Not yet.
“I just need to talk to him.” He pushed off the gas pump and stepped closer to the pair. “You see, my boss, hateful and greedy as he is, really wanted to speak to your boy Hatcher. Something about not paying a toll on the road he traveled. Then this helicopter zoomed in and made matters worse.”
“That wasn’t ours. That’s the military I was telling you about.” Henry spun and gave Wally another hateful look, but Wally stepped past him and closer to Squirrel. “They needed Hatcher to help ’em find their away around the park.”
Squirrel nodded as though it made perfect sense. “So, your boy Hatcher is with them as we speak.”
Wally nodded. “I would imagine so. They was supposed to bring him back when they was done with him, but he ain’t back yet.” He shrugged. “So unless he dead, they still using him.”
Henry grabbed Wally by the shoulder and pulled him back behind him. “You still haven’t told me what your intentions are with him. You say he owes your boss?” He turned to Wally and mouthed, ‘marauders.’ Wally went pale once he realized who he had been speaking with.
For the briefest of moments, a thought occurred to Squirrel. One that he wouldn’t have thought of if it hadn’t been for Wally and his trusting behavior. Rather than turning west and never looking back, what if he opted for a community not unlike one he had been advocating for? Where people work together towards a common goal…survival.
He opened his mouth to speak and found the words not coming. He stepped back and eyed the two fellows before him.
“Let me ask you guys something. How many people are in your group?”
Wally shook his head and Henry crossed his arms again. “Who says there are any?”
Squirrel sighed.
“Look, fellas, I wasn’t born yesterday. There is no way you two survived on your own.”
Henry wasn’t sure, but he thought they had just been insulted.
“I just want to know how many people there are with you. That’s all.”
“Just me and him.” Henry replied. Wally nodded behind him.
Squirrel pinched at the bridge of his nose. “Okay fellas. You leave me no choice.”
“Wait. What are you gonna do?” Wally asked.
Squirrel shrugged. “I’m gonna have to tie you two up.” He pointed to the back of the truck. “I’ll probably toss you in the back there and shut the doors. It might get a little hot this afternoon, but…” He shrugged again. “Then I’ll have to follow that nice little trail you left in the pavement until I find where this thing came from and I’ll knock on all of the doors and speak to whoever I find. Something tells me that I’ll find out what I need to know.”
Henry’s shoulders slumped and Wally sighed heavily. “What do we do, Hank?”
Henry nearly stumbled back. “Then you and the rest of the marauders will come in here and kill everybody.”
Squirrel’s head popped up. “What did you just say?”
Henry nodded. “Hatcher told us he ran into a group of marauders on the highway. Told us that y’all tried to kill him.”
Squirrel nodded knowingly. “Yes, they did. But believe it or not, I wasn’t a part of that.”
“But you’re a part of them, aren’t you? You’re some kind of scout, out here tracking us down so your marauder buddies can ride up here and—”
Squirrel held a hand up to stop him. “Okay, yes. I am with them, but I’m not with them. Understand?”
Henry nodded, then shook his head. “No.”
Squirrel felt his shoulders slump and he blew out his breath. “Look, fellas…I used to be a cop. Back when we actually had cops. I…I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” He started pacing, his hands moving wildly as he spoke. “I was supposed to bear witness to their crimes, but then the world went to shit. Now there’s no more cops, no courts, no nothing. I either had to cut and run or stick with them. Since there’s security in numbers, I stuck with them.”
“You went native.” Henry stated.
“No!” Squirrel nearly shouted. “You don’t get it. We don’t have some nice defendable apartment building or gated military base. We’re out there in box trucks and tents and…there are families.”
Henry’s brows rose, and he gave him a questioning glance. Squirrel shook his head. “Not mine. They…didn’t make it.” He took a deep breath, then turned and faced the pair. “Yes. They will most likely make their way here. But now you have a choice to make. You can either trust me or you can take your chances against them all by yourselves.” It was Squirrel’s turn to cross his arms and study them.
Henry glanced to Wally who gave a slight shrug. “He didn’t shoot us.” It was all Wally could think to say.
Henry swallowed hard and glanced down the road they had just come from then back to Squirrel. The man was right. All he had to do was follow the trail that the Civic left and he’d find where they were staying. He eyed the biker in front of him and something in his gut told him he was telling the truth.
“You got a badge?”
Squirrel snorted. “Sorry, man. If I carried something like that with these people and they found out?”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” Henry chewed at the inside of his lip. “But you were a cop?”
“In another life, yeah.”
Henry glanced at Wally again, but the man offered nothing new. He finally extended a hand to Squirrel. “What the hell. You’re right. If you followed the trail back, you’d find where we’re from.”
Squirrel took his hand and shook it. “First things first. After I meet with you people, we have to do something about that road.” He made a face that Henry couldn’t read. “If I can find you this easily, so can they.”
Dr. LaRue tossed her stethoscope back into her bag and zipped it up. “It’s probably something she ate.” She
