Nepenthe | Sapnap |

Right in Front of My Soup?

That 'eventual smut' ao3 tag finally being used in this chapter o.o

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"What's the downside to eating a clock?"

Luke let out a sigh. He hung his head, the rim of the cap that Nick let him borrow covering his face. "Do you want me to push you over the edge?"

"Humor me and guess before my mind keeps wandering."

My fingers tightened around the rifle in my grasp as my eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my head from scanning the same snowy plain again and again, waiting for the rest to get back.

Luke and I were on lookout, standing at the top of the wall, watching the outer perimeter for the return of half our patrol team. Half of the morning and half of the afternoon teams went out with Karl and George to get the rest of their group at the break of dawn, hoping to deter anything Bex had planned... if there even were lookouts on her end. We were doing nothing but guessing at this point.

Karl and George got to Jackson two days ago. The entire patrol team and some other people within the community met at the main hall yesterday to figure out a plan to move all the new people here as seamlessly and fast as possible.

And so, now Luke and I, the two of us being the most at risk for literally everything, were waiting on the wall next to the gates with rifles in our hands for the sight of Jackson branded horses bored out of our ever-loving minds.

"I don't freaking know. You'll choke on the clock hands?"

"It's time consuming."

"That's stupid."

"You're stupid."

Luke rolled his eyes as he adjusted his grip on his own rifle. He was up here with me so when the rest come back, he can easily just slip into the crowd and be welcomed with everyone else.

We were on top of the East Gate. This gate was on the complete opposite side of where we leave for patrols, but this side of town had more room to move around in. There was a small stable with four stalls right when you walk in the gates and the main road begins as well. It goes straight through to town square, and it's lined with people right now.

All of Jackson's doctors and anyone with any kind of medical personnel were on the ground, ready and waiting to give every person who walked past those gates a checkup and/or treatment if needed.

Kristin and many other Jackson residents were also lined up down the middle of the street with new clothes and hot meals to hand out. Mom was down there right now, setting up boxes of food to give to the new families when they received directions to their new address after being cleared from the health physicians.

I took a deep breath as nothing appeared from the tree line within the past thirty seconds. "What's a criminal's best asset?"

"You really do have a death wish, huh?"

I groaned as I hung my head, letting my hand run down my face. "It's been over four hours. What's taking them so long?"

"Chill out. They'll be back." Luke reassured me, but the words meant nothing right now.

Nick, Clay, Morgan, and Phil were out there right now. The only one out of our friend group who stayed back was Alex, and that was only to help with marking down the skills and traits of these people when they got in so we can start to figure out who would be best for what job and what kind of lessons each person would need.

"Karl said they got elderly and children. It's going to take a bit longer than usual. They also have to figure out what they do or don't need and pack it up. They are leaving their current home to come here." Luke added as I started to tilt my head back and forth while rolling my eyes myself.