The Z Contingency

Chapter 61

Bubba woke with a start, sensing something was wrong. He looked at his watch. 04:28. It was nearly half an hour since Clarence was supposed to wake him to take over watch. “That kid had better not be sleeping,” he muttered. Quietly, so as not to wake the others, Bubba got up to look for Clarence. He then went into the restroom facilities first, because he remembered that Clarence did not look well after dinner, but didn’t see Clarence there. Then he peeked inside each of the tents, looked inside the vehicles, and scouted the woods around the perimeter of the campsite.

After confirming that Clarence wasn’t anywhere near the campsite, Bubba quickly went back to camp and roused the others. “Clarence is gone,” he loudly whispered at the ear of each of the sleeping group members.

Most of the group were groggy from the past few days. They were still mentally and physically exhausted with the stress of being constantly alert and just dealing with the insanity of their experiences. Those who could respond, only managed incoherent mumbles. The others just tried to rub the sleep out of their eyes without responding at all. All except for Simon, who was immediately alert.

“You’ve searched the immediate area? Is everyone else accounted for?” were the first two questions from Simon. After getting affirmative answers to both questions from Bubba, Simon raised his voice so the others could hear. “Everyone look around. See if anything is missing.”

“Did that Z Prep group kidnap Clarence?” asked Earl.

“Not likely. Why would they sneak into our camp just to kidnap someone they don’t know? I’m pretty sure they didn’t even see him.” said Bubba.

“He run off then?”

Before Bubba could respond, Natalie cried out “They’re gone! The ramps are gone. Did Clarence take them? But why?”

“He thinks they’re the cure for the virus.” Gary reflected on the conversations from the past few days to try recalling what they had shared with Clarence and the others. “He doesn’t know that the ramps alone would only slow down the progression of the disease, not stop it altogether.”

“He kept asking why we didn’t stay with Z Prep, and saying that we’d all be safer together as a larger group,” added Bubba. “I’ll bet he went back there.”

“He probably took the ramps as an offering, or maybe he just kept them to use for himself. Remember how he wanted to horde them?”

“We have to get him before he gets to the Z Prep compound. We have to get the ramps back or we won’t be able to work on the cure. It will take too long if we have to go back to Appalachia to harvest more, and there’s no telling whether there’s free passage at this time.” Simon was thinking of the likelihood that the National Guard would now be stopping all ground traffic, in hopes of containing the spread of the disease, or worse, that panicky groups would be doing exactly what Z Prep had threatened: hunting down and exterminating those they suspected of being infected.

“It’ll be quicker if only a small group of us go after him,” said Bubba. “I may have some tiny bit of sway with them. Maybe it’ll be enough to keep them from shooting us on sight.”

“What do you mean ‘shooting us on sight’?” a voice from the group asked. “What happened back there?”

Bubba quickly replayed the exchange that he and Simon had with the Z Prep members earlier, emphasizing their desire to kill the infected.

“That means….” someone said hesitantly, before trailing off.

The group fell silent, knowing what fate might be awaiting Clarence. Gary voiced what was going through all their minds. “He doesn’t know they’ll kill him if he goes back....” his voice trailed off, letting the silence engulf the group again.

Simon broke the silence. “Quickly! We have to move.”

“I’ll come with you. Earl and Dean should come too.” Simon then looked to Gary. “You in?”

“Yeah. I’m in.”

“No!” Natalie’s response was sharper than she had intended. “No,” she repeated in a calmer tone. “I need Gary here to discuss working on the cure. We’re still a long way off, and without those ramps we may be even farther.”

“But....” Gary started to protest.

“Gary, you’re going to be much more valuable to the group here.”

Gary started to argue, but caught a strange look in Natalie’s eyes that caused him to stop.

“I’ll go,” Tyler interjected with a trace of hesitation in his voice. Simon, Bubba, and some of the others all looked at him in amazement.

While they had been discussing who would go in search of Clarence, Bubba had been scouting the area for signs. “He went off in this direction.”

“It’s settled.” Simon’s voice was stern. “Let’s move out. Bubba, you take point. Earl, you...”

“I’ll bring up the rear,” Tyler volunteered before Simon could finish speaking. Simon gave Tyler a curious glance, suspecting that Tyler did not comprehend the dangers associated with the rear position in what was now hostile territory.