Carol appeared at his side with a broad smile. “Guess what I found?”
He raised a quizzical brow. “Do tell.”
“A soda machine.” She broke into a toothy grin. “In a few short hours, we’ll have ice cold Dr Pepper again!”
Andre smiled and wrapped his arm around her. “It truly is the little things, n’est pas?”
“I’ve had enough warm, flat sodas to last me a lifetime.” She practically purred as she stared at the machine in the hallway. “I just have to dig up a big handful of quarters.”
Both researchers turned as the lieutenant rounded the corner. “Dr. Broussard.” He slowed his approach and provided a sitrep. “We have power and it appears sustainable. For the short term, I’d like to either shut down the generators at night or reduce their output, if you have things that need refrigeration.”
“All we have is generator power?”
“For the time being, sir.” The officer assumed a relaxed pose and pointed to the far wall. “There’s enough fuel to run the generator nonstop for at least a week. That gives us time to find more fuel and come up with a way to get the solar back up and running.”
“Is the solar enough to maintain the load?” Carol asked.
“No ma’am. But once we have security set and the utilities up and running here, we’ll see about the public utilities.” He averted his eyes for a moment before addressing her again. “We both know that we don’t have the resources to take in all of the survivors that may show up. If we can get the local utilities up and running again, there’s nothing to prevent people from simply going home.”
Andre gave him an understanding nod. “We appreciate your efforts.”
“I’ve put in a call for the Corps of Engineers to come out and take a look at the local power. There’s no sense in trying to get the entire grid up and running if the population density is as low as we fear it may be.”
“Every bit will help,” Carol added.
“In the meantime, since we have power, I’ll get my team to start clearing out the laboratories. I’m sure there’s plenty that needs repaired or removed.” He looked to Carol. “Especially old experiments. We’ll need the incinerators up and running as soon as possible.”
“I’m on it.” She pulled away and began to knock on office doors, gathering the troops.
Andre pulled the officer aside and lowered his voice. “For now, powering down at night shouldn’t be an issue. However, once we’ve gathered the samples from the other CDC labs…” He left his sentence hanging.
The lieutenant nodded. “Understood, sir. I’ll talk with the engineers and see what we can do about getting a more stable power supply. I don’t know how you feel about nuclear power, sir…”
Andre shrugged. “I have no thoughts one way or the other, so long as precautions are taken.”
“Understood, sir.” The officer gave him a slight smile. “Once the engineers are onsite, we’ll brief you with options.”
“Excellent. Thank you.” He turned back to the researchers, who were preparing to tackle the labs. “Chop chop, people! Power goes off at night so we have to be diligent.”
Lana staggered back to the RV, her entire body feeling the abuse she had just endured. She cupped her breasts as she walked through some sparse brush and low hanging limbs and noticed just how tender they felt. She couldn’t even remember the big biker’s name, but he didn’t just give her a once over. Apparently, his intent was to make up for the last seven or eight months of ‘doing without.’
She winced as she pressed her body close to the RV and peered around the corner. Simon wasn’t sitting by the fire, and she prayed that he was still on his walkabout.
She rounded the corner of the RV and made her way to the door. As she stepped inside, Simon’s voice startled her. “Where’d you go?”
She jerked as her body twisted to face him. “Good lord, you scared the life out of me.” She sighed heavily and leaned against the counter. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“Where’d you go?” he repeated.
She blew her breath out hard and turned to face him. “I went for a walk.” She pushed away from the counter and crossed her arms under her aching breasts. “I needed to clear my head.”
Simon sat alone in the darkness and stared at her. “That still doesn’t tell me where you went.”
She shook her head at him. “Where the hell do you think I went? There’s nothing but trees out there.” She pointed to the dirt road leading to the campground. “I walked the road. “
Simon leaned forward and studied her. “Did you see anything?”
She raised a brow at him and did her best to feign ignorance. “Trees. Lots and lots of fucking trees.”
“I meant at the gate.”
“I didn’t go that far.” She took a deep inhale and let it out slowly. “I wasn’t on a sight-seeing trip. I was trying to clear my head.”
Simon leaned back and draped his arm over the back of the couch. “Did it work?”
She stared at him stupidly. “Did what work?”
“Did you clear your head?”
She stepped closer and sat down heavily in the recliner. “Not really.” She deliberately avoided looking at him and lowered her voice. “I know I’ve put you through a lot lately. Losing my shit didn’t help.” She picked at her fingernails as she spoke. “I felt like I had driven a wedge between us.” She glanced up and could barely make him out in the dark.
Simon’s voice seemed cold and detached as he spoke. “You’ve definitely given me reason to rethink things.”
She slowly raised her eyes and blinked in the gloom until her eyes adjusted. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that your actions of late have really made me question things.”
She leaned forward and tried to sound empathetic. “I never wanted to make
