Brooke ‘Bookeeper’'s Arc

Chapter 13 of 32

The clinic shrank behind them and the road bent west. By noon Brooke rolled the truck up to a flooded lot and stopped. Across the water sat a tall brick school, its windows broken, vines crawling up the orange walls. A faded sign over the door still read SCHOOL. Books waited inside. Water sat between her and them. Brooke stepped out and walked to the edge. The lot was a wide sheet of rust-orange water, streaked with oil. Yellow parking lines showed through in patches. She could not tell how deep it ran. Dark shapes drifted near the middle. The truck would stall before it reached the steps. She told the boy to wait and walked back along the road. A graffiti-covered shop slumped at the corner, its door hanging open. Inside, under a pile of tarps, she found a folded bundle of camo rubber. A military raft. She dragged it out, worked the hand pump from the truck, and watched it swell into shape on the cracked pavement. Brooke pushed the raft to the water and climbed in with her sack and crowbar. She paddled slow, testing the depth with the oar. The hull scraped something hard once, then slid free. She tied off at the school steps and went in. Dust, mold, and rows of fallen desks. In a back classroom she filled the sack with four titles from her list and a stack of readers for the boy. She paddled back with the sack between her knees. The boy helped her drag the raft up the bank. Brooke rolled it tight and stowed it behind the seat. Four more books found. The school sat empty in the mirror as she pulled away, and the road ahead opened toward the next stop.