Read Online Forager (9781771275606) by Ron Scheer - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Ron Scheer
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of relief washed through me when Kurt released my
wrists from the ropes. “This isn’t over, boy. You’ll get your jolts
soon enough.” Though my wrists were now free, the relief vanished.
I wasn’t getting out of being punished. It was simply being
delayed.
The mayor spoke to the crowd again, “The public punishment of
Dillon Montgomery is postponed until further notice. Someone run to
the lumberyard and get Frank Miller. I need him to organize search
parties. All work is suspended, except for the harvest and those
pedaling generators. Everyone else will search this town inside out
until Chane is found.”
Josh followed me down the platform steps. I wondered how long
it would be before I’d be climbing them again. I’d only taken a few
steps toward the crowd when Josh grabbed my shoulder and pulled me
around. “Where’s my sister? I know you’ve got a thing for her. So
where is she?”
“ Josh, seriously, I haven’t seen Chane since your dad sent her
away from the Scavenger attack yesterday.”
He flexed his too-big biceps at me and said, “You better not
be lying to me.”
Luckily his attention was diverted when Frank arrived and went
into action. “Separate into search parties. Take the three closest
people to you and come forward so that I can assign you an area.”
We milled about for a few minutes while he talked to the
mayor.
What was the holdup? We needed to get the search parties
organized and get moving.
Josh stood next to me at the foot of the
platform . I should have been more worried about
Chane than Josh, but I didn’t want us to get stuck in the same
search party. The crowd boxed me in. If I tried to move away,
everyone would notice. Which would be
worse, being in a search party with Josh, or having the whole town
know I didn’t want to be in a search party with him?
There wasn’t anything suspicious or wrong about Jason
coming down from the platform and joining his brother and me. I
just didn’t like it. That made three. Who would our fourth
be? They needed to hurry. Chane might be hurt.
We needed to find her.
Frank spoke from atop the platform. “From what I’ve been able
to determine, our last confirmed sighting of Chane was last night
when she went to bed at her mother’s house. We’ll start our search
around the house and work out from there. Any
questions?”
“ Was she counted?” someone in the crowd yelled.
“ Yes, I did the count myself right after the attack,” said
Frank. “Are there any other questions?”
I had lots of questions, but Frank wouldn’t have been able to
answer any of them. Where was Chane? Was she hurt? Had she run off
to the city?
Frank spoke to us. “The three of you take Kurt and head toward
Chane’s mom’s house. Search the houses on the same side of the
block as hers. Keep searching to the north until Chane is found or
night falls.”
How unlucky can a person get? Kurt? Really? As if the twins
weren’t bad enough. Now I was forced to deal with the new number
one Bull. It crossed my mind that it might be in my best interest to run
away to the city. Maybe I’d find Chane and the two of us could make
a nice quiet non-jolted life together.
Kurt barreled down the steps, pushing people out of our way.
One thing I’ll say for the guy, he sure knew how to make a hole in
a crowd. Kurt bellowed to us, “Come on! Let’s find the mayor’s
daughter!”
Chane’s mom lived six blocks south of my RV. When we arrived,
each of us took a neighboring house and started searching. The
first house I came to was an empty brick ranch-style. I’d walked
past it many times without giving it a thought.
It had withstood the years of neglect better than most,
even the roof only had a few curled shingles. The front door was locked. I tried the back door and the side
door on the two-stall garage. Everything was locked up tight.
Searching the house would be impossible if I couldn’t get in. It
crossed my mind to break a window, but decided not to. We
wrists from the ropes. “This isn’t over, boy. You’ll get your jolts
soon enough.” Though my wrists were now free, the relief vanished.
I wasn’t getting out of being punished. It was simply being
delayed.
The mayor spoke to the crowd again, “The public punishment of
Dillon Montgomery is postponed until further notice. Someone run to
the lumberyard and get Frank Miller. I need him to organize search
parties. All work is suspended, except for the harvest and those
pedaling generators. Everyone else will search this town inside out
until Chane is found.”
Josh followed me down the platform steps. I wondered how long
it would be before I’d be climbing them again. I’d only taken a few
steps toward the crowd when Josh grabbed my shoulder and pulled me
around. “Where’s my sister? I know you’ve got a thing for her. So
where is she?”
“ Josh, seriously, I haven’t seen Chane since your dad sent her
away from the Scavenger attack yesterday.”
He flexed his too-big biceps at me and said, “You better not
be lying to me.”
Luckily his attention was diverted when Frank arrived and went
into action. “Separate into search parties. Take the three closest
people to you and come forward so that I can assign you an area.”
We milled about for a few minutes while he talked to the
mayor.
What was the holdup? We needed to get the search parties
organized and get moving.
Josh stood next to me at the foot of the
platform . I should have been more worried about
Chane than Josh, but I didn’t want us to get stuck in the same
search party. The crowd boxed me in. If I tried to move away,
everyone would notice. Which would be
worse, being in a search party with Josh, or having the whole town
know I didn’t want to be in a search party with him?
There wasn’t anything suspicious or wrong about Jason
coming down from the platform and joining his brother and me. I
just didn’t like it. That made three. Who would our fourth
be? They needed to hurry. Chane might be hurt.
We needed to find her.
Frank spoke from atop the platform. “From what I’ve been able
to determine, our last confirmed sighting of Chane was last night
when she went to bed at her mother’s house. We’ll start our search
around the house and work out from there. Any
questions?”
“ Was she counted?” someone in the crowd yelled.
“ Yes, I did the count myself right after the attack,” said
Frank. “Are there any other questions?”
I had lots of questions, but Frank wouldn’t have been able to
answer any of them. Where was Chane? Was she hurt? Had she run off
to the city?
Frank spoke to us. “The three of you take Kurt and head toward
Chane’s mom’s house. Search the houses on the same side of the
block as hers. Keep searching to the north until Chane is found or
night falls.”
How unlucky can a person get? Kurt? Really? As if the twins
weren’t bad enough. Now I was forced to deal with the new number
one Bull. It crossed my mind that it might be in my best interest to run
away to the city. Maybe I’d find Chane and the two of us could make
a nice quiet non-jolted life together.
Kurt barreled down the steps, pushing people out of our way.
One thing I’ll say for the guy, he sure knew how to make a hole in
a crowd. Kurt bellowed to us, “Come on! Let’s find the mayor’s
daughter!”
Chane’s mom lived six blocks south of my RV. When we arrived,
each of us took a neighboring house and started searching. The
first house I came to was an empty brick ranch-style. I’d walked
past it many times without giving it a thought.
It had withstood the years of neglect better than most,
even the roof only had a few curled shingles. The front door was locked. I tried the back door and the side
door on the two-stall garage. Everything was locked up tight.
Searching the house would be impossible if I couldn’t get in. It
crossed my mind to break a window, but decided not to. We
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