Endurance Read Free Page B

pools?”
    “Let’s go see.”
    Please let them be intact.
    She moved as fast her bad foot could carry her. The fish pools were forbidden to any but Copper and Whitewall, but at this point the old rules didn’t matter. The brats constituted slim hope for the future, and she had to provide for them. To her vast relief, the dim tunnel where the forebears had broken holes in the rock remained untouched. No dead littered this part of the enclave; the fighting hadn’t spread this deep.
    In the faint torchlight, the water rippled with movement. Which meant the fish were alive. Fresh. Healthy. Some of the worry loosened its stranglehold on her chest. Thimble grabbed the nearby net and scooped out three fish. She didn’t know how to cook, how to prepare them, but she knew they didn’t have bones or scales when she ate them, so that was a place to start.
    “We can’t cook in the kitchen area,” a brat said. “It’s bad there.”
    “I’ll build a fire pit.”
    Somehow.

Four
    It took Stone longer than he liked to count the survivors. Not because there were so many, but he wasn’t good with numbers. More than once, he had to start over, until he finally had the depressing figure to carry back to Silk. Everyone he saw questioned him about what would happen to College, now that the battle was over. He could only shake his head.
    In the common area, Silk had already made some headway dealing with the bodies. Her remaining Hunters had been put to work, cleaning up the wreckage. He didn’t see how it would be possible to make the community so nice again; it had taken years to haul in all the scrap meal.
    The commander of the Hunters greeted him with an impatient look. “Well?” After Stone made his report, Silk paced. “That’s less than half our original population. What about the brats?”
    “We lost four.”
    “Better than all,” a big Hunter put in.
    Crane , he thought. Deuce had fought him during the exhibition. He was tough, strong and unshakable in his loyalty to Silk. Something about the way the Hunter stood made Stone think Crane had feelings for his captain that he wasn’t supposed to. Not that Silk seemed to notice. Hunters weren’t allowed to have personal connections.
    “How’s cleanup coming outside the common area?” she demanded. “The cook space?”
    “People are working on it,” Crane replied.
    Stone took that chance to slip away, but before he found Thimble and Boy23, a Builder cornered him. “You’re strong. You should be hauling bodies.”
    He drew in a breath, wanting to protest, but part of him felt like he should suffer for his role in the slaughter. “Show me where to go.”
    Like the fighting, his hours on cleanup passed in a miserable blur. By the time he cleared his section of the enclave, he was half-blind with exhaustion. Stone couldn’t remember when he’d last eaten or slept. But before he found a quiet, clean place to lie down, he had to find Thimble and Boy23. They had become his center.
    So he stumbled through the enclave, eyes burning, and didn’t stop until he located Thimble back by the fish pools. A fire smoked lazily before her, and he smelled the remnants of a meal. She’d created pallets for the brats, and they slept huddled together for warmth and comfort. Her expression brightened when she saw him, but he held up a hand to keep her from getting up.
    “You’re all right?”
    “Tired,” she said softly. “I don’t know when I’ve been so tired. I haven’t even had a chance to see the workshop yet.”
    He grimaced. “It’s bad. I cleaned in there earlier.”
    “So that’s why you were gone so long.”
    “Were you worried?” Stone knew he shouldn’t be glad that she cared when everything was such a mess, but…he was.
    “A little.”
    “Did he give you any trouble?” Stone tilted his head at his brat.
    “No, he’s sweet. And asleep.” She shifted, revealing Boy23 curled on his side behind her.
    “Thanks again. I don’t know what I’d do if