Numbers Raging by Rebecca Rode

Author:Rebecca Rode [Rode, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diamond Patch Press
Published: 2017-02-18T16:00:00+00:00

I was on my thirteenth route around the perimeter when I saw Treena’s light go out. It had been on a long time. Maybe she had been waiting for me to come in.

I couldn’t talk to her right now. Not with my settlement struggling and Ju-Long running loose. No matter how hard I tried to keep things together, my life insisted on crumbling apart.

“You keep getting in the way,” Treena had said. Like I was some street urchin tainting her ladyship’s reputation. I’d never forget the embarrassment on her face as she realized we were being watched. Her Highness was too good to be seen speaking with her lowly bodyguard.

I remembered my dream from a few nights ago and shivered. Treena kept using the word overprotective. But wasn’t that better than the alternative? I’d failed to keep her safe so many times. Now that I was finally succeeding, she resented me for it.

Whether she believed it or not, Treena needed me. The problem was that my settlement needed me too. We’d finally united our people under a new flag, a new leader. It wouldn’t take much for tensions to split them apart again.

A night patrolman, one of my guys, walked by and gave me a curious glance. I was supposed to be off duty. My shift began again in three hours, and tomorrow would be another long day. Tired or not, it was time for sleep.

I’d just climbed into bed with my clothes on when my pocket vibrated. I’d forgotten to take the receiver out.

I scrambled for it, but the vibration stopped.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered, holding it to my face as if I could make it ring again by sheer will. If they were calling me again already, it meant they’d found Ju-Long. I needed to hear that right now.

It vibrated again.

I switched it on. “I’m here.”

“Vance.” Selia’s voice. “Thank you for answering.”

“Where’s Ruby?”

Selia paused. My breath caught, and I stared at the receiver, willing it to speak back.

“She’s not doing well,” Selia finally said.

“But I just talked to her a few hours ago.” Usually her pain occurred in the morning. We knew by breakfast whether it would be a good or bad day. But it would be evening there now.

“Vance, the lake’s been poisoned.”

The receiver slipped in my hands, and I fumbled to catch it, yanking it back to my ear. “What did you just say?”

“Everyone is sick. The council, most of the settlers. Ruby.” A pause. “Your sisters.”

It felt like a punch to the face. I found myself sliding to the floor next to the bed. “Poisoned?”

“We don’t actually know it’s poison, but I can’t think of anything else that would do this. Everyone affected drank lake water today. Those who used water packets from storage are fine.”

I swore. “Some kind of bacteria?”

“We’re not sure yet. The lab is testing the water, and we’ve rationed enough water storage to last them a week. Hopefully they can find a cure by then.”

My sisters were sick. Alone. “Where are the twins?”

“My boys are caring for them.

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