Cole glanced back at the two newcomers. “What is it? It doesn’t look military.”
“It’s not,” Deke said. “It was in my garage when all of this started. City police equipment.” He shrugged. “Didn’t seemed like anyone was going to come back for it, so I confiscated it.”
“They’re from Kansas,” Zoe said.
“Kansas?” Cameron said.
“Kansas City,” Annette said.
Cole felt eyes tracking his movements from inside the APC. It wouldn’t surprise him to learn that Deke and Annette had backup waiting to pile out just in case things went south. He didn’t really blame them. They were, after all, initiating first contact with another group of survivors. Well-armed group of survivors, at that.
He walked back over to rejoin the others while Dante continued on with his inspection. “What did you find out there?”
“Same thing you folks did, I’m guessing,” the woman said. “A lot of blood and death and crazies.”
“Is that a helicopter I saw on the rooftop?” Deke asked.
“That she is,” Bolton said.
“Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“Haven’t seen one of those, either,” Bolton said, nodding at the APC. “Question.”
“Yes?” Annette said.
“You folks got any food?”
Deke grinned. “Depends. You guys like Lunchables?”
“Did someone say Lunchables?” Dante said, rolling over to where they were gathered, already licking his lips.
Deke and Annette had Lunchables—stacks of them, in four large cardboard boxes—along with two more survivors. Just as Cole had suspected, they had remained inside the APC in case things went sour fast. Thankfully, it didn’t, because Cole was already thinking about all the things he could do with the vehicle, along with people who had experience with it.
“The armor is B7 level,” Deke said.
“Does that mean something?” Dante asked.
“It means that beast can stop just about any kind of bullet,” Cameron said. “How fast is she?”
“There’s a 320 horsepower Cummins diesel engine under the hood,” Deke said. “Don’t let the size and protection level fool you; it’s a lot faster and more agile than you’d believe. Got us out of some pretty hairy situations in the early days. And that was before we really figured out what it could do.”
They sat around a long metal table on one side of the warehouse, feasting on Lunchables. Cole didn’t think cheese and crackers and chunks of ham could possibly taste so good. Besides the packaged meals, the newcomers carried other types of nonperishables, picking up supplies as they went. There was enough space in the back of the APC for 16 fully grown adults, so space hadn’t been an issue for them.
The other two in the vehicle were Mark and George, both adults. There were no kids in the group. (“Thank God. I’ve had enough of my fill of kids,” the Voice said.) Of the two, George looked as if he’d handled a gun before, while Mark…not so much.
“Where are you guys headed?” Bolton asked as he picked flakes of bread out of his beard. Cole thought sooner or later he was going to have to shave that thing off. It wasn’t just unsightly, it was now unhygienic.
“Nowhere in particular,” Deke said. He and Annette did most of the speaking, which was probably why they’d taken the lead during the first encounter. “We’re just driving around looking for survivors. We figured we’d end up in the West Coast sooner or later.”
“And then?” Cole asked.
“Then I guess we head back toward the East Coast.”
“I dunno about that last part,” Mark said. He was young—mid-twenties—with short blond hair and freckles. He wore fingerless gloves and, like the others, wore a gun belt with a pistol in the holster, along with pouches for ammo and supplies.
“Well, it’s an ongoing discussion,” Deke said with a slight smile. “Might hang around the Pacific Ocean when we get there. We don’t know yet. Nothing’s written in stone.”
“I guess you could say we’re just making it up as we go,” Annette said.
“Pacific Ocean might be nice this time of the year,” George said. He was the oldest in the group by far. Early fifties, tired. The man looked like he wanted to lay down and go to sleep for a good hour or two. He stood against the wall watching Dante and Ashley showing off their Lunchables stacking abilities. Cole wondered when was the last time he’d seen kids this giddy about packaged food.
“That chopper of yours; it has fuel?” Deke was asking Bolton.
Bolton flicked at some more crumbs off the front of his shirt. “Yeah, but she’s running low. I need to refuel the first chance I get.” He looked over at Cole. “We got a plan for that, though. We were hoping to fill up with supplies before, but that ship might have sailed with you folks showing up.”
“Again, sorry about that,” Deke said. “But at least something good came out of it.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Well, we found each other.” He grinned, showing very pearly white teeth for a man who, Cole guessed, probably spent a lot of time around engines and grease.
“How did you know we weren’t infected?” Zoe asked. “You guys took a really big risk heading for us instead of keeping going.”
“You kidding, right?” Annette asked her, with a look that said the answer should be obvious.
Apparently it wasn’t to Zoe, who said, “No.”
“You guys were standing two feet apart on the rooftop waving your arms, trying to flag us down, instead of trying to gouge out each other’s eyes.”
Zoe laughed. “Oh. Right. Good point.”
“The chopper,” Deke said. “How do you guys plan to refuel it?”
“A place called LARs, not far from here,” Cole said. “It has a refueling station.”
“How far?”
“Thirty minutes, tops,” Bolton said.
“Dangerous?”
“What’s not these days?”
“Good point. What I’m getting at is, there’s a private airstrip about ten miles southeast from here. It’s out there all by itself, surrounded by flat lands. You would be able to see a crazy coming for miles.”
“We drove past it coming into the city,” Annette added.
Cole exchanged a glance across the table with the others.
Bolton saw the question on his face and shrugged. “No idea.”
“You didn’t see it from the air?” Deke asked.
“We came from the north, and it was dark at the time,” Zoe said.
“Well, it’s there. There’s nothing out there but the airstrip, which is probably why we didn’t run across one crazy until we reached the city. I don’t know this LARs place, but pretty sure it’s a lot safer.”
Bolton chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.” He grinned at Cole. “What do you think, kid?”
“I need to get to LARs,” Cole said.
“I can take you there after I refuel. After that…” He shrugged. “Sky’s the limit.”
And Emily, Cole thought, wondering just exactly how he was going to convince Bolton to keep looking for Emily along with him after that. He needed the chopper pilot. More importantly, he needed the man’s bird.
“You’ll convince him,” the Voice said.
How?
“You’ll find a way.”
Tell me how.
“You have a gun, don’t you?”
Yeah, I do, Cole thought even as he smiled across the table at Bolton, who was stuffing more Lunchables into his mouth and, not surprisingly, getting more crumbs stuck in his beard.
Chapter Fifteen
“You can barely walk.”
“I walked just fine. I even ran.”
“Barely.”
“Barely is not the same as not being able to.”
Zoe sighed. “You’re really stubborn, aren’t you?”
“Just a little,” Cole said.
She might have rolled her eyes, but Cole couldn’t see it. Zoe was behind
him, replacing the bandages along his arms. She’d already finished the ones below his legs and back. Cole didn’t know the wolves had managed to slice through his clothes with their claws until he woke up with gauze all over his body. Everything hurt then, and still did, now. But at least now he had painkillers to help with the pain.
Zoe was right about one thing: He’d barely made it back with Cameron. Throughout the hour or so they’d spent talking with the newcomers, he’d been gritting his teeth, sucking back the pain. It wasn’t exactly easy, but then, nothing was these days. Cole was used to pain; but even so, he’d been happy to hurry back to his room and lay down. That was where Zoe found him a few minutes later.
For someone who had never seen the type of violence she’d encountered the day of the infection, Zoe had become surprisingly adept at ignoring all the blood and, Cole was sure, not-very-pretty wounds he’d suffered at the claws, fangs, and God only knew what else of the wolves back at Anton’s. She’d done an extremely good job of caring for him, from cleaning his wounds to patching him back up. The woman was full of surprises.
Cole had gone from being slightly embarrassed, sitting in his boxers in front of her, to not caring. She’d seen way more than him in his undies.
“How many painkillers did you take?” Zoe was asking him. She’d begun work on the back of his neck; he could feel tingling from the medical ointment. The whole room was filled with the smell, but both of them were used to it by now.
“As much as I needed to,” Cole said.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Enough to make it back.”
“Cole…”
“Are you worried we’ll run out?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t think taking that many painkillers in such a short time is good for you. Or anyone, for that matter.”
“I’m not anyone.”
This time, he did catch her rolling her eyes off the corner of his. “You’re just a man, Cole. Sure, you’re tougher than most, but you’re still just a man.”
“I won’t take any more.” Then, slightly under his breath, “Unless I have to.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“That didn’t sound like nothing.”
“Are you almost done?”
“Not yet. But you can put your pants back on while I finish up.”
He slipped his cargos back on, wondering what Emily would say if she found out another woman had seen him in his skivvies. More than that, actually. (Or, well, less than that.)
Outside the room, he could hear the others talking. Bolton, Cameron, and the newcomers. Deke and Annette were doing most of the speaking, while George and the kid, Mark, stayed mostly quiet. He couldn’t quite make out what they were discussing and didn’t really care. He was focused on the mission at hand.
“Did you talk to Bolton about learning to fly the chopper?” he asked Zoe.
“You were serious about that?”
“Yes. You didn’t think I was?”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“There’s no reason you can’t learn.”
“Really,” she said. It wasn’t exactly a question.
“You know how to drive a car, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but…”
“It’s the same concept.”
“Is it?”
“Basically.”
“Basically, huh?” she said. This time she sounded overtly dubious. Then, before he could say anything else, “Why don’t you learn?”
“I will, when I have time.”
“We have nothing but time.”
You may, but I don’t, Cole thought. He said out loud, “You should leave with Deke and the others. They have plenty of space in their vehicle.”
Zoe didn’t say anything. She had finished with his neck and was finishing up with his back. He flinched whenever she dabbed cold ointment on the still-sensitive wounds. Cole hadn’t actually gotten a good look at all the gashes back there, and he didn’t want to. Seeing the state of his arms and legs was bad enough.
“Ignorance is bliss, right?” the Voice said.
In this case? Yeah.
“As long as you can walk and shoot.”
Exactly.
“But not exactly run.”
No, not exactly.
Then, when Zoe still hadn’t replied, Cole said, “Zoe.”
“What?”
“You should leave with Deke and the others. You, Ashley, and Dante.”
“Just the three of us?”
“Bolton and Cameron, too, if they decide to ditch the chopper. But I don’t think they will. At least, not Bolton. And Cameron probably realizes the value of being high in the sky with all those crazies down there.”
“And what about you?”
“I need to find Emily.”
“You don’t even know where she is.”
“That’s why I need to find her.”
“You don’t—” Zoe started but didn’t finish.
“Don’t what?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“Nothing.” She handed him his shirt and walked over to the desk where all the first-aid and medical supplies were stacked in piles and began putting them away.
“Zoe,” Cole said as he slipped his shirt back on. Fortunately, Zoe wasn’t looking at him, which allowed him to grimace as he did so.
“Now that would have been embarrassing,” the Voice said. “Almost as embarrassing as lying here for the last two weeks and change like a useless loser while she cleaned you up.”
Yeah, almost.
He continued. “You should go with them. You can’t stay here forever, and you don’t want to be out there with me.”
She put away the scissors she’d been using to cut the bandages and looked back at him. “Why not?”
The question caught him by surprise. “Why not?”
“Yeah. Why not? We started this together, and it’s been working out pretty well so far.”
Cole had to smile at that. He didn’t think their current situation was anywhere near “working out.” But maybe he had a different idea of what constituted a good situation. For him, anything good included Emily, and she wasn’t here right now. So there was nothing good about this.
Zoe was staring at him, waiting for him to answer. Cole wasn’t quite sure how to. What he really wanted to tell her was, “I can’t afford to have you and the kids running around out there with me while I look for my wife. I can’t afford the liability. I need to be at my best. Especially now, when I’m not at my best.”
But the only thing that came out of his mouth was, “You should leave with the others.”
“You already said that,” Zoe said.
“It bears repeating.”
“We’d rather stay with you. And Bolton. And Cameron.”
“What if Cameron leaves with them?”
“You think he would?”
“I don’t see why he wouldn’t. That APC is a hell of a lot more comfortable than a chopper. Not to mention fuel for it is easier to find. They could theoretically be rolling around the country in that thing and never have to fight another crazy unless they want to. It’s as close to a tank as you’re liable to get out there.”
“But it’s still on the ground. The crazies can’t get to us in Bolton’s chopper.”
“No, but the chopper has to come down sooner or later.”
She sat down on a chair and lapsed into silence. But she didn’t look away from him.
“It’s the smart thing to do,” Cole said. “For your sake. And Ashley’s and Dante’s, too.”
“You think Dante will leave with us?” Then, quickly, “If we decide to go?”
“Yes,” Cole said without hesitation.
“You sound so sure.”
“Dante’s not an idiot. He knows he’s better off in a car than in a helicopter.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to abandon you. I don’t
.”
“You’re not abandoning me.”
“Aren’t we? If we were to leave?”
“No.”
He wanted desperately to tell her that she and the kids were a liability to him out there. And that was where he had to be. Out there.
He said instead, “You should go, and don’t think of it as abandoning me. I want you to go.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you want us to leave you?”
“It’s safer.”
“We’ve been pretty safe with you.”
“Not in my current condition.”
“What condition? You can walk.” She smiled, adding, “Run, even.”
He returned it. “It’s safer. For you. For Ashley.”
Zoe sighed. He knew the mention of Ashley’s name would get her to focus on what was more important to her.
“Maybe,” Zoe said. “They don’t even know where they’re going. They’re just going to drive around the country.”
“Anywhere’s fine, as long as it’s inside that armored beast.”
“So you’ve made up your mind? You want us to go with them?”
“Yes. It’s the smart play.”
She stood up and walked over to the window and looked out. From up here, she could see the others on the first floor.
“They have plenty of supplies,” Cole said. “Food and water and ammo. When they run out, they’ll be able to replenish relatively easily. One of our biggest advantages is that the crazies are loners. As long as that never changes, they’ll stay away from something as heavily armored as the APC.”
“You’ve really thought about this,” she said. She sounded even a little…what? Sad? Maybe.
“Yes,” he said as he picked up his sweater and pulled it on with a grunt.
“You okay?” Zoe asked, turning back to him.
“Just a little sore.”
“A little?” the Voice said.
“That sounded more than a little,” Zoe said.
The Voice laughed.
Cole said, “Maybe a lot sore.”
“You should get some rest,” Zoe said.
“I will. And you should leave with the others.”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Good.”
“When do you think they’ll leave?”
“I don’t know, but whenever they’re ready, you should be in that APC with them.”
Fall of Man | Book 4 | The Tide Page 12