Chapter 9

One year later Offutt had been transformed almost beyond recognition. The bases' multifamily dwellings had been expanded tenfold in preparation for a baby boom that never happened. The commissary, meant to feed the residents of the base now spilled into the defunct parking lot and served as both a greengrocer and a market for all imaginable products.

Kayla was bargaining what meager goods she had for a bra when she noticed the new flier. She grimaced at the overtly feminine product but knew it was a necessity. Her Dorm Mother provided what she could but had few young women in her so couldn't justify keeping a decent stock of undergarments on hand. She'd gifted Kayla a small handful of batteries to bargain for the necessary clothes. Kayla was grateful, but still couldn't find it in her heart to be truly thankful to the woman. Too many years of bad blood over her own mother lingered in her mind.

She spotted the sign at once. As with the year previous, the fresh, snowy white sheet stood out among the old and worn sheets on the board. Kayla finished her haggle with the vendor, grimacing as she handed over every battery in her hands, but smiling internally that she still had eight concealed about her person, and turned towards the board. She made eye contact with Joey, her escort, and nodded her head significantly to the board. His eyes narrowed, taking in the new list. Her heart raced just looking at the list. She didn't date hope that anyone in this place could keep a promise.

Despite her initial dislike of her first Dorm Mother, she had some fondness for the woman. When she died in a sudden round of infection later that winter Kayla had been heartbroken. Not the loss a child would feel for a parent, but that her only link to the school, her only hopeful promise that she might leave the stinking mini-hell the children's dorm presented was dead.

Her current Dorm Mother was only one in a stream of women who took badly to military life. Each one had been assigned as a Dorm Mother in hopes that caring for children would ease the loss of their own or at least play to their maternal instincts. Unfortunately, the endless parade had only left Kayla a cold, bitter version of her old self, just another child lost to the new regime's system.

"Come on little Einstein, do you really think you'll be on the list?" He asked condescendingly. Kayla scowled at him.

"If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't go out without you, I'd kill you and leave your carcass in a dumpster," Kayla told him with practiced ease. Though she hated the restriction that prevented underage girls from leaving the dorms alone, many days she was glad to have Joey at her side when dealing with the vendors. The animosity of their first year together had faded to a tentative friendship.

"Ha. You can take down half the people in this market by yourself you don't need me. The only reason you haven't murdered me outright is because you're waiting to declare your undying love for me." He gave her a charming smile, "please, don't worry about embarrassing yourself, I'm ready!" He threw his arms open as if to receive her adoration.

Kayla stalked off to the boards without another word. She elbowed a small man out of the way, ignoring his yelp of protest, knowing Joey would subdue the man if it came to that and not caring if she injured him. In the last year, she'd shot up two inches and put on almost twenty pounds, mostly muscle, but some fat that added gentle curves to her previously boney figure. Kayla didn't know it, but her Dorm Mother, while she was alive, had stuck studiously to her word not to deliver a damaged product. She'd done everything in her power to ensure her charge had adequate food, water, and entertaining diversions in the following year and had left copious notes on her charge for her replacements to find and use or ignore as they saw fit.