Chapter 34

"Those people in your prison that we saw when we went to interrogate the shooter. Who are they?" Tom asked Senator Pierce and Commissioner Holliday, he really wanted to lock the man up but now wasn't the time as he needed someone who knew what was going on and while they had the packet from Lt Commander Burk.

In less than an hour; Lt Granderson, Burk and Wolf would be back in St Louis. Lt Commander Cameron Burk with them even if he was reluctant to leave his post. But Tom had been forceful in his order reminding the man that there was still a chain of command he was outranked him. He had met Burk's older brother at a rubber chicken dinner a few years ago. He knew the young man had a fairly impressive record as a sailor and officer but it seemed in the last few months he might have gotten too big for his own boots as he'd spoken to Tom in a manner that could be considered insubordinate. But Tom was letting slide for now as the world they knew was in disarray.

"People, we've collected and don't think we're going to release them either. You don't have a solution for our problem and your military abandoned us." Holliday told him, he folded his arms as he truly felt his choices was completely acceptable given he was protecting the majority. Tom didn't know why but he had a feeling Holliday wasn't really cop or not a very good one as it should cut across the grain for him to go against the ethos of being a police officer.

"The military didn't abandon you" Tom told Holliday as they were all standing in the command centre looking over the updated maps of America and their region. He already had an idea of how to tackle the problem but he needed Lt Commander Burk on hand to help him coordinate it as the man had a better idea of what was going on and what was in their realm of possible actions.

"Well, we only have a week to produce Miss Taylor or the Scavengers will overrun and destroy this zone. Just hand her over and save us all the time" Holliday told him in a firm tone that said there was no point in trying to fight the inevitable.

"How many Scavengers are there out there?" Tom asked him.

"We don't know given they don't exactly do roll call." Holliday said snidely.

"How about you cut the attitude and help me here." Tom told the man.

"Julian Heldt is not a man to messed around with and he's been looking for this girl for a while. Now we're lucky he's giving us a deadline. So we have her, let's finish this." Holliday said plain and simple.

"Handing her over to Heldt only buys you time, it doesn't solve the ongoing problem." Tom argued.

"What do you suggest we do?" Holliday asked throwing his hands up in annoyance.

"How many men and women do you have under your command?" Tom asked him.

"105 police officers in this city and it's barely enough but thankfully people understand that committing a crime can lead you to becoming sport." Holliday told him.

"A real deterrent I'm sure." Mike drawled as he joined them, he looked to Tom and moved close to his side. "Emmerson's gone dark." Mike told Tom in a low voice to him. Tom felt his stomach bottom out as he couldn't help but think the worst. He stepped away from the others to the far side of the room. Tom didn't want them overhearing their conversation.

"Where did he take her?" Tom asked him, he'd let Mike handle that side of business as he knew nothing about the procedures of placing someone into witness protection or how to handle Rachel's situation. Mike's background as a cop and detective had come in handy on the front.

"He stayed within the state lines which one would think is a small blessing given what we've learned. I've dispatched a team to find out but it will take them a few hours to get there as it's rough terrain." Mike told him.

"We should never have sent her away." Tom said to him, kicking himself for thinking Rachel leaving their sight was a good thing.

"It had to be done, let's just hope for the best." Mike said.

"But prepare for the worst. You look into our friend here?" Tom asked referring to Holliday, they knew the Senator was who he claimed to be as he'd been strongly against the military and tried cutting their funding in the last budget review. It wasn't hard to forget the bigwigs who supported and those who were against them especially when they made as much noise as Senator Pierce had made.

"Yeah, found nothing before the pandemic." Mike said to him.

"Think he's one of them?" Tom said as it made sense for the Scavengers to have someone in a high up position to make sure all the Zone leaders were doing as they were told.

"Could be," Mike said not ready to say either way but he couldn't believe that any policeman under the age of forty earned the right to be his mind it was a job given to men and women who had a few more battle scars and experience under their belts.

"Hey, you're looking a little green there." Wolf said to Doc, as they were in a tiny 10 seater plane flying towards St Louis. He was glad that the Captain had been able to re-establish communications with them and ordered them back. They were just luck there was a pilot and small airfield nearby. Luckily there hadn't been any resistance getting to the airfield from the scavengers.

"I think I don't like flying." Doc told him as she gripped the armrest between their seat to the point her knuckles were white. She also didn't look so great as she did look green and ready to vomit as she was slowly inhaling and exhaling but in her defense it wasn't a smooth flight.

"Think?" he asked her, already knowing the answer but felt the need to distract her.

"First flight I can remember and I'm not liking." She told him with a weak smile.

"Well, don't worry it's a short flight." Wolf assured her feeling bad for her as it was rough to find out you didn't like something and then have to endure an hour and half of it with rough turbulence.

"Oh yeah what's there to worry about? The possible vomit, the fact we're flying in a coke can with wings thousands of miles above solid ground-" She started but Wolf cut her off.

"Ok, I'd say go to your happy place but you probably don't remember where it is." Wolf teased her, she gave him a droll look and shook her head at him.

"I bet you're happy. Getting back to your sister though you're going to pay for it with your concussion and all this bouncing around." Doc told him, a little happy that he'd probably have a killer of a headache so she was going to let his poor humour roll off her.

"I'll live." he said with a half shrug as he looked forward. The plane dipped as it hit an air pocket, Doc gave a muffled squeal as she swore they were all going to die in a horrible plane crash. Wolf placed his hand on top of hers. The contact of his warm strong hand seemed to soothe her some.

"It's ok." he told her.

"What's your sister like?" Doc asked him as the plane levelled out and mental imagery of their dead bodies being impaled on hot twisted metal slowly went to the back of her mind. She blew out a slow breath and did her best to be cool even though she was failing.

"Smart, looks like me with longer hair." Wolf told her.

"She must be one ugly woman." Doc said to him with an amused smile, Wolf chuckled.

"Cheers." he replied drily.

"Well, you know you're alright looking for a guy." Doc said with a shrug, trying once to be cool but a light blush crept across her cheeks. So she was lying but there was no way in hell she'd feed his ego.

"Tell me you're a lesbian because that hurts." Wolf told her in a mocking manner.

"I have no idea." She offered with an innocent smile

"One way to find out." He told her with a grin. She pursed her lips trying not to smile at the subtle offer that made her wonder if he was truly having a joke at her expense or flirting with her.

"Yeah because in this crazy post apocalyptic world learning what my sexual orientation is top priority." She remarked in wry manner.

"I'd say so for the sake of my ego and vanity." he deadpanned.

"Can't sleep?" Tex asked Kat, who just came down the stairs. He was having trouble sleeping himself as he was sitting on the couch in his own thoughts.

"Yeah." She told him as she went to the fridge and pulled out the milk. She placed some into a saucepan and turned on the hotplate warming it up. "Honey milk?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm good." Tex said with a soft smile as honey milk was her go to drink when she couldn't sleep. It seemed Kat learned well.

"Do you think Larrin is really ok?" Kat asked him as she warmed the milk on the stove and moved around the kitchen pulling out the honey in preparation.

"Yeah, Kara said she's banged up a bit but she'll be fine." Tex assured her, watching Kat and seeing so much of Claire in the way she moved and looked. It gave him a slight pang of grief at Claire being gone,knowing that he was definitely a poor replacement for parent. But he was going to do his best for her.

Kat remained silent for a few minutes and made her honey milk. Tex wished not for the first time in many years that he was a mind reader as he could see Kat was chewing on something in her head. She sat down on the lounge curling up into the corner with her leg folded and her bug in her hands.

"I remember you and Mom doing that when you were just a tiny titch. Sharing honey milk. Though you'd be in her lap trying to steal the mug from her." Tex said with a soft smile, the memory of Kat being 4 years old sitting in Claire's lap played through in his mind. He could hear Claire's musical laugh as she showed Kat all the patience in the world as the milk cooled down.

Kat looked at him and gave a smile, even with grief threatening to overwhelm her. "Honey milk is just as good as ice cream. Sometimes even better." Kat told him, she drank a sip of honey milk enjoying the soft and warm feelings that wrapped up inside her as it invoked good memories and brought her comfort from years of drinking it to help her sleep.

"You know, you can talk to me about anything. I know I got a lot to make up for but know I'm not going anywhere." He told her sincerely.

"I know." Kat said, overwhelmed as she saw how much it meant for him to be acknowledge. Just as much as it meant to her that he was here and trying. After the years of coming and going; she was glad he was finally putting down roots for her which was why she was doing her best not to resent that it took him so long to get here. That a pandemic and her losing her Mom brought him here. "But I'm worried." she admitted to him.

"About what?" he asked her.

"Larrin," Kat said, she really liked the young woman. They'd become friends, in some ways Kat felt like Larrin was like the older sister she wanted. Someone to lean on but could tell secrets to without getting into trouble. "She told me some stuff about where she was before St Louis. We both know what it's like out there." She said, trying to tell her Dad without giving too much away because she was worried about Larrin and it was too far out of her realm to help her.

"You should know Court told me what happened with Mom. About the scavengers who came around the place," Tex told her, Kat looked down at her cup and nodded as she knew the old man would tell her Dad. She wasn't trying to hide it but she also hadn't wanted him to give her platitudes.

"Larrin's like me, we just did what we had to to survive. But she feels really guilty about what she did but I feel guilty because I was too slow not because of what I did." Kat said to him, she watched as Tex took a deep breath and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I can understand that feeling as I also feel guilty for being too slow in getting to you and Mom." Tex told her, Kat nodded as she knew how he felt on the score. It was why she wasn't angry at him.

"You were helping the Nathan James in getting the cure." She said, Tex smiled even though he didn't feel absolved.

"You did the best you could to save Mom. She knows that and so do I. You're going to carry what happened with you for a while, but you shouldn't let it eat you up. You got a whole future ahead of you." He told her.

"I know." Kat told him with a nod as it was what Larrin had told , she said to put it behind her and keep moving forward as there was no way she could change the past. Dwelling on it didn't serve any purpose but wasting time and energy; something Kat wished Larrin would do for herself as she saw the way Larrin's guilt ate at her. Sure she pretended she was fine but in the quiet moments Kat saw behind the mask.

"And if you ever want to talk about it. Don't hesitate, I don't care if it's not me. Just as long as you talk with someone about it. If you feel you need more help than anyone in this house can provide I'll do what I can to get it for you. You just gotta say the word." Tex told her.

"I will." Kat assured him. "But it's not me who needs help. It's Larrin, she's in trouble." she told him.