“She done already told your nurse, dude. Do we really have to have the third degree? We’ve been—”
“I’m not talking to you.” Hatcher didn’t raise his voice, but the tone instantly knocked the wind from Jason’s sails. “I was talking to her.”
Bren shrunk even more and shook her head softly. “I’m not sure. I didn’t see it.” Her voice was barely audible. “It was probably a tree branch.”
Hatcher stared at the floor and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m going to ask one more time. If I don’t get a straight answer, you’re both getting tossed out on your asses.”
Vicky squeezed his shoulder silently and Jason’s eyes bugged. “What the hell, man? It’s not like she’s infected. She’d have already turned if she was…”
“And if you interrupt one more time, I’ll throw you out on principle.” Hatcher shot him a withering stare. He turned to Bren. “One last time, SweetPea. Truth or consequences?”
Bren’s hands began to shake as she fiddled with the edge of the shirt she wore. Her head shook side to side and she stared at the floor. “I told you. I didn’t see it. I was scared and running and…”
“Alright. That’s it. Grab what you brought and let’s go.” Hatcher stood so quickly that his chair clattered to the floor behind him. “I mean it. Let’s move!”
Jason suddenly stood and got between Hatcher and Bren. “It was one of the crazies, man. It scratched her when we was running from it. But she didn’t get sick, okay? She didn’t turn. She’s okay, see?” Jason waved his hand toward Bren who now had tears running down her face. He lowered his voice and pleaded with Hatcher, “Please, man. You can’t throw us to the wolves.”
Hatcher narrowed his gaze on the pair then turned to Vicky. “Get them something to drink. We may be a little bit.”
“Wait. So we can stay?” Jason asked reluctantly.
“Sit down.” Hatcher pulled his chair upright again and sat. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Chapter 3
“So, they’re okay with the plan?” Vicky’s eyes probed Daniel as he marched down the makeshift hallway toward the corner he called home.
Hatcher avoided her eyes and gave her a nonchalant shrug. “I didn’t really give them a choice.”
“You what?” Vicky grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. “Daniel. So help me, if you strong-armed those kids into—”
“Stop.” His eyes bore into her and the firm set of his jaw showed above all else that he meant business. “You know as well as I do what that girl in there could be carrying inside of her body.”
“But you can’t force them into this, Danny. Think of what mMom would say if she knew—”
“Mom is gone, Vick. She was gone long before any of this happened.” He pulled her aside and lowered his voice. “Do I like the idea of dragging two reluctant kids all the way to northern Colorado on nothing other than the idea of a cure? Hell no. But tell me what other choice I have?”
“You need to let them choose, Danny.” Vicky lowered her face and crossed her arms defensively. “It isn’t right to force them. They aren’t prisoners.”
“No, they aren’t. But they also know that if they don’t agree, then they’re back out there on their own.” He pointed just outside the metal wall of the warehouse.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. They bring nothing to the community except this, and you know as well as I do that there are no freeloaders here.”
He turned back to his chore when she pulled him to a stop again. “You mean like Skeeter? Or Phil? Or the number of pregnant women in our little community?”
“That’s different. Phil may be in a wheelchair, but he’s an engineer, and he helped plan the defenses for this place. The women who are pregnant…well…” he paused to think of some reasonable explanation to give his nosy sister. “They were pregnant when they got here. And they help. They…cook and clean for us sometimes.”
“You’re reaching Danny and you know it.”
“Maybe. But if I have to play the hardass to get these two to do the right thing, then so be it.”
“And what’s to stop them from bailing on you the first opportunity things look safe enough for them?”
Hatcher shook his head. “Nothing. Unless they want to keep breathing.” He turned and marched off to his corner and began packing his backpack.
Vicky watched him through narrow eyes. “Something has changed in you, Danny. Something I don’t recognize.”
Hatcher paused and stared into the darkness. He thought of his best friend Mitch and Shelly and the countless others who died on his watch. He shook his head in the darkness. “There’s been enough death, sis. If dragging these two to Colorado has a snowball’s chance at finding a cure, then I have to do it.”
“If Gene were still alive, he’d stomp a mudhole in our ass.” Her voice quivered as she spoke of her now deceased husband.
“If Gene were still alive, he’d be helping me. He’d want a cure as badly as I do.” Hatcher shoved the last of his few items into the pack and snapped it shut. When he turned to face her, he noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Are those for me or those kids?”
Vicky shrugged. “I don’t know.” She sniffed and wiped at her face in frustration. “You had better come back alive, you hear me? I’m not raising Skeeter by myself.”
Daniel grunted a smile at her and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back. I’m too tough for those bastards to chew on, anyway.”
Colonel Vickers had just finished compiling a paper file of all the pertinent information on Hatcher when a knock sounded from his door. “Come.”
Captain A.J. Hollis stepped inside and stood at parade rest. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
Vickers glanced up from the folders he had prepared and waved the captain off. “At ease.” Vickers took his seat and eyed
