“About?” Maggie asked.
“Him not being in trouble.”
“No, I’m not lying,” she said almost in defeat.
“How can you guarantee that?”
“Because Command has no idea he stole the van and left us stranded. None. You know, I know, and Norris knows. The others…. they think what Command thinks.”
“Which is?”
“We are working here on things, testing the blood of each of the deceased, thankfully your father removed all our portable equipment,” she said. “And I… told everyone we didn’t want to lose track of the survivors of G3, your father’s lab, so I sent him to the meeting place so he wouldn’t miss the rendezvous. That buys us a day.”
“That’s not a lot of time.”
Maggie softly chuckled. “This virus doesn’t give that much time. It’s emerged back into a virgin world where probably fifty percent, if not more of the population, doesn’t have a hundred percent immunity to it. All those born in the last fifteen years are vulnerable. At least half of Salvation isn’t immune to it.”
“How can that be?” Trey asked. “I thought to get into Salvation you had to be immune.”
“There are the few born after Salvation was opened and those we let in who weren’t infected. We relied on herd immunity, but this virus… I don’t know if it was a different one that hibernated, or if it just mutated big time. But this one is different. It’s fast, symptoms show in twenty- four hours, full sickness in two days, and death before three days.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because we have been quarantining people since the president arrived. I’m almost afraid to check in today. As of yesterday, we have kept it at thirty-seven. If we can go two days without quarantine, we can declare it contained. But as long as people out there are carriers, it won’t be contained. You know our soldiers are out here, there are communities, survivors, and breeders. If the president is a carrier, I am willing to bet others are too.”
“Yet, you covered for him, why?”
“I’m not evil, Trey. I’m doing my job. Your father had everything taken from him. Thirty years slipped away. I get that. He doesn’t understand the way things work now.”
“Are you going to go after them?”
“Better us, then an entire Salvation Command Brigade. When the new van arrives tomorrow, we go. I’m thinking though, maybe leave the team to run tests, and you and I head up there with one of those solar carts.”
“I’ll do that. Explain to me why you need to get to them. You have that canister. You think it could be an inoculation?”
“And if it is, we need time to copy it and create it. It’s not a cure. Creating more of what’s in that canister can take years. Unfortunately,” Maggie said, “there’s not enough population left to survive years.”
When Jason awoke to the smell of coffee he also panicked. Reaching out beside him to only feel an empty spot caused him to sit straight up.
Where was Nora?
He glanced down at his watch, it was after eight and it surprised him that she was awake already.
Jason made their camp in what looked like a stall. John, Meredith, and Blake slept in the courtyard and were sitting around the fire when Jason stumbled from the stall. He scratched his head not seeing Nora.
Meredith waved him over, calling out, “Did you want coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Jason said, walking toward them.
Meredith lifted the percolator from the fire and poured Jason a cup.
“Have you guys seen Nora?” he asked.
“She said she’d be right down,” Meredith answered.
“Right down? Down from where?”
Blake pointed to the wall.
Jason took a double take, nearly choking when he saw Hunter climbing down the rope. “She was up there? When did she go up there?”
“Last night,” John said. “She pulled watch with Hunter. You didn’t hear them? How could you not?”
“I was out,” Jason replied. “I hit the moonshine pretty hard last night.”
“Lucky you,” John raised his cup.
Hunter approached the circle.
“Where’s Nora?” Jason asked.
“Nora… She…” Hunter said. “Is coming. She is fine… dude.”
Jason blinked. “Dude?”
John laughed. “Seems Nora taught you a few things.”
“Yes. Hunt…. I… learned much. As did she.”
“Ugh.” John shrieked. “You can’t stop speaking third person, that’s what makes you endearing.”
“Nora said… I can not do that. I practice.”
Meredith tapped him on the arm. “And you are doing so well.”
“He is,” Nora said as she joined them. “He’ll get there.”
Jason turned to her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, thank you.” Nora kissed him on the cheek. “We had some good conversation last night. Hunter is very insightful, we can learn a lot from him.”
“Apparently,” John said.” He’s been learning from you. He called Jason, Dude.”
“That wasn’t on purpose,” Nora replied. “I was telling him about our culture and the word came up, he liked saying it.”
“And laughing,” Meredith added, looking at Hunter. “We heard you laugh for the first time.”
“Nora is funny. She tells…” He squinted. “What is that called?”
“Joke.”
“Joke, yes,” Hunter said.
“You must be a card,” John said. “Because he was howling last night.”
Nora waved out her hand. “He was easy to entertain.”
“No,” Hunter shook his head. ‘Nora is funny. Tell joke.”
“No,” Nora said. “You need to show us what you made.”
“When done. Tell. They will laugh. From gut. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“Yes,” John said. “Tell us. We want to laugh from gut. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Meredith backhanded John.
“Tell.” Hunter requested.
“We would love to hear,” John egged on. “So please share the jokes that had him in stitches.”
“Joke,” Nora said. “As in one. The same one. He kept making me tell it over and over and he kept laughing over and over.”
“Must be a doozy,” said Meredith.
“Not really.”
“Tell. Hunt… I want to laugh.” Hunter said.
“I don’t even know how he got it,” Nora replied. “Okay, I’ll tell it, then I want to see what you made.” She waited for agreement. “What did the woman say when the nuclear bomb hit her city.”
John lifted his hands and shook his head.
“She didn’t. She was devastated.”
John and Meredith both gave polite smiles. But Hunter, he laughed as hard as he did the night before.
Jason closed off one ear with his finger. “Wow. That’s a supportive audience.”
“Funny,” Hunter laughed again and started to walk off. “Come. I show you.”
As they turned to walk away, Blake started giggling.
Jason whispered in her ear. “You’re a hit here.”
What was he doing? John wondered. One moment their new big friend was laughing, the next he was serious as he led them across the fort to the side with the fence. He had seen Hunter working over there the day before, but left him alone.
“If trouble comes,” Hunter said as he moved an old cart. Below it was a dirty piece of cloth, he then lifted that, exposing what looked like a half door resting in the dirt. “Took door from there.” He indicated, then lifted the door.
John stepped forward, peering down. The hole was deep and square. Not big, but large enough for two or three people. In the hole was water, apples and a few MRE. “You made a secret room.”
“Hide if trouble.” Hunter looked at Meredith, then to Nora.
“And here I thought you were digging a latrine,” John said. “This is good. Very good.”