Raging Storm by Vannetta Chapman

Author:Vannetta Chapman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736966566
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

THIRTY-SIX

Shelby and Bianca scooted closer together.

“Ten more minutes until lights out.” The room mom gave them a pointed look as she walked by.

“Soon she’ll tell us no more giggling.” Bianca kept her voice low and wiggled even closer. “Stop hogging the letter. I need to see it.”

“I already read it to you.”

“I knew he was sweet on you, but this goes above and beyond.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

They put their heads together, literally, lying on their stomachs on two mats that had been provided by the same room mom who was attempting to run a tight ship over twenty women in a fifteen foot by twenty foot classroom. It was crowded. The room smelled of sweaty bodies and unwashed bedding. As in the cathedral, there were no windows to open, though there were small skylights in the ceiling.

No one complained about the crowded conditions or the cranky overseer.

They were safe.

They had a place to rest.

They’d eaten.

There was much to be thankful for, though at the moment Shelby felt anything but. Having to halt their search for the evening was bad enough.

Being chased by men in a flatbed truck was worse.

Now, in addition, they were separated from the guys.

Apparently, there was to be no cohabitation in this city of refuge, not even for the married couples, and based on what Shelby had heard there were several in that situation.

Bianca had her nose almost on the letter. The room would have been dark—no generators were used to power the lights, though Shelby guessed they had been used in the kitchen. Instead, many of the women had pulled flashlights from their backpacks. Fortunately, the guards had let them all keep their packs after they checked them for weapons.

Shelby held their flashlight while Bianca studied the letter.

“A man just showed up with this?”

“Yeah, while you were reserving our mats.”

“And he was wearing a bow tie?”

“Sounds odd, but he was.”

“And he said this letter is from Max.”

“He asked if I was Shelby, handed me the letter, and said the young man pining for me sent it.”

“Max isn’t young.”

“Agreed, though he’s not old either.”

“He used the word pining?”

“He did.”

Their room mother collapsed into a chair by the door. She was a short thing, with red hair and a mean disposition. Probably she was former military. At least it seemed to Shelby that she would have made a great drill sergeant. She’d yet to see the woman smile.

“It’s some kind of code,” Bianca said.

“But why? And what does it mean?”

Shelby ran her finger across the lines as they silently read Max’s note for the third time.

Missing you already. Couldn’t find Micah.

Remember when we were four and snuck outside to see the ram your father was keeping in the west pasture? Good times. Sleep well, Shelby.

“He misses me?”

“That’s to throw off bow-tie man, who no doubt read the note before he passed it on.”

“Couldn’t find Micah must mean—”

“That this place is not a part of the Remnant. I think we knew that already.”

“Okay, but we were never four. Max is one year older than me—always has been.

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