“It’s a military base,” said Barry. He’d been home from his recon mission since sundown, changed back from the energy form, and eaten two peanut-butter sandwiches on the way from Four to Roddenberry. He was working on the third. It had apple slices in it that crunched whenever he took a bite.
They were in Stealth’s conference room. The cloaked woman had spread another map across the table, this one showing most of the American southwest. The thought flitted through St. George’s mind that he had no idea where she got all her maps from. Maybe she’d looted a travel store at some point before they founded the Mount.
Barry placed his hands on the edge of the table and heaved himself up out of his wheelchair. “Army, if I remember my camo patterns and stuff,” he continued, “but I’m pretty sure I saw Air Force there, too, and maybe a couple of Marines.”
“All working together on one base?” said St. George. “Isn’t that a little odd?”
“Unusual, but not unheard of,” said Stealth. Her black-gloved finger traced out an area in southwest Arizona. “The most likely candidate is the Yuma Proving Ground.”
“Didn’t seem that big,” said Barry. “This was just two or three little places and a small airstrip, none of them much bigger than the Mount.” He took another bite of his sandwich.
“There are a lot of sub-bases in the proving ground,” said Danielle. She reached up and brushed a stringy lock of strawberry-blonde hair away from her freckled face, then swiped at it again when it dropped back down. The only way she could attend was to take off the Cerberus armor, and she was fidgeting. It had taken St. George an hour to convince her to take it off. “I did a quick trip out there once to test the mount for the arm cannons. As a whole it might be overrun, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was still a functioning base or two there somewhere.”
Barry studied the map while he chewed. “I think it was around here,” he said, twiddling his fingers at part of the map. “There was a pretty decent-sized area with a triple-fence where most of the activity was. A couple hundred exes outside. Forty or fifty buildings, a helipad, and a power substation pulling from somewhere off-base. And there was an airstrip twenty or so miles from there where the Predator was docked or parked or whatever you say. It looked pretty clean and ex-free, too.”
“How many people?”
He shrugged. “Not sure. Looked like a lot less than us. I mean, the original us. Skeleton crew guarding the walls. A lot of buildings, but it didn’t look overcrowded. You know how we’ve got tents on rooftops and all that? There’s none of that.”
St. George looked at the distance between the proving grounds and the city of Yuma. “Any civilians?”
Barry shook his head. “If there were, I didn’t see them.”
Stealth shook her head. “It is unlikely a military base would have large numbers of civilian refugees.”
Danielle frowned. “It’s not like the movies, you know,” she said. “In a real crisis protecting civilians would be a top priority.”
“It is unfortunate, then, that the ex-virus was not recognized as a real crisis sooner,” said the hooded woman.
St. George let out a slow breath and a wisp of dark smoke curled from his nostrils. “So this is real,” he said. “The military’s still up and running and they’re looking for us.”
“There is the possibility the base and its resources are being used by other survivors,” said Stealth, “but the logical assumption is this is a functioning base staffed by the U.S. Army.”
They all stared at the map for a few moments.
“Look, I hate to be the serious one here,” said Barry, “but are we sure this is a good thing?”
They looked at him. Danielle frowned again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“These guys have been on their own at least as long as we have,” he said. “We don’t know what kind of shape they’re in, physically or mentally.”
St. George’s lips twisted into a thin smile. “Still worried about a crazy military?”
“A little, yeah.” He shrugged again. “I just think we should be a bit cautious before we go running up to hug a bunch of heavily-armed guys who’ve been standing out in the sun for two years.”
“There’s the other side of that coin,” said Danielle. “We don’t know they’re alone. For all we know there are military installations and population centers all over the country that are connected.”
“We have seen no evidence of such a thing,” said Stealth.
“And I’ve never heard it,” said Barry, waving his half-sandwich in the air. “Even if they were all on the east coast, I’d see something in the air now and then.”
“I’m just saying it could be,” insisted the redhead. “Let’s not convince ourselves this is a bad thing before we have more evidence.”
“Let’s not forget something else,” said St. George. “They know we’re out here now. We sent them a message through their Predator.”
Barry nodded. “That we did.”