Free High Pressure System: First Season Underground by K.D. Kinney Page B

the rattling and constant booms. I relaxed a little, but I was still feeling weepy. “I’m almost twenty, how old are you?” Changing the subject might help.
    “I’m twenty-four,” Micah answered. “Hey, I didn’t mean to scare you off the other day. I figured out who you were because of the dogs and the squirrel. Everyone was talking about the squirrel when you took it in. Our own bunker Doolittle, you know.”
    “Oh, I thought you knew who I was because everyone was spreading rumors about how I was responsible for locking us in for good.” I scratched the side of my face to hide my flaming cheeks from view.
    “Ahh, that was you?” he asked in shocked disbelief and turned to lean closer to me. “I thought the one who locked us in would look more heroic or even devious rather than like such an innocent.” He smiled when I looked at him wide-eyed. “I was relieved to hear that the person responsible didn’t die. When that old man wasn’t there, people were pushing their luck for outside time long before you saved the cat. By the way, I would have saved the cat too.” He squeezed my arm and turned his head to listen. “I think it’s over.”
    I nodded suddenly not wanting this lock-down to end. “So what kind of things have you been doing when you’re not working?”
    “It’s just a thing. A thing that I do. Yeah.” Micah went for the door. “I gotta get back to work. I’ll see you around, okay?”
    “Sure.” Darn it all. I was hoping he’d invite me to join him or something. I made the dogs sit until he was down the hall and out to the stairs again. Hmm … He was keeping something from me. That kind of thing always made me curious. Of course, the other day curiosity almost killed that cat and me. So I needed to be careful. Brandon did say someone was up to something when the storms came and Micah wasn’t where I expected him to be in the stairwell when the lock-down alarm went off. It could be him and I could get to know him better to find out. If it was him, maybe I could find some redemption. Or maybe it was nothing. Even at that, at least it was something to do.

9
Making Friends
    Roaming the halls, trying to find where the construction workers and their families were living was my new hobby when I wasn’t helping the new teachers prepare a school for the children. I wasn’t sure that was the right place for me. At least my job wasn’t in the kitchen. I would surely be a disaster in there.
    Micah was hard to find. Storm damage was keeping him busy I guess. So much for figuring out what his secret was.
    When the first day of our little school started, I was surprised at the number of children there were. The teens were too close to my age and I made sure the other teachers knew I didn’t want to teach them, but they gave me science since my recent college classes made me the most qualified. I had no choice at that point. A tablet with all the science Brandon had access to was left on my table the day before our first day.
    “I’m Miss Gardener and I will be teaching you basic science for the time being.” I gripped my tablet so the kids wouldn’t see that my hands wanted to tremble whenever I let it go. There were introductions. I was pretty sure one of the older boys winked at me. I tried not to notice as we took a vote on what they were eager to learn about. When I was done teaching, I was overwhelmed.
    I sat in the cafeteria reviewing all the material I could possibly use. There was too much. I had no idea where to start with the little ones and how advanced I should be with the older kids. I jumped when Jim moved a chair to join me.
    “How was it?”
    “I think I was far more nervous than those kids were. My first-day jitters were worse than any I have experienced.”
    “Kids are so forgiving though. Make it fun and entertaining so even if you mess up, you at least had fun.” Jim patted my arm.
    “That’s good advice. I don’t even know where to start though.” I pressed my