As the lead vehicle rounded a curve, it suddenly stopped and Hollis practically stood on the brakes to keep from hitting the Humvee in front of him. “What the hell!” He set the parking brake and threw open his door, intent on chewing somebody’s ass.
As he approached the driver, he noted the passengers had disembarked and were setting up a defensive perimeter. The driver stepped out and leveled his carbine on the woods to his left.
“What’s wrong…” Hollis’ words trailed off as he stared at the large trees laying across the trail. He turned and pointed to Hatcher. “Is there another way?”
Hatcher stared at the downed trees and shook his head. He walked closer to the fallen trees and snapped a twig from the branch. “These have been here a while.” He held the branch up to Hollis and snapped it. “They’re drying out already.”
“And that means what to me?”
Hatcher tossed the twigs aside. “It means this isn’t recent. Whoever did this was either marking territory or blocking a trail that others used.”
Hollis raised a brow. “You mean these things have marked territory now? Are we gonna find that some alpha male has hiked on every tree between here and his cave?” He couldn’t help but smirk.
Hatcher shrugged. “I have no idea their behaviors, captain. All I know is what this looks like to me.”
Hollis groaned and motioned to two of the rear guards. “Winch those things out of the way. Cut ’em up if you have to.”
Hatcher leaned across the hood of the Humvee and stretched his neck. “Nobody said this would be easy.”
“No, Mr. Hatcher, they didn’t.” Hollis watched as the men wrapped chain and began to attempt to drag the logs from the road. “I just hope we don’t run into too many more of these, or we may not make the site by nightfall.”
Hatcher’s face rose and he studied Hollis’ features. “Nightfall?”
“I have no intention of staying here past dark. From what we’ve gathered, these things have no trouble seeing in the dark. We, on the other hand, do not have that luxury.”
“You didn’t bring night vision?”
Hollis turned and gave him a confused stare. “Of course. But it’s so restrictive…it’s more of a hindrance than anything.” He sighed and slung his rifle. “You know as well as I do how lethal these creatures are. Would you want to be here after sundown?”
Hatcher shook his head slowly. “Not again.”
“Then we better pray there aren’t any more road blocks. Otherwise, we might be in for an eventful night.”
“I’m not having any luck. Every place I check has already been looted.” Squirrel searched the other men’s faces and they all read the same. “I’m open to suggestions.”
One of the bikers from the secondary group shrugged. “We could go house to house. Maybe start at some of the nicer places.”
Slug spat on the ground and shook his head. “Why the fancy places?”
The biker shrugged again. “People with money would be better suited to protecting themselves from the crazies, man. You know. Safe rooms and shit.”
“And guns.” Squirrel added. “If they’ve survived this long, odds are they’re armed to the teeth.”
Slug smiled again and Squirrel fought a shiver. “I could use me some new guns.” He chuckled and elbowed the man next to him. “Maybe even a little senorita or two.”
The other man gave a halfhearted laugh. Apparently, Slug gave him the creeps as well. He took a half-step farther from the man and crossed his arms.
“If that’s the best bet for finding supplies, we may have to try it. Maybe we lure them out. Grab somebody from inside and use them to disarm the others?”
Squirrel sighed and shook his head slowly. “My gut tells me it’s too risky.” He looked up at the others. “Would you hand over your gun because one of us was caught?” He noted the blank expressions on their faces. “Yeah, neither would I.”
“I’d shoot through you to kill them.” Slug deadpanned. He looked up at Squirrel and added a quick smile. “Just saying.”
“I have no doubts.” Squirrel turned, effectively blocking Slug from both his view and the conversation. “I say we finish up with the little gas and go stations. Meet back at the hotel, and first thing tomorrow we head out.”
“Want me to radio Simon and let him know what we’ve found?” one of the men asked. Squirrel wasn’t sure his name.
“Nah. Our primary mission is the group that truck came from. Until we find them, let’s save the batteries.” He straddled his motorcycle then turned to face the others. “But if we find a cache of food or weapons…or ammo…if we need help transporting the loot, then we call him. Otherwise, we wait until we have something more solid.”
“Understood.” The tallest of the other men turned and addressed his group, “Load up. We have more work to do.”
Squirrel watched the group ride off, then started his Indian. He glanced at Slug who was still trying to kick start his. Once the engine belched to life, Squirrel put the bike into gear and pulled ahead slowly. They still had a lot of area to cover and the sun was already dropping in the sky.
He could almost feel the knife in his back and stole a glance through his side mirror. Slug was pointing his finger at him and made a shooting motion when he thought Squirrel wasn’t watching.
He knew that the time was quickly coming that he’d have to do something about the brown-toothed man. He hoped that Simon wouldn’t mind that Slug was lost in action during this operation.
Jason opened the door slowly and noted the activity in the room. Dr. LaRue was barking orders and there was a low murmur of hurried voices as people rushed about. He stepped inside and couldn’t track all of the people in white coats as the personnel hurriedly went about their
