Page 26 of Calico Descending

“Congratulations, you’ve made it through the first week of kitchen duty,” she says, and crosses her arms. “Make sure you grab an extra piece of bread before you go tonight.”

Something slides down my leg, creeping it’s way along my thigh, to my shin, and I stiffen in horror, as it occurs to me the piece of bread I grabbed has wriggled loose.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I never asked you. Where’d you come from?”

The bread falls to the floor, but doesn’t seem to break her attention, and I use my feet to slide it behind me. “I’m sorry?”

“Your hive. Where did you come from?”

“Northeast. Far. My hive was raided.”

“Ragers?”

I nod, crossing my arms in front of me to be sure the other piece of bread still sits tucked in my waistband. “A horde.”

“A horde came through my hive, as well.” Her gaze lowers from mine, and she frowns. “You plan to take that with you?”

A zap of terror winds down my spine, and rolling my shoulders back, I try to think of an excuse for why I’d hide the bread.

She bends forward and nabs the drain catch from my fingers. “Not sure what use this would be.” She chuckles and pats me on the shoulder. “I’ll take it back to the sink for you. Have a good night.”

“Have a … good night.” As she walks off, I lower myself to the floor and pick up the piece of bread, scraping off the small bits of dirt, before tucking it back into my band. The breath that shivers out of me carries all the tension of the last five minutes.

Once back at the barracks, I slip the bread beneath Neela’s pillow when the other girls aren’t looking, and crawl into my bed.

Minutes later, Neela and her friend return to the barracks, eyes on me, as they make their way to their bunk. Reaching under her pillow, Neela smiles and gives a nod.

I nod in return.

“Light’s out!” Medusa calls from the door of the barracks, and she performs her usual sweep, eyes scanning for anything unusual. By the time she reaches our end of the room, she pauses, trailing her gaze over our beds in the most harrowing twenty seconds of my life.

“No talking tonight,” she says, before retreating back into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

In the blackness of the room, I blow out a shaky breath and close my eyes.

Chapter 14

Present day

Medusa leads me past a guard, and into a room I’ve never been to before. A large screen sits on a cart of some sort, at the head of a circular table. Medusa points to one of the chairs at the table, and I sit down, my knees knocking together.

Men in white lab coats file in, some of their faces familiar from my weekly checkups. Others, I’ve never seen before. Why would they be here? Why am I here?

As the table becomes crowded, my nerves kick into high alert, and somehow, I feel smaller.

Medusa takes a seat beside me, and the low hum of chatter fills the room, the occasional glance in my direction setting my teeth on edge.

Doctor Ericsson is the last to enter, and he makes his way to a chair beside the screen. “Gentleman.” His beady eyes fall on me, and he smiles. “And ladies, our troops are en route to a hive we’ve been following for a while now. For years, they’ve acted as allies, but as I understand, they’ve grown increasingly belligerent. It seems they’ve taken sides with the band of rebels who refer to themselves as Skulls. These rebels are responsible for the attacks on our Legion officers, led by, what we think, might be a former Alpha who escaped the compound a few years back. We’ve taken the liberty of planting a camera on one of our soldiers, in hopes of getting a good look at the rebels. I’ve not had the opportunity to review this footage yet, as it was turned over by one of the surviving officers who fled the attack. Our Alpha, Valdys, managed to take out some of the rebels, as well as a few of the members of the hive. And as I understand, he was the first to come upon the officer who filmed the attack.” Turning away, he flips on the screen, and my stomach sinks at the sight of the soldier who cornered me earlier in the day. “This is officer Dean Griffin who was recently assigned to B wing.”

The smile on the officer’s face disappears, as he tugs his mask over his head, and the camera switches from him to a view of the desert, setting my stomach at ease. Lines of Legion soldiers, all dressed in black, march across the sand toward a mountain off in the distance. I squint my eyes, trying to discern why the landmark seems so familiar to me.

Dryness hits the back of my throat, and I cough, drawing Doctor Ericsson’s attention, who points to Medusa. “Get her a glass of water, will you?”

Water.

The soldiers make their way up a path in the mountain, the heavy breaths of Dean, as he climbs up the rock, twisting my gut. Ahead of him, I catch sight of Valdys, who turns just long enough to make me wonder why he’s so seemingly intrigued by the camera. Once on the other side of the mountain, the men march their way toward a circle of tents set in the clearing. One I’ve seen before.

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