Page 64 of Leveling

Chapter 43

Luna joinedSky and River and Odo at the garden where they were enjoying strawberries. She ate a few and they were even more sweet than before, their season was almost over.

“The packs are over here.” Buzz and a young man named Seggy followed her to the trunk. Buzz whistled when she opened the lid and showed them the contents—thirty-five big packs, each full of food rations.

“You weren’t kidding, this is enough supplies for trade and tough times.”

Luna picked up Beckett’s notebook.

Odo asked, “What is that?”

“A list of the families that have been here.”

Sky asked quietly, “Anyone from your family?”

Luna shook her head.

Odo looked over the list.

Luna asked, “Recognize the names?”

Odo said, “The Copternarians are listed there, but I saw them a month ago. They didn’t go east to the settlements. They’re still traveling.”

Luna looked out to the horizon, “That being the case, we should leave some packs, just in case, enough to feed a good size group for a few days.”

Everyone nodded and began carrying a pack at a time to the stairwell.

Luna took one last look at the notebook, Beckett’s handwriting, her last connection to him. She replaced it in the trunk.

While they loaded all the packs down the stairs, three people stayed below, strapping a few packs to each trailing board. Twenty-five in all. With the supplies they already carried, first aid kits, food, water filtration, their clothes, it made for very heavy loads.

Odo asked, “This will change our family’s fortune, all these supplies. We’ll be able to trade and travel without worry for a while. Can everyone pull the weight? I’d rather leave a pack behind than dump it because it proves too heavy.”

They sat on their boards eyeing the loads. It was a lot, but they all wanted to do it.

Odo said, “Okay, let’s head out.” One at a time they slowly turned their paddleboards and knee-paddled to the port window.

Luna called, “Oh wait, I forgot something. Buzz, Sky, I might need help.”

She dropped to the water and swam to the stairs with Buzz and Sky following.

Sky asked, “What did you need?”

“To break the upper window.” Luna climbed to the 119th floor and walked to the bank of windows—the same windows where she had watched the storm with Beckett. Looking down, she accounted for all the paddleboarders and waved them out of the way. Then she picked up a heavy office chair and swung it against the glass. The window vibrated, without a crack.

Buzz grabbed a chair, and swung, aimed right at the middle of the window. A diagonal crack formed from one corner spreading down. “This is fun, do one more, do it, one more!”

Luna swung her chair back and aimed, arced and hit, shattering the glass into a million falling pieces and allowing the chair to fly out and tumble down to the water about eight feet below.

Sky picked up a chair and she and Buzz broke out the next window and the next until they had opened a new port on the side of the building. For when the water rose.

Luna said, “Now we can go.”

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