Free Under a Tell-Tale Sky: Disruption - Book 1 by R.E. McDermott Page A

couldn’t restrain himself. “Why, Jimmy? I know you live in Virginia, but I thought you told me you didn’t have any family left there.”
    “Just my ex-wife,” Jimmy said, “but I ain’t hanging around because of her, Chief. Matter of fact, if you looked up ‘bitch’ in the dictionary, there’s a picture of her.”
    The room erupted in tension-easing laughter and Jimmy let it die before he continued. “No, and with all due respect to you folks from the Gulf Coast, if this is the Apocalypse, I’d just as soon not spend it in plus ninety percent humidity, and with skeeters that can stand flat-footed and rape turkeys. Every time I get bit by one of those damn Texas mosquitoes, I swell up like a balloon, and I got a feeling Deep Woods Off is gonna be in short supply pretty soon. I think I’ll try to find me some place to lay low here in North Carolina and ride it out.”
    Hughes glanced across the room and saw Levi struggling to suppress a smile, and he in turn suppressed a spark of irritation. It dissipated as quickly as it arose. Levi had agreed not to offer options until the crew had made up their own minds, and he’d kept his part of the bargain.
    M/V Pecos Trader
    Captain’s Office
     
    Day 7, 11:30 a.m.
    Levi sat across from the captain, nursing the coffee Hughes had pressed on him and feeling a bit nervous. As laid back as things generally were on merchant ships and as long as Levi had been a valued member of the crew, an unlicensed crewman being invited up to coffee with the Old Man was still something outside his experience. But then again, nothing was ever likely to be ‘normal’ by ‘old world’ standards again. That said, he’d still rather be out on deck with Anthony, seeing to the repairs of their boat. He looked over at Hughes as the man heaved an audible sigh.
    “Looks like you were right about all this ‘prepper’ stuff you’ve been preaching the last few years, Levi,” Hughes said. “This really looks bad, and I suspect it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
    If it ever does, thought Levi. “I take no satisfaction in being right, Captain. I could have happily lived my whole life being prepared for something that never happened.”
    “Well, be that as it may, it looks like you WERE right and, you’ve got at least one recruit. I have to say we really hate to lose Jimmy too.”
    “I understand, Captain,” Levi said, “but he did make up his mind without any influence from me. Fact is, I don’t even know if he’ll ultimately decide to stay with us or not. I just have to put it to him and see what happens.” Levi paused. “But we need to talk about resources. I don’t think you can rightly just send these guys off empty-handed, so how do you see this playing out?”
    Hughes smiled wanly. “Something tells me you already have some ideas along those lines.”
    Levi nodded. “I’m willing to take Jimmy, Tex, and Wiggins to our place. Jimmy can look things over and decide whether he wants to stay or go off on his own, and I’ll help Tex and Wiggins figure out the best route to where they’re going and supply them as well as I can. Thing is, you can’t just give them their share of the payoff cash and say goodbye. If cash isn’t already completely useless, it likely will be in a week anyway. I can give them all the water they can carry, and some hiking gear, but you’re going to have to kick in some food. I can’t afford to be depleting my own family’s stores.”
    “Ahh … aren’t you forgetting someone?”
    Levi shook his head. “I’m sorry, Captain, but we’re not taking Singletary. We won’t have room in the boat.”
    “I suspect that’s bullshit, Levi,” Hughes said, “but on the off chance it’s not, we can solve that problem. I’ll have the mate tow you upriver with the fast rescue boat and carry the extra load. From the chart it looks like you can take the Brunswick into the upper river system and bypass Wilmington. I expect she can have