The Remaining: Refugees (20 page)

Then he realized that none of them were pointing their rifles at Lee, and in fact only a few of them were even holding their rifles. The others had them slung on their backs. And they were not standing in any sort of firing line, but rather jumbled together in a mixed up circle.

"What is this?" Lee growled, not quite sure what he was looking at.

The man that had led him around the corner turned to face the captain.
He
clasped his hands in front of him. "We've all
talked it over and slept on it
. And we want to help."

Lee tried not to let it show when the breath came out of him in a long blast. His heart knocked on the inside of his chest hard enough to make his vision jump with each pulse.
H
e folded his arms across his chest and said, "I see."

On
e
of the men stepped forward from the group. He was younger than the others, perhaps in his early twenties. His head was a shaggy mop of brown curls. His face was covered in patchy scruff. "We're with you, Captain."

T
he twenty before him were not all men, but a few women as well. Some of them stood beside their husbands, determined to accompany them into the fight,
while
other
s stood alone, having made the
decision on their own. But the thing that
struck Lee the most
was that there were so many of them.
This was nearly a fourth of the camp
. The very same people that ran scavenging operations into abandoned apartment complexes and neighborhoods, and bartered over cans of tuna and rejoiced when they found something as simple as a bottle of aspirin, or a toothbrush. These were people who worked hard for the group, who gave what they could for the group. These were people that had virtually nothing to their name but ramshackle huts and the clothes on their backs. And yet, here they stood, ready to give even more so that the group might survive.

He took two ste
ps toward the group and stopped
, his expression forthright and cautious. "You understand what I'm asking you to do?"

There was a chorus of affirmative sounds.

Lee nodded. "You understand that I'll be asking half of you to go towards the east coast, which we have virtually no intelligence about? And the other half will be going northwest, past one of the biggest urban areas in the state? You understand that even with all of your help, we're going to be incredibly outnumbered, our supplies are going to be stretched thin, you'll be far from your loved ones and possibly never see them again?"

"Sir," the thirty-somet
hing man that had retrieved Lee
took a step forward. "Believe me, we've talked about all of this. Not only with our families, for those of us that have them, but also amongst ourselves. We understand the risks involved. But we believe this is the best chance we have at survival, even if it is a slim one. We want to help fight for it."

One of the women stepped forward, not much more than a girl. "We're not running into the mountains, Captain. We've busted our asses to build what we have here, and we're not giving that up. We're tired of being on the run all the time."

The shaggy-headed guy nodded fiercely at her. "We've gotta fight for it, we understand."

Their hearts were strong now, but when the bullets fly and you're up to your elbows in the blood of your friends, it has the tendency to weaken resolve and make high ideals seem very small. The only solace that Lee took from them was the fact that they were here, living and breathing before him. They had survived the collapse, which was a trial by fire. And if you were able to survive that, if you were still functioning on the other side of something so horrible, then there must be some steel inside you after all.

These were not some random civilians that toted assault rifles around with them for no reason. They were the survivors. The only reason they were alive right now was because they were smarter and stronger
, or at least luckier
, than every other civilian that had died or succumbed to the pandemic and the incredible violence that followed.

"Okay." Lee's smile was thin
. "If you all understand what you're getting into, and wish to volunteer anyway, then I'm honored to have you."

There was a ripple of excited murmurs that went through the group.

Lee stepped forward to the thirty-something man and extended his hand. "I recognize you from camp, but I don't think we've ever met."

The man took his hand and shook it vigorously. "Nate Malone."

"Good to meet you, Nate." Lee looked over Nate's shoulder at the others. "For now, I'm going to leave you unoffi
cially in charge of these folks
."

Nate nodded.
“
What do you want us to do?"

“Nothing for now,”
Le
e clapped him on the shoulder. “
For now, rest up. I'll have you guys training tomorrow, but today we're
on hold
. So enjoy it. You
won't see it again for a while.”

“What about Sanford?”
Nate worried.
“
Don'
t you guys need us for Sanford?”

Lee shook his head. "No, we need you guys to train as a team so we can rely on you. I'm sure you're all good shots, and I'm sure you're all outstanding people, but working as a team takes practice, and we only have about a week. I need you and your group spending all that time getting ready."

Nate considered this for a few moments, then finally nodded.

To the entire group, Lee raised his voice. "Thank you, folks. This is gonna be a tough road, but I couldn't have asked for better volunteers."

Lee left them and immediately went to find Harper. He rounded the building and could see the little fire pit where he and Angela had sat and talked and she was no longer there. He headed for the door, and once inside found LaRouche and Jim just walking out from eating breakfast. He stopped them in passing.

"Either of you guys see
n
Harper?"

LaRouche pointed up to the foreman's office. "Yeah, he's up there with Bus and the dude from last night."

"Eddie?"

"Yeah, the mechanic."

"Thanks." Lee turned for the stairs.

“H
ey, we're gonna see if we can't scrounge up a little bit of extra meat and some booze." He winked, secretively. "Make a little fire out back and have us a regular barbecue later tonight."

Lee made a face. "Good luck with that. You might have to barter the clothes you're
wearing”

"The ladies might like that."

The two men departed with a wave, and Lee continued up the stairs. In the office, he found Bus sitting behind the desk, Harper leaning on the edge of it, regarding the map, and Eddie Ramirez standing in the middle of the room, sharing in Harper's fascination of the map.

Bus noticed Lee first and raised a hand in greeting. "Just the man we wanted to see.
We’ve got a problem.
"

Lee sighed. “What’s new, right?”

"You're going to the coast, aren't you?" Eddie interjected.

Lee hesitated,
then
nodded.

"Then I could leave my family here, where they're safe, and I'll go with you to the coast. On the way, I'll keep your engines in top shape. And when we get there, I'll figure out if I want to return there with my family, or stay with your group."

Lee considered it and looked to Harper and Bus to get their take on the arrangement. They both gave him a nod of approval. "Seems fair," he concluded.

"Excellent.
" Eddie
clapped his hands
. "You want me to take a look at your trucks now?"

"Well..." Lee didn't really want Eddie fiddling with the trucks unsupervised. The guy seemed straight up, but Lee still wasn't comfortable with trusting him implicitly just yet. "Let me get up with Sergeant LaRouche and I'll have him help you out."

Eddie seemed to get the picture
. "That's no problem. I'll be with my family, so you know where to find me when you need me, okay?"

"Thank you very much, Eddie."

The mechanic left the room.

Harper watched him go with one raised eyebrow. "
Interesting guy.
"

Lee smiled. "Yeah. We'll see how useful he is."

Bus rose from his seat. "We were just talking about the plan."

"Yes," Lee put his hands in his pockets. "That's what I was trying to find Harper for."

Harper raised his chin. "You found me."

"You know Nate Malone?"

"Yeah. Decent guy."

"Good. Because I need you to train him and about twenty others that just volunteered to help."

"Oh." Harper looked confused. "That doesn't leave much time, between Sanford and heading east
…
"

"You're not going to Sanford."

Harper's lips tightened. "Um...what do you mean?"

"I need you training the volunteers while we're clearing Sanford."

"Why not LaRouche?" Harper gestured off to the side as though the sergeant were sitting in the room. "He's military, and he's got just as much or more experience than me. He's way more qualified to train the volunteers than I am. Why would you want me to do it?"

Lee leaned in. "Come on, Harper.
I trust you both, but…don’t take this the wrong way, but I need LaRouche with me in Sanford. You’re the next in line as far as trust and experience goes
."

"Fuck." Harper hung his head.

"
I need you to do this for me
."

"But..."

"You've soaked up what I've taught you and you're one of the best people I have. Plus, you're a natural leader. People listen to you. LaRouche is just as good, tactically, but he's just a little bit loose for me to trust him with training the volunteers. Father Jim is good, but not as good as you. I need Julia as our medic. Jeriah and his team are just plain green."

Harper's eyes looked up at the ceiling. "Alright. Fine."

"You'll do good."

"I'd do better in Sanford."

"Agreed. But I gotta have someone to train them, and you're the best choice."

"Well..." Harper trailed off, not having anything else to say.

Lee looked to Bus. "Is there something you guys wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes," Bus took a pen that was lying on the desk and tapped it on the wooden top. "It's about fuel."

"Right. The tanker."

"Were you planning on taking it with you?"

Lee shrugged, non-commi
ttall
y. "I gotta keep the Humvees running."

"Okay," Harper looked back at the map. "So are you taking both the Humvees in one direction?"

"I'm gonna have one Humvee go east, and one north. Obviously, there are going to be other vehicles in each group, especially the one heading east, because that group is going to need to carry a shit-load of ordnance. I'm going to need to keep all the vehicles in both groups fueled."

"We also need to keep the hospital running."

Lee nodded. "I agree. Which is why I hadn't really cemented this part of the plan. Because what we have to do depends on what we find at Sanford. There was a military installation there, evacuating people. We have no idea how much of the equipment
they left
. If we're lucky, we might
come across some fuel trucks
. We'll just have to see what we come up with."