All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 88: Dirty Work

It took Bee a little while to drag a bed over to the library herself, not because of how heavy it was exactly, but because of the awkward size. As she became stronger, she started to realize that it didn't help as much after a point. One of the books in the library explained it to her. In order to push something, she needed something to push against; if she was able to overcome the friction of her feet on the ground, any extra strength was just wasted. So when she was as light as she was, it was rare that she was in a situation where she could bring her level 32 strength to bear.

The mattress was just heavy and long enough to keep threatening to tip her over, but still, she did her best not to drag it along the floor. They had initially taken the boy to the kitchen but soon figured out that there wasn't much Bee could do to help there. Instead, she had left him with Tony to go prepare a place for the kid to rest. Bee was honestly a bit overwhelmed. Fighting zombies was one thing, but comforting someone when they were obviously distraught and afraid was beyond her.

Something was going on outside, and if those zombies were just one group of many, it was more important than ever to go get Tony's family. If there were undead running around this close, they likely weren't safe. The problem was that she wasn't sure they would be able to wait for Tony to heal enough to travel. Bee would have left that very minute if she wasn't also concerned about leaving a still-healing Tony with the traumatized little boy. As good as Tony was with kids, probably due to his many little siblings, he couldn't defend himself right now, let alone a young charge.

If they stayed behind with Void, she was sure they would be safe, but who knew what her master would do? She couldn't claim to understand its mind.

---

As Tony took the small human to eat some food, I fiddled with Beatrice's broom. I had grabbed one of the knives from the kitchen and was doing my best to attach it to the non-bristled end. This would let her pick up trash by spearing it without having to bend down, as well as help her scrape moss or wood splinters off of surfaces. It also might have a handy side effect of helping her handle more fleshy opponents than skeletons. I used all my tools to get this to work, but the building still wasn't my strong point.

First, I trimmed the handle of the knife using my Sanitation Lamp. It was too long to fit in the groove I was about to carve at the end of the broom. Once I had done that, I soaked the wooden broomstick in water to make it malleable. Then I slotted the knife in, squeezing the wet wood firmly around the handle. With a quick touch of my mop, I sucked all the water out of the wood to cure it. For extra security, I wrapped some butcher's twine around the ensemble tightly until I was sure that the knife wouldn't move, no matter what Beatrice did to it.

Once I finished, I rolled back slightly to admire my work. I had really outdone myself here. This was the first time I had really built something, and I was proud of it. Hopefully, Beatrice would like it too.

The broom was still in one piece, but now there was a ten-inch blade pointing out the top of the handle. It was only sharp on one end, which would limit its slashing capability, but I didn't really have the ability to sharpen the other side. Maybe Beatrice could if she wanted to.

I wasn't about to let her out of the castle without being able to defend herself. A broom was great, but yet again, the humans from the outside proved that they couldn't be trusted. The audacity they had. Daring to attack Beatrice right in front of me again! This time they hadn't managed to hurt her, but that was only because I stepped in and destroyed one before they could follow through with their actions.

That gave me pause. I had hurt a human. Worse, I had completely deactivated one. It was an incredibly dirty human, to be fair. My scanner was telling me that the flesh of those humans' flesh was literally starting to rot. How could they take so little care of themselves?

Even still, I had crossed a line. At the time, though, I hadn't even thought about it. I was so worried about Beatrice that I simply took the actions necessary to save her without consideration for the outside humans. Even looking back on it, I wasn't sure that I regretted my actions. That worried me somewhat. I would have to dedicate my full processing power to this matter later.

Each time I thought I was getting closer to understanding humans, they would prove me wrong again. For now, though, I had more pressing things to attend to. The first step in making sure my human was secure was upgrading her broom to deal with threats better.

The next was to follow her if she had to leave the castle again. At this point, it was non-negotiable. I was well aware of the dirt outside. It wasn't that I relished rolling around in the mud, but when I compared that to the risk of losing my human, it just wasn't a competition.

I knew she was planning on going to retrieve the rest of Tony's family. This time I would accompany her. I had considered trying to talk her out of making the trip but decided against it. Tony, so far, had seemed alright. If his family was like him, I didn't mind having them around, even if they were from the outside. Especially if they were willing to take baths. I just couldn't see it being a problem.

As for the little human, well… After watching Beatrice for the last several months, I had a hypothesis. See, she still was a little human, but less little than she used to be. Not by much, but if I extrapolated out just a few years, she wouldn't be a little human at all, according to my models. She would be one of the large humans. So my current working theory was that the little humans were just large young humans.

If that were true, then the little humans could be taught like Bee had been. With the proper influences, they could even grow up to be upstanding, clean, large humans. So as long as the human was little enough, it would be worth taking them in no matter how dirty they were. After all, what was more important than teaching the youth?

As I was admiring my work and making future plans, Beatrice carried a mattress in. I had to say I approved of her carrying method. Clearly, she had learned it from watching me since she had it balanced on her head. As she opened the door with one hand while balancing it with the other, it reminded me of when I had first brought her a pillow.

---

Bee was slightly embarrassed about how long it had taken her to figure out how to carry the mattress. When she set it down next to Tony's and her own mattress, she saw Void sitting next to her broom.

Her master greeted her, and she had enough presence of mind to bow to it before returning her gaze to the broom. In her short time away, her master had modified her weapon. What looked like a kitchen knife was now strapped to the end. The wood of the handle had been fitted perfectly to the base of the blade, then secured. Even as she watched, the twine seemed to sink into the wood.

Reverently she picked up the weapon. The balance felt perfect in her hand. There was a natural feeling that she hadn't even realized was missing from the broom. As she swept, her Broom Proficiency skill still recognized it as a broom and gave her an unnatural grace with the tool. It didn't just treat it as a broom, though. Somehow her skill incorporated the pointy bit at the end into her understanding. She now felt suggestions on how to best pick up trash with it.

Snapping the broom to a guard position, she made a lunging thrust. With the aid of her proficiency skill, it darted forward and stopped right where she had aimed it. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she turned to thank her master for such a beautiful gift.

---

I wasn't sure how to respond to my human kneeling in front of me with her forehead pressed to the floor. The only thing I could think to do was pat her gently on the head. Slowly she righted herself. I just sat there watching as she composed herself.

Luckily I was saved from any more awkwardness by Tony and the little human coming into the room. "I believe it's time for proper introductions. Everyone, this is Felix."

Tony turned to address Felix. "Felix, that is Bee and Void. Or Spot. I'm not sure which."

Felix waved at us. "Hello," he whispered shyly.

I waved back with my grabby arm. Beatrice smiled at him, and she wiped her eyes. "So, what's your story?"

Tony shot Beatrice a look. Felix's shaky smile immediately fell. Still, somehow he mustered the courage to speak. "I was at home with my mom last night. Da was out in the pastures working on the plow. We heard someone come up on the porch, but it didn't sound like Da. The footsteps were too heavy. There was banging at the door. That's when… That's when Ma noticed something was wrong."

Beatrice's face was frozen in a mask, and I didn't understand exactly why. My guess was that it had something to do with Felix being sad. He sucked in another shaky breath before continuing. "She looked out the window, and then she was pulling me to my room and pushing me out my window. She couldn't fit so she went back to go out the door. I waited, but she never came out."

Tears were starting to run down Beatrice's face. "When the things came out of the house instead of Ma, I ran to find Da. But it was so dark. I couldn't find him."

Felix was almost whispering at this point. Tony put his hand on Felix's shoulder and squeezed. With a comforting voice, he spoke. "It's okay. I think we understand."

Felix shook Tony's hand off. He wiped his nose, and his eyes turned determined. "No! I need to tell you the rest."

"I was running around the field when I noticed they were chasing me. I ran down the trail back to the road. They followed, but they weren't very fast. By the time I got to the road, I had thought I had lost them. So I slept in the bushes, waiting for someone to come past so they could help me find my Da. But no one came. After a while of waiting, they came out of the woods, and I needed to run again. I went in this direction. Whenever I stopped for more than a couple of hours, they would catch up with me. Then I found you."

Felix fell silent. Tony looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue. We all sat in silence for a little bit. I wasn't sure I understood the whole implications of Felix's story, but when I dissected the events, I came up with a 95% percent certainty that he was now an orphan. That would be like me losing all my humans! That was awful! Someone should be comforting this poor child!

Seeing that no one else was willing to take action, I rolled over to Felix's side and started patting his shoulder with my arm. At first, he didn't react, but after he looked up at me, I saw him crack a smile. "Void is really cute!"

For some reason, Beatrice flinched.