Page 39 of Night of the Living Manny
The development team had just outpaced him, pushed and pushed by the government subsidies.
Dammit!
He’d needed another three months for an antidote; then they’d be safe. He’d have had it too, if it hadn’t been for Greg’s greed.
Now he had to figure it out in the damn basement lab in as few hours as he could.
Motherfucker.
He sped up, grinding his teeth against his panic.
“Hey. Take it easy, huh? I know this is serious, but we need to make it there in one piece.” Brenden’s voice was totally soothing.
“We will. We’re close. Real close.”
“Most accidents happen within five miles of your destination,” Brenden said primly.
When he gave an outraged stare, Brenden winked, making him stifle a bark of laughter.
“We’re almost to the road, Dad.”
“Thank you.” He slowed down, his eyes peeled. The turnoff to the windy road up to the cabin was deliberately tough to see, so they could hide out.
“There it is,” Susanna said. “To your left.”
He only had to slam on the brakes a little. He turned, and Peter rumbled a tiny bit in his sleep.
They rattled down the old road and then pushed on when the road became a rutted trail. The Hummer could take it. Sometime later tonight he would come down and scrub out the tire marks at the main road.
Not that anyone but the military would care. The infected would use their noses.
He gripped the steering wheel when they bumped through a new and deep depression clearly caused by the spring runoff. He’d have to fix that at some point too.
“Damn. Is that… is that on purpose?”
“Runoff.”
“We’ll need to grade the road eventually.”
Liam nodded, trying not to think how nice that “we” sounded. Brenden needed to be safe with them, but he hadn’t signed on for… this mess.
Still, Liam needed a nanny now more than ever. A nanny, a teacher, a friend—another adult to talk to, because if the infection spread like the simulations suggested….
God.
He swallowed hard. They would have to wash down the Hummer, make sure it wasn’t bloody. The half-life of this virus was pretty short, though, in open air. That was a plus.
Blood to blood was… harsh. And fast. He should have been more aware of the signs, should have looked harder into Greg’s disappearance.
Liam shook his head hard. None of them were going to get this virus. Period.
He couldn’t bear that. Dammit.
“Okay, we’re at the gate.”
“I’ll get it, Daddy.”
“No. You stay in the car. All of you. Don’t you let anyone in or out but me, Brenden.”
