GRAVE DIGGERS - Part VII

While Part VII of Grave Diggers is a little short, think of it as a segue into the climax of the novella. Only three more installments to go! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

*****

GRAVE DIGGERS 

Part VII:

Desi: 

Desi watched the soldier leave her home. Biting her lip, she locked up the artifact room and found Edmund still at the bottom of the stairs.

“I take it that didn’t go like you planned it would.” Her cousin peeled himself off the wall.

“Not quite.” She sighed. They had all discussed it last night, Desi, Edmund, and Artemis. If Commander Puck was as perceptive as he seemed, then it was possible they could have an ally outside of the Intell community.

Now, Desi wasn’t so sure. She probably shouldn’t have thrown so much at him at once, Puck hadn’t been raised to question everything around him like she had. But time wasn't exactly on their side.

“Maybe he’ll come back.” said Edmund.

“He might.” said Desi. “But if he does, will it be on his own or with an army behind him?” 

*****

Puck:

Another week went by before Puck returned to the Spire. Nothing could take his mind off of what he’d seen in the records department and in the Intell’s home. Training his squad exhausted him enough so he could sleep, but even then his dreams were a mess. Everything he’d believed his whole life clashing with the new questions Desi had planted in his mind.

Puck wasn't sure whether he’d make contact with the Intells again. What he needed to know first, why his squad’s Reclamation sites weren’t being utilized like he’d been led to believe. The need for clarity gnawed at him, making him curt even with his fellow soldiers.

For someone who had been so eager to leave the Spire a week ago, Puck couldn’t get there fast enough this time. He couldn’t stop fidgeting with the cuffs of his uniform jacket, the material felt like it was growing tighter around his wrists.

He made it to the twenty-first floor and down to Edison’s office without running into anyone he knew. The clerk was surprised to see him again so soon.

“Don’t tell me, the cameras still aren’t working?” Ed put down the tablet he’d been using and saluted the him.

“No, we haven’t gone on another mission yet.” Puck said. “I wanted to see my squad’s Reclamation log again.”

“Sure!” Ed put up his away sign and led Puck back to the room they’d used before. He logged into the system and offered Puck the seat at the console. “I hope you don’t mind, I really need to finish a report. Do you think you’ll be able to navigate the program?”

"I've got it, thanks Ed." said Puck.

As soon as Ed left the room he began scanning the list, adding up how many missions they’d successfully completed, and how many of the sites had been used for the expansion of the Nation. He did the math, and he did it again, then did it a third time just to make sure. 

“Less than a quarter…” Puck hissed. “Less than a quarter?” He wondered briefly if the data was wrong, but no, the log had to be right. It was part of a continuously updated National database.

Before he could change his mind, Puck downloaded the log onto a new memory card and closed the program down. Edison was still engrossed in his notes when Puck reached the front office. He thanked Ed again and made his way out of the Spire, the memory card burning a hole in his pocket until he made it out onto the street.

Puck’s squad received their next assignment the following day, a site about three hours’ flight south of the city. The men were actually excited about the prospect. Missions had been coming farther and farther apart over the last year, as the Rebuilding project neared its first phase of completion.

They would have one day of leave and then two weeks of preparation before the mission date. Despite the improvements the military had made in their technology, which Sergeant Abalos was always quick to point out, this was still dangerous work. Grave Diggers were usually given an opportunity to visit their families before each Reclamation mission, in case they didn’t make it back.

Having no inclination to see his father or, by virtue of proximity his mother, Puck spent most of the morning wandering around the city. He wore civilian clothing, but the Citizens he passed still gave him a wide berth. The military haircut, buzzed down on the sides and long on top, didn’t help to hide his identity. Perhaps if these wary people knew he was merely a Grave Digger, they wouldn’t have given him quite as much respect. He would have still been avoided, but for different reasons.

Puck’s wandering eventually brought him to a train station. He blindly chose one of the Citizen trains and situated himself in the last seat of the end car. From here he could feel the train’s wheels on the tracks, the subtle shudder that went through the chain of cars whenever the engine switched gears or the brakes were applied. His eyes drifted closed, his breathing evened out to match the steady clacking of the train.

‘I could do this all day.’ The sluggish thought surprised him. ‘I could float along on the train, day in and day out…maybe I should have been a conductor.’ Puck's eyes flew open. That was the most disturbing thought he’d had all day. He had a feeling his father would have been more outraged if Puck had volunteered to become a train conductor instead of enlisting. Hilliard probably would have killed him. 

*****

TBC...

© Courtney Carter, http://writingdeskblog.blogspot.com, 2018