Chapter 11
1233 Words
Sunday came and went as we spent time all together, filling each other's emotional gauges.
The markets were once a month where people could trade their home-made goods with one another.
Marianne took down a few of her delicious apple and pear pies as they were in season and looked around for some things to swap them with.
I took down my Naginata and gave a few people some quick lessons on combat and they in turn gave me items they were willing to trade for it. I jumped at a few books as well so that I could give them to Yann, who was happily tucked away in a corner, reading them.
We left Gus and Marianne in the afternoon to head back home and we just relaxed and ate for the rest of the day.
Monday rolled on in where Calli came by for our early morning work-out and weapon practice.
We pushed each other to the limit and didn't let up till the last second.
"Wheeeeeeew, that was intense!!" Calli huffed from a starfish position on the floor.
I crawled over on all fours and plopped down beside her, chugging down a litre. We had just finished sparring with our weapons of choice - my Naginata against her machete. When it came to hand to hand combat, we were neck and neck but when it was our blades, I had the upper hand every time.
"Yeah well we deserved it after our weekend shenanigans" I huffed in return.
She rolled over into a push up position and slowly stood, pulling me up.
"Both of us? What did you get up to??"
"You don't remember?" I frowned.
She took a swing of her bottle, shaking her head. "Noooope, all I remember from Saturday was flirting and drinking with some saucy Archivio dude. After that, it's all a blank" she shrugged.
I took the liberty of filling her in on Saturday nights events, including Saleem and her little mess while we walked back into the house for showers. I mentioned Magnus but only briefly.
"Well, sh*t….I need to stop drinking" she exclaimed as she sat on the toilet seat while I washed under our makeshift shower head.
I just laughed at her grumbles and asked for my towel.
We swapped places and as I brushed my hair and teeth, she yelled out. "So when will you catch up with Saleem? He's really keen on you and you might wanna nip it in the bud".
"Yeah you're right, I'll try to catch him today but I might be having lunch with someone so we will see."
I was thankful that Calli let it drop from there because to be honest, lunch with Magnus wasn't a big deal.
Right?
We finished getting ready and Calli went ahead to sort out some things while I got Yann up for school.
I found myself zoning in and out of making breakfast so much that I almost burnt our eggs, mentally kicking myself.
I quickly opened a few windows to ventilate the room and took a second to collect myself.
Goodness, why am I so antsy today?
I guess I just didn't fancy the idea of sitting down and talking to Saleem about my decision. He seemed like a nice enough guy so it was hard for me to know that I was going to hurt his feelings. I knew that a good match was hard to come by nowadays but...I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
I shook it off and decided to focus on the here and now. Feeling sorry for myself was going to have to wait.
We were out the door with time to spare so I decided to take the long way round and visit the farms.
Marianne had given us some old apples to feed the animals much to Yann's delight.
After we emptied our buckets into their bellies, we went on our way so we wouldn't be late and I left Yann with a small smile on his face.
Today I decided to wear a skirt and some heels as I was most likely accompanying Gus for today's tour. Not very practical, I know, but I had my usual get-up of track pants and boots in my bag for later. I have to admit - I was a little embarrassed walking to work like this but why the hell not!?
I finally walked into our building and down to my office but there seemed to be a little commotion outside it.
"What's going on here?" I bellowed from the back. The recruits were all blocking the way so I had to use my military voice to get them to move. They all quickly moved aside and fell into line as I walked up, their eyes gawking at my skirt and heels.
Has no one in this damn apocalypse seen a woman in office wear?!, I thought as I rolled my eyes.
Looking up, Calli was in the doorway, hand on head, covering the scene from my view.
"You are not gonna like this…"
She grimaced and stepped aside. I was shocked.
My office was trashed.
I stood there for a second, trying to take in every detail and I felt a sudden surge of anger that I hadn't felt in a very long time.
My desk was shoved to the side, papers were everywhere and a few things lay in pieces on the floor.
They were looking for something…but what??
I took a second to swallow my anger and when I was confident that my voice wouldn't shake, I turned around.
"You there," I pointed.
"Go get Gus immediately. Say it is urgent. And you - please go get Officer Saleem Malik, he will either be at the Wall or on his way. Do not speak to anyone either. Go."
They left quickly and I turned to Calli. "Who was first on the scene?"
"I was. I…", she looked around and leaned in, "I have the Work Order for cleaning our building for the month", she whispered, a little red faced.
I hid my smile and turned to the recruits.
"Jason, is it?"
From his file, I had read that he was an up and coming leader so he was perfect for this next job.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Please take yourself and the recruits to your first lesson. I believe Bruce is in Room 3 down the hall. Please inform him briefly of the situation and that his class has now been bumped up."
Jason took his classmates as instructed and as soon as they were out of sight, we began our investigation quickly before the others arrived.
We kicked into our old Militia training and combed through the room for any evidence.
I had noticed that the door was all in one piece except the handle. It was crushed and dangling off the door.
"Brute force??" I whispered to myself.
That's strange…
Calli called out and I went to her side as she was straightening from picking up something off the ground.
"I don't think they found what they are looking for but…" she opened her hand, revealing a small paper, her eyes grim.
Looking down, I almost choked on my tongue.
There in rough, scribbled handwriting was "Jerry Miller. Alma Miller."
Dad?? Mom??
What is going on??
- Writer
