Eufala, Alabama 02/19/2053
“Dr. Totter, may I speak with you about the security measures for your trip?” Zane, bearded, muscular, was poised and looming over her, and she fought the urge to take a step backward.
Vivian Totter looked over her shoulder at the lookout tower’s viewing window. “So, you tracked me down!” She turned from the view of the no-man’s-land between the concertina-wire fences to face him. She’d always loved taking a bird’s-eye view this way. “I was just taking a few minutes’ alone time. So much has happened since the vaccine tested out.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zane drawled courteously. He shook her soft doctor’s hand with his hard warrior’s one. “It’s a great thing you did. Wiping out the zombie virus for good!” He grinned, quirked smile blooming through his blonde beard like a wild spring crocus, appealing in such a seeming brute of a man.
Vivian’s chest swelled with pride, restrained in favor of humility. There were still so many possible slipups! But if they could get enough people vaccinated to build herd immunity, there would come a day, in her lifetime, when no one would ever have to watch a loved one turn into a flesh-eating zombie again.
“We’ve got a long way to go before that happens,” Vivian said. “As the transmission chain’s broken, there’ll still be a lot of infected subjects to hunt down.” She tilted her chin at the wall of hirsute human muscle standing before her. “There’ll be work for people like you for a long time to come.”
Zane preened ever so slightly under her glance and she found herself swallowing hard. His searching awareness demanded she lock gazes with his blue eyes.
He blinked, moment over, smiled deferentially. “Have you traveled in the armored units before?”
“Short distances.”
Zane briefed her in his tranquil drawl: “They’re not too comfortable, for sure. But they are safe. As for the threats we’ll be facing: It’s important that we all stay alert. Even though, with the vaccine, almost no new ones are converting, they still live three years.” He tensed and added, “As I’m sure you know!”
“That’s right. Three years, more or less.” She nodded.
He relaxed back into his authority. “And everyone within about sixty miles of here has been vaccinated, so there’ve been no new infections. It’s a beautiful thing, Dr. Totter,” he said. “They’re fading away, slowly but surely.” His voice jittered with barely contained excitement. “But, as we get outside that sixty-mile radius, we’ll start running into deaders again… thick. We’ll be four cars,” he continued, “first and last car, armed security, the second you and your grandmother. Umm, Doctor Totter, are you sure you want her to come with? It’s not gonna be easy. The roads are damn rough and we may have to go awhile between food and, er, bathroom breaks. There could be some engagements with zombies. It could be really unpleasant.”
Vivian chuckled. “I won’t tell her she can’t go, and I’m willing to bet you don’t want to, either! Grandma’s pretty spry for 75. We’ll cushion her seat real well, and she’s already rigged up a diaper for herself. She eats like a bird. As for ‘unpleasant,’ Grandma got me and my ma out of Huntsville and into this compound safely when the shit hit the fan back in ‘23. I’m willing to bet she could tell some stories might scare even you!”
He put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, just making sure. Anyway, it’ll take about four hours to reach our first waypoint.”
Zane opened the door and stood back to let her descend the watchtower steps. She didn’t look to see if he was watching her body from behind—too disappointing if he wasn’t. Ever since the vaccine had passed its quick-and-dirty clinical trial (n = everyone in Eufala), people had begun to defer to her authority, and she wasn’t used to it. She was barely used to being in charge of the medical team at the compound since Ralph retired: two other doctors, six nurses, and herself. The only one of the lot who’d been to actual medical school was Ralph, now approaching 80; he’d trained both her and her colleague Dillon. That was the norm nowadays; the population centers that supported big universities and
