Hatcher stared at him open mouthed. “Do you have any idea how many people lived here?”
Hank shook his head. “I’m not from around here, remember.”
Hatcher smiled. “That might be tougher than you think then.” He fought the urge to laugh. “There were about a hundred thousand people here before the world shit itself.”
Hank’s eyes widened. “Oh.” He shot Hatcher a grin. “So maybe we just find more solar panels?”
Hatcher nodded slowly, his eyes still scanning the area. “That would probably be easier. Besides, I’d have no idea how to turn the power back on.”
“Yeah. Me neither.” Hank slowed the truck and pulled to the side. “Is this close enough?”
Hatcher glanced to the rear and saw Wally staring back at him. “What do you think?”
“I wouldn’t want to walk back.”
Hatcher nodded. “Let’s let one loose here. We can dump the other somewhere else.”
He opened the door of the truck and walked to rear, opening the tailgate. Wally dragged one of the hooded men to the rear of the truck and they lifted him to the ground. He began to growl and snarl, struggling as they untied his hands.
Wally snatched the hood from his head and jumped into the rear of the truck again. Hatcher slammed the tailgate shut and climbed back into the cab while the man fought with the rope around his ankles. “Go. There’s no telling how long it will take him to get loose.”
Hank goosed the accelerator and turned down a side street. “How far on this one?”
Hatcher shrugged. “Maybe a couple miles. See if you can find a desolate area for him. Something away from houses, just in case somebody goes home.”
Hank nodded. “I know just the place.”
“What are you thinking?”
He gave Hatcher a broad smile. “Our old warehouse.”
Andre sat up, trying to catch his breath. “Oh my…”
“I know.” Carol continued to breathe hard. “I’m so pissed we waited.” She rolled to her side and gave him a seductive grin. “Can you imagine? We could have been doing this the whole time!”
Andre chuckled as he fought with his clothing. “That was so…”
“Incredible.”
He nodded. “I was about to say sudden, but we’ll go with incredible.” He looked down at her and couldn’t help but smile. “We should hurry back.”
“No….” she groaned, reaching for his shirt. She tossed it aside and tried to pull him back. “Let’s stay here a while.”
He glanced behind them and shook his head. “I’m afraid my escort is only so patient.” He glanced at his watch and held out a hand for her. “Besides, we were supposed to make ourselves available.”
She whined as she rolled over and reached for her own clothes. “It isn’t fair.”
Broussard gave her a knowing smile. “Well, consider this…we were the ones who ‘saved the world,’ right? Perhaps they’ll give us the opportunity to pick out where we’d like to live.”
Her eyes widened and she became excited. “Close to a lab? Maybe the university?”
Broussard shrugged. “I have a feeling that whatever we want, they’ll gladly give.” The door to the tiny room rattled in its frame and Broussard snapped his head around. “What?”
The guard’s voice came through the seam. “Hustle up. We’re wanted back at the ship.”
“Aww,” Carol whined. “Do we have to go back onboard?”
“I don’t know. I was just told to find you two and return you.” His voice lowered slightly. “Just…wrap it up and let’s go.”
Broussard pulled open the door as he tugged his shirt on. “We’re almost ready.”
The guard gave him a surprised look. “I didn’t mean to stop what you were doing, just…you know. Step on it.”
“We were done,” Andre said absently. He glanced up at the guard and smiled. “It had been a while for both of us.”
The guard raised a brow. “I don’t judge, doc.” He fought the urge to glance inside the room as he pulled the door shut.
Carol appeared a moment later, buttoning her blouse. “Did they say what the rush was about?”
“It’s that stupid ceremony, isn’t it?”
The guard shrugged. “You know as much as I do at this point.” He waved them on. “All I know is, they sounded excited over the radio.”
Carol giggled as she slipped in next to Andre. “They aren’t the only ones.”
Simon froze and stared as the truck drove by while Lana ducked behind the car. The box she was carrying fell to the pavement and she gave him a wide eyed, panicked stare.
Simon shook his head, holding a finger to his mouth as the truck continued on. The black man sitting in the back looked vaguely familiar to him but he couldn’t place from where.
After the truck continued on without stopping he waved her over. “I don’t think they saw us.”
“Or if they did, they didn’t care.” She gave him a worried look. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t hear the thing coming.”
“It’s okay.” He wrapped his good arm around her protectively and led her into the garage. “We can unload the rest later.”
“There’s just the two boxes.” She pulled away and held up her finger. “I’ll be right back and I promise, I’ll look and listen for traffic.”
He opened his mouth to argue but she ran out to the road and picked up the dropped box. A moment later he heard the rear door of the car close and she reappeared with the boxes stacked on each other.
“I wish you would have waited.”
She set the boxes down in the garage and gave him a tight lipped smile. “But now it’s done. We can close the gate and forget about them.”
She jogged back to the gate blocking the driveway and triggered the mechanical stop. With a quick tug she rolled the iron gate back across the cement until it latched and locked. “All done.”
He watched her trot back to the house and pick up one of the boxes. “I wish I could help you with those.”
“It’s not that bad.” She carried the box into the kitchen and set it on the counter. “Between the two houses, we should
