Shades of Earth by Beth Revis

Author:Beth Revis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2012-12-07T02:00:00+00:00

32: ELDER

My eyes shoot open the next morning when I hear loud footsteps clambering up the staircase leading to my building. I stretch, my neck cracking. I used a pile of clothes as an impromptu bed, but I’m going to have to find something better—especially for the pregnant women, who must be hurting more than me.

“Elder!” Amy calls, breathless, as she runs into my room.

A loopy grin slides across my face; I don’t mind being woken up this early in the morning if Amy’s my alarm clock.

Then I see her face. “What’s wrong?” I ask, jumping up and grabbing a tunic from the pile of clothes, pulling it over my head. The air’s already humid and sticky, despite how early it is.

“Kit,” Amy says, still panting from her run up to my building. “Come on.”

I stagger after her, pulling on my moccasins as I go. “What happened?” I ask, my heart sinking. Other than Amy, Kit is one of the few people on this planet I actually trust—and one of my few friends. If something’s wrong . . .

“I don’t know,” Amy says. Her eyes dart to the bottom of the hill, where Colonel Martin is giving directions to Emma and Chris, pointing out something in the distance.

“What do you mean?” I ask. “Is she all right?”

“I don’t know,” Amy repeats, grabbing my hand and dragging me down the stairs toward Colonel Martin. “This morning, Dad tried to find her, to go over that list she made detailing what everyone’s skills are. He was going to start making permanent work assignments. But she’s missing.”

“Missing?” I feel stupid. It’s barely morning; the suns have just risen.

“Dad thinks that she’s just wandered off or something, that she’ll turn up soon.”

“Kit wouldn’t do that,” I say.

She spares a glance at me. “I know.”

Colonel Martin turns as we run up to him. “Amy,” he says, admonishment in his voice. “I told you not to trouble Elder with this.”

“Dad, Kit wouldn’t just go. If she’s missing, that means something is wrong.”

I glance at Amy. We both know if she’s missing, it’s probably already too late.

“I’ve already volunteered to go looking for her,” Emma says. She scowls.

“And I’ve already said it’s nothing,” Colonel Martin says firmly. “I’ve sent some soldiers ahead to the shuttle to see if Kit went there.”

“She wouldn’t,” I say.

“We don’t have time to just stop all operations because one woman wandered off—against my orders, I might add.”

“Dad,” Amy says so forcefully that he looks a little surprised. “Kit would not just wander off alone. That’s not like her.”

Colonel Martin considers what she’s said.

Chris steps up beside him. I want to knock him aside; I don’t need one more person saying that Kit’s just carelessly gotten lost. “Maybe she’s in the latrines,” he says.

“She’s not; I checked,” Amy says. “We need to go looking for her.”

“Let’s wait for the men I sent to get back,” Colonel Martin says, but his voice isn’t as commanding as before. “She might have gone back for more supplies from the shuttle .

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