The lead tech paused and glanced over his shoulder. “We’re working as fast as we can, sir. Trust me. You want this to be in perfect operating—”
“I know what it is, and I understand the necessity for it. I just need you to hurry.” His tone was anything but professional.
“Thirty more minutes, captain.” The tech turned back to his work and began threading cables through the bulkhead.
Hollis stifled a curse and turned to leave. He found his support team gearing up and decided to make an announcement. “You all are aware of our target? You realize this is your standard snatch and grab?”
Most of the men barely gave him a glance as they continued working. Their disdain for the science guy was palpable. Hollis was not satisfied with the mutterings he got in reply and stepped closer to the operators as they continued to ignore him. “Are you men hard of hearing?” He kicked over a chair and glared at them. “I realize the world has gone to shit, but this is still a military vessel, we are all military men, and the last time I checked, I outrank each and every one of you.”
One of the operators slowly turned and eyed the man in his desert fatigues. “We heard you. Sir.” The displeasure in his voice caused Hollis’ jaw to tic.
Captain Hollis stepped in and closed the gap between himself and insubordinate man. “Do you have any idea whom you’re dealing with, soldier?”
“A science geek.” The man’s eyes narrowed at Hollis. “With captain’s bars.”
“Negative soldier. You’re speaking to a Green Beret.” He watched the man’s eyes slowly open wider with shock, then recognition as he saw the unit patch on his shoulder. “With captain’s bars.”
The soldier snapped to attention and shouted, “Apologies, sir.”
Hollis stared at him from boot to chin strap and shook his head. “It shouldn’t matter if I were spec op or not. You men know better than to disrespect a ranking officer.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Hollis ground his teeth as he considered his options, but decided he might need the men once they reached the park. “Get your shit together and get to the chopper. Double time!”
Hollis turned and strode from the room with purpose in his step. It had been a long time since he’d worn the uniform, and he felt the pride and purpose he’d once felt rising to the surface again.
As he stepped to the helicopter he observed the techs testing the controls for the sonic canon. “Is it ready?”
“Affirmative, sir. Just making minor tweaks.”
Hollis checked his watch and saw the pilots walking out to perform their pre-flight checks. Just in time. He wouldn’t want it to be too late when they hit New Mexico.
Hatcher continued driving along the highway, slowing only to navigate around those cars that were dead and sticking out into the roadway. Luckily, there weren’t any blocking the way entirely, but he knew that was only a matter of time. Bridges, on ramps, off ramps, anywhere the road narrowed and bottlenecked was a perfect place for them to get stuck. Even the large grill guard and heavy pipe bumpers could only do so much when it came to pushing dead machinery out of the way.
“That was some hairy stuff back there.” Jason propped a boot up on the dash and flashed Hatch a grin.
Hatcher resisted rolling his eyes, instead focusing on the road ahead. “That was nothing. The real hairy stuff is out there.” He indicated with his chin out the windshield of the truck. “Trust me, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.”
Bren shot a glance at Jason who only shrugged. “Hey, man. You forget we’ve been out there in this, too. It’s not like we just woke up and the world had gone to shit yesterday, ya know.”
“You’ve been bouncing from place to place, scavenging for what you needed. This is a road trip across hostile territory, facing god only knows what—”
“We know what’s out there.” Jason interrupted.
Hatcher slowed the truck and shot him an impertinent stare. “Oh, you do? So, you’ve run into bands of renegade humans? You’ve come into swarms of the Zulus? I don’t mean the small bands of ten and twenty, I mean the swarms of hundreds…thousands of them. You know what to do when that happens?”
Jason swallowed hard and averted his eyes, finding something interesting on his shotgun that apparently needed his immediate attention. A mumbled sound came from his mouth that neither Hatcher nor Bren heard.
“What was that? I don’t think I heard you correctly.” Hatch gripped the wheel tighter as he drove, his eyes narrowed.
“I said, no, I’ve never run into a swarm. Happy now?”
“No, actually, I’m not. I was hoping you had all kinds of experience surviving this apocalyptic nightmare. It would mean less work for me.”
“Please. Will you two just stop.” Bren placed a hand on each of their arms. “Building animosity between the two of you isn’t going to make this trip any easier to get through.”
“Hey, I didn’t start with all the Rambo stuff…”
“Jason!” She squeezed his arm to get his attention. “We’re going to need each other. To trust each other. This isn’t helping.”
Hatcher blew out a breath and lightened his grip on the wheel. “She’s right.” He shot a furtive glance toward to Jason. “I’m…sorry I busted your nuts back there. Things just…” he trailed off, his mind slipping back to how all of this started.
“Yeah. Me, too, I guess.” Jason continued to stare out the passenger window. “I’m just so used to being the one in charge when it’s just me and her. I’m not used to having to listen to anybody else.”
Hatcher nodded knowingly. “Well, kid,
