“Sweet Jeezus.” Hatcher ignored the pain in his ribs and pushed out of his office. He pointed to the nearest man. “Find Cooper and see if Roger’s back. Tell them to meet me at the gates.” The man nodded then ducked into the hallway.
Hatcher pushed his way outside and stood in the wave of people rushing to get back inside. Like a lone statue in a sea of moving people he peered over their heads as they ran from the unknown. He looked up to the sentry. The man pointed to the alley then pointed two fingers to his eyes.
Hatcher groaned as he pushed through the remaining people and marched to the rear gates. Trevor stood in the door of the camper cradling a frightened Patricia as Hatcher pushed the gate open. “Did you see anything?”
Trevor shook his head. “We were dozing. I’m sorry Mr. Hatcher…I didn’t see anything.”
He pointed to the camper. “Get back inside. If there’s a threat we’ll move you inside the perimeter.” He pulled his pistol and held it at the ready as he edged along the side of the wall. He keyed the radio again. “Tell me that Will and his people weren’t out there setting mines.”
“Negative, boss. They finished with all of that yesterday. The only people who left went out in trucks and they were out front. Whatever that was, it wasn’t one of ours.”
Hatcher allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief and approached the blind corner of the wall. He edged around it, “slicing the pie” with his pistol until he saw the bloody splatter along the sides of the small trees that separated the alley from the compound.
He swallowed hard as he approached the scene, his mind unable to piece together the remains and make sense of what his eyes were seeing.
He held the back of his hand to his nose, hoping to quell the coppery smell of blood mixed with internal organs and excrement. His eyes constantly scanned the grounds for bright orange clay; Will had told him that all of the IEDs were brightly colored to keep uninfected from accidentally triggering the devices.
He leaned into the alley and stared down the length. He could see the back of a four-foot plywood board attached to the wooden fence. It had to be one of the signs he ordered placed at the entrance. Rather, it had better be the sign.
He slipped into the alleyway and counted a dozen or more of the bright orange devices scattered about, partly buried in the ground.
“What was it?”
He turned slowly and saw Will approaching through the brush. Hatcher shook his head. “I can’t tell.” He nodded toward the mass of the remains. “Whatever it was, it was pretty big to make that much of a mess.”
Will squatted and poked at some of the mess with a stick. “Covered in hair.” He looked up at Hatcher and shrugged. “Maybe a dog?”
Hatcher raised a brow. “Have you seen any stray dogs since this outbreak began?” He shook his head. “If I were a betting man, I’d think they had all been run down and eaten.”
Will stabbed at the chunk with the stick and lifted it from the ground. “It resembles dog hair. Are there wolves in this area?”
Hatcher shrugged. “Not in a long time.”
Will stepped closer and held the piece out to him. “I’m still going to say animal. This hair doesn’t look human. It doesn’t look like deer or rodent either.”
Hatcher hung his head. “I can’t believe we blew up the world’s last canine.”
Will dropped the stick and wiped his hands of imaginary dirt. “Hopefully it wasn’t the last.” He glanced down the alley and sighed. “That blast surely woke up anything that might be close.”
Hatcher nodded and turned back to the compound. “Let’s go set some people’s minds at ease and double the sentries at the wall. If the noise brings out the Zulus, I want enough people available to repel boarders.”
“On it.” Will keyed his radio and alerted the off-duty sentries while Hatcher walked to the camper and banged on the door.
Trevor cracked it open and Hatcher saw Patricia clinging to his leg. “It appears an animal triggered one of the IEDs.” He gave the girl a kind smile, hoping it calmed her. “There’s no immediate threat, but there’s the chance that the sound might attract the infected. If you want to bring her inside, we can find a room for you.”
Trevor looked down at the girl and gave her a lopsided smile. “Want to go inside? They have toys.”
Hatcher stiffened, his mind replaying the events on the monitor when Patricia ripped the head from the doll.
He wanted to rescind his offer, to tell Trevor to just hole up, lock the door on the camper, but before he could think of a way to disinvite them, the pair were out of the camper and walking toward the gates.
“Maybe it would be best if we keep you isolated. Just until people calm down from the scare.”
Trevor nodded, reading nothing in Hatcher’s tone. He escorted them into the hall and waved Cooper over. “Show them to an empty room. Maybe gather up some toys for the kid.”
Cooper gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry I was late getting out there, boss. Damned blast caught me on the shitter.” Hatcher opened his mouth but couldn’t find an appropriate response. He gave Cooper an odd look and Dave broke into a toothy grin. “To say that the blast expedited the delivery would be an understatement.”
Hatcher simply nodded as the man chuckled at his own joke then saw Roger pushing his way through the front gates. “What happened? We heard the explosion from blocks away.”
Hatcher hooked his thumb back to the alley. “Apparently a stray animal found one of the IEDs. Nobody was hurt.”
Roger seemed to relax. “Thank god.” He blew
