“Good shooting, doc. We wouldn’t have made it without you. But next time get in the damn APC and shut the door when I tell you to do so, all right? No heroics.”
“You can come down now,” Trent said. “We’ll change places if you don’t mind, doc.”
“It’s all yours.” Melly made her way to the deck and immediately checked on Mike, who was in his seat, trying to calm Buddy, who at least had stopped barking. “Are you okay? No bites or scratches?”
He held up a thumb and grinned. “I got a few infected who were close.”
“You both did great,” Zach said from the driver’s seat, although the APC wasn’t going anywhere.
Melly moved on to Tamsyn, who was in a seat, clutching it with fisted hands. “Are you okay?”
The rancher nodded as she caught her breath. “I-I recognized a few people out there?—”
“Not people, not anymore,” Zach said firmly.
“The town librarian, one of the clerks from the grocery store, Lita the vet’s tech…” Her voice faded and she worked hard to restrain her tears. “I hate this damn virus.”
Melly rubbed her back. “I know it must be hard for you, seeing infected who used to be people you knew. It was a small town, right? Everyone knew everyone?”
“Yes, of course. We had a full schedule of town festivals and holiday celebrations too where we all got together. It was at the last one we ever had that the stray cat infected people, including one of my ranch hands.” Beset by sad memories Tamsyn sat up straighter. And changed the subject. “What now? You said this thing can’t drive so what are we going to do?”
“We sit and we wait,” Zach said bluntly. “We need to be quiet. Eventually they lose interest and drift off.”
“You’re kidding.” The rancher’s disbelief was plain. “The blaster works obviously. Can’t we clear them out?”
“Too many of them and firing the megablaster draws more,” Trent told her from his perch in the turret.
“What about my horses?” Tamsyn asked. “And the chickens?”
“From what we’ve seen the infected don’t go after animals.” Melly was happy to supply the detail to ease their hostess’s mind. “We stopped at a farm or two on our way here and the livestock was fine for the most part, even when people had turned.”
“Horses are at the far end of the corral right now, bunched in a circle,” Trent reported. “Milling around, agitated but ready for a fight.”
“And now we need to stop talking,” Zach said, as the man in charge. “We know the infecteds’ hearing is acute, better than human. Give it an hour or two and the swarm will wander off.”
Melly wondered what had brought the infected all the way out here and she didn’t much like her conclusion they had somehow been drawn to the ranch by the presence of healthy humans. Surviving was going to be a lot harder if the swarms had an instinct for searching out their prey, versus coming across humans randomly. What would they do when there were no more humans to attack and infect? Would they go dormant and rot away over time? I guess we’ll find out if we’re lucky enough and smart enough to stay ahead of them.
She got up from her seat and tiptoed to the gun turret ladder. Trent leaned down with a questioning look.
“I saw a Watcher in the crowd,” she said. “Is he still there?” The ones they’d dubbed ’watchers’ were infected who seemed to have retained some small measure of intelligence and several times during their encounters with swarms she’d seen them. Usually they were fixated on her too, which made it even creepier.
Trent took a minute to review their surroundings through the gun controls. “Yup,” he said in a whisper. “Standing beside the door, staring at it like he’s waiting for us to come out or invite him in. Neither of which is happening. The others are milling around like usual, stumbling over each other.”
* * *
The time passed slowly. Melly had her handheld and spent the hours reviewing old medical texts. Mike played games on his. Buddy slept. Tamsyn napped. The two soldiers stayed on watch.
After three hours, Melly asked, “No change? They’re still here?”
“Affirmative,” came from Trent.
“They’ve never done this before,” she said. “In the past the swarm moved on eventually. Is—is the Watcher still outside the door?”
“He is.” Trent cleared his throat. “I’m thinking of taking him out and see if the crowd goes away then, after they get over their excitement at the sound and flame.”
“You think he’s in charge?” Melly found the idea horrifying.
“Nah, not enough brains left for that. But maybe something about him being so fixated on where we are is affecting the others?” Zach said.
