She watched him eat for a moment then reiterated. “I meant, were do we go from here?”
Simon stopped chewing and gave her a blank stare. “I was hoping we’d stick together.” He swallowed hard and studied her. “I mean, if you want to split, I understand.” He averted his gaze and lowered his voice. “I’m sure you could do a lot better than a worn out old biker like me.”
She took him by the hand and kissed his knuckles. “You barely know me.”
He looked into her eyes and sighed. “I know enough.”
17
Hatcher sat quietly on the sofa and continued to stare into the shadows. Buck sat in the recliner across from him, unsure what to say or do.
“Why would he do that?”
Hatcher shook his head. “If he felt responsible for Doris…” He sighed heavily. “She was his wife.”
Buck thought of Skeeter. If he’d been responsible for her being hurt or worse…killed? He’d never be able to live with himself, either. He looked up at Hatcher. “Everybody who snaps out of this will have some kind of guilt.” He came to his feet, a nervous energy taking over. “All of the Zulus have had to kill to survive. They’ll all have guilt issues, coping…” He trailed off.
Hatcher looked up at him. “What can we do though? We don’t know where the grand majority of them even are.” He came to his feet, his hand rubbing at his neck. “Even if we could find them, what can you or I do?”
Buck felt his hands tremble as he spoke. “We barely knew him, Hatch. But I felt like we knew him, ya know?”
Hatcher nodded. “I know.” He turned slowly and walked toward the door. “We need to go back.”
“What about Nick? Are we just going to leave him there?”
Hatcher turned and stared down the hallway. “He’s in his bed.” He turned and looked at Buck blankly. “It’s where he chose.”
“We should bury him, Hatch.”
Hatcher considered it for a moment then slowly shook his head. “There’s not enough daylight.” He nodded toward the door. “We need to get back.”
Buck sighed and fell into step with him. “Is this the fate of all of the Zulus? They find a cure just so that they all kill themselves for what they might have done?”
Hatcher opened the door of the truck and climbed in. “I have no idea, Buck.” He slammed the door and stared at the front of the unassuming little house. “I’m afraid that all we can do is hope that people can forgive themselves and carry on.”
Buck started the truck and ground his teeth. “I know that Nick’s death has nothing to do with Simon, but I really want to kill that son of a bitch bad now.”
Hatcher nodded knowingly. “All in due time, Buck. All in due time.”
Carol stepped off of the helicopter and actually felt like she had come home when she saw the deck of the haze-gray ship. Commander Miller handed her one of the cardboard boxes as he climbed down from the chopper. “It may take a few days to get your sea legs back.” He grabbed the other box of files and fell into step with the soldiers. “We’ll get you settled in first.”
“Is my old room still available?” she asked.
Miller shrugged. “Probably. But first things first. Let’s get these samples in the cooler before they degrade.”
She increased her speed to catch up with him and Broussard brought up the rear. They followed Miller into the bowels of the ship as he led them back to the lab. As soon as she gripped the ladder leading to that deck, she recognized where she was. She actually found herself smiling as Miller held the door open for her.
“Be it ever so humble.” She set the box down and looked around the tiny space. “I think they made it smaller while I was gone.”
“You got used to the university,” Broussard stated as he rifled through the box for the samples. He stacked them on the counter then pulled the chiller door open. “I’ll put these all on the top shelf.” He gently laid out the samples then shut the door. “You’ll need to label them as soon as you can.”
Carol spun a slow circle, taking it all in again. “I can’t believe I ran.” She turned and gave Broussard a sad look. “I hope they weren’t too rough on you.”
He lifted his hair and showed her the yellowing bruise. “It could have been worse.”
Miller fidgeted uncomfortably. “Apologies, Dr. Chaplain, but…why did you run?”
She lowered her eyes and her cheeks flushed. “It was silly, really.”
“You believed it to be a real threat.” Broussard immediately stepped in, coming to her defense. “I agreed.”
“To what?” Miller asked.
“I feared that, well, with so few females left uninfected, that if the cure didn’t work…” She blushed again and shook her head. “They’d have to repopulate somehow.”
Miller gave her a confused stare until he put the pieces into place. “Oh, my.” He shook his head as he stepped forward. “I can see where the idea might enter your thoughts, but surely you didn’t truly believe that anyone would…” He stumbled on his own words. “I mean, this is still America.”
Broussard raised a brow at him. “I don’t think that really matters now.” He sat down gently, his rear sore from the lack of padding on the helicopter. “The only government that exists is that which the people with the guns says exists.”
Miller shook his head. “We are still a nation of laws.”
Broussard glanced at Carol then back to Miller. “From what little I’ve seen
