* * *
After the dinner, which everyone praised lavishly, they’d all sat at the big table for a long time exchanging their stories. Her guests had been on a robo shuttle to the planet and landed at the spaceport with no warning about what they were getting dropped into. From there it had been a tense fight to survive and get out of the capital city. Melly said several other people who had landed with them hadn’t survived.
Tamsyn was glad to hear Jeff and Trent had managed to sneak into the spaceport control tower and set the interstellar warn off beacon so no one else would suffer the same fate.
She’d shared her story from the first incident at the park with the feral cat biting several people to the end of Jonny’s Rosewater fiefdom. It had been an amazing relief to talk through her experiences with people who’d had similar ones and her audience was intensely curious about the early stages of the outbreak, at least as Tamsyn had seen it. Melly told her what happened in Rosewater in the early days matched with what they’d been able to glean from old newscasts Cody had hacked for them while they were in the city.
Tamsyn was proud of herself that she managed not to cry when she relived her experiences. The momentary breakdown in the kitchen and Cody’s comforting words had helped her rebuild her walls against giving in to the grief.
Tamsyn had given Jeff and Melly one of the big guest rooms upstairs and Mike got his own room as well, which of course he shared with Buddy, who’d had to be discouraged earlier from trying to herd first the chickens and then the horses. The soldiers had decided to occupy the bunkhouse, although Tamsyn understood two would be on patrol at all times, which was reassuring.
Her ranch was entirely self contained for water and power and her guests had been effusive in their appreciation for unlimited hot water and the ability to take showers.
“You don’t know how grateful I am,” Melly had said before she took off to go first, which the men insisted upon.
Tamsyn liked the respectful way the soldiers treated the doc, like a sister, except for Jeff of course, who plainly was head over heels in love. The group seemed to have adopted Mike as their younger brother, which was refreshing to see, although the men deferred to Melly when it came to any decisions. Mike had wanted to be in the bunk house with the guys but the doctor had vetoed the idea.
“I need you closer to me,” she said and that was that.
Tamsyn heard steps behind her and turned her head to see Cody approaching, He fascinated her to be honest. Tall, good looking, an excellent cook, he didn’t talk much but when he did his comments were good ones. His voice drew her in, deep and assured.
“I retasked one of my drones to search for your school buses,” he said as he joined her at the fence. “Since you were so concerned about them at dinner and rightly so in this crazy world.”
“And?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“I don’t have the range to go all the way to this refugee camp you told us about but I checked the road north as far as I could and didn’t see any broken down buses, so that’s a good sign.”
Relief flooded over her. “I’ll take whatever good news I can get. Hopefully at least a few people survived.”
“My drones have been studying the town, pretty bad there. You were lucky to get out. Lots of infected everywhere.”
“Did you see any other survivors?”
“No but if they’ve got any sense they’re hiding and staying quiet. We’re not in the rescue mission business, you know. We’ve got to get to our ranch as soon as we can and there’s nothing we need in the town so Jeff isn’t likely to agree to any detours.”
“From what I saw, there isn’t much to salvage in town and no people to rescue,” she said. “I don’t have anyone in town, not anynore.”
“The third bus didn’t get out of the compound by the way,” Cody told her. “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t expect it would. The damn infected were mobbing it as I ran. I only had my one blaster?—”
He put his hand over hers for a moment. “Even with our megablasters we can’t take on a swarm. The infected have no sense of self preservation so they keep coming no matter how many get mowed down. You couldn’t have done anything for the people on that bus.”
Coming from him, a hardened soldier despite the men claiming to be simply veterans thrust into the aftermath of the flu outbreak,the remark caused Tamsyn’s anxiety and guilt over how the time at the compound had ended to recede a bit. “Thanks,” she said.
“Kinda lonely out here for one person,” Cody said. He studied the stars. “Although the solitude can be pretty appealing on a night like this.”
“I’ll manage,” Tamsyn said stubbornly.
He lowered his gaze to study her. “To what end though? No one’s ever going to buy beef from Randal Four again. The Sectors will probably quarantine this planet for centuries.”
Shaken by his calm dismissal of the future Tamsyn had envisioned, she dug in mentally. “What reason did any farmer or rancher ever have to keep going? It’s in my blood and my bones. This is my place and I aim to keep it.”
“I didn’t mean to be insulting,” he said. “I was genuinely curious.”
“Besides, maybe the planet will rebound. Maybe all the infected will die off…” She couldn’t complete the thought, as ridiculous as it sounded right now, with swarms of the creatures roaming the planet and so many people dead.
“And life goes back to a semblance of normal?” Cody asked. “I admire your optimism.”
