It had been so long since I had a reason to get ready for anything that wasn’t sheer survival. The anticipation was strange and wonderful, like a little spark of normal, pre-bug life sneaking back in.
The great thing was that I had the room all to myself since everyone was already out going about their day.
Was it silly that I had butterflies in my belly even though I’d already spent the last two days attached to Ror’k? I couldn’t even decide what to wear. I mean, I was going to take it off anyway.
I giggled.
We were going to have a shower date! A shower date! Who had shower dates? We did apparently. Just the thought alone sent a warm flutter through me.
But honestly, I was just excited to spend time with him that didn’t include running for our lives.
But I’d better hurry, or else I was going to be late on account of having gone to set Her Highness and the kittens up inside one of the library’s meeting rooms. Then I’d gone to the cafeteria to grab a snack before coming back to get ready. I wanted to be at the hunters’ compound before Ror’k arrived. I picked up my phone, which Janice had found in the field, and returned it to its charger on my nightstand, and headed out.
I blamed my excitement for the reason I wasn’t paying attention when I walked out of the main survivor building and right into trouble.
“There she is! Dottie, the head librarian,” said a familiar man’s voice.
I turned to see Max with a woman who’d joined our settlement last year, right before the summer swarms. Her name slipped my mind, but I’d seen her around often enough to recognize her face.
“Good. Now let’s get our hands on that hard drive and get out of here.”
If they were after the hard drive, then they must be our NEM rats!
“Max?” I couldn’t stop my head from shaking. I felt so betrayed. I couldn’t believe I’d actually started to care about the guy. But the pieces were coming together. He’d taken the job at the library to look for the hard drive. He clearly hadn’t found it because it wasn’t there.
There was a sharp glint in the woman’s eyes that told me she was the mastermind behind this outfit, not him. My gaze swept the hallway for an exit, but everyone was out in the fields today finishing up the planting.
“Grab her, you idiot,” the woman ordered.
I ran, but Max lunged first, his hand clamping around my arm roughly.
“Where is the hard drive? You were close with Kiera,” the woman demanded. “Show us, and no one gets hurt.”
“I don’t know what you mean. You mean the ones in the library computers?”
“The hard drive. Don’t play dumb with me. We saw Kiera return to town smiling. And they had all those secret meetings. She must’ve been successful.”
And the NEM thought that getting the hard drive was enough to pull their spies out of New Franklin. I needed to get out where someone could see me or make a run for it.
“Answer me!”
“I really don’t know,” I lied. “That’s above my pay grade. Roger would know.”
“Fuck! This is useless.” Max shook me so hard stars appeared in my vision. “I told you she doesn’t know. She didn’t speak about it at all while I was working there. I checked every computer in that library. What the fuck are we supposed to do with her?”
The woman paced the room. “Their leader is soft. They’ve known each other for years. He’ll trade the hard drive for her.”
She brought out a phone and dialed a number. Interesting! So they did have a network we didn’t know about to communicate.She spoke softly to someone on the other line, and Max held me hostage. I wished I had crazy Xarc’n hearing so I could hear what was being said, but I didn’t, so I took the opportunity to tell Max exactly what I felt.
“I can’t believe I let you have first dibs on all the new thrillers. You traitor! I hope you never read a good book again.”
He looked taken aback. “We do what we have to. I was really hoping those brats would find it, so I could stay here and live the cushy life a little while longer. Even if I have to see those disgusting halflings all the damned time.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Those “halflings” he spoke about with such disdain were miracles, mixed babies who bore the best of both human and Xarc’n parents!
“Okay. They’re planning our evac now.” She turned to me. “You. Do you have a phone?”
“Yes.” I didn’t see a reason to lie. They’d find it on me eventually anyway.
