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To hide her secret, Chloe always went with me to “produce” water.
I made it. She carried it back.
I used to think she just cared about me. Now I knew: she was building her own legend.
With Zach here, she played the generous leader.
“I just thought it'd be too hard for Mia to carry it alone. I'll go with her.”
Chloe was always pretty. Even in this scorching hell, with enough water, she still looked fresh.
Meanwhile, I was drained, sun-beaten, looking twenty years older than my actual age.
Disgust flashed in Zach's eyes. He grabbed Chloe's hand right in front of me.
“Nonsense. You work so hard making water for us. I'll help Mia.”
“Come on, Mia. Where's the water?”
“I don't know.” I shook my head. “It was Chloe who produces water for us. Chloe, you tell us where it is.”
Chloe froze. She didn't expect that.
I could tell she wanted to scream at me, but with Zach present, she swallowed it.
She forced a smile and walked toward the shack I'd pointed to earlier.
Seeing a few barrels of water there, Chloe relaxed.
As Zach was carrying water, Chloe leaned in close to me.
“Mia, stop being angry. Look how happy Zach is because of the water you produced.”
“The team's heading out soon — we'll need more water. Can you produce extra these next few days? You wouldn't want to let the team down, right?”
I didn't argue. Chloe thought I agreed.
Later, she took credit in front of the team, basking praises, blushing.
To encourage us to contribute to the team, Chloe had laid out a strict reward system.
And once again, I was valued as the top contributor who would get a whole barrel of water.
The team erupted upon the decision.
“No way! She's a freeloader with no powers. Why does she get the reward? For carrying a few barrels?”
“Yeah, who hasn't done more than her? She even passed out yesterday, costing water on her treatment. Giving her more? That's a joke. She shouldn't get any!”
It was Jake and Leo speaking.
They'd had it out for me since before the apocalypse.
