Payload by RW Krpoun Page B

driver and front passenger, a sofa (with a hide-a-bed), booth, and sound-proofed water closet with a toilet and sink on the driver’s side, and a settee/hide-a-bed, fridge, kitchen, and closet for a stacked washer/dryer on the passenger side. A king-sized bed was behind an interior wall, with a full bathroom beyond that.
    “After action report: anyone learn anything?”
    “Older ones look dead, move better,” Addison mumbled from his seat in the booth, the RV’s owner’s manual open in front of him.
    “They don’t like being led,” Captain Jack observed, giving Dyson and Doc water. “We had quite a challenge keeping up our end of the operation. When it was apparent they were taking losses to no gain they kept turning back to the vehicle park.”
    “Interesting,” Marv leaned over and grabbed Doc in a headlock, cruelly twisting the smaller man double. “The next time I tell you to stand guard and you wander off,” he said in a conversational tone, “I’m going to turn you upside down and use you as a pogo stick. You understand?”
    “But there was stuff ,” Doc protested, then screeched as the Ranger tightened his grip.
    “When you stand watch, you have our lives in your hands,” Marv explained calmly. “If you go to sleep or wander off to find stuff, you place us all in great danger, because we’re counting on you.”
    “… stuff ,” Doc gasped.
    Sighing, the Ranger released the medic, then punched him squarely in the stomach, dropping Doc to the floor. “And the next time I tell you to do something in the middle of a firefight, like drop a duffle bag so I don’t get ripped to shreds by an infected, and you don’t, you’ve gonna regret it.” Reaching down, he unbuckled the katana’s strap.
    “That’s mine !” Doc gasped around the ache in his belly.
    “Fix the sat phone, and we’ll talk,” the Ranger snapped. Struck by inspiration, he jabbed the tip of the scabbard into Docs chest. “Next time you screw up I’m bending this into a circle.”
    Sitting by Dyson, who was reloading his speed loaders, Marv began refilling his magazines.
    Once he was confident that Bear had the RV in hand JD rose and began sorting through the supplies they had salvaged and the luggage left behind.
    Addison rose and checked the thermostat, and then rooted under each of the three sinks, finally opening the fridge and freezer and checking displays. “Hot water in thirty minutes,” he mumbled. “Gonna get the washer on line.”
    “I’ll settle for a cold shower now, if no one minds,” Captain Jack stood up and offered Doc a hand, helping the purple-faced medic into a seat in the booth. “How is our water, Addison?”
    “Full,” the dark-haired man mumbled. “Clean.”
    “Very good. I suggest we ration ourselves to five minutes each, agreed? Excellent. If you would time me, Addison? A thump on the wall when I have thirty seconds would suffice.”
    “The GPS is off-line,” Bear announced. “Georgia border in six miles. Any ideas?”
    Marv found the battered road atlas and moved up to the passenger’s captains-chair. “It looks like there’s major swamps to either side of the Interstate up ahead, so we need to get to Valdosta, about thirty miles north of the border, and then head northwest on Georgia Highway One Thirty-Three. There’s a Marine logistics base to the northwest.”
    “OK.”
    Marv took the payload and moved back to the booth; Dyson moved to the passenger seat, while Addison was examining the stove. “Look, Doc, I don’t like hitting you, but you have to keep your mind on the game. We need to be able to count on you-everyone here has to be able to trust each other with their lives. With you rooting in that vehicle, one infected could have come from the west and rolled us up.”
    “But there was great gear ,” Doc protested.
    The Ranger stated into the little man’s face. Finally rising, he slapped the medic on the shoulder. “Think about what I said. You wouldn’t want one of us