He laid the vest back on the bush and waded through the other garments. “These are all clean.” He lifted a woman’s tank top and stared at it. “No stains. No blood.” He lowered it and stared into the shadows of the trees. “What the hell?”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
He turned to her and shrugged. “What are you thinking?”
“That now we have a herd of naked people in the woods.” Her face scrunched at the thought.
He slowly shook his head. “No, this is…” He lowered it and turned back to her. “Let’s go and check out the cars.” He dropped the top and hopped back into the passenger seat. “I have a suspicion.”
Missy started the Jeep and turned around. “What are you thinking?” She drove slower on her way back down the mountain and looked to Hatcher. “The gears in your head are starting to smoke.”
Hatcher sighed and grabbed the handle again as they came up on a large washout in the road. “I’m thinking that the people who came for the concert may have had clothing in their cars. Somebody went through them all and brought them here.”
She gave him a confused look. “Why on earth? That makes no sense.”
Hatcher nodded, a slow grin starting to form. “It kind of does.” He turned to her and tried to explain the many thoughts running through his mind. “Look, let’s say you’re part of a big group and you suddenly aren’t…cannibals anymore.”
“Okay…”
“And everybody is covered in rags. Blood soaked rags.” He gave her a disgusted look. “Probably some other bodily fluids soaked into them as well.”
Missy nodded, trying to push the mental image away. “Alright. So…you’re thinking that somebody raided all of the cars, dragged the clothes across thirty acres or more to that clearing and everybody what? Changed into their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes?”
He shrugged. “Got a better idea?”
She shook her head as she turned the Jeep towards the makeshift amphitheater. “I have no idea. Hell, they could have been dropped from an airplane.” She gave him a smirk. “That would explain why some were hanging in trees.”
He nodded slightly. “I guess.” He glanced to the skies then back to her. “Not that I’ve seen a lot of airplanes lately.”
“True enough.” She slowed the Jeep as she came upon a bend in the road. They crested a hill and almost immediately on the other side were cars parked on either side. “Okay, there they are. What exactly are we looking for?”
“Busted windows, open trunks, anything that looks like somebody went through them.” He leaned out of the Jeep and examined each vehicle as she slowly drove past them.
“Down there.” She pointed, pushing the clutch in and letting the Jeep roll faster. “There.” She pulled the Jeep alongside a pickup lying on its side and nodded further down the hill. “And that’s probably the culprit. Who brings a bus down a congested hill like that?”
“Somebody that wanted out. Badly.” Hatcher hung out of the Jeep, and as soon as Missy stopped it, his boots were on the ground. “Somebody busted out these windows.” He ran his hand along the top of the cars as he made his way toward the RV.
He pulled open the side door and could still smell the stench of death, even all these months later. “Son of a…” he trailed off as he jumped out of the RV, slamming the door behind him.
“Body?”
He nodded. “And if memory serves…this is the RV that Shelly and I were checking out when she…” He felt his throat choke up and he turned his back on her.
“I’m sorry, Hatcher.” She took a step toward him, and he walked toward the front of the bus. He was shocked at the damage the machine had taken and still remained running. When he rounded the front, he saw why they hadn’t attempted to take it any further. The front driver’s side wheel was bent outward at almost ninety degrees.
He crouched low and whistled at the damage. “They hit something hard.”
Missy scoffed. “Like damn near every car for the last half mile. There’s a truck and a Cadillac SUV laying on top of two other cars back there.”
Hatcher stood and looked further down the road. Every other car had either broken windows or their doors pried open. “Somebody scavenged these vehicles.”
“So you guessed right on the ‘where’. What about the why?” Missy planted her hands on her hips and stared back up the hill. “Then there’s the how…”
He turned and raised a brow. “The how?”
“How we’re gonna get that Jeep out of here.” She shook her head. “I’m not backing up for a mile with dead cars on either side.”
Carol sighed heavily and kicked the blanket off of her. “It’s time like this I wish I were a smoker.” She smiled at him. “I think that would be so cool after a hot and heavy session like that.”
“I am thankful you are not.” He sat on the edge of the cot and tried to catch his breath. “I cannot stand the smell.”
“Even for me?” she teased.
He shook his head slowly and lay back against her. “I’m afraid even for you. The smell makes me ill.”
“Maybe chocolate then.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “Would you still want me if I got fat?”
He nodded. “More to hold onto.”
“Right.” She pushed him away and sat up. “You say that. But when I need two cots just for me…”
He chuckled lightly and rolled toward her. “One for each cheek?” He nipped at her bottom and she squealed.
“You’re terrible.”
“You didn’t think so a moment ago.”
Her playful banter was interrupted by a banging at the door. She hurriedly covered herself with the blanket and Andre pulled on a pair of boxers.
He pulled the door open slightly. “Oui?”
“Captain Hilliard is looking for you,” a man in a uniform stated, “and Dr. Chaplain.”
Andre sighed animatedly and hung his head. “When and where?”
The man cleared his throat before squaring his shoulders. “He said at the lab, and I
