Trevor walked to a window that overlooked what had been their home and saw that Logan was correct. The house had burned down to the skeletal frame and all of their belongings were gone. All of the food, weapons, and personal items were gone. The guys were left with nothing but empty guns and the clothes on their backs. They could get more food, but with the gun shop cleaned out it would be impossible to build up enough munitions to defend themselves.
Trevor knew that he didn’t have a choice.
“If you guys will have us, we need to join your group,” Trevor said for his men.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Payson, Arizona
Bryce told Trevor that they were still more than welcome to join his community. Trevor took a minute to talk it over with his men, but received no qualms from any of them. The four soldiers knew that if they chose not to join Bryce, they would have effectively signed their own death certificates. In this new world, they might be able to survive on their own, but it would be increasingly difficult with no firearms, food, or supplies of any kind.
The guys grabbed their empty rifles and handguns and joined Bryce. Together the group of eight walked outside the house that had been shredded by rifle fire, and walked past the house that had been burned to the ground. They headed back toward the truck, toward a new future, and hopefully a safer one.
In a rush to leave the scene before the fires attracted infected or more bandits, Bryce, Logan and the other hatchery members jumped in the cab, and the four soldiers hopped in the bed of the truck. Logan wasted no time and drove as quickly as he could to get out of the town. They had stirred up enough shit for one day in the small town of Payson. Between the fire and the gunshots, every human, infected or otherwise, would know of the fight. Logan didn’t want to be anywhere near the place to find out which group of humans would respond first.
After they had made it safely out of Payson, the group inside the cab let out a collective sigh of relief. They had been through two firefights in a single day. Things had spiraled out of control in such a short amount of time. It had only been a few weeks since the Outbreak began and Bryce could not believe how fast society had fallen apart. In only a matter of weeks, the entire human race had descended into chaos, reverted back to primal instincts, and killed each other like animals over anything they deemed important.
The trip back to the hatchery went by faster than normal, due to Logan’s aggressive driving, but nobody complained. The sooner they could get back to the safety of their compound the better.
When Logan pulled into the parking lot at the hatchery, they all got out of the cab and the soldiers jumped out of the truck bed.
The families of the hatchery members all waited at the entrance to the compound, and there were some concerned faces amongst them. Everyone could see the four ash-covered soldiers in the rear, and it made them anxious.
Bryce stepped in front of his family and Logan’s family, but his own family looked more worried than Logan’s, Cindy and Greg especially.
Bryce introduced the soldiers to them and assured everyone in the entire group that the soldiers could be trusted, and that they needed a home. Bryce explained what had happened in Payson and this seemed to assuage some of the fear in the Roberts’s eyes. Ultimately, everyone knew that the soldiers were only coming to the hatchery because they had nowhere else to go, and that they were not malicious.
Bryce let everyone shake hands and become acquainted for a few minutes before he suggested that they let Trevor and his men get cleaned up for dinner. Trevor and the soldiers were more than happy to take a shower, since none of them had bathed in some time.
Jessica found them some clothes that looked like they would fit, and the four of them disappeared into the crew bathroom for a considerable time.
While everyone else inside the crew quarters prepared for dinner, Bryce pulled Logan aside and directed him toward the front door. Bryce led him away from the crew quarters and over to the office building.
Inside the office building, Bryce said, “What do you think about putting them in here?”
Logan looked around at the cubicles spread out across the inside of the building and nodded. “They are like mini bedrooms,” he laughed.
“My thoughts exactly, they can make themselves a pallet with blankets and a sleeping bag. It won’t be the Ritz, but it’s better than roughing it,” Bryce replied.
With that settled, Bryce asked Logan, “Now that we have four more mouths to feed, we need to start thinking about how we are going to expand this place. We can’t keep taking on more people and just hide in the canyon. I think it’s time we branch out.”
“I agree, but what are you thinking,” Logan replied.
“I say we take tomorrow off, get some rest, and then we start exploring. See what’s out there, and see what we can find. Primarily we need food, more supplies, and fuel, but if we find more civilized people along the way, then we need that too. If we are going to turn this compound into a viable solution, we also need more land. The hatchery is too small to hold any more people in any civilized fashion, hell we are already putting people in cubicles,” Bryce said.
“Sounds good, day after tomorrow we’ll see what’s around us and what we can use,” Logan agreed.
The two men went back to the crew quarters and joined the rest of the hatchery members.
Soon enough, dinner was done and the soldiers were out of the showers. They had all shaved, washed their hair, and cleaned weeks of grime off their bodies. Collectively, they were fairly handsome, typical young men in top physical shape.
The two groups sat down around the table, which had grown into three tables pushed together, and shared a meal together. The hatchery group asked the soldiers how they had gotten here, and listened as they were told the story all the way from Tucson to Payson.
When dinner was done, Bryce and Logan showed Trevor and his men their new home. They had gathered sleeping bags, blankets, spare pillows, and other comforts. They gave all of the supplies to the soldiers and told them to make themselves comfortable.
They all shook hands and Bryce led Logan out of the building to let the guys settle in.
Trevor picked the cubicle closest to the door and let his men pick their own cubicles. They all set up their sleeping pallets and then explored their new home a bit.
Inside the building, there were eight cubicles, a small break room with a kitchenette, and a single bathroom. The guys were definitely downgrading from the full-sized house that they had lived in, but at least now they had running water and electricity, which they could not complain about.
After they explored their new sleeping quarters, they went back outside and took a walk around the hatchery compound. They looked at the fish tanks, the pond, and the warehouse, just as the members before them. When they came up to the visitor center, they saw that both Logan and Bryce were inside.
Trevor stepped up to the door to the center and knocked lightly on the doorframe, “Hope we’re not interrupting anything.”
“Of course not, come on in,” Bryce told Trevor.
When Trevor stepped inside, his jaw practically hit the floor. Trevor and his guys looked around the room in awe. They hadn’t seen so many guns since they had been to the armory at Fort Huachuca.
“You’ve got quite a collection here,” Trevor said and waved his hand around the room.
“Yes sir, we’ve been lucky,” Bryce said.
“So what exactly is the plan for all of these weapons?” Trevor asked.
Bryce thought about how he wanted to respond, “My plan is to defend us, help people like you, and start to rebuild some semblance of normalcy.”
Trevor accepted Bryce’s answer and didn’t say anything else. Instead, he looked around and stopped to look harder at some of the military-grade hardware.
When Bryce saw Trevor eyeball one of the M4s, he said, “You guys are free to load up whatever you need. We encourage everyone to carry a weapon around here.”
Trevor, Anthony,
and the others didn’t waste any time diving into the armory. Jose went straight to the Squad Automatic Weapons and picked one he liked, accompanied by a large canister magazine that he immediately sat down and started to fill with ammunition. Trevor picked out an M4 that had an under the barrel grenade launcher attachment and a red dot sight. Nathan grabbed a slightly different M4 that had a longer barrel and a large magnification scope, not unlike the one he normally carried. Lastly, Anthony picked up an M4 that had a 100 round Beta C-Mag. All four of them had their standard military issue rifles back in their quarters, but these weapons were literally brand new, and needed a new home.
Before they wrapped it up, each soldier picked up a handgun, Jose picked up two, and they all grabbed ammunition and magazines.
Bryce gave them all an approving nod, and smiled at the men who looked like boys in a candy shop. Bryce didn’t mind at all that the soldiers had “kitted up” and made a sizeable dent in his armory supplies. He knew that these men knew how to use this hardware. These weapons in the hands of the soldiers would accomplish the tasks that Bryce needed to get done.
For now, however, he locked the door on the improvised armory and put the key in his pocket. Bryce and Logan accompanied the soldiers back to their new quarters and then decided to turn in for the night themselves.
Bryce looked forward to getting a decent night’s sleep and spending some time relaxing tomorrow. Not every day needed to be work and not every day needed to have death or fighting. Bryce knew that in order to restore civility to the world and to build his new world, the guys would need a break from it all from time to time. Tomorrow was one of those days, and he looked forward to it.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Hatchery Compound, Mogollon Rim, Arizona
In the morning, the sun came up on the hatchery and nobody noticed. There was no immediate work to be done, or any mission to complete. Bryce, Logan, their families, and everyone else in the hatchery slept soundly. Everyone that is, but Trevor Steele.
He sat outside the office building on the steps and wondered what the hell he was doing. He had taken three of his men straight from the Army, lived in a house fighting infected for weeks, and then settled into this place with these civilians. Sure there were Bryce and Logan, one of whom he had unknowingly served with, but he didn’t know these people. How could he honestly say that he was protecting his men by living with a bunch of strangers?
Besides that, he had officially abandoned the military. Their plan all along had been to store up supplies and make a concerted push toward another military base and try to meet up with another unit. Trevor knew that plan was fucked from the get go, because any military might that was left would undoubtedly be in a bunker somewhere, but it gave the men hope.
Now, he had consigned them to live with a bunch of women, children, old men, and two servicemen. Sure one was a SEAL, so that meant something, but one SEAL couldn’t save the world, and who really knew what the non-infantry quartermaster was capable of.
Trevor watched the sun rise, and field stripped the Glock 17C that he had picked out of the visitor center building. He cleaned it as best as he could without an actual cleaning kit. Then, he loaded seventeen rounds in the magazine and put it in a paddle holster he had picked up.
Trevor sat alone in silence until well after the sun had come up, and finally someone else stirred in the crew quarters building. He stood up, walked the short distance, opened the door, and walked right in.
Inside, Logan stood in his boxers, in the kitchen, and hovered over a coffee maker.
“Morning,” Trevor said quietly.
“Good morning, Trevor,” Logan said before he even looked to see who had come in.
It threw Trevor off for a second as he wondered how Logan had known it was him without even looking.
“Cream and sugar?” Logan asked and held up a coffee mug with steam that flowed from the top.
“Black is fine,” Trevor responded.
“Men of few words, such as yourself, often drink their coffee black,” Logan said, “I used to drink my coffee black too.”
“What changed?” Trevor asked.
“I retired. I left that life behind and never looked back,” Logan said as he pushed the mug toward Trevor.
Trevor accepted the mug and gave Logan a grunt in reply as he raised the mug to his lips. He didn’t let the fire pouring down his gullet show on his face. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was trying to prove to an old retired Navy SEAL, but he had set out to prove something.
Logan watched his demonstration and smiled.
“You know you don’t have to prove shit to me and Bryce, right?” Logan when Trevor was done.
This caught Trevor even more off guard than before. How could the man see right through him like that? It was if Logan could peer into his soul.
Trevor eased up a bit. “I’m not trying to prove anything, I’m just drinking your coffee,” he lied.
Deep down, he did feel like he had to prove something. He felt like he needed to be rough and tough, to prove to the group that he could be a soldier for them. He hoped that would be enough so that he could stick around.
That’s when it hit him like a ton of bricks: He needed to be able to stay here, and not only did he need it, he wanted it. Trevor knew that he wouldn’t find another place that had it as easy as this. He knew that if he left this place, they would end up dead somewhere else. This place was safe, and they had everything they needed. Suddenly, Trevor’s mood changed entirely.
“Thanks for the coffee Logan, I appreciate it,” Trevor said and sat down at the kitchen table.
“That’s a good lad,” Logan replied and sat down next to him.
***
Bryce woke up with a kink in his neck from sleeping next to his wife on a tiny one-person mattress. The fact that he slept on a mattress at all wasn’t all that bad, though; he knew it could be much worse.
He snuck out of the bedroom that he shared with his wife and son to head toward the kitchen. He could smell the coffee from down the hall and as he came around the corner he saw Logan with Trevor at the kitchen table.
“Morning, gents,” Bryce announced his presence.
The two of them both stopped their chat and welcomed Bryce into the conversation.
“So what’s on the roster today, Sir Bartlett?” Bryce asked.
“As far as I know, absolutely nothing,” Logan replied.
“Just the way I like it!” Bryce exclaimed, and then he asked, “Is anyone else awake yet?”
“No, I think it’s just us for now,” Logan told him.
“Well when they all roll out of bed I think I am going to take my kid fishing,” Bryce told them both.
“Seems reasonable to me,” Logan said.
They all sat around the kitchen table and bantered back and forth. Soon enough, more of the hatchery members had arisen from their slumber and breakfast was underway. With the smell of breakfast in the air, the children soon ran in as well.
After a little while, everyone piled into the kitchen for breakfast, Trevor’s men included. They all ate their meal and savored the powdered eggs, canned milk, and fresh baked muffins. Jessica, Cindy and Victoria put out quite the spread to feed all of the hungry mouths, and not one of them complained. Every single one of them knew how lucky they were to be able to sit down and have a warm, filling breakfast.
After breakfast had been gobbled up, Bryce decided it was time to pack up the kids and head down to their fishing hole just outside the hatchery compound. Bryce loaded up Trystan in the jogging stroller his wife had brought along and on days like today, he was glad to have it. The stroller was more than capable of handling the rugged terrain on their way to the stream next to the hatchery.
Logan brought all four of his kids, Robby, Rebecca, Sarah, and Timothy. They joined Bryce and Trystan in a huddle around a small fishing hole that Bryce swore had to have fish in it. Logan helped his kids find some worms in the wet cold soil near the pond, and they put the worms o
n their hooks. Bryce grabbed the smallest fishing pole he could find and got it ready for his son in a similar fashion. He tossed the line in the pond and let Trystan hold onto it like the other kids. Trystan held it for a few minutes, but quickly got bored and dropped the pole, in favor of playing in the water.
“Buddy,” Bryce said to Trystan. “That water’s freezing!”
Trystan just giggled and splashed in the water, not a care in the world.
Logan said to Trystan in a playful tone, “You’re scaring all the fishies away!”
"Uh-oh," Trystan responded with a serious face.
He got up and started to run around in the tall grass, as he chased a butterfly that had caught his attention for the next thirty seconds. Bryce kept an eye on his son, but ultimately let him have some space to play.
“He needs more time to run around and be a kid these days,” Bryce said.
“I hear ya, brother, my poor kids have gone through hell and back in the past month,” Logan replied.
Bryce just nodded, no further words were needed and so he continued to fish the pond, with enjoyment for the outdoors. The weather was great for a day of fishing. The sun was shining and it kept the cold at bay. With an average temperature in the sixties during the day, it could get a little chilly from time to time.
Timothy was the first one to catch a fish, and he went completely crazy. Trystan ran over, not quite sure what the fuss was about as Timothy reeled his line in a little too quickly. Timothy got the fish all the way up onto the shore and Logan grabbed it for him. Logan took out his multi-tool and wiggled the hook out of the fish’s mouth. It was a small trout and not even worth keeping.
“Okay, guys, we’re going to send this one back to its mother,” Logan said with a smile.
“But, Dad!” Timothy said.
“He’s not a big strong fishy yet, we have to let him grow more,” Logan told his son.
Trystan waved goodbye to the fish as Logan let it go back into the pond.
The Extinction Pandemic: A Post Apocalyptic Novel (The Hatchery Compound Book 1) Page 19
