They exchanged a brief smile and squeezed each other’s hands before resuming their meal.

 

“We ran into a guy who was building a trading post just outside of Black Mountain about a month ago.” Sarah said.

 

“A trading post? Is he nuts?” I asked.

 

Tom shrugged. “I thought he was crazy too. The post was on a stretch of highway that connected a few groups of survivors he said he’d made contact with. If what he said about the other people was true, maybe he was onto something.”

 

I considered that. “We have a HAM radio back at our cabin,” I said, “we’ve managed to make contact with a few scattered communities out west.”

 

They both looked up at that.

 

“Really? Where?” Sarah asked.

 

“All over the place.” Gabe said, jumping in. “I’ve spoken with people as close as Tennessee, and as far away as California. There’s more out there, but not all of them have power or radio equipment.”

 

“You have power?” Brian said, perking up.

 

Gabe smiled across the table at him. “Yep. Solar panels. We don’t use them for much, but they’re nice to have around.”

 

“I’ll bet.” Sarah said, her eyes wistful. “Do you have a water heater?”

 

I nodded “Yeah, actually we do.” 

 

She dropped a hand on the table. “You have to let me us it sometime. I’d strangle a dolphin for a soak in a hot bath.”

 

I deliberately put that particular mental image out of my head.

 

“Well, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” I said. “You don’t even need the water heater. We could just heat some water over our stove and pour it in a bathtub for you.”

 

“Honey, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Tom said. “We just met these fellas. I don’t think we should go imposing on them just yet.”

 

Sarah frowned, cutting her eyes at him. “Speak for yourself.” 

 

 “Really, it’s no trouble at all.” I said. “We’re not going to need the place for much longer.”

 

“What do you mean?” Tom asked. 

 

“Gabe and I are leaving for Colorado soon.”

 

“Colorado?” Sarah asked, exchanging a glance with her husband. “Why go all the way out there?”

 

I hesitated for a moment, unsure how to approach the subject.

 

“How much do you know about what happened to the rest of the country after the Outbreak?” I asked.

 

Gabe stared at me from across the table, his expression a mixture of sadness and caution. I held up a hand in a placating gesture. “Dude, they need to know.”

 

Gabe nodded, placing his knife on the table beside his plate and heaving a sigh.