“Good idea. Need to borrow Bael’k?” Kiera asked with a waggle of her brows. “He’s great at making people do things.”
I chuckled. “I’ll call if I need backup. Do you need it right away? I was thinking of taking off early.”
“I don’t leave for the Great Plains group until after lunch tomorrow. I’ll drop by in the morning. You deserve a break.”
“Thanks.”
I omitted the part where I was trying to change up my schedule to make it harder for a certain somebody to find me. Grabbing my purse, which was usually an oversized bookbag with all my things and whatever romance novel I was reading, I headed to the garage, which was several buildings over.
I decided to stop by the food hall in the community center to see what they were serving today. I was so busy keeping my eye out for a certain purple silver fox that I didn’t realize until it was too late that I’d stepped right into trouble. I backed away when I realized I’d almost barged into an altercation. I recognized the troublemakers immediately.
“You took it,” Marco said, his voice stiff with anger. “I know you did.”
Several of his friends stood behind him as they cornered Evan and Kenzie, a couple who joined us last summer. Marco immediately had beef with Evan, something about him stealing his ex-wife, but we’d been pretty clear that if they wanted to stay in the safety of New Franklin, they both had to put their differences aside.
“I didn’t take anything. You’re all jumping to conclusions.” Evan kept his palms open, his eyes darting between them as the circle tightened around him.
People nearby pretended not to watch, but everyone was listening, holding their breaths. Evan tried to edge sideways, nudging his companion to go around the men, but another accuser blocked them.
“Funny how you were the only one in the room when it went missing,” one of Marco’s cronies said, punching his fist into his hand.
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. Look, I know you don’t like me, but can we put this behind us? It’s been fucking years.”
“This ain’t about Serena. You stole my bag with my cell phone.”
“I ain’t do nothing like that.” Evan angled his body to protect Kenzie as he tried to get away again.
“Don’t walk away,” Marco warned. “Not until you fucking give me back my shit.”
“Fuck you. I don’t have it.”
“No, fuck you!”
And then all hell broke loose as fists and chairs went flying. Then tables were being overturned. There was a shrill scream, and I met Kenzie’s terrified gaze as she realized she was stuck between five brawling men. And now that I had a good whiff, some of them were drunk. I acted without thinking.
I jumped into the fray with the sole goal of getting the poor girl out.
And that was how I ended up hiding under a table with Kenzie, my glasses smashed against the side of my face.
Chapter 4: Ror’k
I held my communicator up to the sign and waited for it to translate. I knew the library was somewhere in the building the humans called the community center, but I didn’t know where. I’d learned the hard way that humans had kept many of the signs from before the scourge and simply repurposed the building. I now knew to follow only the new ones.
I found several different types of training rooms, including one with strange machines instead of arenas and weapons. And I found a large room with many lights and rows and rows of tiny plants waiting to be transplanted once the threat of frost was past. I also stumbled upon room after room of youngsters of different ages, all facing the front of the room in the most unnatural way.
Humans had a strange way of training their young. No warrior would be able to sit still for that long.
A sudden commotion came from the cafeteria. These humans liked food a lot, and it seemed every major building had its own place to eat. There was a crowd at the door, and I stood at my full height to peer over them.
“What’s going on?” someone asked.
“Marco and Evan are finally brawling it out,” someone else answered.
Another person scoffed. “More like Evan got cornered by Marco and his buddies.”
“Do something! Pull them apart!” yelled a feminine voice.
Something about the voice had me suddenly on alert. I shoved my way in through the crowd blocking the door. Sure enough, Dottie’s scent was strong here, and laced with fear. I’d noticed it before, but had been unsure if it was simply because she passed by recently. I kept getting whiffs of her here and there, both here and at the main survivors‘ building.
