The Remaining: Refugees (55 page)

Lee drew a lengthy breath, still staring at the sheet in front of him. “I won’t be leaving with you.”

The noise was one of confusion. Heads were turning back and forth, questioning each other, wondering if they heard right.

Lee raised his hand. “Quiet please.” He waited two breaths until he could speak without yelling. “I know the rumor mill works fast around here, but for those of you who haven’t heard, or who have heard an incorrect version, I will explain to you the reality of the situation.” He folded the paper crisply. “The individual that we captured and brought in earlier today is Captain Brian Tomlin. He is a coordinator for Project Hometown, just like myself. His assigned area was South Carolina. Without getting into too many details, I will tell you that he has brought some issues to light that require my attention right now. I don’t know how long it will take to get to the bottom of it, but as soon as I figure it out, I’ll be heading out to join the rest of you in the east.”

“How do you know he’s telling the truth?” Nate Malone stepped forward.

“I don’t. That’s why I need to get to the bottom of it.”

Lee could tell that the others had many questions about this odd decision, but none of them voice
d
their concerns, so Lee moved the briefing on. “Harper’s group. You’ll be given one of the HEMTT tankers, the wrecker, two of the LMTVs, and one of the Humvees. Your primary objective will be to establish a defensive stronghold in Eden, North Carolina. Your secondary objective will be to use the wrecker while you are working your way north, to clear a supply and escape route from Eden to Camp Ryder. Your tertiary objective will be to assist any refugees that are fleeing south.” He nodded to Harper. “You’re my right hand man. I trust you to get it done.”

Lee turned to the
right
. “LaRouche’s group. You have one objective and one objective only: limit the amount of infected crossing the Roanoke River. You’ll be given the other tanker, the rest of the Humvees, and the last LMTV, which we are going to load with over 2,000 pounds of ordnance, ammunition and rifles.” He looked at them very pointedly. “That payload is our life, guys. You’re going to use it to buy cooperation where you can, blow up the bridges that can’t be defended, and mine the shit out of the ones we can’t blow. We’re on a time-crunch, and you guys are my hammer—I need you to hit hard and fast.” He put his hand on LaRouche’s shoulder. “Sergeant LaRouche has extensive experience with demolitions, so you’ll all be in good hands. Just do what he tell
s
you and you’ll come back with all of your limbs.”

A nervous lau
ghter ran through the group
.

“Last issue to address,” Lee said, folding his arms across his chest. “I know it’s short notice, but is anyone here unable to leave Camp Ryder by tomorrow?”

Silence fell over the room. Glances were exchanged, shoulders were shrugged. Some people just bowed their heads slightly.

Lee nodded. “If no one objects, then plan to leave late tomorrow morning.”

The group seemed to be in consensus. All heads nodded the affirmative.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

For a moment Lee thought he might escape without questions, but Lucky poked his carrot top out of the crowd and raised his hand. “Yeah, I got a question.”

Lee pointed to him. “Go ahead.”

Lucky looked around briefly. He was part of Wilson’s team, and therefore in LaRouche’s group. “Since we’re headed east I figured we should probably know what to do if we come across The Followers.”

There was an audible groan from several members of the group. From the other side of the room, Nate rolled his eyes and lifted his hands. “It’s just an urban legend,
man. Just people spreading scary stories
. I doubt there’s a group of people out there simultaneously cannibalizing and Bible-thumping.”

“You don’t know that,” Lucky said defensively. “Have you been east? Has anyone in this room been out that
way in the last few months?
”

“I’m with Lucky,” Wilson said quietly, inspecting the bandaged stumps of his now three-fingered right hand. “It’s possible that The Followers are a complete fabrication. It’s also possible that everything we’ve heard is true. I think a more likely scenario is that the truth lies somewhere in between, as with most other things like this.” He looked up at Lee. “I think we should have a plan to deal with them, if we come across them…even if it is a big ‘if’.”

Whether out of pity for the man that had just lost his fingers, or in deference to the fact that he was probably right, no one continued the argument. Instead, all eyes shifted to Lee, looking for his answer to the problem of The Followers.

“Because we don’t know truth
from
fiction at this point in time, we can’t really make a plan to deal with them,” Lee said thoughtfully. “However, I would simply say to use common sense. If you encounter a group—any group—that is hostile, you blow them the fuck up. But if you think you can get them to cooperate, then go that route. If The Followers do exist, and they are expanding out from the east coast, they might end up being a valuable ally.” He smirked. “And if they don’t want to be an ally, then they’ll make a great barrier between us and the infected.”

LaRouche nodded. “I think we can handle that.”

A few more people asked a few more questions. Some of them Lee deferred to Harper and LaRouche. When the general questions became more specific, Lee dismissed the group so that they could each meet with and speak to their respective leaders
and get some answers.

As the group trickled out of the room, only Lee and Bus remained.

The big man
leaned on his desk and took a long look at Lee. “What happened in there?”

“With Captain Tomlin?”

A nod.

Lee fiddled with the piece of paper still in his hands and considered the question. “No disrespect to you Bus, but I think it would be best if I kept this between me and him.”

Bus made a
fair enough
face.

“I need more time to speak with him. When I get everything sorted out, you’ll be the first to know.”

“What about Professor White and the rifles?”

“Once we see Harper and LaRouche off tomorrow, we’ll worry about getting those rifles to him.”

A knock at the door interrupted them.

Lee turned to find Eddie Ramirez standing, half inside the room. He looked rapidly back and forth between Lee and Bus.

“Help you?” Bus asked.

“Yes.” Eddie’s
tone
was clipped. “You told me that I would be heading east with the others. Is that still true?”

“Actually,” Lee faced the door. “I didn’t get you in on the briefing because I need you here for a little while longer. I’ve got some business to take care of, but I’m going to catch up to LaRouche’s group afterward and head east. I wanted you to stick around because there’s a few vehicles out by the Sanford airport that I want you to have a look at and see if we can’t get running again.”

Eddie’s face became neutral. “Oh.”

Lee peered at him. “Is that okay? I’m hoping it will only take a couple of days.”

Eddie seemed to be considering it. “Yes,” he said finally. “That should be fine. What’s a few
more
days?”

Lee nodded. “I appreciate it. I’ll get up with you.”

Eddie left and Lee and Bus exchanged a look.

Bus’s white teeth shown underneath his beard. “Antsy little guy, isn’t he?”

“Well…” Lee tossed the paper on the desk. “He’s got a family to worry about.”

Bus headed to the door. “You sleeping in here tonight?”

Lee looked around as though he were feeling out the emptiness of the room. “
Yeah. Probably
.”

***

He lay on a wooden front porch, one of the long-planked kind that take up the entire front of a ranch house, like the kind in old western movies. He lay there with his eyes closed, but he could feel the warm sunshine on his cheeks, across his forehead, on his lips. The light came through his shuttered eyelids deep and red. The sound of a steady, warm breeze blowing gently through trees crowned fully with green. This was his place in the sun. His place…

“Get up.”

Shadows flashed across his eyelids.

He opened his eyes.

His father stood over him, his hand outstretched as though to help him to his feet.

“Get up, Lee,” he said. “Get up and look.”

“Look at what?” His own voice was small and childlike.

“They’re coming.”

He shook his head. “I’m tired. Just let me sleep.”

“Get up and look, Lee. They’re coming.”

“Who’s coming?”

“You know who’s coming.”

Lee accepted his father’s hand and stood up. Before him
,
perfectly manicured grass stretched out. A large oak tree stood to the right, its expansive limbs moving slowly, undulating and seeming to glimmer in the light, sighing quietly. A dirt path led away from
the
porch and edged straight away from them through the front lawn. It then rose, bisecting a hill the sloped up from the yard.

“There.” His father pointed to the hill.

Lee squinted and could see figures atop the crest of the hill, just black silhouettes against a sun bleached sky. They stood shoulder to shoulder, and chest to back, and had he not looked carefully he would have thought they were the top of the hill themselves
, as completely as they covered it
. “I see them.”

“They’re coming.”

“I know.”

“Take this.”

Lee looked down and saw what his father offered. It was a
n M4
. Lee accepted the weapon. He ejected the magazine, looking
down into
it and judging its weight. It was less than half full. “There’s only a few rounds in this thing.”

Harper appeared to his left, so that Lee was standing between him and his father. “It’s all we have left.”

“What happened to all the ammunition?”
Lee asked.

“We used it all up.”

“How did we use all of the ammunition?”

Harper shook his head
and repeated himself:
“We used it all up.”

Lee slammed the magazine back into the
rifle
. “Okay.”

His father
put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes.
“
Y
ou’re gonna
have to make it
count.”

***

Lee opened his eyes
and felt immediately that he was not alone in the room.

He rolled to his right and reached for his rifle.

“Don’t.”

Lee blinked and looked up to the darkness above where his hand reached out across the floor. He did not have to take time to realize who was seated in the folding chair, one boot placed securely on Lee’s rifle. He knew Tomlin from his voice.

“Before you
try to kill me
,” Tomlin said quickly, scooting the rifle further away from his fingers. “Keep in mind that if I wanted you dead, you would be.”

Lee’s voice was ragged with sleep. “What happened to the man who was guarding you?”

Tomlin’s teeth flashed like blue pearls in the darkness. “He’ll be fine. Probably just embarrassed about falling asleep on the job. Don’t worry, I didn’t touch him.”