by Sam Sisavath
He glanced at his watch, the hands glowing in the suffocating darkness.
It was hours yet before morning.
He sat and waited and did his best not to breathe in the dust around him. The place probably had asbestos, too. Just his luck. He had survived the end of the world only to get mesothelioma. Now that would really suck.
His body had already begun to itch from the close proximity to insulation. He battled the urge to sneeze and had to cup his mouth and nostrils with one hand.
Below him, the endless tap-tap-tap of bare feet continued unabated, like an ocean’s wave lapping against a beach, soft and soothing and promising safety and shelter from the darkness.
He wondered if Gillian and Jordan and the others had made it to Santa Marie Island after all. If they were waiting for him on the beach right now, wondering why he hadn’t made it there yet like he had promised. Would Gillian understand when he finally arrived and explained what took him so long?
“See, there was this crazy guy with a small army hunting us…”
She might have even found someone else after giving up on him ever showing up. It would serve him right. Maybe Mark was the lucky guy…
“Keo. You promise me. You’ll follow us to Santa Marie Island,” Gillian had said to him when they had their last conversation.
“Yes,” he had answered. “I promise. Reserve a spot on the beach for me. I also wouldn’t mind if you were wearing a bikini when I get there.”
How long ago was that? It seemed like another lifetime now.
This’ll teach you to make promises you can’t keep, pal…
CHAPTER 2
LARA
“This is your way of making me hate you, is that it? Because it’s working. First you let me think you were dead, then I learn you’re alive, and now you’re telling me you’re not coming home. Are you purposefully trying to piss me off, Will?”
He didn’t answer right away, and for a moment she wondered if hearing his voice for the first time in nearly a week had been just an illusion, something her grief-stricken mind had conjured up in order to spare her the pain of believing she had lost him for good. Maybe it was all a bad dream. She’d had plenty of those since he left the island with Gaby on Jen’s helicopter.
“Will? Are you still there?”
“I’m still here,” he said finally.
He sounded so close, as if she could reach out and touch him. She had to remind herself that he was alive, something she hadn’t been sure of until yesterday when Danny found him outside of Lafayette. That should have been all that mattered, but at the moment she couldn’t stop her anger from boiling to the surface.
The guilt immediately washed over her, and she struggled to control it.
“So say something, Will…”
“Lara, you know there’s nothing in this world I want more than to come back to you right now. I just can’t. Not yet.”
Of course not, Will. If you did what you wanted instead of what you needed to do, then you wouldn’t be Will, would you? You wouldn’t be the man I love.
She sighed. “Forget for a moment that I’m this close to getting in a boat and hunting your stupid, inconsiderate ass down for leaving me hanging. Forget that for one moment. Take emotion out of it and think about this logically, Will. You’re hurt. You’re bleeding. You’ve been shot. You need to come back to me. I need you to come back here so I can make sure you don’t die.”
“I will.” He sounded tired, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Which was to say he sounded exactly the way he always did. “But I can’t. Not yet.”
“Can you even trust this Kellerson? What if he’s leading you into another trap?”
“He’s not. I’ve made sure of that.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer, and Lara realized she didn’t want to know.
Will does what he has to. What he needs to. Like he always does.
That’s why he’s Will.
“No, don’t tell me,” she said. “What about Roy?”
“He should be back at the island in a few hours with a passenger. Her name’s Zoe. She’s hurt, so you’ll have to take care of her for me.”
“Carly warned me you’d find someone else out there.”
He laughed, and Lara couldn’t help but smile.
“We were sort of thrown together,” he said. “I think you’ll like her.”
“Is she okay?”
“She was shot, too.”
Who hasn’t been shot these days? Lara thought, but said, “How bad is it?”
“I wasn’t sure if she would live, but she’s a tough one. She was in one of those blood farms when all of this began.”
“How did you two meet?”
“She was working in one of the camps the collaborators were running. The one Josh was in charge of.”
Josh.
Lara still couldn’t believe it. Eighteen-year-old Josh, who followed Gaby around like a lost puppy when she first met them all those months ago. But as difficult as it was for her to believe that Josh had changed so much, it had been even more of an ordeal for Gaby.
Will’s hurt. Gaby’s missing. And Josh has become the enemy.
How did it all go so wrong?
“When I was shot, she saved my life,” Will was saying. “I owe her everything, Lara.”
“Then I’ll have to thank her when she gets here.”
“She’s a doctor, so once she’s better, she’ll be a big asset to the island.”
“Oh, a doctor. A real doctor, you mean.”
He laughed again. “It’s not like that.”
“No?” she teased.
It had been so long since she’d had the opportunity to have a little fun at his expense. The fact that he was still alive made her a bit giddy, and Lara was glad she was alone in the third floor of the Tower so no one could see. She could be herself with Will, but these days, other people expected more out of her. Too much, sometimes.
“She could never replace you,” he said. “No one could. Not in a million years.”
“Good answer,” Lara said. “Though I’m sure if she wanted to replace me, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. She is, after all, a real doctor.”
He went quiet again, and she wondered if she had gone too far.
“Will, it’s just a joke.”
“It’s not that, Lara.”
“What is it, then?”
“You can do this. It’s in you to lead.”
“That’s not my job. That’s yours.”
“I’m just a grunt.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s true. I’ve always been just a grunt. Give me a gun and a target, and I can handle it. But you… You’re smarter and stronger than I’ll ever be.”
Her chest tightened. The way he had said it—so earnestly and with so much conviction, as if he believed every word of it with every fiber of his being. At that moment, she wasn’t sure if she should be proud or scared. It was probably a little of both.
“Danny told me how you handled the West and Brody problem,” Will said. “You did good, babe.”
“Thanks.”
“Just like I knew you would.”
“Then you had more faith in me than I did.”
“Don’t doubt yourself, Lara. You survived The Purge.”
“I was lucky.”
“It wasn’t luck. It was persistence and that strength I mentioned before. You have it in you to lead, Lara.”
“Will…”
“That’s why I know the island will be fine without me for a few more days. Or however long it takes to find Gaby. When I’ve done that, I’ll come home. There’s nothing I want more. Nothing in this world than to hold you and kiss you again.”
“You still love me?” she asked.
It sounded like something only a lovesick teenager would come up with even to her own ears. But she couldn’t help herself, and she wasn’t the least embarrassed by it. Not here. Not with Will.
And sh
e had to know…
“More than anything,” he said. “More than anything in this world. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. Absolutely nothing.”
His voice was steady, heartfelt, and she wanted to cry but didn’t. Because that was something a teenage girl would do, too, and she hadn’t been that in a long time.
She sat up straighter in the chair instead.
“Do you believe me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said softly.
“But I need to find Gaby first. I have to try.”
“I know.” She took her fingers off the transmit lever and took a breath, then gathered herself, grateful for the cool wind sweeping into the Tower through the four open windows around her.
“Lara,” Will said.
“Yes…”
“I’ll see you soon.”
She smiled, pressing the transmit lever. “Go find Gaby, then come home. The island and I will still be here when you get back. I promise.”
*
Hours after her conversation with Will over the radio, Lara stood at the end of the pier and watched the pontoon through a pair of binoculars. Blaine and Bonnie were standing on the boat, with Roy and the woman sitting in chairs as they glided smoothly across Beaufont Lake. Blaine was behind the steering wheel, Bonnie leaning to one side, her long auburn hair blowing wildly in the breeze.
Lara smiled at the sight. Even on a fast-moving boat, her face splashed with too-bright sun and no makeup, Bonnie still looked like a supermodel that had just stepped off a runway. It was almost unfair for every other woman on the island.
“As milady requested, the infirmary’s ready for its newest customer,” Carly said, coming up behind her. “Though I have to say, it’s a good thing Roy’s bringing back medical supplies, because we’re running dangerously low.”
“I know,” Lara said.
Their dwindling medical supplies. It was one of the reasons Will and Gaby had gone out there in the first place. There were other reasons, but there was no getting around the fact that they had suffered too many injuries lately.
Everyone’s hurt. Everyone’s shot up. Every day, surviving gets harder and harder.
I could use you back here with me right now, Will.
“You know, there’s an easier solution to this problem we keep having,” Carly said.
“I’m listening…”
“Stop getting shot or stabbed.”
“Now that’s an idea. I’ll bring it up at the meeting later tonight.”
“I get credit for it, right?”
“Absolutely.” Then, Lara added, “Danny’ll be all right, Carly.”
“I know,” Carly said. “I just realized this is the first time we’ve really been apart, that’s all.”
Carly watched the pontoon coming toward them and absently played with her red hair. Lara was always surprised how much older her friend looked despite being just twenty. Carly had been a teenager when they first met, but then you grew up fast or you didn’t grow up at all these days.
Adapt or perish, right, Will?
Lara took Carly’s hand and squeezed. “He’ll be fine. The two of them out there? Those collaborators don’t stand a chance.”
Carly smiled back at her. Or tried to. “I know. So why does it take me so long to go to sleep, and I keep waking up in the middle of the night?”
“Because you love him.”
“So that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
She sighed. “Love’s depriving me of my beauty sleep.”
“Amen, sister.”
They both laughed.
“Please don’t say that ever again,” Carly said.
“Shoot me if I ever do,” Lara said.
“Deal.”
Lara glanced down the pier at Jo, who was standing on the boat shack at the other end with a shotgun poking out from behind her back. The sight of the tall, skinny girl with the weapon was borderline absurd. Lara waved, and Bonnie’s little sister waved back.
“Has she fired that thing before?” Carly asked, looking back at Jo.
“Not yet,” Lara said. “I don’t want her to, either. She might hurt herself.”
“I’m more concerned about her hurting me with that thing.”
“Let’s all hope it doesn’t come to Jo saving us with a shotgun.” Lara unclipped her radio and said into it, “Maddie, what do you see?”
“The lake’s clear from up here,” Maddie said through the radio.
Maddie was back in the Tower, pulling overwatch with the M4 rifle equipped with the ACOG scope. Just like with the beach, someone was always in the Tower to keep an eye on the surrounding lake and the shore to the east and south of them. Another one of Will’s protocols that everyone had taken to heart, because the alternative was unacceptable.
We’re like a well-oiled machine. If by machine you mean a bunch of amateurs with dangerous weapons they don’t actually know how to use.
“No traffic on the roads?” Lara asked.
“None that I can see,” Maddie said. Then, “Lara, when you’re done down there, I need to see you back up here.”
“Something wrong?”
“Something good.”
Carly and Lara exchanged a curious look.
“I was playing around with the radio and I heard something that you’re going to want to hear,” Maddie continued.
“What is it?” Lara asked.
“I think you should hear it for yourself. It’s hard to explain. But your message, the one you sent out into the world? Someone just responded to it.”
“Is that good?” Carly asked.
Lara shook her head. “I have no idea. Can you…?”
“Go. A boss lady’s work is never done.”
Lara sighed.
Boss.
The very idea that she was the “boss” of anything, much less an island full of desperate survivors, still sounded wrong in so many ways. Despite what Will had said this morning, Lara had doubts. But then, she always had doubts. It stuck with her when she went to sleep and when she woke up.
Doubts. There were always doubts.
Carly must have seen the look on her face. She smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Get used to it. When Will comes back, we’ll have to call you guys co-bosses. You’ll be CBL.”
“CBL?”
“Co-Boss Lady.”
“How long did it take you to come up with that?”
“I spent all night thinking it up. I mean, I couldn’t sleep anyway. Awesome, right?”
“Yeah, no,” Lara said.
*
“This is the United States government, trying to reach the person or persons responsible for the message that has been broadcasting across the radio frequencies. If you can hear us, please respond. I repeat: This is the United States government, trying to reach the person or persons responsible for the message that has been broadcasting across the radio frequencies…”
“The United States government?” Lara said.
“That’s what they’re claiming,” Maddie said. “Though Uncle Sam sounds like a sixteen-year-old virgin if you ask me.”
Lara was back on the third floor of the Tower, staring at the ham radios sitting on the table. She had used one of them to talk to Will earlier. There were three, with the most visually interesting one connected to a laptop by a tangled mess of wires duct-taped together. That radio was still broadcasting, sending out the recorded message, though they had muted the sound on their end.
The second radio sat undisturbed on its own part of the table. It was tuned in to a very specific frequency—their little private designated emergency channel, because no one else but Song Island’s residents knew to monitor it.
The voice they were listening to now was coming from the third radio. The all-purpose one, free and clear of any special use.
“…trying to reach the person or persons responsible for the message that has been broadcasting across the radio frequencies…”
“Is it a recording?”
Lara asked.
“Doesn’t sound like it,” Maddie said. “You can tell he’s reading from a script, but he’s definitely doing it live on air.” Then, “Should we answer it?”
“I don’t know.”
What would Will do?
“The less people that know about the island, the better,” Lara said. “It’s fine to bring new people like Bonnie’s and Benny’s groups every once in a while, but when we start opening the place up to just anybody….”
“Lollapalooza,” Maddie finished.
“I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s an alternative rock concert. I went to it once when they came to Austin a few years back.” She waved her hand. “Never mind. Neither here nor there. But is it possible? Do you think the United States government really is still functioning out there?”
Lara shook her head. It had been nearly a year since they knew of anything even remotely resembling an official government broadcast. To hear it now, out of the blue, was unreal. The fact that they were responding to her message was, frankly, unsettling.
“Is it just on the FEMA frequency?” Lara asked.
“As far as I know,” Maddie nodded.
“How long have they been broadcasting?”
“No idea. I heard it about thirty minutes ago while playing around with the radio.” She shrugged. “It gets boring up here by yourself.”
“…this is the United States government,” the voice repeated on the radio, “trying to reach the person or persons responsible for the message that has been broadcasting across the radio frequencies…”
Lara reached for the radio’s microphone and lifted it to her lips but didn’t press the transmit lever right away. She took a deep breath, and then, only then, answered. “This is the person responsible for the broadcast, responding to your message. Over.”
She released the lever and waited, but the only response was silence from the other end. The “sixteen-year-old virgin” had stopped broadcasting.
Lara pressed the transmit lever again. “Hello. If you can hear me, please respond. Over.”
She waited five seconds, then ten…
“Hello,” a voice finally answered. It was different from the one she and Maddie had been listening to. Older, with an authoritative tone that came through even over the radio. “Who am I speaking to. Over.”
