with us for a while would do this.
They never did find my books or any of the missing supplies, and according to rumors, they’d turned that building inside out, checking every room. They also checked the bags of anyone leaving the settlement, which upset some people, butconsidering it would be easy to hide painkillers and books in bags, I understood the need.
“When are you scheduled for seedling duty?” Janice asked.
“In like fifteen.”
“Hey, me too! Let’s go fill up on more coffee and head out there early.”
We walked over, but instead of more coffee, I filled my bottle with water. I made the mistake of sipping coffee all day last year and ended up so wired that I couldn’t sleep for four days. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Planting was hard work, and you got thirsty, and if crappy, watered-down coffee is the only thing on hand, then that was what went down the hatch.
The very first rays of morning sun were just gracing the sky when we stepped outside. The sky, while still dim, bore only a few clouds. That was both good and bad. Good because I’d probably stay dry. Bad because there would be more flyers as the morning progressed.
