Page 66 of Us Defiant Few

Even to her ears, that sounded pathetic. But Serene gave a serious nod. “I guess we’ll take that as a semi-win.”

“There she is.” Derek walked over and pulled Khalani into a tight hug, lifting her off the floor. He wore tan sweatpants and a beige tunic, his hair unkept like he’d just woken from a nap.

A short laugh escaped her until she noticed Takeshi shifting his gaze from the carpet to Derek’s arms around her, and he switched the blade into his throwing hand.

But Derek’s goofy smile was stuck in place, not recognizing the renewed friction in the room as he lowered her to the ground and tugged on her palm.

“We were waiting on you both before we caught up on everything.”

He pulled her farther into the house. A tall green lamp illuminated the living room in a soft yellow glow. The pictures of smiling families on the wall still made her feel like she was intruding in someone else’s private space.

Elise wandered between the frames, studying them with a wistful look as she played with her dad’s ring on her finger.

Serene plopped down beside Adan and Winnie on the cracked leather sofa in the center of the room. Khalani sat on the big gray plush chair with a strange wooden handle on the side.

“Check this out.” Derek pulled on the handle.

Khalani yelped as the bottom part of the chair suddenly shot up to her hips.

“Winnie remembers reading about something like this. Ahh!” Winnie snapped her fingers. “A lazy boy. That’s what they called it.”

“Marvelous engineering,” Adan whispered, scanning the bizarre contraption like he was already figuring out how to build one.

“Yep, that one’s my favorite.” Derek grinned. “After a hard day’s work, I take a shower and sit there naked.”

Khalani immediately scrambled off the chair.

“Speaking of work.” Serene glanced at Derek. “What have they had you doing here since we left?”

Derek took Khalani’s spot on the chair and sighed. “Gardening.”

A weighted silence filled the room.

“Gardening,” Brock repeated in a flat tone.

“Yeah…why are you making that face?”

“Of all the things they’d need a scientist for, I wouldn’t think gardening would be at the top of the priority list.”

“It actually makes sense.” Adan rubbed his chin. “The Chief said they get food from nearby cities, but it surely can’t last them forever. If they’re able to grow crops, they could maintain Desert Spring for much longer.”

“Exactly. But that’s not the only thing.” Derek lowered the recliner, leaning forward. “They’ve also had me working on something bigger. Desert Spring has been trying to make the surface vehicles work again. But what are the cars missing?”

“People who know how to work them?” Serene chimed in, and Brock rolled his eyes.

“Gas,” Winnie answered.

“Precisely!” Derek nodded. “But there are no working gas stations on the surface. That’s where the crops come in. They’ve been growing corn and potatoes for ethanol, but they could never get the process right before. So I helped them.”

“You created gas out of corn?”

“I finally managed to get the distillation process right. They should have at least one car up and running soon, but we’ll see.” Derek bit his lips, squeezing his hands together.

“Hey.” Serene patted his arm. “You did a really good job. Better than any of us could’ve done.”

Takeshi stayed silent against the wall, listening and studying the house as they all gave Derek words of encouragement.

Something nagged at Khalani, though.