Hatcher gave him an open mouthed stare. “You knew where they were?”
Roger shrugged. “We stopped and talked to Wally on our way back yesterday. We told him to approach only from the front if they were going to be coming in late because of the new IEDs.”
“Was Hank with him?”
Roger shook his head. “Not when we stopped by. Apparently they backed the dozer right in front of a speeding RV and it broke an axle or something. Hank took the guy and his daughter to get parts.”
Hatcher’s eyes widened. “More survivors? And nobody thought to mention this?”
Roger shrugged. “Wally said the guy was kind of stand off-ish. But Hank felt responsible so he offered to help.” Roger tilted the rest of the cup and sighed. “Man, that hits the spot.”
“Talk to me about the guy.”
Roger shrugged again. “Wally didn’t really say. He just said that the mods they were doing would take a while.” He grinned at him. “They’ve welded spikes to this thing and bars over the windows. I’m telling ya, it looked like something out of Mad Max.”
Hatcher was to his feet. “I don’t care about the dozer. I’m worried about our people.”
Roger stood slowly and nodded. “Okay, I’ll take you to where they were.”
As both men turned for the door the sentry appeared in the foyer. “They’re back.” He shook his head, “And you’re not going to believe that tractor.”
Hatcher pushed past the people milling about and exited the building, Roger in tow. He stood at the gate and gaped at the spiked monstrosity ambling up the paved road. “You have got to be shitting me…”
“I told ya. Looks like something from a movie, don’t it?”
“It might be more effective if it wasn’t so slow.” Hatcher shook his head as he pushed through the chain link gate.
Wally slowed the machine and killed the engine just outside the entrance. “What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?”
“You stayed out all night to work on…this?”
Wally nodded then pointed behind them. “And we brought new friends.” His smile quickly faded. “But, uh…you might want to…um, talk to Hank first before you meet them.”
Hatcher walked to the Class C motorcoach and watched as Hank hopped out of the passenger side. “Sorry we’re late. We had a lot of work to do on the dozer.”
Hatcher motioned with his chin. “Who’s your friend?”
“Yeah, about that…” Hank trailed off. “Maybe Vicky could come out here so…”
Trevor stepped out from behind the driver’s door. “We’ve met.” He gave Hatcher a knowing look and watched as his brows furrowed.
“We have?” Hatcher stepped closer, his eyes squinting in the early morning sun.
“I was with the biker group. Me and a few other guys didn’t want nothing more to do with them and left.” Trevor walked around to the front of the RV and allowed Hatcher to study his features.
“Which one were you?”
Trevor blew his breath out hard and glanced at the small crowd that had gathered to gawk at the dozer. “I was ‘married’ to Donna. She didn’t want me and…”
“Ah.” Hatcher nodded. “Yeah, now I remember you.”
Trevor shrugged. “Things have changed.” He glanced at the RV then back to Hatcher. “I have my little girl to look after now.”
Hatcher’s eyes widened. “You found your daughter? In all of this?”
Trevor blew his breath out hard and looked to Hank for help. Hank shrugged and stepped between Hatcher and Trevor. “We should probably talk.”
Hatcher nodded, but straightened himself. “Okay. About what?”
Hank placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and turned him away from the RV. “About Patricia.”
“I take it that’s his daughter?”
Hank hemmed and hawed. “Yeah, you could say that.” He glanced back at Trevor then lowered his voice. “She’s infected.”
Hatcher gave him a wide-eyed look. “Like Brenda was? Is she immune?”
Hank shook his head slowly. “No, not like Brenda.” He inhaled deeply then leaned in closer. “Like…she’s a Zulu.” Hatcher stiffened and stared at him, the shock evident. Hank held his hands up in surrender. “It’s not what you think.”
“What I think is, you just told me that his daughter is infected.” He turned and stared at Trevor. “And you brought them here?”
Hank nodded. “She’s not like the others, Hatcher.” He motioned to Trevor and he pulled the door open on the RV. He waved Patricia closer and she stepped out and took his hand, her hoodie covering her face. “She has to stay out of direct sunlight.”
Hatcher slowly shook his head. “There is no way in hell that—”
“Meet her first, Hatch.” Hank pleaded firmly. “She’s not like you think.”
Hatcher turned and gave him a wide eyed stare. “We’re setting explosives around this place to keep her kind out and you want to move one in?”
“Meet her,” Hank said firmly.
Wally stepped between the two and looked down to meet Hatcher’s gaze. “Hey, Hatch…I thought the same thing. Until I took the time.” He took the man by the shoulders and slowly spun him around. “She don’t bite.”
“That will be a first,” Hatcher muttered.
Trevor stepped forward with Patricia in tow. He bent low and lifted her hoodie, allowing Hatcher to see her face for the first time. “This is Mr. Hatcher. Say hi to the nice man.”
Patricia stared at him for a moment then turned to Hatcher. Their eyes locked and Hatcher could almost see the gears turning in her head. He fought the urge to run back inside and lock the gates. Instead he bent low, dropping to one knee.
Trevor stepped closer, bringing Patricia to within feet of Hatcher’s face. Trevor caught his attention. “She won’t hurt you.”
“She really is just a kid.” Hatcher’s voice was low and he continued to stare at her red eyes. He held a hand out to her. “I’m Daniel. It’s nice to meet you.”
Patricia stared at his hand then looked back up to meet his gaze. “She’s a bit shy.” Trevor blew his breath out and shook his head. “Who am I kidding…she doesn’t respond much to speaking. It’s all visual with her.”
He stepped closer and took Daniel’s
