“I risked my life for them.” He held up a half-eaten candy bar. “These Snickers are my one and only joy in life so you’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
When I turned back to Tyler, he had moved closer to Clutch.
“We need to ration harder. Vicki says we need to move to a diet of at least ninety percent grain,” Tyler said in a low voice. “Without fresh meat and vegetables, we’re going through our food stores four times as fast as we calculated.”
Clutch’s lips thinned. “People aren’t going to like to hear it.”
I winced. They weren’t going to like to hear that news at all, but we had no other option. Heading to the mainland was out of the question. Worse, enough zeds had fallen in the water and scared the fish away, not that I could yet take a bite of fish without gagging. More and more zeds were washing ashore and now lingered on our island.
As long as the zeds were out there, we were stuck in what could easily become our tomb. “We need to get the zeds away from the Aurora,” I said my thoughts aloud.
Tyler chuckled. “Want me to get on the bullhorn and order the zeds to leave?”
Clutch was watching me all too closely.
“I’ll do it,” I said after a moment. “I’ll lead the herds away from the river barge.”
“Cash…” Clutch warned.
I gave him a pleading look. I knew the odds. I’d been an actuary before the outbreak, but I figured the odds out on the river couldn’t be any worse than staying on the boat. Staying on the boat was only delaying the odds. “If we don’t do something, who knows how long the herds will stay. If we wait until we are out of food, it’ll be too late. You know how long it took to build up the reserves we’re burning through. The winter may kill the zeds, but without our livestock, it’s going to kill us, too. I’ll take a boat and run the Pied Piper plan.”
“We’ve only tried that with tiny herds, a few dozen zeds at most,” Tyler said.
“The plan hasn’t failed yet,” I countered.
Clutch watched me for a moment—it was a calculating gaze—and then turned to Tyler. “I’ll lead the mission. I want Cash and Jase to stay on the Aurora.”
“Like hell,” I said. “Camp Fox needs you more than it needs me.”
Clutch grabbed my arms. “What happens when you come up against a lock or a dam?”
“I’ll figure out something. What would you do?”
He shook his head. “Leading them away is one thing. How are you going to turn around and get past them and back to the boat?”
“I’ll bring plenty of supplies and hide out until the coast is clear.”
His brows rose and his lips tightened.
“The idea could work,” Tyler mused. “But it’s dangerous. It’s awfully dangerous.”
“What other option do we have?” I asked. “If I fail, you still have time to figure out other options.”
“If we fail,” Clutch added. “We’re a team.”
I tried not to look relieved, but the idea of not having Clutch along terrified me. I smiled and gave a single nod.
“I’m in,” Jase said, and I looked around, realizing we’d drawn the attention of everyone in the room.
Clutch glared at Jase. “Now, hold on a minute.”
“This is a Charlie team mission, right?” Jase asked. “I’m a Coyote. You’re not going to make me sit this one out. We’re in this together.”
Part of me wanted to scream at Jase to stay behind where it was safer, and I suspected it was exactly how Clutch felt about both Jase and me. But Jase was right. We were in it together.
Clutch sighed. “We don’t even know if the plan could work on this scale.”
“What could work?” Manny asked as he entered the quarters.
“We’re forming a small team to lead the zeds away,” Tyler said.
“I’m in if the kid ponies up a candy bar from his stash,” Griz said.
“Heck, no,” Jase said, and the two poked jabs at each other.