this peak from the sun except the edge of the world itself. A few distant clouds glowed on the horizon.
“I say we take off tomorrow!” Mike still held one cracker in the frayed wool glove of his left hand, treasuring it. “That was the best food I’ve had in a year,” he said. “We might as well hike on it.”
“Yep.”
“Makes sense to me.”
That was Brandon and Hiroki, and Cam glanced up to ‚nd D Mac. He’d expected the boy to add his voice to theirs, but D Mac was quiet. A minute ago, Samantha had risen from her spot with Alex and Kevin to join her father, asking if she could brew some bark tea, but her real goal had been D Mac. She’d pulled him aside and Cam saw them whispering together. That must be how she operated. Just a private moment with her was an enticement and she had already drawn D Mac back to her side.
“We can carry as little as possible,” Mike said. “Bedrolls, canteens, just one cook set. We can make it there in two days, don’t you think?”
“Maybe you want to carry more,” Ed said in his tentative way of moving around a problem. Cam had noticed that the man did not give absolute commands. He tried to nudge the boys with half-formed concepts instead, letting them come to him to complete his ideas.
“You mean in case there’s a problem,” Hiroki said.
“We don’t know what’s down there.”
“Yeah. Fine.” Mike nodded impatiently. “So we also take a tent. Extra food. We should still be able to get over there in two days. Maybe less.”
“I just want you to be prepared,” Ed said.
“It’s been a long time,” Ed said. “If it takes another week, what difference does it make?”
“Maybe just a couple of us could go ‚rst,” D Mac said. “Someone should look around, you know. Look for food. There must be all kinds of good stuff down there.”
Cam glanced past D Mac at the girl. It was her fear that D Mac was expressing.
“No,” Cam said, pushing himself up. The wind was like freezing water in his hair and just the change from sitting to standing made a vast difference in the light. The orange heat of the bon‚re only rose to his waist. Above it, the sky went forever, empty and cold. “You go or you don’t get the vaccine,” Cam said. “It’s that simple, and every day matters. We told you. We’re at war. Leadville could †y over this mountain tomorrow. And why the hell would you want to stay on this fucking rock anyway, when the whole world is down there?”
“That’s right,” Mike said, muttering.
“You go or you stay.” Cam stared across the leaping ‚re at Ed and D Mac. “But you don’t get the vaccine unless you go.”
“You were careful with us,” Ed said evenly.
“Yes.” This wasn’t a conversation that Cam wanted to have — the monsters they might ‚nd. “You can be careful, too,” he said. “But you have to go. You have to try.”
* * * *
Cam noticed Ruth and Newcombe with their heads together and was immediately reminded of Samantha and D Mac, full of anger and suspicion. It was a weakness. He recognized that, but the destruction of his body had also destroyed something in his mind. He couldn’t see how he would ever have a woman again and it colored everything about them both, the girl and Ruth.
The camp was settling down for the night. The ‚re had burned down to coals and only Mike and Brandon remained at the red glow of the pit, murmuring together. Ed, Alex, and D Mac moved in the darkness, carrying blankets from one tent to two others to make room for their guests. Ed’s voice carried from the second tent as he argued with Samantha.
Cam knelt with his two friends. “What’s up?”
“We’ve been talking,” Ruth said. She seemed apologetic, even wary.
“You know we have to push these guys,” Cam said.
“That’s not it,” Newcombe said.
“I think we’d better try for our rendezvous,” Ruth said quickly. “The plane. I’m sorry, Cam. I’m sorry. My feet…I don’t think I can hike any more. And these guys can spread the vaccine for us now.”
She didn’t want him to stay behind, but he didn’t want to keep going with her. She was his only hope of becoming whole again, developing powerful new nanotech to rebuild the damage to his skin and his insides, but how realistic was that? It was a dream. That was all. It would be years before scientists like her had any time or energy to spare, and even then what they knew best were weapons — simple, attacking technology like the plague and the vaccine. Sawyer had talked of immortality, but in the same breath he’d admitted he spent years just building the prototype that became the plague.
Cam didn’t want to be her dog, and Newcombe could protect her, and these boys needed help. They needed someone to lead them. He could begin to reorganize the survivors here and take the ‚rst small, dif‚cult steps to try to rebuild.
Even if the vaccine wasn’t 100 percent effective, it was enough, and what if her plane was shot down? What if she never reached safety? It was crucial to save as many people as possible before next winter. Someone, somewhere, had to have a chance to reclaim the lowlands, and there might never be a better start than the opportunity presented by the Scouts.
“Newcombe still has his radio codes,” Ruth said. “The Canadians can send a plane that can touch down on a road or a meadow. Somewhere close.”
“As close as they can,” Newcombe said.
Cam only nodded.
12
In the high mountains south of Leadville, the night was calm but vicious. Clouds blocked out most of the sky, heavy and still, but the temperature had plummeted, an invisible sort of motion as if the ground itself was lifting away. Major Hernandez clapped his gloves together and †exed his shoulders, not liking the impression of nervousness but too cold to help himself. “Better make this quick,” he said.
“Hell yes, sir,” Gilbride answered.
It was better in the bunkers. The holes acted like buckets, retaining the thin heat of the day, but they couldn’t risk whispering through their plans with four or ‚ve other Marines packed in around them. The wrong word might ruin everything.
Two hours ago Sergeant Gilbride had barely made it back to camp before full dark, sweating hard, which could be dangerous in this environment. The moisture would freeze inside his clothes. Hernandez had ordered him to dig out a clean uniform and to get a little food and ‚nally he’d gestured for Gilbride to step outside, nominally to help double-check the night watch.
“You’re okay?” Hernandez asked.
“Yes, sir,” Gilbride said, but his voice was a rasp and he’d been coughing when he returned to their peak. Gilbride couldn’t stop scratching at his neck or the underside of his left arm, either, where his skin was dry and red. Their medic had smeared these irritated patches with gun oil, but Hernandez couldn’t spare enough to constantly medicate his friend’s rashes.
Gilbride was allergic to this elevation. That was the short truth of it, and yet Hernandez continued to make demands on his endurance.
“I don’t know about Ward,” Gilbride said, “but Densen is scared. I’m sure he’ll want to talk more.”
“They’ll both send runners in a couple days?”
“Yes, sir.”
