You Can't Be Too Careful [Star Trek/Leonard "Bones" McCoy Love Story]

[19.] Last Minute Replacement

[19] Last Minute Replacement

I silently cursed my codependency.

Why was it that whenever Astrid was gone, I felt like a sad little lost child who couldn’t find their mother at a grocery store? I wandered aimlessly, without a thing to do or a person to talk to. Astrid was off working with Uncle Scott. I couldn’t seem to find Bones anywhere. There was no one to talk to but me, myself, and I, and I found that I could be rather boring after awhile. How else am I supposed to entertain myself? I thought, irritated.

And then, it hit me.

Stupid, Catherine, I thought to myself, shaking my head and changing my stride to the opposite direction. What else did I always do when I had no one to talk to? Read books. And because I had read all the books that I currently owned, I decided that it was time to purchase a new one. What did I feel like today? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Mystery? Thriller? What new world would I immerse myself in until Astrid came back from work?

Now with a faint grin playing at the corners of my lips, I entered the familiar bookstore and began to wander, allowing my fingers to graze over the spines of the endless rows of books, both old and new. I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath, soaking in the smell of the pages. After much inner debate, I decided to go for a new mystery. It had been awhile since I had put my critical and deductive mind to the test.

Once I had browsed and poured over the summaries of more than ten different mystery books, I settled on The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, which was both a mystery and an old classic novel, easily fitting my usual criteria. I quickly purchased the novel and exited the bookstore, eager to get back to the room so I could begin reading. Hugging my new book to my chest, I took long strides across the street and followed the sidewalk down to the campus entrance. When I arrived, however, something told me that I would not be reading my book anytime soon.

Cadets, lieutenants, captains and commanders alike littered the campus grounds, filling every empty space. People were shouting, demanding answers, while those higher in command held them at bay and shouted orders back. Even still, everything was chaos: red, grey, and blue uniforms swarmed before my eyes, while angry and terrified voices mingled together to create a sound of unbearable bewilderment. As I looked at my fellow cadets’ faces, I saw fear and puzzlement in their wide eyes, and I felt my own heart sink. Of course, I couldn’t decipher what was going on, but I knew that whatever it was, it must be dire.

In the blink of an eye, the crowd swallowed me alive. The students became more and more frantic and began to move around, like molecules trying to separate but failing and becoming even more cohesive. They surrounded me, and I found myself drowning in a sea of mayhem. Training my eyes on the cement beneath my feet, I began to shove my way through the cadets, who barely acknowledged my presence. I had to find Astrid. I had to find Uncle Scott. I had to find Bones. I had to find someone, anyone who could pull me out of this mess and explain what all the frenzy was over.

It took me a while, but I managed to push my way through the entire gathering and find my building. I warily climbed the stairs to observe the turmoil from the balcony.

“There she is!” I heard Astrid’s voice cry out nearby. “Oi, Catherine!”

She was standing at the balcony, waving frantically to me. Her eyes were grim. Uncle Scott stood next to her, a similar expression on his weary face. I quickened my pace as I trotted upward, my knuckles white from clutching my book so tightly.

“What on earth is happening?” I asked breathlessly as I reached the top.

“Our London Archive was attacked,” she explained mournfully. “Some maniac blew i’ up from ta inside. No one survived.”