Page 66 of Savagely Yours
As if she would have to wait that long to see me again.
“All right.”I love you.“I’ll see you soon.”I love you. “As soon as I can.”
The right side of her mouth curved upward. “The sooner the better.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
I took a seat in one of the wooden chairs at the large, rectangular table in the middle of the eighth-floor conference room. Prior to its current use, the room was a resident lounge area, the walls dark green and decorated with gold-framed pictures of different types of foliage.
The windows overlooked the remains of D.C., though most of the view was obstructed by treetops and mid-rise buildings. Yet, thefeelingof emptiness couldn’t be obscured. The Capital Dome was faintly visible, but even from this distance, there was a gut-deep sort of knowing that if there was life there, it didn’t look or sound like the life inside this room.
Or anywhere else in the camp.
Cerner usually sat at the head of the table, but he claimed the chair next to me. On the way in, I’d noticed round, linen-covered dining tables being set up in an adjacent room. Regardless of our current seating arrangement, I hoped Cerner knew things would remain the same as they had always been.
I ate alone.
I wasn’t a fan of vapid, purposeless, surface-level conversations. That I was going to “work” and attempting to stick to schedules in the first place was insane in and of itself.However, I did understand that people needed structure. Most people needed a society that was primarily familiar, with slight adjustments. Then, a Class Four named Wade Marshall told me that his wife was pregnant, which made me reevaluate my need to burn this place to the ground.
My plans could change.
I could kill Neal, Ronan, and Cerner.
After that, me and Larke could leave.
Totten didn’t have to fall if there were people who needed what it had to offer. Inside the walls, Marshall’s wife had access to Dr. Lin’s care. Still, I wanted to get my girl out of here as soon as possible. Something about the place didn’t sit right with me, and I truly believed that our destiny was to leave Totten behind.
The meeting, complete with an agenda—I was officially in the Twilight Zone—started with lower-ranking officers providing their updates. They briefed leadership on ongoing surveillance and workforce compliance among the guards. They also provided us with information about the latest survivors, most of whom had come by train, though a few stragglers on foot had shown up in the last few days.
Next, Dr. Lin gave updates on infection mortality, and he confirmed that Totten had recorded fourteen deaths due to the Infection. Yet, from Larke’s research, I knew six of those bodies remained unaccounted for.
I updated them on the zero security breaches we’d had since Solana’s entry. So far, I’d made little headway on the clean-cut lines in the barbed wire and the brand-new screws. However, a quick trip back revealed that the slab of wood over the drain grate had disappeared. I had a theory, but I had more investigating to do. Should my mind ever decide to stray from Larke for more than a few minutes at a time, I would make that investigation a priority.
Lastly, a microbiologist named Dr. Okoro informed us that Solana’s vitals were surprisingly normal, except for a few elevated inflammatory markers. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the equipment to do an “RNA analysis” or an “ELISA test” to check her “interleukin levels.”
It was all gibberish to me.
Then, apparently, there was an expert named Tayler Diaz who would have been the perfect person to call on in a functioning society, but the lab would do its best with the resources it currently possessed.
“We could break the supply run teams up by designation and purpose,” I suggested. “What machine did you say you needed for the, uh, RNA analysis?”
“Well, we’ll need more primers, reagents, a thermal cycler…” Dr. Okoro explained. “We could check some of the labs in the area. Totten still has electricity. We could make it work. The biggest hurdle will be finding what we needandhoping they’re not degraded.”
Not many people, if any, outside of those in the Totten lab would be able to identify primers, reagents, and thermal cyclers. Not only would the teams need experts, but they would also need adequate guns to protect those experts. Losing people like Dr. Lin and Dr. Okoro would destabilize the camp. It was funny how people like me were considered the lifeblood, but people like Lin and Okoro were the true beating heart.
Cerner wagged a finger in my direction. “You’re onto something, Harding. We could designate teams for medical supplies, food, recruitment, trade. Send an expert with a protective detail, so to speak. I mean, Totten’s growing. We definitely have the population now to do something like that.”
He smiled and patted my shoulder.
I inwardly cursed.
I didn’t want to appear invested in this place, but I’d been in enough authority roles that, at times, the inclination to lead slipped out.
Dr. Okoro returned to his seat as Neal walked up to the front of the room.
Ronan remained at the table.
Neal was the only one who walked around wearing suits. The remaining generals wore charcoal-black uniforms with silver accents; the charcoal helped to distinguish them from the Class One Elites’ matte black uniforms with black accents. Their uniforms also had black and silver epaulets and tailored collars, carrying the air of those who never actually served in combat roles.
