“Knock-knock.”
Andre looked up to see Lieutenant Davis standing in the open doorway. “Come in.” He stood and offered the officer a chair.
“I’ve only got a moment, sir. I just wanted to report that a small detachment from the Corps of Engineers is being directed here to set up a permanent power source for you and your team.”
“What about the outlying area?”
The lieutenant shook his head. “They’re bringing a small reactor. It should be large enough to power the building steadily, but I doubt it could handle much more.”
“A portable reactor?” Andre nearly fell into his chair. “There is such a thing?”
“From what I understand, they’ve been in development for some time now. I can’t say if this is a prototype or not, but you should have steady power inside the week.”
“And they’re safe?”
The officer smiled. “I doubt they’d be bringing it here if it wasn’t.” He forced himself not to smile. “From what little I’ve been told, they’ll train you and your people, and a few of mine, on how to operate it. They won’t be leaving anybody behind from the Corps, though. There’s too much to be done.”
Andre nodded thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll have to pay attention then, won’t we?” He nodded to the man. “Thank you, Mr. Davis.”
“I have duties to attend to. I just thought you’d like to know.” He spun on his heel and disappeared from the doorway.
Carol moved aside for him and appeared in his doorway. “Did I hear him correctly?”
Andre nodded. “When he mentioned nuclear power before, I thought maybe there was a plant nearby that supplied the area. I had no idea…”
She leaned against the doorjamb and grinned. “Steady power.” She glanced at the air vent above. “You don’t realize how nice it is until you don’t have it.”
“Agreed.” He sat back in his chair and pulled his reading glasses off. “Though I can’t help but wonder how safe this device is?”
Carol shrugged. “The military has been using nuclear power for decades on their ships. I remember seeing a model of a reactor that they use on submarines and was astounded at the redundant systems in place to keep it safe.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“We’ve just survived a near extinction level event, and now we’re jumping feet first into using a nuclear reactor. What could possibly go wrong?”
She pushed off of the doorjamb and gave him a dance-like shrug. “I suppose if the infected come back, we could always irradiate them. We’d see them sneaking up on us in the dark.”
“You’re not funny, cherie.” Andre sighed and glanced out of the window. “But it would be nice to have steady power again.”
She slipped her hand into the pocket of her lab coat. “I got a spare if you want one.” She held out the can of Dr Pepper.
He raised his brows at her. “You realize that there are a finite number of those still available, don’t you? You may live to regret that.”
She grinned as she set it on his desk. “I’d never regret sharing with you.” She quickly narrowed her eyes and glared at the open doorway. “But I swear, if I see Irene get another one, I’m liable to go off on her.”
“Uh-oh.” Andre sat forward and made a note on a yellow sticky.
“What’s that? Are you going to formally warn her about stealing my sodas?”
“I’m reminding myself to ask Mr. Davis to look for you a large case of the sugary drink the next time they go in search of supplies.” He looked up at her expectantly. “We can’t have our researchers killing each other off, now can we.”
She groaned inwardly. “No, we can’t. Unless it’s over a Dr Pepper.”
Simon stepped out of Veronica’s trailer and found himself standing in the shadow of Tony and two other henchmen. “Let me guess…” Simon trailed off rather than making a smart ass remark. His arm was still too weak to take Tony on in a fair fight; there was no way he could handle all three men.
“We need to talk.” Tony crossed his thick arms over his barrel chest.
“So talk.” Simon double checked that the door to Veronica’s trailer was shut then stepped out from under the awning. He circumvented the two men who came in support of Tony and gestured toward the campfire. “I’m listening.”
The men glanced at each other as he sidestepped their blockade and noted the look of surprise on Tony’s face. He quickly turned to follow Simon. “Hold up. I said we need to talk.”
“And I told you that I was listening.” Simon gripped his folding chair and slowly eased himself into it. “What’s on your mind?”
“This ain’t no sit-down talk.” Tony did his best to appear menacing.
“I’m in no mood to stand, so…yes. This is a sit down talk.” He motioned to the empty chairs and realized that the few campers who usually surrounded the fire were missing. Simon picked up his poking stick and jabbed at the fire. “If this is about you screwing Lana, I can tell you now that I really don’t give a shit.” He glanced back at their RV and watched as a curtain quickly fell back into place. “I’m pretty sure we’re over.”
The two henchmen gave their boss a surprised look and Tony chose to ignore them. “No, this has nothing to do with…her.” Tony quickly stepped in front of Simon and hitched his pants up. “I’m in charge now.”
Simon slowly nodded and reached around him to poke at the fire. “Okay.”
Tony gave him a surprised look then glanced at his two assistants. “Okay?”
Simon finally looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. Okay.” He sat back in his chair and fought the urge to smile. “What did you expect me to say?”
Tony’s mind wasn’t quite prepared for the response. “I, uh…I mean, I didn’t think you’d…” He
