“We’re gonna need to get some more food and water when we’re on the road tomorrow,” Sam said. “And some more fuel if we can get it.”
Great. As if driving all that way wasn’t dangerous enough, now we were going to have to stop somewhere and get supplies. We had a stockpile of MREs on the boats but, like idiots, we hadn’t brought them with us on the so-called easy part of the operation.
Sam put a log onto the fire. It cracked and popped as the sap inside dried up in the heat. The wood-scented smoke drifted into the trees on the night breeze.
He passed the chicken noodle pouches around, along with metal forks that I assumed Tanya had found along with the food. I ripped open my pouch and put a forkful of the noodles into my mouth. These rations might not be the highest quality food in the world but at the moment they tasted as if they should be in a five-star restaurant. I had forgotten how really hungry I was until I tasted those noodles.
“These are amazing,” Lucy said.
We all agreed. Then we ate in silence, enjoying the noodles. When we were all done, Lucy said, “Maybe we’ll get to see the survivor database tomorrow.”
“Maybe,” Tanya said. She didn’t sound too hopeful.
“Aren’t there any names you want to look up on there?” Lucy asked her.
Tanya shook her head. “Not really. My parents retired to Hong Kong years ago. After I got a job that meant I had to travel all the time and my sister got married and moved to Colorado, they decided to go back to Kowloon where they both grew up.”
“You have a sister?” Lucy asked, in a tone that said she wanted to know more.
“Yeah,” Tanya said, looking into the fire. “Lisa. She’s older than me. We haven’t spoken in a long time. Years.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why not?” Lucy asked.
“I don’t know. We just lost touch, I guess. I was busy trying to get news stories all around the world and she was busy with her home life. She has a daughter now but I’ve never met her.”
“That’s sad,” Lucy said. “I bet she’d like to meet her Aunt Tanya.”
Tanya shrugged. “I just hope it isn’t too late now. I lost touch with Lisa but there was never any real reason. I guess I just thought that there would always be time to contact her again. It would be easy to fly over to Colorado and see her family. But I never did it. Now, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“No worries.” Tanya smiled at Lucy but I could tell that she was thinking about her family. A sadness seemed to settle over her. It was evident in her eyes and her slightly slumped shoulders.
“How about you, Sam?” Lucy asked, trying to change the subject but probably digging herself into a deeper hole. “Anyone you’ll be looking up on the database?’
“No,” he answered flatly. “My parents are in New York. So is one of my brothers. The other is stationed in the Middle East. He’s a marine. I barely speak to my family.”
“Oh, God, I’m sorry.” Lucy looked into the fire and remained silent.
“Hey, no problem, man,” Sam said. “My dad owned a software company and he was a company man through and through. He virtually lived at the office. Max, my brother, is following in his footsteps. I wasn’t, much to my dad’s disappointment.
“I wanted to see the world, and not just a piece of it through an office window, so I spent most of my time rock climbing, mountaineering, surfing, that kind of thing. I had no goal in life other than the next adrenaline rush.”
“But you became a cameraman,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah, man. I was on an expedition to Everest a few years ago and I met Vigo Johnson. He’d just signed a contract with a TV network to make the Sole Survivor show. He needed a cameraman who could go to all the places he could and film him demonstrating survival techniques in the wilderness. I said I could do that, and he hired me. In between seasons, I did some freelance stuff in war zones.
“My parents flipped their shit when they found out I was living and working in the world’s hot spots. Never mind that my older brother was doing exactly the same.
“They tried to convince me to change my life. I was in Pakistan when my dad rang me and said I needed to do what was right for the family and come home to take my place at the company. He said that it was too dangerous to do what I was doing and that I’d end up getting killed. I told him I was going to do things my way and he would just have to accept that. We’ve barely spoken since.”
He threw another log on the fire and watched it blacken as the flames licked over it.
“What’s your story?” Tanya asked Lucy.
“Well, my life was boring compared to yours,” Lucy said. “I went to work on the weekdays and spent most of my weekends at home. My mother was very ill. Sometimes, I went hiking or camping on the weekends with my friend Elena. She’s dead now, but you probably know that. Alex and I were with Elena and her boyfriend, Mike, when the outbreak began. I’ll look to see if my parents are on the survivor database but I really don’t think they will be. My dad is the type of man who will never leave his wife, no matter the circumstances. And since she’s bed-bound, I think that means they’re both dead by now.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away with her sleeve.
“That just leave you, Alex,” Sam said. “We all know your story, man. Shitty job, no social life, video games and fast food.”
I shrugged. Maybe he was trying to get me back for when I got mad at him earlier. But what he had said was totally true. And I wasn’t ashamed of my life.
“The thing is,” he added, “you’ve changed a lot since then. We’ve been through some shit and you’ve always held it together. I respect that, man.”
“Thanks,” I said. His words sounded heartfelt and I was truly touched by them.
“So what about your brother and parents?” he asked me. “Are they tough survivors like you?”
“I’d like to think so. Joe definitely is. He stuck up for me my whole life and he’s always been strong, both mentally and physically. If he’s looking after my parents, then I’m sure they’re safe too.”
“That’s good, man.”
“We should probably get some sleep,” Tanya said. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
We all agreed. And as Sam kicked dirt over the fire and the girls walked over to the Mastiff, I glanced toward the coast. Somewhere in the night sky, the drone patrolled the cliffs and beaches, cutting us off from the boats that had become our homes and sanctuaries.
Operation Wildfire had sounded simple when Hart had described it. All we had to do was deliver the vaccine. Now we were facing a perilous road trip through zombie territory.
Was any of this ever going to get any easier? I reminded myself that that was why we were delivering the vaccine in the first place, to try and put an end to this nightmare.
No matter what hardships we faced, if we could help save the country, it would all be worth it.
Sam slapped me on the shoulder and said, “What’re you thinking, man?”
We walked to the Mastiff. I said, “I was just thinking that tomorrow is going to be a shitty day.”
“You know it,” he said as he went around to the driver’s door.
I climbed into the back of the Mastiff and closed the rear hatch, shutting out the world.
17
The next day, we were on the road at six in the morning. A low mist hung over the fields and the gray clouds in the dull sky threatened rain. We were all tired. Sam and Tanya had slept in the front seats of the vehicle, leaving the rear compartment to Lucy and me.
We found a couple of sleeping bags rolled up beneath the front seats and laid them out on the floor, but it was uncomfortable lying on cold, hard steel. I barely slept, and when I did manage to doze, I had nightmares about Joe. In my dream, he had been turned and was lurching toward me with an angry look in his yellow eyes.