by Sam Sisavath
I needed to get away from the radio, from all the questions, from people who wanted answers that I didn’t have.
She didn’t say any of that, of course. Instead, Lara said, “It’s part of the job description. I don’t have to tell you this, but don’t do anything to aggravate the wound until it heals completely.”
“What about a hot shower? Will promised me a hot shower.” Then, quickly, “I don’t mean with him. I mean, you know, by myself.”
Lara smiled, feeling strangely pleased with the other woman’s awkwardness. “I know. And there’ll be plenty of those later. As soon as you can get up and walk around.”
“You know what they say, Lara. The worst patient is a doctor.” Zoe looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing. It was really just bed sheets that Liza, Stan’s wife, had sewn for them. “Is this…?”
“Bed sheets.”
“Looks better than the hospital gowns I’m used to.”
“When you’re better, you can pick out some clothes. There are more than enough to go around, and I’m sure there will be plenty in your size.”
Lara didn’t tell her where the clothes came from. She, Carly, and the other survivors had brought clothes to the island with them, but a lot of it was already piled high in the basement under the Tower. The shirts and shoes and pants, along with equipment and weapons and ammo, belonged to people who had come to Song Island seeking salvation but had found a nightmare instead. Lara didn’t like reusing those clothes, but Will was right about keeping them so they could focus their supply runs on the essentials like silver, food, and ammo.
Especially the silver. You could never have enough of that these days.
“Where did you go to medical school?” Lara asked.
“LSU,” Zoe said. “You?”
“University of Houston.”
“What are you guys doing in Louisiana?”
“We heard a voice on a radio. It’s a long story.” She picked up a bottle of water and handed it to Zoe. “Bottom line, we’re here now.”
Zoe’s eyes widened when she touched the bottle. “Oh my God, it’s cold.”
Lara smiled. No matter how many times she heard that response, it never failed to amuse her. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Oh my God,” Zoe said again. She fumbled with the cap and took a sip, then sighed with pleasure before drinking some more.
“We have plenty more where that came from.”
“What is this, tap water?”
“The hotel has a huge water purification and filtration system. As long as we have power, we have drinkable water.”
“I can get used to this.” She took another gulp and spilled some on herself but didn’t seem to notice. “I can definitely get used to this.” Then she looked around the room again. “Where’s Will?”
“He’s still out there.”
“He is?” She looked stunned. “I thought he was the one who brought me to the island. That wasn’t…?”
“That was Roy.”
“Roy?” She shook her head. “I don’t know who that is, but I think I might have called him Will a couple of times on the way over here.”
Lara chuckled. “He mentioned that.”
“You said Will’s still out there? That’s surprising. Every chance he got, he talked about coming back here. To you.”
Lara felt a flush of embarrassment. Or was that pride? “He’s looking for Gaby.”
“The teenager?”
“Yes. She’s still missing. Will’s not coming back until he finds her.”
Zoe nodded and took another sip of water. “He treated her like his little sister. I can see him going back out there for her.”
There was a brief moment of awkward silence, and Lara thought Zoe might be purposefully trying to avoid looking at her for some reason.
What happened out there with her and Will?
She said instead, “You saved Will’s life. Thank you, Zoe.”
Zoe finally looked over and might have actually blushed a bit. “We’re even. I wouldn’t be here without him.”
“Still, he told me what you did for him out there. Thank you for bringing him back to me. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
“He loves you,” Zoe said, and gave her a smile that seemed a bit too forced. “I’ve seen a guy in love before, but that man of yours…” She shook her head and laughed softly. “I hope he comes back okay.”
“He will,” Lara said with absolute certainty. “As soon as he finds Gaby, he’ll come home.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Zoe said, and looked away again.
The radio clipped to Lara’s hip squawked just in time to spare the two of them from another round of awkward silence.
They heard Maddie’s voice. “Lara. I got Will on the emergency frequency.”
“Speak of the devil,” Lara said.
“Say hi to him for me,” Zoe said.
She nodded and got up to leave. “I don’t have to tell you, right?”
“Hey, I have a comfortable bed and cold drinks,” Zoe said after her. “I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
*
“Good news and bad news,” Will said through the radio. “What do you want first?”
“Will, how many times have I ever chosen the bad news first?” Lara asked.
He chuckled. “We found where they’re keeping Gaby.”
“That’s great.” Then, with reluctance, “So what’s the bad news?”
“She escaped before we could bust her out.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Well, we’re tracking her through the woods at the moment. The problem is, the woods over here are big. Massive. Twice as thick as Danny’s head and three times as messy.”
“Hey,” she heard Danny say in the background.
Lara smiled.
She was on the second floor of the Tower with one of the radios. It was slightly smaller and more portable than the two above her on the third floor right now. She sat on the windowsill and looked toward the south side of the island, at the girls on the beach with Roy standing watch on the boat shack.
“Can you find her?” she said into the radio.
“That’s the plan,” Will said. “It’s just going to be a little bit more difficult than we expected, that’s all.”
“Will, you took Danny with you because you thought you might have to fight your way into a town full of collaborators. Now all you have to do is find Gaby in the woods, and this, somehow, is more difficult?”
“I see your point.”
“Anything else I should know?”
“They’re wearing uniforms now.”
“Who?”
“The collaborators.”
“What kind of uniforms?”
“Army camo. Close to real thing, but not quite. With their names and from what I can tell, their state designation.”
“State designation?”
“Louisiana for this lot. A boot-shaped patch. Real craftsmanship, too. They probably have a whole room of sweatshop kids putting them together. Oh, and a white star.”
“What does that represent?”
“I don’t have a clue, babe. Maybe it means they’re all destined for stardom.”
She smiled. “That doesn’t sound likely.”
“No.” He paused for a bit, then, “How’s Zoe?”
“She says hi.”
“Up and about already?”
“Up, but not about just yet. You did a good job stabilizing her after she was shot, Will. Waiting a day before moving her was also smart.”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Long story short, she’ll be fine with time and a lot of rest. You’re right; it’ll be nice to have a proper doctor on the island for a change.”
“Is that real enthusiasm or self-pity?” he asked. She could almost imagine him smiling on the other end of the radio.
“Don’t be an ass,” she said.
He laughed. “She’ll be good for us, Lara.”
>
“We can definitely use someone with her skills. Which I guess is good and bad. Having it, and needing it.”
“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” Then, without skipping a beat, “Tell me about this Beecher guy.”
“He says he’s an Army Colonel, so I guess he outranks you.”
“Only if the United States government is still in operation.”
“He says it is.”
“Anyone can say anything these days. Danny thinks he’s the President of the United States.”
“Hey, I was fairly elected,” Danny said in the background.
“See?” Will said. Then, “Where did this Beecher guy radio from?”
“Someplace called Bayonet Mountain,” Lara said. “Have you ever heard it?”
“Yes,” Will said, but she noticed that he didn’t elaborate.
“You’ve been there before…”
“Once or twice. Did he say how many were there with him?”
“He says over 4,000 people, including civilians. Is that possible? Is that place big enough for that many people?”
“The Bayonet Mountain I knew could easily fit twice as many. Three times, if necessary.”
“So you really have been there. What for?”
“It’s a long story, and right now I need to go hunt down Gaby. When I get back, I’ll talk to Beecher. Try to suss him out.”
“You think he’s lying about something?”
“I don’t know, but we have a civilian authority for a reason.”
“This is coming from a soldier…”
“Exactly,” Will said.
They didn’t say anything for a moment.
Finally, she said, “Will.”
“Yes.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said.
“Barf,” Danny said in the background. “Get a fucking room, you two.”
She ignored Danny and said, “Hurry up and find Gaby and come back home. I like hearing your voice and I’m not quite as pissed off as I was the last time we talked, but I need more than this. You understand? I need to see you in person.”
“I’ll be home soon. Leave a light on for me.”
“How about a big lighthouse?” she smiled.
“That’ll work, too,” Will said.
CHAPTER 9
WILL
The ATVs would have taken them back to L15 faster, but the roar of engines would have exposed their approach. That meant they were forced to trek back through the woods on foot. They jogged as much as they could with their full gear but spent most of the time walking at a brisk pace before reaching the same clearing from yesterday just beyond the edge of town. They took out binoculars and peered through them.
The place looked calm, and he wouldn’t have known a gunfight had taken place less than an hour ago if he hadn’t heard it for himself.
“Everything looks pretty hunky dory in there,” Danny said next to him. “What gives?”
“Two possibilities,” Will said. “Either the fight’s over, or it’s just getting started.”
“Which one of those is better for us?”
“That depends on who was doing the shooting and who was being shot at, and if Gaby is involved. And if she is, that means she made a run for it.”
“That’s a pretty big leap, chief.”
“What else could it be?”
“Maybe the boys in uniforms were just letting off steam with some target practice.”
“Could be. But it was pretty short for target practice.”
The lack of activity around the town was disturbing. A place filled with that many people shouldn’t be that calm. There was no one running around, no one shouting or pointing, and no men with assault rifles searching buildings. It made him wonder if he had been wrong about Gaby being involved somehow. But if it wasn’t her, then what was the gunfire all about?
It had to be her. The Gaby he knew would try like hell to escape, even if it cost her everything.
The girl’s a born fighter.
“It’s gotta be Gaby,” Will said after a while.
“If she did make a run for it,” Danny said, “wouldn’t we have run across her? The first thing she’d do would be to head for the interstate.”
“Maybe. They could have been keeping her on the other side of town. Kellerson didn’t know her exact location.”
“I’m glad we finally ditched that guy. Terrible conversationalist.”
They hadn’t really ditched Kellerson. He was still waiting for them in the cellar behind the house. Not that he had much of a choice. Will had left him on the same patch of dirt floor he had been sleeping on last night, still duct taped. The look on Kellerson’s face had been a mixture of concern and elation when he saw them leaving without him. It wouldn’t be long now before he realized they might not come back. Whenever Will started to feel sorry for the collaborator, all he had to do was think about Mercy Hospital, and it went away.
Clop-clop-clop.
Will looked up. “You hear that?”
“Are you kidding me?” Danny said. “What is that, a posse?”
Two men on horseback rode down the town street, the clop-clop-clop of metal horseshoes against cobblestone echoing in the quiet morning. The riders wore camo uniforms with assault rifles bouncing against their backs. Neither man looked entirely comfortable on top of the animals.
“Horses,” Danny said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. “What is this, the Dark Ages? What’s next, guys with bows and arrows? Pooping in the woods?”
Two more riders appeared from down the street, meeting the first two halfway for some kind of powwow. After a moment, they turned and headed off toward the other side of town, picking up speed as they went.
“That’s definitely a posse,” Will said, lowering his binoculars. “And they’re headed to the other side. What’s back there?”
Danny took out a folded map from one of his pouches and spread it on the ground. “Woods. Lots of woods. So many, they should call the place Woodsville. And there’s a lake.”
“The lake would explain why they chose this place. It gives them a water supply.”
Danny folded the map back up and put it away. “What’s the plan, Kemosabe?”
“Wait and see?”
“I’m not good at waiting and seeing. I’m more of an action man. That’s what they used to call me back in college. Action Danny.”
“Skirt around the woods, see what’s happening on the other side, then?”
“Sounds like a better plan. Action Danny approves.”
“Glad to hear it,” Will said.
He got up and began moving alongside the clearing while still sticking to the woods. Danny kept pace behind him.
“You didn’t tell me we’d be running this much,” Danny said.
“Hey, I’m the one with bullet holes in me.”
“Stop yer bitchin’. Those bullet holes are already a few days old. Plus, I was thinking…”
“Uh oh.”
“Shaddup. Anyway, I was thinking, we shoulda brought Kellerson along. I’ve always wanted my own personal pack mule. You think he could have carried me, too?”
“Not without two fingers. Hard to get a grip.”
“Yeah, well, whose fault is that?”
“He hesitated when I asked him a question.”
“He said, ‘Huh,’ just before you cut off his pinky finger.”
“What are you, Amnesty International?”
“I didn’t tell you? They even sent me a membership card. That shit was laminated and everything.”
It took them another twenty minutes of steady jogging before they reached the highway. It wasn’t much to look at—two lanes with fading yellow dividers. There were steel guardrails along the sides that they had to climb over before darting across the open to the other side.
Back in the comfort of the woods again, they continued around trees and bushes before risking a run across open ground with L15 fading to their right. Afte
r another thirty minutes, they finally reached the other side of the woods.
Will didn’t breathe easier until he had trees around him again.
They hadn’t come to a complete stop when they heard gunfire from somewhere further ahead. The unmistakable clatter of assault rifles, and this time it wasn’t a one-sided fight. There was clearly a back-and-forth gun battle going on.
They went down on one knee and listened.
“AK-47?” Will said when the shooting finally stopped.
“And at least one other rifle,” Danny said.
“How many shooters?”
“Two, possibly three.”
“Sounds about right. If it is our girl, it’s four against one. I don’t like those odds.”
“She’s a lot tougher than you think, Danny. You should have seen her at Mercy Hospital.”
“Yeah?”
Will nodded.
“Damn,” Danny said. “We should definitely open up that school we’ve been talking about. Danny and Will’s School of Badassness. My name goes first, of course. Purely based on awesomeness, you understand.”
“That goes without saying,” Will said.
They got up and moved forward, toward the source of the gunfire.
*
More gunshots, this time coming from a different section of the woods, which told him they were going in the wrong direction and had been for some time. Either that, or the action was on the move.
There was something odd about this new round of gunfire—there was just a volley, the very clear indication of a single rifle firing on full-auto.
“AK-47?” Danny said.
Will nodded. “Yup. Plus, we’re going the wrong way.”
“That’s the last time I let you drive.”
They changed course, heading even deeper into the woods.
*
There was blood on the ground. Fresh. Small splatters that led them to a brown horse grazing on grass next to a big oak tree, shading itself from the morning glare. The animal lifted its head when they approached, nostrils flaring in warning. When they didn’t do anything, it went back to blissfully feeding.
The blood belonged to a man in a camo uniform sitting against a tree. His eyes stared off at nothing in particular, face frozen with an oddly perplexed expression. A still-wet pool of blood seemed to originate from his bottom.
