Glancing over his shoulder, he grinned. “I contain multitudes.”
Upon seeing them, Sister Agnes told her students to give her a moment and read quietly.
It always took Caitlin a moment to remember the woman was actually a nun.
Dressed in simple Target jeans and an oversized blue button up with the sleeves rolled to her elbows, she kept her grey hair tucked under a plain white handkerchief knotted at the nape of her neck.
Smiling as she walked up, Sister Agnes clapped her hands together as if in prayer.
“Thank you,” she said warmly. “I know this couldn’t have been easy to transport.”
“We just hope we got you everything you need,” Caitlin said, setting her box down.
“I’m certain it will be. Anything is better than nothing.”
Booker nodded to the box he carried. “This’un’s mostly paper, pencils, some workbooks and the like. Cae’s got chapter books, a couple calculators, a lot of those tiles used for geometry…”
Sister Agnes laid a hand on his shoulder, eyes glistening. “Angels, both of you. Thank you, Jack.”
He grinned. “You’re the only other person in this camp that calls me Jack.”
Offering to take one of the boxes, Sister Agnes tilted her head in thought.
“Probably because it was also my brother’s name,” she said. “You’re almost nothing like him, except he had a good heart too. I guess that’s the only similarity that really matters now.”
As they brought the supplies over, a few of the children waved and called out greetings.
The little blonde three-year-old Booker had carried out of the lab in Iowa—Brianna, they’d found out later—waved so enthusiastically she smacked another kid in the head with her teddy bear.
“Hey, y’all,” Booker said, beaming from ear to ear. “We gotcha more stuff to help ya learn and grow those brains.”
“Class, can we say thank you to Miss Meadows and Mister Booker?” Sister Agnes asked, tone gentle and authoritative.
“Thank you,” the children responded in unison.
Twenty-seven little faces all looking up at them, the eldest wasn’t more than twelve. Most were orphaned by the Ark exodus, but a few had found their parents, an older sibling, cousins…
One girl who looked to be about ten, with big, curly brown hair and bright hazel eyes, quietly tapped Booker’s shin.
“Your boot’s untied,” she told him when he glanced down.
“So it is,” he chuckled. “Thank you, uh…”
Tucking her hands into her denim overalls, she tried to look disinterested.
“Desi,” she said.
Kneeling to retie his boot, Booker nodded. “Thank you, Desi.”
With the stare that belonged to a much older, world weary soul, Desi shrugged and turned her attention back to Sister Agnes.
That, Caitlin realized, was a child who had seen too much too young and would never be able to forget it.
Saying goodbye, they started back towards the gym’s double doors.
Caitlin laughed to herself. “Mister Booker.”
“Don’t,” he said. “Makes me feel like my dad.”
“Uh oh, is that a grey hair I see?”
“Stop it.”
* * * * * * *
The December days were short and frigid, which left little to be done about the outer perimeter. They’d managed to maintain most of the fencing left behind when the school had turned into a rescue shelter for locals, but the back half of the property was wide open—a section of the chain link having come down when the place was overrun.
Winter brought hard frosts and snows, and the soil was too hard to try digging into. The best they’d come up with were modified razor wire lines strung between standing fence posts.
It wouldn’t stop a herd, but a couple of Geeks would get too mangled to do much harm before one of the patrol shift could dispatch it.
Caitlin found herself staring at the rows of wire every evening, frustrated and unable to come up with a better solution.
But that didn’t stop her from trying.
“Don’t like having your ass hanging out either, huh?”
Caitlin gripped the inside of her arm tight as she turned to look at Seth.
“Not particularly,” she said, trying not to seem tense.
He smiled at her, completely at ease as he leaned against the windowsill.
“Can I be honest?” He looked to the hole in the fence. “It makes me really nervous.”
She didn’t know exactly what angle he was trying for, but she decided to wait and see.
“I mean, I trust the patrol teams,” Seth continued. “I know they’re good at their jobs. But they can’t be in a dozen places at once. And that razor wire doesn’t look too sturdy against more than a few rotters…”
He ran his hand through his black hair, sighing.
“I’m probably over thinking it, right?” He offered another self-deprecating smile. “My sister always told me I was a worry-wort.”
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as being too careful now,” Caitlin admitted. “You’re not wrong. The wire wouldn’t hold against more than four or five Geeks. But we haven’t seen too many around the last few days, so maybe…” She trailed off, not wanting to jinx them.
“I was thinking of putting myself on the next patrol shift,” Seth said. “Give myself a purpose for all these sleepless nights.”
Caitlin flattened her lips into a line. “You sure? It can be a daunting shift if you’re not prepared.”
He nodded. “I think I’ll manage. But I appreciate your concern.”
The last phrase was said in a lower octave and instinctively Caitlin took half a step back.
“Hey, y’all hungry?” Booker called as he came around the corner.
Seth straightened, but his expression was neutral as Booker approached.
With a wave and a nod, Booker greeted him. “How’s it goin’, Seth?”
“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” Seth said, tucking his hands into his pockets. “See you at dinner,” he told Caitlin before wandering off.
Once
