The Remaining: Refugees (59 page)

As they worked, the day began to warm slightly, and they even began to sweat, though it was quickly chilled from their foreheads once they stood still for a moment. The jackets came off, and they worked in just their hoodies
and
sweaters.

Gradually, the vehicles were filled to capacity and the volunteers began to trickle into the square, stowing their packs in the rears of the vehicles they would ride in or drive. As the work became lighter, and more and more of them stood around in quiet conversation, the jackets were donned again.

When they were finished, Lee met Harper and LaRouche between the two columns of vehicles. He’d left Tomlin upstairs in the office to avoid having to explain things repeatedly. Bus was aware of the situation, and Lee was sure that everyone in Camp Ryder would hear it from the good old fashioned grape vine soon enough.

He put a hand on each of their shoulders. “You guys feeling okay about this?”

“Sure.” LaRouche nodded.

“I guess,” Harper said,
a
little less confident.

“I have to work with Tomlin to resolve a couple issues,” Lee continued, quietly. “As soon as I can make sure everything is secure back here, I’ll be joining you, LaRouche, out east. You both have a half-dozen repeaters in your supplies, so make ‘em count and stay in contact so we can coordinate, okay?”

“Roger that,” LaRouche sighed. “How long do you think you’ll be?”

“No idea.” Lee shrugged. “I’ll ballpark it at a week.”

Harper looked at him gravely. “Just be careful, Lee.”

Lee smiled. “I’m always careful.”

“Okay.”

Lee took his hands from their shoulders. “Take it to ‘em, guys.”

Without another word, they mounted up and a chorus of diesel engines rumbled to life up and down the columns of vehicles. Lee stood in the middle of them and crossed his arms over his chest, feeling sick to his stomach. If there was anything more nerve-wracking than being in danger, it was sending others out to be in danger without you.

The sentries pulled the front gates clear of the road.

In the
side view
mirror of the lead Humvee, Lee could see Harper looking at him. His face was pure concern, but when Lee made eye-contact with him, he smiled bravely and flicked a salute off his forehead. Lee returned the gesture, and the Humvee rolled away.

Harper’s convoy left first, followed immediately by LaRouche’s. The long train of vehicles kicked up dust as they trundled out of Camp Ryder, slowly and deliberately out into a hostile world, and in less than an hour they would be in unknown territory, amongst unknown threats and unknown people. They would adapt and overcome—they would have to. Everything depended on it.

Out of sight from Camp Ryder, down the winding dirt road that led away from safety and security, Harper’s lead Humvee reached the end of the dirt road and the beginning of the blacktop of Highway 27. The column slowed to a stop as though waiting for a break in traffic before continuing. Then the Humvee’s tires scratched over the gravel, turning right, towards Highway 421 that would take them north, towards their destination.

The column of vehicles split in the middle, half
going right and half going left
.

***

Jerry leaned against a shanty, quietly regarding the gates as the convoy of military vehicles disappeared from sight. His lips were pursed in concentration and his mind was working quickly now, his heart beating fast in his chest as he thought about his plan. Camp Ryder was empty of Captain Harden’s thugs—all the volunteers that had any training had just left in a cloud of dust.

His fingers and toes tingled
with excitement.

The gates were closed and locked again and Bus and Captain Harden, walking side-by-side, disappeared back into the Camp Ryder building. Something was going
on between them and whoever the
guy was that they’d captured yesterday. Eyes and ears around the camp were telling Jerry that
the captive was no longer so captive, and possibly was up in the office with Bus and Captain Harden
.

Interesting.

Jerry turned quickly and strode through the rows of shacks,
towards
the
fence line
. When he reached it, he hung a left and followed the chain link fence all the way to the quiet northwestern corner of the compound where a jumble of shipping containers had yet to be put to good use and no shanties had been built. He sidled between two shipping containers and found
Greg waiting.

“What’s the news?”

Greg looked around conspiratorially. “Just got word from Doc Hamilton in Smithfield. Apparently that guy from Virginia…”

“Jacob?”

“Yeah…Apparently he shows up last night with a ‘package’.” Greg’s voice dropped even lower and he leaned forward. “It was an infected. They captured an infected!”

Jerry’s face screwed up. “What? Why the hell would they do that?”

Greg shook his head. “That’s not all, man. Doc Hamilton says that Jacob had him help with the infected. They have it secured in a room so that Jacob can study it, but here’s what really freaked me out…” Greg swallowed. “The infected is a female…and she’s pregnant.”

T
he two men stared at each other.

“You’re sure about this?”

Greg
shrugged
. “I
haven’t seen
it. I’m just relaying what Doc Hamilton told me. And Doc Hamilton was freaked out by this shit. If you’re asking my opinion, then yes…I believe it’s true.”

Jerry rubbed his stubbled chin. “This changes things.”

“They’re procreating. They’re not dying off.”

Jerry looked at his compatriot. “No, they’re not. I don’t think it would be wise to wait until the refugees from up north get here to make our move. This is something we need to get ahead of immediately.”

“We need to move now.”

Jerry nodded. “Send the message to Professor White to be ready to move. The minute he gets his weapons,
I want him staging right outside Camp Ryder. Out of sight. You know the plan.”

Greg nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Jerry turned to leave, but then stopped himself. “Greg…”

Greg raised an eyebrow.

Jerry wagged a finger. “Don’t tell him about the pregnant infected. Lie to him if you have to, but he
cannot
know about that.”

Greg looked like he didn’t quite understand, but nodded anyways.

Jerry slipped quietly out from between the shipping containers.

There was work to be done.

***

“Let’s talk about this informant,” Lee said, taking a seat in the office.

Tomlin was center-stage between Lee and Bus, his hands clutched in his lap, the subject of Bus’s intense scrutiny. The bigger man sat leaning forward and glaring unsurely at the newcomer from underneath bushy brows.
Lee had explained the situation in short-form, and
to his credit, Bus simply absorbed the information without
reaction
.

Tomlin nodded to the question. “Okay. But I should be clear, I don’t know the guy.”

“You knew the tw
o marksme
n,” Lee pointed out. “Didn’t you? Would you know of anyone else he might send?”

“Firs
t, I didn’t know the two marksme
n.” Tomlin met their eyes. “I found out about them after they’d already been sent, but I couldn’t have picked them out of a crowd. And I have no idea who they would have sent to do this job.” He shrugged. “I
can make some educated assumptions
, though.”

“Such as?”

He directed his attention to Bus. “How many people does Camp Ryder take in, let’s say, on a weekly basis?”

Bus, still showing some hesitance, glanced at Lee, who nodded. Bus didn’t seem to want to give Tomlin extra information, but if Lee trusted him…

“Maybe three or four a week? Usually families, or groups.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be hard to find this person.” Tomlin unfolded his arms and looked a bit more confident. “They would have come within the last month, so you’re talking about a maximum of
maybe a dozen
potential suspects. I think we can narrow it down from there.”

“I imagine he would have come alone,” Lee suggested.

Bus grimaced. “I don’t know if we’ve had any single folks come in lately…except maybe Jacob.”

“Jacob, the guy from Virginia?” Tomlin asked.

“Yes.”

Tomlin shook his head, but didn’t look very sure of himself. “I don’t know. He came straight from Mitchell…I mean…I guess it’s
possible
…”

Bus made a grim noise. “If it’s possible we should pursue it.”

Lee rubbed his neck. “No one else has shown up by themselves?”

Bus thought about it for a moment, mentally flipping the pages of an imaginary ledger. Finally, he shook his head. “No. And I personally oversee everyone that comes into Camp Ryder.”

“What about groups?” Lee said. “
He
might have inserted
himself
int
o another group that was travel
ing.”

“That would help hide
him
,” Tomlin agreed.

“Most of the groups we get are families.” Bus tapped a finger. “But we’ve gotten two groups of three in the past month that have not been related to each other. One was two men and a woman, and the other was three guys—a little younger, like maybe fresh out of college.”

Now Tomlin leaned forward, interested. “The younger guys…anyone in the group stand out? Anyone strike you as military, or maybe the other two
didn’t seem as comfortable with him?”

Bus shook his head. “No, there was nothing really noteworthy about them. But they did get here at the beginning of last month…maybe the first week of October? Is that too early?”

Tomlin wavered a hand. “It’s a bit early, but not out of the question.”

“Let me ask you a question, Brian.” Lee steepled his fingers. “You told me earlier that you were basically concerned for my safety. Whoever this guy is…is he going to try to take me out?”

“Lee…” Tomlin seemed uncomfortable. “I don’t know. I don’t know how he’s communicating with Abe, or any of that other shit. But I can tell you that eventually the powers that be will realize I’m no longer working for them, if they have not realized that already. And when they realize that I’m out of t
he equation, and the two marksme
n have been killed, the only person they have left to take you out is whoever snuck into Camp Ryder.” Tomlin rubbed
his
legs. “
And they want you dead, Lee.”

Lee sat still for a moment. He took a heavy breath and puffed it out. “Okay. Then here’s what I propose:
I’ve got to run a batch of rifles out to Professor White’s group at Lillington ASAP. While I’m doing that, you two work together to make a list of potential suspects. Then we’ll question our
potentials, and hopefully root
out the one we’re looking for.”

Bus shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Tomlin nodded slowly.

Lee eyed them. “Problem with the plan?”