“Ain’t that the truth,” a man mumbled.
“However, in order for us to know what to look for, we’ll need a head count of who is in and who isn’t.”
Will stepped forward. “When we know how many are staying, we’ll know what other things around here will require our attention before we can divert our efforts to another location.”
“What does that mean?” the woman asked.
“It means that we don’t want to waste all of our resources on a location that we won’t be living at. If nobody wants to stay here permanently, then we can use this as a living hub while we convert the other location. If a lot of people wish to stay, then we’ll need to provide more attention to the infrastructure here before we start allocating resources to another area.”
“But you wouldn’t be leaving us high and dry if we chose to stay?” the woman asked.
Will shook his head. “Of course not. And if any systems fail here, I’ll gladly return and we can repair it.”
She glanced at the man sitting next to her and gave him hopeful eyes. He shrugged then turned to Hatcher. “What if we’re not sure?”
“About?”
“What if we don’t like this new place?”
“Then feel free to stay.” He glanced to Vicky then added, “I meant it when I said that nobody is going to force you to do one thing or the other.”
The man nodded then looked to his wife. “What the hell. We’re in.”
“Why isn’t Miller with us?” Broussard asked.
The officer sitting across from him gave a slight shrug. “He wasn’t part of your team. Besides, the ship still needs a doctor.”
Andre glanced at Carol and gave a slight shake of his head. “I’m still not liking this.”
She reached over and patted his hand. “Either way, I came prepared.” She gave him a wink. “Just like you said.”
He glanced down and noticed the hiking boots she wore. He nodded and sat back in his seat. He clutched the satchel containing their research and sighed heavily. “I still don’t see why the CDC people couldn’t have come to us.” He glanced at the officer. “Our lab is more than capable of—”
“Your lab is barely a 12X12 room with a bunch of second hand, pilfered equipment in it.” The officer gave him a smile that looked more like a snarl. “I’m sure the CDC have much better resources where they are.”
“At NORAD?” Broussard countered. “I didn’t think that they were set up for biological and genetic research.”
The officer shrugged, shifting the rifle in his hands. “I have no idea what they do or don’t have. All I know is it was requested that you and she come to them.”
“Requested?” Broussard guffawed. “That’s rich.”
The officer’s face twisted into a hostile mask. “Yes, asshole. requested.” He gripped the rifle tighter and glared at the man. “When the president requests something, you do it.”
“He’s not my president,” Broussard stated flatly. “I’m French, vous crétin.”
“What was that?” The officer sat forward, swinging his rifle closer towards the pair.
Carol quickly threw an arm out and pushed Broussard back. She gave the officer a quick smile. “He likes your shoes.” She glanced at Andre then back to the officer. “Rather, your combat boots.”
The officer sat back and continued to stare daggers at the pair. “Yeah. I’m sure that’s what he said.”
Broussard painted a false smile and nodded. “Il doit être difficile d’être un homme des cavernes sans une grotte.” Which, roughly translated, meant, “it must be difficult to be a caveman without a cave.”
Carol snickered and covered her mouth. “He said he’d love to have a pair just like them but they wouldn’t match his purse.” She glanced at Broussard then back to the tactically outfitted officer. “I meant, ‘satchel.’ It wouldn’t match his satchel.”
The officer chose to ignore them and leaned back again, shutting his eyes.
Carol looked to Andre and gave a slight shake of her finger. “One of these days you’ll run into somebody who understands French.”
Broussard harrumphed. “There aren’t any cultured people left, chéri.” He glanced out of the window and sighed. “They all ate each other.”
Simon rushed to the bathroom and groaned as he repainted the porcelain for the second time. The smell was almost as bad as the sound, and after he cleaned himself and flushed as much of the evidence away as possible, he staggered back into the living room.
“I hope you opened a window this time.” Lana called out cheerfully.
He fell into the chair opposite her and gave her a sickly stare. “You weren’t kidding about these antibiotics tearing me up.” He cupped his good hand over his middle and groaned. “Christ, I think I gotta go back.”
Lana snorted. “You’d think you would have blown out your spleen by now.”
Simon groaned and leaned to the side of the chair. “I think the stuff I ate in kindergarten wants out now.”
She gave him a knowing look. “I’m sorry. It’s part and parcel with those things.”
“I didn’t think it would hit that quickly.”
She turned and made a face. “You did open a window, didn’t you?”
He nodded weakly. “Of course.” He glanced back down the hallway. “I’d kill for enough power to run the vent fan.”
She curled her lip and waved a hand in front of her face. “I think your man scent followed you back.”
He gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry.” His eyes widened and he pushed up from the chair quickly. “Gotta run.”
She sat back and sighed, her eyes searching for a way to vent the entire house. “I should have just let his arm rot off.” She mumbled as she went to each window and attempted to open them.
She got enough of a cross breeze to blow out the lion’s share and had just sat down when he wandered back into the room wearing just his boxers and a t-shirt.
“Did you forget something?”
Simon huffed as he sat down again. “It’s too much work tugging that
