Scales (Avery Rome Book 1) Read online

  “This is wonderful. I’d heard that we were going to be trying something new, but I didn’t know that you’d be feeding the whole village here. Do we have enough food for that? Word came down that we might be getting support from the new line walker?” She wasn’t smiling then, her voice lowering a bit, mainly looking at Gregory, her eyes narrowing. “Have you heard anything about that, Samson? Not that I want to abuse your connections, but…” She stopped, cleared her throat for a bit, then went on anyway. “Except that I want to abuse your connections. You don’t have to answer though. Outside of the command system.”

  That was a real enough thing for the Shifters. Any of them could refuse an order if it was stupid. They were all well trained enough to get that most of the time their commanding officers weren’t going to throw lives away. If they started to do things like that, any Shifter was allowed to walk away from the battlefield, or even run. That rarely happened, but if it did no one would be allowed to blame them.

  Not legally.

  It meant that an officer had more limited power over each of them than they might in a national army that wasn’t mercenary in nature. Mercenaries were supposed to survive the battle, or it didn’t make sense to try doing it in the first place. Given their powers, Shifters didn’t have to fear damage at the same level that say, Humans or some of the other groups did.

  It changed the dynamics a lot.

  Gregory didn’t play around with the idea though, or refuse to give the data he’d been given.

  “Rome here is the line walker. Also the head cook. Probably here to guard me, or she was back when she was just a Dragon. Now… She probably shouldn’t be out in the field at all. My father called me up and told me that if I let her die I was going to be kicked out of the family.” There was a grim smile then, which made him look older than he actually was. “That isn’t the kind of thing he normally says, so I’m taking it seriously. I have orders to protect her, even if I have to die doing it. I was flat out told that.” He looked hesitant then, as if that might not be right. He was important and had probably been treated that way his entire life.

  The Commander just rounded to stare at Avery, not speaking for nearly a full minute, standing back as others tried to move past her in the food line. She was kind of holding things up. These were people coming in for seconds, but a lot of them needed to eat more than they could get in the field. That meant bringing in snacks and treats as well as real food that was more wholesome.

  Finally, the Commander nodded, deciding to trust Greg if not her yet.

  “If you have to go anywhere, let me know first? Wake me up if it’s at night? Take a team if you need one. I’m not losing our cook if I can help it. So far no one has tried anything. The combination of Ebola and a small army ready to kill anyone that looks wrong has been keeping the locals away. Though…” She stopped for a bit. Going still enough that her dark skin actually changed color, if only to Avery.

  She waited, since that was the kind of thing Dragons were good at. Not that she’d met any of her kind to see if that was a group thing or just her. Eve was kind of like that, so it might be a line walker thing. The Greater Demon had been as well. It had taken her nearly two days to truly work out that the girl was a male. Also a dark being. They’d seemed pretty pleasant at the time, to be honest.

  Lewis glanced around and then leaned in. She seemed conspiratorial about it. That was the taste in the air at any rate.

  “Are you… The line walking stuff, can I make suggestions for the mission, or do we need to arrange payment for that kind of thing? I don’t want to get in trouble, but some of the doctors were mentioning that they could use some supplies, if they could be picked up? It’s honestly mission critical, if I understand things correctly.”

  That made so much sense that doing anything else was probably stupid. After all, people were dying of the disease each day still. Her understanding was that they were all Human, but so were the Doctors that had come. People that could actually catch the deadly plague that these people had. Risking their very lives to treat them. To stop death as best they could, by risking their own lives. It was far from perfect, but noble anyway.

  “We can do that. There might be other things coming? If I’m going anyway, I could pick things up on the way back? Nothing firm yet.”

  Their Commander looked at her slightly flecked and spotted plastic tray, filled with food.

  “Let me know? I’ll try to call all of that in, or get the CDC people to do it. They have their own system in place. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to be able to pick things up same day. Not that anyone could afford that kind of thing. It could take weeks otherwise. That’s if we send armed troops to escort the things in. Otherwise they will be stolen.”

  The very idea tried to cause Avery to boggle at it. She nearly let her mouth fall open, but was stopped when Gregory started talking, standing not five feet from her right shoulder, a bit behind her. Ready to fight for her, if it became needed. At first it didn’t even seem odd to her. Until she realized once again that she was the unclean monster, who should be protecting the President’s child. Not the other way around.

  Avery didn’t deserve that kind of attention.

  Rather than feel bad about what was happening, since she didn’t get much of a choice in the matter, she refilled the chicken serving station. There were four more filled silver containers left to go, since only ninety percent of the people had eaten so far. Lewis finally got out of the way, letting the flow continue, though she seemed oddly distracted. There was glancing back at Avery as she did that, the slightly twitchy woman darting away at a quick walk.

  Like she was feeling guilty or something. Interestingly she didn’t even seem to notice that they had two more people working the kitchen than had been reported. That part, the magical girls, was wonderful. They didn’t get tired, eat or sleep. Half the work of the ten to twelve-person team was being done by those two. About half of the remainder was falling on Avery’s shoulders, so far.

  Greg didn’t say a lot, even though he was normally chatty. Much more so than she was, as a rule. He even flirted with some of the women that came through, including one of the CDC doctors. That woman was in her thirties, but Avery could see how he might be interested on the surface. It was beneath him to stoop to that kind of thing, being of the Chosen, but it was clear that judging him wasn’t her right. Everyone that had bothered to speak about the topic had agreed that she was the one in the wrong, given her beliefs.

  It was just so hard for her to break free of them. Her entire life had led her to believe one thing. That The Gray had the right of it. Until about four days before, when everything changed. Hundreds of years for her, but she hadn’t reflected a lot on her life while in the void. Her focus had been required just to survive. Oddly, as soon as she’d returned, that other part faded to the back of her being. What she was on the outside had come flooding to the front though. Powerfully.

  Most of the time during the meal itself, Avery cleaned. It was still early in the day, though supper time. Only about six or so. There would be a need to have food ready for later as well, since some people would need to eat at least one more time before they slept. That was coming out of the pre-prepared food stores though. Candy bars and MREs. Otherwise things would get too complicated to keep going. As it was Avery was up before dawn each day already, working to feed about three hundred people constantly. It was eating up their stored food, which was a good point to consider. She was the one in charge of that part of things and while she had a license to get more on demand according to her orders, it was on her to see about it happening.

  That meant at seven-thirty, when things were cleaned up and washed in the large containers they used as sinks, she thought about what would be needed. Then she waved to Gregory. It wasn’t like he was that far away, staying within sight all the time. Watching the whole world, as if they were going to be under attack at any moment.

  It wasn’t really true, even if they were in a war zon
e at the moment. No one in the world cared about her being there anyway. There was some grumbling about the doctors, since the locals thought of them as being part of the problem. Even accusing them of spreading it in the first place. That was what Avery had heard as people chatted in the food line. It was rumor, but probably close to being right, since new people were getting sick each day. From the outside that could seem like they were responsible for it, from a certain perspective.

  As the Rabbit man walked over, she glanced around.

  “I don’t know how to order more food. I can go and pick it up? We should get with the CDC too and see if there’s anything else needed at the same time. It won’t take long going node to node really. The biggest part is getting to the local rift here. That’s about twelve klicks from here.” She could probably find a closer shortcut or two that would get her to a node, someplace. Looking around there was nothing in sight, but the things existed all over the place, if you could see them. For instance, there was one behind the large communal outdoor shower area.

  She used that, the facilities, twice daily herself, even if the heat wasn’t that bad for her personally. Some of the Shifters did not do well in hot climates, which meant sweating all the time. Avery felt dry, no matter what was going on, really. Even the rain that poured down didn’t bother her. They had modern tents that were pretty solid against that kind of thing.

  Over all, so far at least, she felt her kitchen set up was working pretty well. The food came in cans, of course, but everyone was happier with the offerings, even if they didn’t want to really help her fix it. That part was the real issue, she knew. Most of the labor being done required her to get up early, then work constantly the entire day. That was going to wear her down after a while, if no one would really help her get things done. Which wasn’t happening there.

  Her guard-guardee, Greg smiled at her.

  “I can call that in. I should report anyway. Let me…” The satellite phone wasn’t far away, since people could call at any time. It had a solar panel on the top, but was inside the huge dome they were inside, since it tended to rain in the evenings each day. Leaving it out would be asking for trouble.

  It was interesting looking, being very different than any other kind of phone that Avery had ever seen. The case was about the size of a large book, but it had a fold up dish that had to be pointed at the right place in the sky for the thing to work. That was already done, so Gregory sat on the ground next to the thing, rather than risk moving it and losing the needed connection.

  He dropped easily, flowing to the packed dirt, seeming almost boneless as he did it, his nimble fingers working the controls in a way that were far more complex than anything Avery would have managed to do with it. She’d never even touched the thing, afraid that being too close to it might make the device break beyond repair. Not that it would happen, but while it was a machine, the thing might as well have been magic as far as her understanding of it went.

  The next half hour was spent with her doing a hasty inventory, which should have been done first, rather than wasting the time of the person on the other side like they were. It was clumsy of her not to have understood that part first. On the good side, the food could be pulled from the store house and either delivered or taken to the local node complex. That particular one was in Detroit, Michigan.

  Interestingly, while she’d never been to that node, she’d been to the city before, so understood where she needed to go. More or less. That would take a day to be ready, however, according to the man on the other side. His voice was chipper sounding, instead of seeming down about all the work having come in. In fact the man started to just chat and gossip with Gregory as the order was counted up.

  “You’re off on the Congo mission? I’ve been tracking that on the news. It’s weird, isn’t it? I just turn on the television and people are openly talking about Shifters being hired on there. Well, most of them aren’t talking about it that way. Private contractors, providing security. Let’s just hope they don’t turn on us.”

  Greg grunted. They were there alone at the moment, if in the center of the camp. The guards on the outside had been more than enough so far to keep the Humans in the area at bay. There had been some shooting in the distance, but so far no one had been hit at all. It wasn’t a big threat, for all they were acting like they were going to be overwhelmed at any moment.

  That was how things went after that as well. With her leaving the next evening, along with ten heavily armed people, to pick up the food order, as well as get the needed CDC gear. Avery also had to move some people around for Jahn, though that was asked as a favor, rather than given as an order. So far everyone had been very careful that way.

  She was asked to do things. Even the food stuff had been a request, now that she thought about it.

  It was hard work, keeping on top of things, but after two months there were no new Ebola cases being reported and two weeks after that, the crisis was declared over. That meant taking the Docs home and that was their sign to get out of the area. The whole mission was deemed a success, though as soon as they got back to the Colorado node, since she took Gregory back personally from the Denver node where most of the people had to go, except for Eva and Samantha who had gone directly back to Mars, she was set upon instantly.

  By Wendell Little.

  Not that it worked perfectly, since Gregory was in the way, his face clearly suspicious of the older man. His right hand dropped to the handle of his side arm, as he glared at the dapper fellow coming toward them. Instead of becoming upset by the action, the Elder just nodded.

  “That particular duty is over now, isn’t it? Besides, I’m nearly certain that Ms. Rome is safe here.” He seemed a bit bemused.

  Greg managed a smile and moved his hand away. That didn’t keep him from locking eyes with the older Shifter while it happened.

  “Probably right. It’s just habit now. Though give her a break, will you? She just worked for two months straight. Sixteen hour days on average. You could let her have five minutes…”

  The older man grinned. Before he’d seemed annoyed by her, but now the fellow reached out and patted her on the shoulder. Then he did the same with Greg.

  “All right. I was just going to see about setting up some meetings, but I suppose that’s not unreasonable. So I should come back in five minutes?” His eyes locked with Avery, who felt very embarrassed for some reason. She was sort of getting used to attention from strangers, but this man knew who and what she actually was. A Death Serpent.

  That made it harder to stand there, his eyes on her in a steady manner like they were.

  She shook her head.

  “I… Can set things up now, I guess? What’s needed?”

  The older man waved for them to follow him, then led them out of the node room. Carrying their gear with them the whole time. Greg, getting that his job was really done, peeled off, to peek into his father’s office. That got Wendell to sigh, then smile a bit.

  “We should probably do that as well. I know that President Samson was worried about both of you the whole time. Did Gregory manage well? Commander Lewis spoke highly of him, but she would. It’s one of the reasons that we can’t really deploy certain people in most cases. His younger brother Thomas is going to be in a similar place in a few years. It’s bad for kids to be treated too gently.” He wasn’t teasing, though it had to be clear to him that Greg was listening, only being six feet in front of them.

  For that matter Jahn could probably hear what was being said in the next room.

  Avery, the web strap of her green duffle cutting into her hand over time, tilted her head a bit, then decided to be honest.

  “He did a good job. For real. Not that I was ever in danger, but if I had been he would have been ready. He took the whole thing really seriously and didn’t slip up.” It was all true, but seemed like damning him with faint praise. “I worked sixteen hour days, which meant he did the same. He slept next to me, with a sidearm under his pillow the entire time.”
She felt a bit embarrassed about having had him around the entire time, since going to the latrine had been awkward, with him standing outside, but he really had been. Even in the middle of the night.

  Which meant she’d had to go with him when it was his turn, a situation that had been annoying.

  Wendell might have doubted what Lewis reported, but he seemed impressed, the words coming from Avery.

  “Truly? Not bad then, Gregory. You’re going back to college now that this is over?” The look was for the President’s kid, not her.

  “Right. I lost my summer break, but I have a week or two before the next term starts, so haven’t missed anything that way. Not on this side. It’s going to take me six years to get a four-year degree though. It isn’t like I can just explain it to the college.” He turned to Avery then, his face set. “I’m not out at school. No one has done that yet really. Not to more than personal friends. It’s still… A lot of people think that it might be dangerous.” It was clear that he didn’t want her to think he was being cowardly.

  Jahn, unsummoned, walked out to greet them, his face seeming professional at first. Until he hugged his son, pounding him on the back.

  “Gregory!” Then, even if it felt a bit weird, the man moved toward Avery and did the same thing. It had the back pounding as well, but seemed happy enough. “Ms. Rome! I didn’t know you were coming in. Honestly I figured that Gregory wouldn’t be back for a week, having to fly out…”

  Greg snorted then.

  “Avery got everyone back to where they needed to go. Everyone. At least to the closest node to their battle group locations. I need to call in and talk to Tyler, since I missed three months of work in Sparks. I can drive down if I have to. It isn’t that far.” He turned to Avery then, to explain. “I have a part time job at the big Coalition Embassy. Working with them directly, as an intern? They’re pretty nice about things like being deployed, thankfully. I can probably get away with a call, but I should do some kind of work, or they’ll forget me.” He didn’t seem upset about that.