Page 74 of Us Defiant Few
“Like a rock. I was having a good dream, but I guess I’ll sleep more when I’m dead.” Serene shrugged and plopped between Takeshi and Brock.
Brock subtly inched as far from her as possible, practically leaning over the armrest. He gave Takeshi a mysterious look, but Takeshi just shook his head.
Khalani frowned at the bizarre interaction.
Once everyone was awake and washed up, Ferren stepped through the doorway with his head held high, clutching his spear like he was ready for battle.
“The Chief requests your presence at the training grounds.”
They exchanged uneasy glances. The plan was to leave that morning, but Desert Spring had kept Derek safe in their absence and had given them no reason to distrust them.
They silently agreed that one last talk couldn’t hurt.
As they walked along Pleasant Avenue, the sound of children’s laughter followed them. Kids played outside the pretty houses, kicking a white ball back and forth. A few couples held hands as they strolled down the street. Khalani spotted a few women hanging up wet clothes on a line in their backyards.
But the peace shattered as a distant clatter of gunshots rang out.
She jumped, her wild gaze darting to Ferren, expecting him to raise his spear and charge toward the fight. But his expression remained conspicuously blank as he continued walking forward.
Takeshi shifted closer to her, his hand slipping into his pocket, palming his gun. But when they marched up the hill and entered the open dirt clearing, they found the source of the commotion.
Recruits in black robes stood in three separate lines, the ones in front squinting as they fired at white targets a hundred feet away.
From Patreus’s murderous glare, the Chief’s exhausted posture, and the targets still perfectly intact, it didn’t seem to be going too well.
“No. No. NO!” Patreus stormed forward, and the recruits shrank back. “You all know you’re supposed to shoot the target, right? I’m not supposed to be grateful you’re all firing in the same direction!”
“Yes, sir,” they muttered.
“The next group up, and I swear on the moon goddess, we will be out here all night if your sorry asses don’t start showing some improvement.”
Patreus stomped back. “They’re hopeless, Chief. We don’t have enough manpower for the raid tonight. We’ll have to postpone it until they get better with the guns.”
“We can go with spears,” the Chief mused, but her tone betrayed her uncertainty.
“The last raid group barely made it out alive,” he reminded her. “The Sinners have been fortifying their manpower, and Ansel has been upping his attack on our supplies.”
The Chief pursed her lips, staring at the ground in deep thought. When Ferren cleared his throat, she looked up and forced a smile, the warmth never reaching her eyes.
“Welcome back. I hope sleep found you all well.”
“It did,” Khalani answered matter-of-factly. “Thank you for sticking to your word and keeping Derek safe.”
“It was our pleasure. He’s been a real help to us,” the Chief said, her shoulders tensing.
“What’s wrong?” Derek asked.
“We need to raid the nearest city for supplies.” She glanced at him apprehensively. “How long until the car can handle a long-distance trip?”
“I’d probably need a couple more days to get the proper amount of ethanol.”
The Chief cursed and drew a hand through her messy red hair. “We need to restock soon, or we’ll run through the rest of our crops. The winds are picking up, and if we wait to do a raid, the sandstorms could completely kneecap us. But unfortunately, we have a bigger problem.”
She turned her attention to the recruits, who were shooting at the targets but still managing to miss.
“It’s actually impressive how bad they are,” Brock commented.
The Chief and Patreus shot him dirty looks, but their situation was so dire that even they couldn’t argue with the truth.
