Broussard’s brows knit. “Why would you skin a cat?”
“It’s an expression.” He tossed his pillow back on the bed and sat down. “This really is bullshit.”
“Not my decision.”
“I could wear a mask,” he held his hands up, “and gloves.”
Broussard glanced at him over the top of his glasses. “Still not my decision.”
“I have experiments to check on.”
He nodded slowly then turned the page. “Dr. Chaplain is overseeing them for you.” He shot Kevin a smile. “You can thank her later when she relieves me.”
“That makes me feel so much better. Why do I need a chaperone?”
Broussard blew his breath out slowly. “Again, not my decision.” He closed the book gently and crossed his legs, staring at Kevin. “When the commander of this vessel orders that we stop everything and babysit you, we stop everything and babysit you. I will inform him of your condition and your offer to wear protection. I cannot, however, begin to guess his decision.”
Kevin banged his head against the wall. “Fine.” He collapsed on his bed and stared at Broussard. “So how’s your world-saving experiment going?”
“It’s on hold,” Broussard lied again. He turned and gave him his full attention. “However, if you truly want to know, we are attempting to mass produce the bacteria. Once we have a large enough sample to test, we’ll talk to the Powers That Be about possibly spraying an area that we are certain contains infected.”
Kevin nodded. “And if it doesn’t work, you’ll torch the place.”
Broussard shook his head. “It will work.”
“Using it untested…that’s not smart.”
“We can’t very well bring infected people here to test it on, now can we?”
Kevin shrugged. “We could do the tissue test.”
“It’s not the same.” Broussard sighed and set his book aside. “The virus primarily affects the central nervous system. The brain, especially. We need living subjects.”
Kevin nodded then sat up. “So, let’s get one.”
Broussard gave him a confused stare. “How? I already told you that they won’t allow—”
“You have the primordial sample still, right?”
Broussard nodded. “Oui.”
Kevin gave him a slight shrug. “Who’s to say that somebody couldn’t accidentally get exposed to it?”
Simon pulled out the map and spread it across the hood of the car. “Where would we set up if we were National Guard?”
Sinner shrugged and pointed at Albuquerque. “I would think there has to be something here. Maybe an armory.”
“Too bad we can’t know where.” Simon cursed under his breath.
“What about a yellow pages?” Shooter asked. “I know they still print them.”
Simon gave him a stupid look. “Happen to have one lying around?”
Shooter shook his head. “We could go to Albuquerque. It’s not that far. Surely somebody’s got one.”
Simon groaned and folded up the map. “Sure, why not. The world is overrun with cannibal zombies, but let’s go on a road trip.”
Sinner snorted and turned around, leaning on the car. “Dude, that’s all we did before we came here. We rode from town to town and stripped it clean like locusts.” He shrugged. “Let’s just go, man. Fuck these people.” He pushed off of the car and gave Simon a solemn look.
Simon stepped back in shock. “What did you just say?”
“I said ‘fuck ‘em.’ We don’t need them or their shit.” He pointed to the open road. “Look man, it’s clear during daytime now. The Crazies…they stick to the shadows until night. Imagine the damage we could do. We’d have all day to pick through other people’s shit. We don’t need what they got.”
Shooter nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, Simon. We don’t need them or their shit. We can get our own. Maybe we pick up more people on the road, too.” He stepped closer, his eyes full of hope. “We build us an army and then, if you still want to come back and flatten these assholes, we flatten them.”
Simon pushed off the car and glared at them both. “Fucking mutiny, that’s what this is.” He slammed his fist down on the hood, putting a nice oval dent in the thin metal. “We leave when I saw we leave. We give up on the Cagers when I say we give up.” He turned in a quick circle, his mind not able to keep up with his anger. “They stole MY people! They got the goods, my goods. Mine!” He kicked the side of the car then turned and shoved a finger in Shooter’s face. “This is MY fucking town now. Understand?”
Shooter nodded quickly, his hands up in surrender as he backed away from him. “Yeah, Simon. I understand. I understand real good.”
Sinner watched the exchange and shook his head slowly. “You really are batshit crazy.”
Simon spun on him, his eyes wild. “What did you say?”
Sinner snorted a laugh. “You heard me just fine.” He stepped around the car and stared down at the smaller man. “But if we’re gonna stick around and fuck with these people, maybe crazy is what we need.”
Simon’s glare didn’t waver as he stared at Sinner. “Don’t call me crazy…ever.”
Sinner shrugged. “Hey, we’re all a little crazy these days.” He turned and shot Shooter a smile. “You’d gotta be just to put your boots on in the morning and carry on instead of eating a bullet.” He stepped around Simon and waved his good arm in the air. “The whole world has gone nuts and we’re even nuttier to stay in it.”
“Don’t ever call me crazy, man.” His face softened slightly and he kicked at the car again. “Get this piece of shit rolling. We need to find that National Guard place.” He pulled the door open and fell into the passenger seat.
Sinner glanced at Shooter and shrugged. “You heard the man. Carry on.”
“I wish I knew how you did that with them Ragers. I mean, no offense, but I don’t think they’d give two shits that you’re…well…special.” He set the box full of groceries down inside the door and pushed it as deep inside as he could reach.
“Tell ya the truth, I think it’s kinda cool how you stood up for us and
