Wally groaned and turned away, but Henry doubled down. “Candy, if we don’t do something, and quick, there won’t be anybody left standing to defend us from the nomads that Hatch ran into.”
“That’s assuming they even come this way,” Wally interjected. “We can’t know what their intentions are. Hell, they could be planted out there and just attacking anybody who traveled that certain road.”
“Yeah, like the old highwaymen,” Henry added.
Candy groaned. She knew they were right. Their supplies were running dangerously low and there were whole families in their little group that depended on the supplies gathered locally.
She stepped away and stared across the neighborhoods separating them from the grocery store. “Do you really think it’s intact?”
Henry nodded. “I’ve been watching it for over a week now. Nobody comes or goes. The Zulus aren’t anywhere near it, and the front is all intact.” He placed a hand on her shoulder to drive home their desperation. “If we don’t do something soon, Hatch is going to come home to find a bunch of corpses.”
She groaned and tossed her hands in the air. “Dammit, I hate to say it, but you’re probably right.” She paced in a tight circle and argued with herself. When she finally stopped, she spun and faced the two men. “How quickly can you do this?”
“Let us use the two big trucks and give us everybody who can carry a weapon.” Henry was fighting the smile that tried to form as he spoke. “We put our best shooters on lookout and anybody who’s capable of snatching and grabbing loads the trucks with anything viable. Canned goods, bagged goods, paper stuff…”
“Toilet paper, tampons, even candy!” Wally added. “You know we need everything.”
Slowly, she nodded. “Fine. Make it happen. Henry, you’re in charge of this shit storm.” She tapped the man’s chest as she spoke. “If this goes to hell…”
“It won’t. We won’t let it.” He failed at keeping the smile from his face. “We’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes.”
“I hope I don’t regret this.” She handed him back the binoculars and headed to the roof access.
Chapter 10
Hatcher stared at the passing land through the window the entire way to the park. Somehow feeling he could automatically recognize the park lands when they approached, he was surprised when the craft began its descent.
Captain Hollis came over the coms and snapped him from his confusion. “Pilots claim there are numerous heat signatures in the LZ, but they appear too small to be humanoid.” He shot Hatcher a sly grin. “Considering the thickness of the canopy in spots, I’m sure you’d agree we could still have unwelcomed company at any moment.”
“Agreed.” Hatcher turned back to the window and saw dust and debris kicking up as the craft settled. When the doors opened, he hit the ground and brought the barrel of the M4 carbine to his eye. He dropped low and covered the rear of the craft while the others disembarked and took up defensive positions.
He never heard Hollis slap the side of the craft, but he noticed when the rotors increased speed and the gust of wind before it lifted off again.
Once the chopper was clear, Hatcher turned slowly and scanned the area. He recognized the terrain almost immediately and instantly had his bearings. Hollis approached as the defensive perimeter broke up and the men began gathering gear, one man covering each compass point as the others prepared for the march.
“The Visitor’s Center is just beyond that stand of trees.”
Hollis nodded. “Yeah, Colonel Vickers gave us a detailed-”
“Vickers?” Daniel stiffened and glared at the man. “He’s still alive?”
Hollis turned slowly and faced him. “You know the colonel?”
Daniel spat and paced in a circle. “If I’d known Vickers had anything to do with this I’d have told you all to go pound sand.” His teeth were clenched tight and his face was turning a nice shade of red.
Hollis stood and held his hands up, attempting to placate the ex-ranger. “Easy, buddy. Vickers just gave us what few details he had on this place.”
Hatcher spun on him. “But you work with him, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah. Sort of. I work more for the lab guys, but Vickers is in my chain of command.”
“Fucking great.” Hatcher pointed toward the center. “You do realize he’s the reason this shit storm went global, don’t you?”
Hollis’ face screwed up with confusion. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, so the great colonel didn’t tell you, did he?” Hatcher snorted with derision. “Why the hell should he. He only caused the greatest holocaust in the history of mankind.”
“Come again? You’re not making any sense.”
“Vickers is the one that dropped the damned bomb! The same bomb that sent the virus into the atmosphere.” He stared at the man, waiting for the light to come on. “Yes, this was ground zero for the virus, but there were only a few handfuls of people infected. Maybe a couple hundred at most.”
“I’m still not following you…”
Hatcher groaned and dropped to a squat, pressing against his temples to try to contain his anger. “Look, the virus erupted here and people were infected. But instead of dealing with it in another way, Vickers decided to drop a damned bomb on the source. It was a big enough bomb to blow the top of the damned mountain off and sent who knows how many tons of that virus into the upper atmosphere. If he’d played by the rules, this could have been contained and the infected rate would be a tiny percentage of the population. Now it’s…what…85…90 percent of the entire human population is either dead or infected, right?”
“We can’t really get a good estimate, but…that’s probably close.” Hollis exhaled hard as he tried to take in everything Hatcher told him.
“It was Vickers who decided to override the Pentagon and drop a damned mini-nuke out here.” He worked up a mouthful of dust-filled spit and spat it on the ground. “I knew I should have killed
