This Conspiracy

Chapter 18

Author stuff: Y'all, Archie is my dumb boy, and I love him. He's absolutely precious.

Puppy update! My dog has an x-ray scanned for today. We'll be seeing if there is cancer in her torso. If not, her toe will be amputated, and she'll be recovering for a while. (She'll get the comfy cone of shame.) If there is cancer, well... I'm planning on giving her the best I can offer. Please send good vibes her way.

Chapter 18

In Which Archie Has More Realizations And All His Friends Are Shanks

The Greenie was made a Slopper. No one else really wanted to work with him, so he was left with the unfortunate task of being one of those who cleaned up after everyone else. Archie didn't feel bad for him. He'd seen the way he'd looked at Flossy. She'd actually gone to the Keeper of the Sloppers, Eric, and asked him to keep him busy in places that wouldn't be close to her. He complied without issue, being understanding about it.

After they'd finished the repairs from the rain, they got to work on a new lookout tower. Alby and Nick brought it to their attention how it would help the Baggers when they kept watch at night. Gally had agreed, and the Builders started making plans.

They spent almost a whole day scouting for a good location – a rather tall tree some ways out of the Deadheads that looked more than sturdy enough for their purpose. It was another two days before they even got to work.

Gally placed him on the team to gather materials, so he spent a lot of time in the Deadheads. He was surprised to find out that there was a bamboo section in the dark forest. It was actually in a relatively sunny part, close to the back. It was larger than he expected as well.

"We planted it a while ago," Dave said, cutting down a shoot. "Bamboo is a great resource and it grows quickly."

"I wondered where all of it had come from," he said. "I thought the Creators sent some up."

"They used to, and then they got tired of us asking for it. Honestly, it's better this way. If we need the materials, they're already here. We don't have to wait."

"How long did it take for it to get this big?"

"A lot of these we planted ourselves. They keep growing and regenerating. It's part of what makes them good for us. We have to be careful and remember which ones we already used. We don't want to damage them too much by over-cutting. They stop growing if you do that, or so Zart says. Don't know how he knows that, but he does."

"Oi!" Andy said. "Get back to work. I don't want to have to be doing this all day tomorrow."

. . .

Progress on the tower was steady. They and the Bricknicks had consistent work – sometimes taking off to do other things in small groups. It was all necessary, of course, but the project took longer than Nick, Alby, and Gally wanted. More often than not, they were all woken in the early hours and broke for the night long after the Runners returned from the Maze and the sky was nearly dark.

The work was good, however. It kept all of them busy, and it kept their minds occupied. There was a sort of comfort that came with that.

Archie befriended his fellow Builders with more ease and understood them as time passed. A week, then two, then three (Flossy spent this week in the Med-hut again), and there was a new Greenie.

He was taller with short blond hair. His name was Ben, and it didn't take anyone long to figure out he was a Builder. He got on well with everyone and helped them finish up the guard rails for the multiple platforms of the watchtower.