After he was outvoted, Maddock stared out the window, watching both the nomads’ temporary camp and the western horizon closely until Devi shoved an open can of white-meat chicken into his hand. “Hey,” she said. “Remember me?”
When Maddock blinked and struggled to bring her into focus, I realized he was fried. “Why don’t you two go take a nap, or…something,” I said. “I’ll take watch for a while.”
“I’m fine,” Maddy insisted.
Devi rolled her eyes and took the rifle from him. “You’re not fine.” She handed me the gun, then pulled him up by one arm. “You’re gonna rest, and I’m gonna help.”
I didn’t want to know how she planned to help, and for once I didn’t care that she hadn’t thanked me for my offer. My motive wasn’t entirely altruistic.
I took the rifle and Maddock’s metal folding chair—we’d been carrying two of them because so many of the buildings were empty—out onto the courthouse balcony, then went back in for a can of soup and some reading material. Between bites of my cold lunch, I checked to make sure there was no round in the chamber, then propped the rifle up on the balcony railing and stared through the sight at Eli’s camp.
The rifle didn’t have a scope, but the sight was magnified enough to give me a much better look at the Lord’s Army. I couldn’t bring individual faces into focus, but in a span of ten minutes, I counted twelve white-haired individuals, about half of whom walked either hunched over or with a walking stick.
Eli’s group had at least a dozen senior citizens, and each one of them represented a potential lifeline for Melanie’s baby. I’d meant what I’d said about what our two groups could offer each other, but those twelve gray-haired souls were the real reason I’d insisted we stay with the Lord’s Army.
Since I knew how Eli—and presumably his entire society—felt about the concept of donating souls, I had no intention of asking anyone else to make such a huge sacrifice, and though I was still more than willing to do what had to be done myself, if my new plan panned out I wouldn’t have to.
Ironically, I’d gotten the idea from the Unified Church.
For decades, the Church had been peacefully, painlessly inducing death in elderly volunteers, timed to coincide with the birth of each baby because when a child is born the nearest unclaimed soul will be drawn to it. If there is no soul nearby, one will be drawn from the well instead.
But except for the occasional drop or two, the well of souls ran dry long ago.
I wouldn’t schedule someone else’s demise even if I could get away with it, but maybe Icouldschedule Melanie’s labor to coincide with the imminent natural death of one of the Lord’s Army’s elderly members. The baby wasn’t due for more than a month. In that time, surelysomeone would succumb to old age and the physical demands of such a rough, migratory lifestyle.
What exactly was the average human life span without Church intervention, anyway? Melanie would know, but if I asked, she’d figure out what I was up to. So instead, I added that question to two others rolling around in my mind as I set the rifle down and picked up the pregnancy book.
To my relief, according to the book, Mellie’s baby had already passed the most critical milestone—namely, lung development—and with each week spent in utero, the infant’s chances of survival increased dramatically. So in another couple of weeks I could cross premature birth off my list of concerns, barring unforeseen disaster.
Unfortunately, the book didn’t list any surefire way to induce labor without a hospital, a doctor, and an intravenous oxytocin drip—an IV full of hormones. The authors did suggest several “home remedies” for an overdue birth, including walking, variations of an herbal tea, and intercourse, of all things, but none of that sounded very reliable to me. Maybe the experienced midwives in the Army knew of some herb or plant that could—
“Hey, whatcha doing out here alone?” Finn asked as he pushed the balcony door open.
“Learning what to expect.” I closed the book and held it up for him to see.
Finn leaned against the balcony rail. “I thought you were going to be standing guard with the rest of us when she gives birth.”
I shrugged and set the book on the ground, then stood. “I might not have to, with sixty other trained soldiers there to help out.” I smiled and stepped into his embrace when he held his arms out. “That’s got to be worth at least, what? Eleven exorcists?”
“We’ll be lucky if half of them can fight like Eli.” Finn stretched his sore hand for emphasis, and I ran my fingers lightly down his palm. The swelling looked a little better and much of the redness had faded. Still…
“You may have to stick to touching soft things for a while.” My cheeks flamed over my innuendo, but the heat in his eyes rewarded my bold words. After seventeen years under the Church’s puritanical social rules, I still found it much easier to snuggle in the dark than to flirt in broad daylight.
“Now, that is one piece of advice I’d be happy to follow….” Finn leaned down, and my heart began to pound when his lips met mine. I’d seen and touched him every day for the past five months, yet every time we kissed, I felt like we were starting something new and wonderful. Something daring and bold, and completely ours.
Something that made my entire body feel alive and—
The balcony door flew open and slammed into my back, shoving me against Finn so hard that his teeth cut into my lower lip.
“Ow!” I cried.
Finn shoved the door off us and pulled me out of its path.
“You’re both relieved of duty,” Devi snapped as I turned to find her peering over the railing. “I get how you might not see the flames, with your vision so clouded by lust…” She turned and pointed toward Eli’s campground. “But can you honestly notsmellthesmoke?”
Maddock joined her at the railing, and I followed their gaze to see a dark plume rising into the sky from the center of the Lord’s Army’s camp. “Fire!” Maddy shouted, already on his way back into the building.
“Stay here,” I said to my sister as I ran after him, with Devi on my heels. Finn grabbed the rifle with his good hand on his way into the building.
