Hatcher set the satchels on a workbench and stretched his back again. “That’s good news, right?”
“It is.”
Hatcher leaned on the workbench and lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper. “Before Roger got speared, he and I went for a drive through town.” He looked up at him and tried to read his face. “He was talking about moving out into the world. You know, once the cure thing runs its course.”
Will seemed genuinely surprised. “Really? Why would he want to leave the creature comforts of this place?”
Hatcher shrugged slightly. “I guess he doesn’t care for the idea of sharing walls with other folks. Especially with a child on the way.”
Will seemed genuinely confused. “I would think he would want the security of more people around with a newborn on his hands.”
Hatcher shrugged. “You’d think.” He pushed up off of the workbench and lowered his voice. “How feasible do you think it would be to adapt what you’ve done here, but to individual homes?”
Will’s head began to shake. “We’ve created so much here…I don’t…”
Hatcher held a hand up to keep him from overthinking the question. “I’m not saying scattered across town. I mean, what if we found a gated community? A small subdivision with individual houses. Would it be feasible to…I dunno…move the solar and the greenhouses and—”
“No,” Will interrupted. “It wouldn’t be feasible.”
Hatcher held a hand up to stop him. “Okay. That’s all I needed to know.” He placed a gentle hand on Stanton’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to cause your blood pressure to spike, doc. It was just a thought.”
He turned to leave and Will cleared his throat. “Ahem. I may have…” He paused, trying to select the right words. “I may have spoken too soon.” He sounded defeated before Hatcher even turned around.
“How so?”
Will sighed heavily and waved toward the rooftops. “Of course, the solar could be moved. I just don’t know if there are enough panels to adequately supply an entire subdivision.”
Hatcher gave him a hopeful look. “But if we found more of them…” he trailed off.
Will nodded. “Then yes, it would be feasible.” He quickly added, “Considering that the homes were on either individual wells or even a community well. We’d still have to have water.”
“Of course.”
“The greenhouse probably wouldn’t survive the move, but I guess we could build another one. Perhaps even a larger one.” He rubbed at his chin as he thought. “The hydroponics could easily be moved, though. We’d have to completely drain the systems and refill them with fresh water, but it could be done.”
Hatcher nodded approvingly. “What else?”
Will sighed. “Without seeing the place you have in mind, I can’t say for sure. But a gated community would have to have durable walls. Not a simple fence.”
“Agreed.”
“And we’d still have to have security. If the cure works, doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be threats. Traveling nomads could be worse than the Zulus ever thought of being.”
“Like the Marauders.”
“Yes, exactly.” Will tapped nervously as his mind continued community building. “Yes, it could be done. But it would be just as much, if not more work than we’ve already done.”
“Well, the project isn’t a definite thing. Right now it’s all conjecture.” Hatcher patted the man’s shoulder again. “Think about it some. Maybe once the dust is settled we can see about finding a place like that.”
Will nodded. “Nothing says it has to be here in Rio Rancho, does it?”
Hatcher raised a brow at the question then slowly shook his head. “No sir, it doesn’t.”
Will gave him a wide smile. “Perhaps it’s worth looking into.”
Hatcher gave him a quick wink. “Good night, doc.”
“I’ll try to get you a preliminary set of requirements first thing in the morning.”
Hatcher turned and waved him off. “No rush, doc. Roger is still recovering and we have a lot of other things that take priority, I’m sure.”
Will watched him walk away and his mind continued to build the ideal community. “Maybe a swimming pool?”
Carol sat quietly at her workstation going over the test results from Kelly’s blood. “This still isn’t making sense.” She pushed away and rubbed at her neck, her eyes straining in the candlelight. “I know there were a small handful of people who were immune, but they wouldn’t have manifested the virus only to beat it on their own.”
“I’m an anomaly.”
Carol’s head whipped around and she stared at Kelly. “I’m honestly not sure what I’d call your situation.”
“Frightening,” Kelly deadpanned.
Carol rolled her eyes. “I told you I was sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound the way it did.”
Kelly gave her another deadpan stare. “Yes, you did.” She sighed as she settled onto the stool opposite her. “I can’t say I really blame you, though.” Her voice was soft enough that Carol had to strain to hear her.
“Why would you say that?”
“I was infected.” She gave her a knowing look. “You know what we did to survive. Then I open up and tell you that I enjoyed killing people. I’m sure that didn’t put your mind at ease.”
Carol attempted to be dismissive. “It’s not a big deal, really. I may not completely understand what you went through, but I know that it was traumatic.”
Kelly shook her head. “No. You have no idea.” She propped her elbows on the counter and studied the ponytailed researcher across from her. “To look at you, I’d think your life was perfect. Probably had adoring parents who doted over every little thing.” She leaned back and cocked her head to the side. “Probably a varsity cheerleader in high school. And even though your parents were loaded, you got a full ride scholarship to some Ivy League dump where you met a wonderful guy, got awesome grades, decided you would get married before one of you got cold feet.”
Carol was shaking her head as Kelly droned on. “That’s nothing at all like—”
“And even though you got a doctorate in something that could
