Page 165 of Claimed

“Always do, babe. Later.”

47

Stacy

It’s somewhere past three o’clock in the morning and I’m still in the mess hall, playing a dice game with a couple of the girls, but thinking I should go to bed when I finish this game. I’m not sure if I’ll catch a wink of sleep with Grey being gone and I know my friends need sleep too, but they’re aware of what Grey is doing and are here to support me.

He probably won’t be at the hospital for another hour or two, so I should try. Maybe I’ll do that but ask Linc to please wake me as soon as he hears from him.

He allowed all the men to stay in the mess hall tonight as a show of good will, warning that breaking his show of trust and goodwill would come with a hefty price.

Commotion interrupts my thoughts as Brody’s voice rings out amid clanging and other voices outside.

“This fuckin’ place has officially made the term shithole an understatement.” Brody gets louder as he’s now in the doorway to the mess hall, talking to Linc, who’s in a chair by the door. Brody’s energy is amped, infuriated.

People are reacting, many of them looking like they want to hide. An angry alpha? This is something we’re accustomed to. He’s stormed in here like he’s ready to kill someone. Addy is behind him and she looks pale and upset.

The one end of the mess hall is dark with folks sleeping, but I’m in the dimly lit corner where a handful of folks who aren’t asleepare drinking tea or coffee, playing cards, or other games and quietly talking. We’re rolling dice on a towel to keep the noise to a minimum, but Brody seems too ticked off to be aware of his volume.

“Heard bubbling and smelled that rancid smell and sure enough, it’s backin’ up into the shower in the fuckin’ trailer. As soon as I got outside, saw people coming out three other places with the same problem. Septic field is at least two inches of sludge back there.” He looks to the group of us sitting at tables. “Nobody flush anything. And can a couple men round up everyone at their places to get everyone here now? The last thing the sick need is to be dealing with raw sewage in their bathrooms and kitchens.”

Addy grabs his wrist and his eyes dart to her as she urgently, but softly speaks. “Children are asleep, elderly, and those still healing. You’ll wake everyone and frighten them. Besides, the more people that wake up, the more that will need to do what requires flushing.”

His face changes, regret washing over his features.

Cat Savage comes over from her bed where she’d been sleeping.

“Brody?” she asks, alarmed. “What happened?”

“Sewage is backing up,” he says.

I hear the buzz of a phone. Linc pulls his phone from his pocket and puts it to his ear, walking outside. Brody follows.

I pass Addy, touching her shoulder, and head outside, too.

There’s buzz out here with Arcana Falls people springing into action. Warren carries Priscilla into the mess hall and Gus carries Rose. But the seventy-odd-year-old Rose has a smile on her face instead of looking frail like she did this morning. She winks at me.

“I can see you’re feeling better,” I say softly.

She puts her index finger to her mouth and says, “Shh.”

Gus’s mouth twitches as he fights off a smile while two Arcana Falls betas carry her mattress and bedding into the mess hall.

Brody’s voice carries even though he’s not as loud as he was a moment ago. “Everyone needs to be here in one place for the night while we wait for dawn to sort it,” Brody informs. “No running water or flushing anything. Don’t even use the plumbing in here or any of the other buildings. We’ll do what we have to do to get through the night and take more action in the morning.”

The smell hits my nose and just about knocks me over; it’s that bad.

“What’s the plan?” Cat asks Brody.

“Unfortunately, folks are gonna need to go outside to do their business for the night. Men can piss on the trees or against the fence. We’ll round up some buckets, throw toilet seats on them and put ‘em on top of some holes. Maybe prop some partitions to make up a couple outhouses for the women and kids to use, or if a male needs to take a shit. Maybe we’ll set two of them up over there. I’ll call in a pro to assess this and see if I can get some portable outhouses dropped off.”

Now there’s commotion around me. Vehicles from out front have been moved, including Jared’s trailer, which I can see being towed by a red pickup truck, heading toward the salvage yard.

I’m about to ask about this when it’s plain to see why it’s necessary. Sewage is carving a trail through the dirt; it’s oozing this way.Gross.

“Do we need to move everyone?” I ask Brody, who is walking by me now.

He shakes his head. “We’ll do what we can to get through tonight and deal in the morning. Luckily, the mess hall is up three steps. Hopefully, this won’t climb any higher. Moving the vehicles up by the office so nothing gets stuck in this mess. Maybe we’ll dig some ditches and try and direct this mess away from the mess hall. We’re putting some planks on risers to make a path for anyone that needs to use one of our makeshift outhouses being thrown up over there.” He gestures ahead to where I can see some of our men as well as some of the Arcana Falls guys working together. They’re erecting two makeshift outhouses and running planks from the side entrance of the mess hall in that direction.

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