“The goddam axle is broke.” He jabbed the gun in Hank’s direction. “It’s not just a flat tire.”
“Easy man, easy.” Hank rubbed at his jaw. “Look, we’re working in that garage. I doubt they’d have an axle to fit this thing, but maybe we can weld something.”
Trevor shook his head nervously. “I’ll just get a different ride. Transfer all of our stuff to it.”
Hank nodded quickly. “That’s a great idea, man. Seriously.” He swallowed hard and pointed back the way they had come. “We brought a pickup out here to run for parts and stuff. We can give you a ride if you want.”
Trevor jabbed the gun at him again and Hank held his hands in the air. “Look man, it’s a four door truck. The other guys can ride with us.”
Trevor shook his head. “No, she can’t be out in the sun.”
Hank gave him a cautious stare. “She?” He rubbed at his chin. “‘She’ who?”
“My daughter. She’s light sensitive.”
Hank nodded slowly. “The back windows are tinted. He slowly lowered his hands. “Look man, I feel horrible about all of this.” He shrugged slightly. “And for just dumping y’all out along the side of the road.”
“That other guy was in charge. And we were being shot at, so…”
Hank nodded. “Tell me where you want to go and I’ll take you. You can leave your daughter with Wally if you—”
“No!” Trevor’s hands began to shake. “She goes with me. I don’t trust men around her.”
“O-okay. I get that.” He glanced back toward the garage and Wally standing outside the door with a large wrench in his hand. “Wally wouldn’t hurt a fly. He looks mean, but…that’s okay. You and me and your daughter…I’ll take you to find another ride.”
Trevor nodded slowly. “Go get that truck.” He jabbed the rifle at him again. “But know that I’m watching you.”
Hank nodded and turned around. “Their rig is FUBAR. I’m gonna take the truck and help them find another ride.”
Wally rolled his eyes and tossed the wrench to the ground. “And who’s supposed to fix this damned thing? Just me?”
Hank held a hand up. “We won’t be long. I promise.”
Wally threw his hands into the air. “Fine! Go.”
Chapter 6
Hatcher swallowed his fourth cup of coffee and grimaced. “What’s wrong?” Candy asked as she slid in next to him.
Hatcher gave her a sour face. “Penance. For drinking too much.”
Candy leaned forward and stared at his cup. “Coffee? Not much of a penance.”
Hatcher swallowed down the last of it and shivered involuntarily. “It is when it’s the bottom of the pot, hours old, and no cream or sugar.”
Candy made a face back at him. “That sounds like it would eat a hole in your gut.”
Hatcher nodded and poured the last few drops into his cup. “It does.” He tossed it back then rubbed at his temples. “But it serves me right for drinking rotgut like it was going out of style.”
Candy stood and dumped the abundance of grounds from the drip maker and stuffed another filter into the basket. “Let me make some good stuff.”
“I won’t stop you.” He held a hand up then leaned back in his chair. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
She shrugged. “Just checking on you.” She measured the grounds and dropped them into the filter. “I hear you and Buck had a chat.”
Hatcher snorted. “If by ‘chat’ you mean I got my ass chewed by a teenager, then yeah. We had a very pleasant talk.”
She dumped the water into the back then slid the pot on the hotplate. “Cut him some slack, Hatch. Like you said, he’s just a kid.”
Hatcher shook his head. “No, he’s a man. A young man, but still a man.” He sighed heavily. “And I can’t fault a man when he’s right.”
Candy raised a brow at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I need to step up or get the hell out of the way.”
She sat down gently and eyed him carefully. “You’re not quitting…”
He shook his head. “Not anytime soon.” He popped open the aspirin bottle and shook out two more of the bitter white tablets. “Once I get my head cleared, I intend to do what all of you have been pleading with me to do.”
“Stop fretting over shit you can’t do anything about?”
“You might call it that.” He leaned forward and narrowed his gaze at her. “I call it getting mad.”
She eyed him cautiously. “Mad?”
He nodded slowly. “I had to do some serious soul searching, but I figured out that’s the main difference between then and now.” He jabbed the top of his desk with his finger. “Then? I wasn’t just mad, I was pissed. The world had gone to hell on my turf, on my watch and because I called in the military.”
“Hatch…I was there, remember? You did what needed to be done.”
“No. Even if the outbreak hadn’t been contained, eventually ‘we the people’ would have gotten the upper hand.”
She gave him a sour look. “You can’t believe that. Our own military couldn’t do that.”
“They made it worse. When Vickers blew up the mountain, he sent that virus into the upper atmosphere and it was carried all over the world.”
“Still, you can’t blame yourself for that.”
“I do. And for much more.” He held a hand up to stop her. “But all of that? It made me mad. Madder than hell.”
She nodded slowly. “Then what happened?”
“I went from pissed to worrying about everybody. I wasn’t seeing the long game. The end result.”
“And you think being mad now will change your attitude?”
He nodded slowly. “I know it will. I just had to find my anger and let it grow until it quashed the worry.”
Candy sighed heavily. “I sincerely hope you’re right.”
“I have no doubt.”
Kevin sat up and wiped at his eyes. “What time is it?”
Broussard closed his book and sat forward, his arm coming up to reflect the time. “You’ve only been asleep a few hours. Lay back, rest.”
Kevin swung his legs off the edge
