The Host ¤ The Next Chapter

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 27

The Host ¤ The Next Chapter: 27

(Song - Black Sheep by Gin Wigmore)

Jenny

"What?" I scoffed the next morning. I didn't think Jeb would go to such lengths for me, but apparently he had.

Jesse shrugged, unable to do anything. "He doesn't want people catching on to where you're at for a while." he explained. "So he put us on an alternating schedule."

I'd just mastered learning how to harvest wheat and now I was going to be thrown into something else. I would be learning different chores all week.

"Fine." I sighed. "What does he have us on today?" I asked.

"The convience store." Jesse replied.

"The base has a convience store?" I echoed in doubt. May had never heard or gone to it, but that was because Whitney had taken care of all the household items they needed.

"Food is easy to distribute because everyone needs it." Jesse shrugged for the billionth time. I'd come to learn that was his bad habbit when he was nervous or needed to explain something. "Other items are a bit harder, so Jeb set up a store system. People can go there and pick up the things they need when they need it." he told me. "We should get going. We're suppose to arrive before it opens."

"Who opens it?" I asked as we began to walk away from Whitney's house and towards the stairs. "Us?"

"No." Jesse replied, but didn't say who did. He only walked ahead of me.

I didn't bother asking. I just followed. Although I was a bit upset I'd be running all over the place this week, at least I'd traded the hot fields for an easy job in a store.

The convience store was on the first floor of the main cavern, straight across the way from Jeb's house. Jeb probably put it there so that he could keep an eye on it at night. Stealing was one thing that he did not tolerate in his base.

Jesse and I approached the front door where I soon discovered I'd traded one evil, Taylor, for another, Gabbie. I remembered she was Sarah's original host from May's memories, and also knew she wasn't too keen of May.

"What is SHE doing here?" Gabbie looked at me through her narrowed eyes.

"Jeb assigned her." Jesse shrugged and that was all he'd say on the subject.

Gabbie was forced to let Jesse and me in. He couldn't go against Jeb's orders, no matter how much she didn't like it. She walked partway into the store, then turned to face us.

"New items are in the back." She announced, then jabbed a thumb towards the back of the store. "Jesse, bring the boxes up front here," she pointed to the far right wall, "for me. I'll stock the shelves."

"What about me?" I asked since she hadn't bothered giving me orders.

"You're on the register." Gabbie ordered. "All you have to do is make sure people don't leave without you marking down what items they've taken."

She turned on her heel and went to the wall to start unpacking the boxes Jesse had brought out so far. The 'shelves' were the old supermarket kind that were made of metal and had holes in them. They were set up in four isles, with everything ranging from shampoo to candy. I noticed the front of the store had three windows (no glass) carved out of the rock. The door was on the far left. If you wanted to exit the store, you had to walk in front of the make-shift counter with two clipboards and a pen on top of it. That had to be the 'register' Gabbie had talked about.

I went around the counter, which was merely two barrels with a rectangular wooden board on top, and sat down on the stool that just barely let my knees in. Both clipboards had papers attached to it. The one on the left was to keep track of who was coming and going, and what items they had taken. The clipboard on the right was to keep track of how much of what item was left. Gabbie had already marked the first verticle rows of the listed items with what had been brought in.

The first fifteen minutes of my job was easy because Gabbie hadn't turned the CLOSED sign on the door around. After she replaced the missing products on the shelves, however, she went to the door and turned OPEN faceward to those outside.

Immediately a flood of people came in. Now I knew exactly why she had placed me on the register. After-raid days were the busiest, and the hardest job was correctly marking items down as quickily as possible. Take too long, and people got angry.

I really didn't understand why Jeb had assigned me to the store with practically half the base coming in to get their groceries. Everyone would know I was at the store in minutes....which was another reason why Gabbie put me on the register. If I did a bad job, everybody in the base would know.

As people set their stuff down on the counter, I flipped through the name-item clipboard as fast as I could to locate them. To add to the embarressment, I had to ask their names because I didn't know a single one of the people that came through the door. It really went to show how much I knew about this place and how many people lived here. After locating their name, and writing down the products they had taken, I had to jump over to the item-count clipboard. 

Another bad thing about working at the register---you ran into the people who had heard of you and hated your guts. I was forced to take on their stares and remarks. There was no way I could hide from them, because deserting my post meant Jeb would come down on me. I also stuck out like a black sheep because of my red hair, so people weren't second guessing who they had seen.

By the time the store's closing time came, I was humiliated, furious, and tired of the job. I was never going to take register again.

Gabbie, who had remained on the right hand side of the store most of the day, came strutting up to me through one of the aisles. She looked down at the clipboard, like there should be something wrong with it.

"Good job." She smirked, cocking her head slightly so that I knew she was just messing with me. "But you could have marked the item-count clipboard after we closed." the unruly brunet informed me a little too late. "I'm going to have to ask Doc for another sheet now." she told me angerly.

She snatched up the clipboard and marched off, leaving Jesse and I behind. We decided on our own she didn't need our help anymore, so we left to go home. As much as I wanted to take a bath to calm my nerves, I didn't want to risk a run in with Gabbie. With my luck, she'd show up to torment me. So instead, I returned home and made up my mind I'd take a bath in the early morning.