“Sweet Mary, Mother of…do you have any idea how far of a trek that is?” Larry practically fell into his chair.
“A hell of a lot closer than the CDC is, I promise you.” Vicky paused and considered the circumstances. “Look, just promise you won’t say anything to anybody.”
Larry nodded his head, his eyes staring off to nowhere.
“You promise?”
Larry snapped out of his reverie. “Yeah. I promise.” He suddenly stood and cleared his throat. “And I think I need to get ready.”
Vicky gave him a confused look. “What for?”
“If they’re going on a long trip, they’ll want somebody with medical training to tag along. I’m young, strong, and healthy and I have that training. I’m the logical choice.”
“Oh, the hell you say…” Vicky pushed him away. “Your wife would kill us both.”
“She doesn’t have a say in this.” Larry tried to push past Vicky and got a stiff arm in the chest to block his way.
“How about we just ask Hatcher before you go making any kind of plans?”
Larry paused and gave her a sidelong look. “Fine. We’ll ask Hatcher.”
The two set off in search of Hatcher and found him in his makeshift room, a corner of the main warehouse, his meager belongings hung on the wall. He had his pack sitting on his bunk and was folding his clothes, making ready for another outing.
“Hatch, old buddy,” Larry called as they approached his space.
“You’re not going,” Hatcher stated without turning around.
“What? Why not?”
“I’ll be able to make better time if it’s just the three of us.” He turned and faced the pair. “I take it her wound was definitely made by a human?”
Vicky Sue nodded. “I was certain, but…”
“Hatch, I really think you should take somebody who has medical training.” Larry would argue with a fence post if he thought he stood a chance of winning. With Hatcher, he didn’t.
“I’ve had first responder training, too. We don’t need you. Your wife does.” Hatcher turned back to his packing and continued shoving items into his pack. “Prepare the newcomers. I’ll be there shortly to talk with them.”
“Do you think it’s smart to just go in there and spill the whole plan?” Vicky asked. “I mean, shouldn’t we—”
“Shouldn’t we what? Waste more time allowing more healthy people to be killed and eaten by those things? Allow more people to be turned into those things?” Hatcher shook his head. “No, we leave tonight.”
“Sir, we went through the backup files of all government employees. We finally found a ‘Daniel’ Hatcher who worked for the Forestry Department and went on to become a Park Ranger. What exactly did you want from his file?” The aide waited expectantly outside of Vickers’ office with barely his face exposed.
Vickers looked up from the daily reports and nodded. “Just bring me the entire file. If it’s electronic, send it to my computer.”
“Yes, sir.” The aide disappeared and a few moments later a chime on Vickers’ computer indicated he had a new document waiting.
Vickers opened the document and went through all of the personal files on Daniel Hatcher. He finally found what he was looking for. A home town. An address. A starting point. He had to ask himself, if he weren’t a military man and the world went to hell in a handbasket, what would he do? Well, the first thing he’d do is try to make it to whatever hole in the wall he called ‘home’ and check on family members.
Vickers perused Hatcher’s file and discovered a sister. If she survived the initial outbreak, she would probably try to do the same, unless she was like most people and never travelled more than a hundred miles from home. Regardless, home appeared to be Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Just a little North of Albuquerque. Vickers smiled as he continued digging through the file, but nothing of interest jumped out at him.
Never married, Daniel Hatcher had little other reason to stay away from what might be home. Vickers felt that, if nothing else, it was a place to start. The truly bad part of the whole situation was, with the infrastructure in the condition it was in, they could send what was left of the entire military after the man and still miss him. There was no telling where in the town he might be holed up.
Vickers considered the numerous options and finally decided the best plan was the most obvious. He’d ‘knock’ and ask for Hatcher…in a manner of speaking. Flying a helicopter over the town with a loud speaker calling his name might not be the most subtle way to get his attention, but if Hatcher was still alive, curiosity would compel him to discover who was asking for him.
They’d just better be sure and use that sonic whatchamacallit that Andrews cooked up while they do it. The last thing they needed was a few thousand of the infected Zeds trying to climb into the chopper as they were searching for their guide.
Vickers mashed the button on his intercom. “Get me Hollis!”
Vicky stood outside the door and watched the young couple as they sat on their cots and chatted quietly between themselves. She heard Daniel approaching and knew it was him before he ever got close. “They’re just sitting and talking.”
“Time to ruin their day.” He pushed the door open and stepped inside with Vicky in tow. The couple both turned and looked at him at the same time when they walked in.
“Are we free to leave quarantine yet?” Jason asked.
Hatcher shook his head as he pulled up a chair. “We need to have a little chat.”
Jason rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall. “What now, man?” Bren seemed to shrink in upon herself as Hatcher settled in across from them.
“That scratch on the back
