“You don’t understand.” Carol stood and blew her breath out slowly, trying to gather her thoughts. “This wasn’t supposed to be possible. Or, at least, I didn’t think it was.” She looked back at the printout and rolled her eyes. “It took you this many months to develop a resistance…and it just happens to coincide with our…” She sat down suddenly, her eyes wide.
“What? That look doesn’t look so good.”
Carol stared at her, her mouth agape. “I just had a terrible thought.”
“Don’t leave me hanging, doc.”
Carol closed her eyes, her mind playing out the possibilities. “What if…”
“Doc! Come on, you’re killing me here.”
Carol held a finger up. “What if…it WAS our cure?”
Kelly shook her head. “I’m not following you.”
“A mutated form of our cure.”
“Eew. That doesn’t sound so cool.”
“It’s really not.” Carol sat back and rubbed at her temples. “I mean…it could be. Look at you.”
Kelly blanched. “Yeah. Look at me.” She ran her fingers through the sparse hairs still covering her head. “I used to have my girl thin out my hair because it was so thick.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Carol leaned forward and picked up the printout again. “I mean, look at you. You’re coherent. You’re docile. You’re the old you again.” She glanced at Kelly. “Aren’t you?”
Kelly shrugged. “I may not look it, but I’m feeling it. Slowly.”
Carol sighed and flipped the printout onto the workbench. “I have no idea where to go next.”
Kelly stood and cocked her head to the side. She strained to listen for a moment then slipped to the window. Pulling back the corner of the poster, she smiled to herself. “Maybe check on them.”
Carol stood slowly and walked to the window. She looked down at the courtyard and saw two more infected rifling through the dumped garbage can. She glanced at Kelly and shrugged slowly. “Do you think it’s safe?”
Kelly shrugged back. “How the hell would I know?” She glanced up at the afternoon sky. “But it is daylight, and they look hungry.”
Carol swallowed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Will Stanton ripped the pages from his notebook and handed them to Hank. “Do the best you can. We need as much of this as you can get.”
He glanced at the list and nodded. “There’s a couple of lumber yards close by that I can hit.”
“Take as many men as you think you may need.” Stanton tapped the first page. “These things are mission critical.”
“Gotcha.” Hank folded the paper and tucked it into his shirt pocket. He paused at the lobby and squatted next to Wally. He patted the big man’s arm and Wally’s eyes fluttered open. “I’m heading out for a supply run. It doesn’t feel right not having you as my wingman, brother.”
Wally chuckled and squeezed his eyes shut from the pain. “I feel about worthless now. Vic says it’s just a healthy concussion. Good thing my head is harder than that dashboard, huh?” He turned stiffly toward Hank and gave him a quick fist bump. “You got this.”
“Get healed, man. We’re gonna need you to help rebuild.”
“You know it.” Wally gave him a weak smile then leaned closer, his voice nearly a whisper. “If you happen by a pharmacy, see if you can get me some topiramate. My oldest boy played football and it helped with the headaches after his concussion. I asked Vic, but she didn’t have any.”
Hank gave him a confused look. “How do you spell that?”
“Beats me. Sound that shit out. Phonics is your friend.”
Hank snorted as he stood. “Right.” He patted Wally’s shoulder. “I’ll see what I can find.” He watched Wally slowly close his eyes again, sitting back and allowing the sun to warm his skin while the residents rushed around making repairs.
Hank waved at the men assigned to him and they headed out to the large trucks. “I have to make a quick stop before we hit the home stores.” He glanced back inside to where Wally sat. “I owe a guy.”
6
“We simply can’t spare the men.” Will held his ground as Hatcher tried to plead his case. “We lost good men in the attack and now we’re stretched too thin.”
“But I have Simon cornered.” Hatcher shook his head. “And who put you in charge, anyway?”
Will raised a brow at him. “You did. Before you left, remember?”
“That was if I didn’t return.” He stood taller and looked over Will’s shoulder. “I’ll just grab those guys and—”
“No, you won’t.” Will crossed his arms and continued to stare at him. “Those men have assigned duties.”
Buck pulled at Hatcher’s arm. “Come on Hatch. You need rest anyway.” Hatcher turned to argue and Buck cut him off. “He’s not going anywhere, man. Look, if that was his blood we tracked, then he’s wounded pretty good. If it’s one of his goons, then we know his army is cut down in size.”
“But he’s just sitting there, trapped by the daylight and—”
“And he’ll be there tomorrow.” Buck tugged at his arm. “Let Will get some repairs made around here. The paint and plaster can wait, but the water is pretty important.” He glanced back at Will as he tried to lead Hatcher away. “So is the power.”
“But…”
“But nothing.” Buck paused just outside Hatcher’s office. “I want the son of a bitch dead as much as anybody. But the fact remains that we tore him a new asshole last night and he’s rethinking his whole strategy right now. If he attacks again tonight then we’ll have another chance at him, as long as we’ve rebuilt our defenses. If he doesn’t then he’ll still be holed up in the morning.”
Hatcher opened his mouth to argue when Buck spun him around and pushed him gently down the hall. “Neither of us have slept, and we’ll be no good to anybody until we get some rest.”
Hatcher sighed and turned back to Buck. “Could you really sleep knowing that they’re right there in that store? Just a couple of minutes away by car? We could zip back by there, honk the horn
