Free Genetic Drift by Martin Schulte Page B

sped up to Ben and walked by his side.
    As they walked on the deck and approached the building, the guard stopped Marcus, “You can’t come in,” he moved in between Marcus and the door.  
    Ben put his hand on the guard’s upper arm and gently pushed him out of the way, “The hell he can’t, he’s with me.  I’m taking him in.”  The guard looked at Ben’s face and saw how serious he was.  He moved back out of fear of making a militia lieutenant angry.  Marcus walked by the guard, glaring at him, and went through the door.  
    They were walking into the main planning area when Alan Pritchard shoved past them, heading out of the door.  “He’s definitely in a rush,” Ben said, “this is why I wanted you here.  I want to show you the map.”  Marcus looked down at the map as Ben pointed out the possible locations for other bunkers.  Ben pointed to an area of the map, “I’m concerned about sending a squad to this area.”  
    Marcus reviewed the map and then pointed to the same area, “Yeah, I would be concerned too.  But it would be smarter if you approach from this direction to limit their target angles.”  
    They continued to analyze the map until Alan Pritchard yelled, “Ben, come in here.”
    Marcus waited for what seemed like an eternity even though it was no more than ten minutes.  He drifted over to the window to see the scavengers starting to load large bulky sacks on the trucks.  His concentration was broken by Ben running out of Alan Pritchard’s office.  “ALL CONVOYS RETURN ASAP!” Ben yelled.  As he was notifying everyone of the situation, he caught his practical counterpart out of the corner of his eye and gestured to Marcus to follow him.  He approached the map table and ripped off the first two sheets and handed them to Marcus, “You’re going to need these.  You’re going with Pritchard.”  He explained that something had changed in Alan and that he did not trust him anymore.  “Make sure that those people and that stuff make it to Kentucky,” Ben told Marcus.
     

DAY 33
    HOMEWARD BOUND
    FLIGHT NUMBER 2354 FROM SAN DIEGO
     
    It was a good day, a grand day, a day that Marcus would return to his family.  He had been on a special operations mission with Okoye.  Finally, after nearly 12 months, he would be coming home.  He was cruising at 36,000 feet on his flight from San Diego to Norfolk.  He could hardly contain his excitement. 
    “What’s the first thing you’re going to do?” he asked Okoye, who was sitting in the aisle seat as Marcus sat next to the window.  
    “I don’t know, sleep, eat, and sleep some more,” Okoye was going through the same bout of happiness.  
    “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.  The first thing I’m going to do is pick up my son… the last time I held him, he was four-years-old.  And then, I’m going to kiss my wife and tell her how much I missed her.”  Marcus was fully dedicated to his family.   As the others would go out and find ways to blow off steam, he would spend his spare time writing letters and emails to his wife.  
    Okoye laughed at him and shook his head, “Y’all family guys, always have your priorities… When I’m done sleeping and eating, I’m going to buy a sweet new car.”  
    Okoye had five peanut wrappers on his lap and another package in his hands.  He emptied the entire bag in his mouth while watching the second inflight movie.  The scene he was watching made him laugh, the laugh developed into a cough, and the cough caused some of the chewed peanuts to blow through his nose.  “Ugh, that’s not pretty,” he said as he looked down at his hands and saw the combination of snot and crushed peanuts, “yuck.”  Marcus burst out in laughter as he saw Okoye struggle to get out of his seat.  Okoye finally got to his feet, completely mindless of the peanut wrappers falling to the floor. “I’ll be back bro,” Okoye told Marcus with his hands in the air so as not to touch