TWD - Chapter 561: A Small Favor (Patreon)

Early the next morning, Calista was in her office, studying a stack of documents.

She had heard that Deanna had gone through Rock Fortress’s existing paperwork and was refining its policies, so Calista had taken out the old files to refresh her memory.

Sunlight slanted through the window onto the documents spread across her desk. They concerned Rock Fortress’s current points system.

Three knocks sounded at the door.

“Come in,” Calista replied without looking up.

Benson pushed the door open with a creak and strode inside, Theodore right behind him.

Theodore had the man by the collar, while Benson dragged in the woman. She kicked her feet and muttered protests under her breath.

Calista looked up, then stopped at the sight. “What’s all this?”

Benson wasted no time. He dumped both captives on the floor and declared, “Caught these two stealing from the cafeteria!”

Calista furrowed her brow, her gaze turning cold.

She looked down at them. The man trembled uncontrollably, head lowered, unable to meet her eyes.

The woman was deathly pale, her lips trembling.

“What’s going on?” Calista asked.

Benson laid out the whole story, from the meals running short at the cafeteria and his decision to investigate, to staking out the back alley and catching the thieves with the stolen food.

After listening, Calista was silent for a few seconds, then asked, “Where are the goods?”

Benson pointed outside. “Four big bags out there. Flour, canned food, dry rations, all kinds of stuff.”

Calista nodded, then turned her gaze back to the two people on the floor and asked, “How long have you been here?”

The man’s voice shook. “S-six months. We got here at the beginning of spring...”

The woman hurried to agree. “Yes! We’ve worked here the whole time. We’ve never...”

Calista coldly cut her off: “Never stolen anything?”

The white woman opened her mouth but couldn’t get a word out, her face alternating between red and white.

Calista rose and approached them slowly. She did not raise her voice, but its coldness was unmistakable.

“Six months. You’ve been here for six months, and Rock Fortress has provided for you all that time. Now that a group of newcomers has arrived, you decide to steal?”

The man shivered as though seized by a fever.

The woman suddenly burst into tears. “W-we weren’t thinking! We didn’t mean to! Please, don’t kill us...”

Calista looked at her and said calmly, “Who said I was going to kill you?”

The woman stared at her. Her sobs stopped so abruptly that it was as though someone had seized her throat.

Calista returned to her desk, sat down, and pressed the bell.

A few minutes later, Deanna opened the door with a creak. She stopped short at the sight of the two people on the floor. “Calista, what happened?”

Calista pointed at them. “They were caught stealing supplies from the cafeteria. Deanna, could you take care of it?”

Deanna nodded and replied, “Understood.”

She turned to the captives, her tone cold. “Get up. You’re coming with me.”

The man staggered to his feet and followed her, trembling. The woman struggled upright as well and shuffled after them, head down, too ashamed and frightened to look at anyone.

The door slammed behind them, leaving the office quiet again.

Benson looked at Calista and couldn’t help but ask, “Is that it?”

Calista looked up and gave a puzzled “Hm?”

Benson said, “You’re not going to kill them?”

Calista looked at him and asked in return, “Do you want to kill them?”

Benson scratched his head. “Not really. It’s just not what I expected.”

A faint smile touched Calista’s lips. “If we kill them, we can’t recover what they’ve stolen. Make them work and repay it, then punish them severely. That accomplishes more than killing them.”

Benson was silent for a second, then smiled and said, “I get it.”

With that, he turned to leave.

Calista called out to him, “Benson.”

Benson looked back with a crooked grin. “What?”

Calista met his eyes. “You did well today.”

Benson looked taken aback, then flashed an even wider, roguish grin. “Just happened to be there.”

He strode out, Theodore close on his heels.

Outside the office, Theodore remarked, “That’s what makes her different from The Pope.”

Elsewhere in the same building, inside Deanna’s office.

The man and woman stood before her with their heads hanging like two roosters that had lost a fight.

Deanna rubbed her forehead in disappointment. “You’ve been here six months. Longer than I have.”

Neither dared answer. They kept their heads bowed, wishing they could disappear into the floor.

“I’ll make an inventory of everything you stole,” Deanna continued. “Starting tomorrow, part of your rations will be deducted every day until you’ve paid it all back.”

The man looked up, clinging to a little hope. “H-how long will that take?”

“That depends on how much you stole,” Deanna replied coldly.

She opened a notebook on her desk. “Starting tomorrow, you’ll be assigned to the hardest jobs. You’re both out of the cafeteria, and all your points will be reset to zero!”

The woman began to cry again. This time, nobody felt sorry for her.

“Let’s get started,” Deanna said flatly.

...

It was nearly noon when Deanna returned to Calista’s office.

Dark circles shadowed Deanna’s exhausted face, but she held herself straight. She sat down opposite Calista and placed a folder on the desk. “It’s done.”

Calista looked up. “What did you find?”

Deanna opened the folder. “The man has spent six months working in the cafeteria kitchen. The woman has been here just as long, delivering vegetables and doing odd jobs.”

She paused. “They confessed to stealing about forty-four pounds of flour, more than twenty cans, and some dried provisions over the past two weeks. With so many people arriving and the cafeteria in chaos, they hid the food in trash bags and carried it out.”

Calista furrowed her brow slightly. “Half a month?”

Deanna nodded. “Two weeks. Rickson’s people increased the supply based on rough headcounts without checking the details. Those two exploited the gap.”

Calista was silent for a few seconds, then asked, “How do you plan to handle this?”

Deanna shut the folder. “I made them list everything they took. Starting tomorrow, their rations will be docked until they’ve repaid it. They’re being reassigned to the hardest jobs, they won’t work in the cafeteria again, and their points are being reset to zero.”

She added, “If they do it again, they’re out.”

Calista nodded. The punishment seemed reasonable enough, so she did not dwell on it. Instead, she asked, “Deanna, what do you think caused this?”