“The Mennonites. As for how they heard it? I don’t know. Even now, gossip travels from group to group,” Jude says. “I mean, some of the small communities in the Appalachians had heard about the war down South. It’s all a little mythological sounding, but there’s enough truth.”
I look at Finn and Mary. “Any idea how this would get out?”
“Maybe the hunters that ended up infecting the whole community? They often traded animal meat and skins with other areas,” Finn replies.
Those men had doomed the community in more ways than one.
“So you went to the town and found it overrun.” I cut my eyes to Wyatt. “And decided to clean up the mess with rocket launchers.”
“Yep. They were half-starved and frozen. It was more a mercy killing than anything else.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t know you guys were in the target zone,” Davis admits. “Sorry about that.”
“So what do we do now?” Finn asks. He and Mary look young and scared bundled together.
“I need to get back to Catlettsburg with my findings about why the vaccine failed as well as the new information Wyatt delivered about mixing vaccines,” Jane says. It’s the first time she’s spoken and I note the wariness in Jude and Parker’s eyes.
“You mean the Mutts,” Jude says.
“Avi won’t like it, but I’m going to have to reopen his lab and start experimenting.”
I look at my sister. “What’s your theory?”
She picks up the notepad on the table. Lines of furious writing cover the page. “I have a few. I’ll let you know when I’ve singled one out.”
Tension rises in the room—no one plans on allowing Jane to work unsupervised, but now isn’t the time to fight about it. I rest my hand on top of her scribbled words and say, “We’ll talk about this more, okay?”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
I glance at the others. “Besides getting Jane back to the lab—any ideas? How long do we have before the Hybrids arrive?”
Wyatt thinks, running his hand over his hair. “I think we can anticipate them arriving at any point. They were close to Savannah when we left, I doubt it took long for them to conquer the base. It just depends on what happened with Erwin and how long it takes for them to capture civilians to add to their army on the way.”
“Then we need to build our own,” I admit. “Be ready when they get here.”
“That’s why Erwin sent us.”
Walker stands and does the pacing
thing that means she’s thinking. “We’ll have to split up. Two teams? Maybe three?”
Davis nods. “One takes Jane back to Catlettsburg.”
“And Green.” I interject. “To recover.”
All eyes look at my ankle propped on the table. “Nope. I’m not sitting this one out.”
“You should consider it,” Wyatt says. “You’re not a hundred percent and you could injure yourself further.”
I glare at him and he holds it. “No. I’ll be fine.”
Walker rolls her eyes, familiar with our bickering. “Three teams. One to Catlettsburg, one to round up whatever military is left out there using Erwin’s notes, and one to scout for the Hybrids. We’ll work out the specifics later.” She grabs her coat off the back of a chair. “I’m going out to patrol. Someone make breakfast.”
Jackson follows her, grabbing a shotgun on the way out the door.
“I’ll fix breakfast. I think there’s some stuff still in the pantry,” Parker says, standing from her spot on the floor and taking her blanket with her. Finn and Mary follow her—I think just looking for something to do.
“I should check on Benjamin,” Jane says. She looks at me. “I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”