The Ashes of Pompeii (Purge of Babylon, Book 5)

by Sam Sisavath

  “The other option is to pack everyone and everything onboard the Trident now and take our chances at the channel before nightfall.”

  “And you say they’ve got that place sealed tight?”

  “Keo barely survived.”

  “He’s a merc. You can’t really trust a merc. Even one that’s half-dolphin.”

  She sat down on one of the crates and looked over at him. “Tell me the truth. Am I going to get everyone killed, Danny?”

  “Like I said, it’s risky, but I trust you.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re smarter than me.” He grinned, and despite the bruises and cuts, she could almost believe he was the same Danny who had left her and Carly to go look for Will. “Let’s face it, you’re smarter than everyone on this island. I used to think it was just book smarts, but Willie boy’s convinced that’s not the case. And I’ve learned to trust his instincts, even though this time it got me a busted nose.”

  “Funny, because I don’t feel so smart.”

  “Now you know how I feel every day. Wait, did I just say that out loud?”

  She managed a smile, but her mind was already elsewhere. She hesitated with what she was going to say next because she had been dreading it, but knew it was inevitable.

  “What happened out there, Danny?” she finally asked.

  “What do you wanna know?”

  “It’s her, isn’t it? Kate?”

  He sat down next to her. “They went to great lengths to take us alive back at Route 13. Kate’s orders would be my guess. I don’t know what that bitch has up her fleshy sleeve, but it’s got everything to do with Willie boy.”

  “He was only with her for one night. Or did he lie to me?”

  “Nah, I think that was it. But it’s not like I have a bell around his ankle or anything.”

  “So what is this, some kind of schoolgirl crush?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Then what?”

  He shook his head, and she could see that Danny had been thinking about it for some time now, too. “Putting on my serious hat here, but I don’t think it’s something we would understand. You know how she would sometimes show up in his dreams?”

  Lara nodded. It was one of the more infuriating things about Kate.

  “He used to tell me they had this unexplainable connection,” Danny said. “Some psychic shit, or something. Maybe it happened back in the early days of The Purge. The Kate you met on the road wasn’t the same Kate we first saw back in Houston. She’d changed a lot by the time you joined us.”

  Everyone changes. You adapt or perish.

  “So I don’t know what happened between them,” Danny continued. “You should ask him when he comes back.”

  “I will.”

  “And he will come back.”

  “I know.”

  “Your boyfriend’s stubborn. It’s one of his most annoying qualities. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face just for being him.”

  “I’ll tell him you said that.” Lara reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you’re back. You know I love you, right?”

  He grinned. “What would Carly say?”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Welcome home. I’m sorry you’re not going to be able to spend a lot of time with Carly.”

  “Fortunately, I don’t need all that much time. Back in college they used to call me Speedy Danny. You don’t wanna know.”

  “I think you’re right,” she smiled, and this time it came out easier.

  “I could tell you.”

  “No.”

  “It’s a funny story.”

  “Save it for tomorrow.”

  “Right-o.” Then, “So. Your own little Plan Z, huh?”

  “I’m trying to come up with a better name, but yeah. If we need it, that’s what I’ve come up with.”

  “Eh. I’ve heard worse.”

  “When?”

  “Whenever your boyfriend opens his mouth.”

  Lara laid her head against his shoulder. “He’ll be back. As long as he’s alive, he’ll come back to me. He promised, and he knows I’ll kick his ass if he breaks that promise.”

  “Well, that settles that, then.”

  They didn’t say anything for a moment, and the only sound for the longest time was the humming of the lights around them.

  Finally, Lara said, “What if they don’t do what I think they’ll do? What if they’re smarter than that?”

  “They’ll definitely go for the beach,” Danny said. “They won’t be able to help themselves. They have the manpower and firepower for it. They’ll overwhelm us with force. Shock and awe. Or, at least, that’ll be the plan. Personally, Willie boy and me could have come up with something better. Like, a billion times better. But we’re not talking about professionals here. They’ll take the path of least resistance because they’ll be overconfident in their numbers.”

  “Do they really have that many soldiers?”

  He nodded. “However many you think they have, they actually have more. Everyone loves a winning side, right? And you don’t get any more winning than taking over the planet in one night. Hell, if we’re smart, we would have joined them long ago.”

  “It’s a good thing you’re not that bright, then.”

  “Ouch.”

  “But I love you anyway.”

  Danny put his arm around her and pulled her tight against him. “One more day. That’s all we need. Just long enough for Big Willie to make his way home. I don’t like to tell him this, but he’s the brains of the operation, you know. If there’s a Will, there’s a way.” Then he added, “Get it?”

  “I’m not an idiot, Danny.”

  “Well, you did drop out of school.”

  “I had a really good excuse,” she said.

  *

  She found Gaby in her room. The same one she had left behind weeks ago when she climbed into the helicopter with Will and didn’t come back to until now. It still looked the same because Lara hadn’t touched it since, and Carly had visited it once every few days to keep the dust at bay. From the looks of the clean carpeting and bed, Carly had done a good job of it.

  Gaby was sitting on the end of the bed, looking at the open bathroom door across from her. Someone was in the shower singing some song that sounded familiar, but Lara couldn’t quite place it. It was probably the young blonde girl who had stood on one side of Gaby while the young man, Nate, stood on the other when they arrived on the island earlier. Looking at the two girls was like seeing sisters, and she wondered if that’s what people saw when she stood next to Gaby.

  A dirty T-shirt and pants lay crumpled on the floor next to the supply packs Gaby and the girl had brought with them. Gaby was still wearing her gun belt, and her M4 rifle leaned against the bed within easy reach. There was an awareness about her, as if she was waiting for something to happen so she could explode into action, that hadn’t been there when she had last seen the teenager.

  Always the soldier. You trained her too well, Will.

  “Hey,” Lara said.

  Gaby looked over. Despite the bruises, the cuts, and the healing broken nose, she still looked very much like the painfully pretty eighteen-year-old teenager who had come to her and Will not all that long ago. Josh had been with her then, but that was another life. These days, Gaby had other boys scrambling for her attention, and no amount of bodily injury was going to stop that.

  “Some homecoming, huh?” Lara said. “‘Welcome back. Oh, by the way, we’re about to be attacked by an overwhelming force. Can you grab that rifle?’”

  Gaby smiled. “Beats what’s going on out there.”

  “You’ve been through a lot.”

  “Who hasn’t?”

  Lara nodded. She couldn’t argue with that.

  And Will was still out there…

  “I was hoping you’d come by,” Gaby said. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to see me after…earlier.”

  “I’m sorry about that. I reacted badly.”

/>   “I’m just glad you didn’t shoot me and Danny.”

  They exchanged a brief smile, then Lara pointed at the open bathroom door.

  “Claire,” Gaby said.

  “Mini you.”

  Gaby chuckled. “I guess we do kind of look alike.”

  “What’s she singing?”

  “I think that’s a Taylor Swift song.”

  “I don’t know who that is.”

  “Taylor Swift?”

  “Yeah.”

  “She was a country singer, sang mostly about boys and breaking up and all that girlie stuff. Then she became a pop singer. Then…well, I don’t know what she did after that. This happened.”

  Lara walked over and sat on the bed next to her. Gaby hadn’t changed clothes since she arrived. She was still wearing the same cargo pants and long-sleeve shirt, clothes that would make other women look tomboyish or plain, but of course other women weren’t Gaby.

  “You should have seen me this afternoon,” Gaby said. “I was wearing a dead man’s uniform.”

  “Why in the world were you doing that?”

  Gaby told her about posing as soldiers in order to get past the barricade at the Lake Dulcet exit.

  “Oh,” Lara said. She wondered how many of those “soldiers” were running around out there right now. More importantly, how many Will would have to elude (kill) in order to come back to her.

  However many it takes, Will. You better come back to me.

  “From what Carly told us in the dining room, it sounds like you have everything ready,” Gaby said.

  God, I hope she’s right, Lara thought, but she said, “Will has a saying: No plan survives first contact with the enemy. I just hope I don’t get everyone killed.”

  “We’ll do fine. I was trained by two of the best, and you guys have been fighting for this island for a while now. We’re going to give them a hell of a fight.”

  They didn’t say anything for a while. Instead, they sat quietly and listened to Claire singing inside the shower. Gaby was right; the song was about a boy and heartbreak, and maybe a high school was involved somehow. They could make out Claire’s figure behind the curtain, scrubbing herself down as heavy mist drifted through the open door.

  “I told her there was a five-minute limit,” Gaby sighed. “I think she’s way past that.”

  “It’s okay. Let her enjoy it.” Because it might be the last shower any of us gets for a while, she thought about adding, but didn’t. She said instead, “Then you should take one, too.”

  “I will. I have a lot to scrub off.” She paused for a moment, before adding, “Thanks for keeping my room clean, by the way.”

  “Thank Carly. She did all the work.”

  Gaby looked toward her patio window. “What are the chances he’s out there, you think?”

  “Who?”

  “Josh.”

  The question caught her off guard. It had never occurred to her that Josh would be out there right now, somewhere on the shoreline waiting for nightfall. Would Kate send him to do her dirty work? The Josh she knew was still eighteen, tall but gangly, even nerdy, and if she had to pick someone to lead a battle, he would have been the last person on her list. But according to Will and Gaby, that teenage boy was long gone, replaced by a very capable (and dangerous) ghoul collaborator. So who was to say what he was capable of now?

  Adapt or perish. Maybe Josh has adapted, too.

  “I don’t know,” Lara said. “Would they let him join in the attack?”

  “The Josh I saw out there wouldn’t be a part of the attack, Lara; he would be leading it.”

  “Josh?” She knew he had changed, but had he changed that much?

  “He’s gone, Lara.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s gone. He’s not a boy anymore. You can’t think of him as the same boy who you met in Lancing. If you get the chance—if you see him tonight—don’t hesitate. Shoot him, because he’ll shoot you.”

  Lara was speechless for a moment. Finally, she said, “I guess it doesn’t matter who leads the attack. One man in a soldier’s uniform is the same as another.”

  Gaby looked over at her. “Just don’t hesitate, Lara.”

  Lara nodded. “I won’t.” Then she stood up. “I’m going to need you tonight, Gaby.”

  “That’s why I came back. You just tell me where you want me, and I’ll be there.”

  “Meet me in the lobby in—” she glanced at her watch “—half an hour.”

  “Should I bring my gear?”

  “No. And you won’t need the M4, either. I’ll have something else for you.”

  Gaby nodded. “I’ll be there.”

  Lara walked to the door.

  “Lara,” Gaby said.

  She stopped and looked back.

  “What about Will?” Gaby asked.

  That’s the question of the century. What about Will?

  “He can take care of himself,” Lara said. “Right now, we need to worry about us.”

  “Danny’s convinced Kate’s the one pulling the strings out there. Is she capable of something like that?”

  “I don’t know,” Lara said. “Let’s save that question for Will when he comes home. Until then, let’s make sure he has someplace to come back to.”

  CHAPTER 17

  GABY

  The island had changed. She didn’t think it was possible it could look and feel so different since the last time she had walked along its white sandy beach or dipped her feet into the cool blue waters. But maybe it wasn’t Song Island that had changed. Maybe it was her. She wasn’t the same girl who had left this place. She had killed. More than once. If not for The Purge, the lives she had taken would have made her notorious.

  The conversation with Lara hadn’t really gone as planned, but in many ways it went better. She loved Lara. She hadn’t realized that until they sat together and simply talked. They had both changed a lot, and maybe not all of it for the better. They had become survivors. They always had been, of course, but there was a difference between surviving and being survivors.

  Was that a good thing? It was hard to say.

  Once Claire finished showering, Gaby took her turn. She didn’t linger too much. Five minutes, tops, standing underneath the scalding hot spray and letting it cleanse away the days on the road, the night slept in that crypt outside of Dunbar, and whatever remained of L15 and Josh’s company.

  Are you out there right now, Josh? Are you the one leading tonight’s attack?

  She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she saw him tonight. Josh in that uniform, with a rifle in his hands, running toward her. Could she do it? Could she shoot him the way she had told Lara to?

  Stay away, Josh. Please stay away.

  Claire was already gone by the time she came out of the shower. Gaby put on clean black cargo pants and socks, then pulled on an olive green long-sleeve sweater. She dressed silently while sneaking looks at the clock on the wall.

  6:15 P.M.

  The audible clicking of the second hand was like a grenade going off inside the quiet room. One of these days, the batteries were going to die and the hands would stop moving. That was life now. Sooner or later, everything just stopped.

  She glanced at the patio window for the fifth time in as many minutes. The curtains were pulled halfway, revealing the falling night outside. Soon, very soon, it would be complete darkness. She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. Maybe it was being back home again, or the fact she was now surrounded by friends.

  Tonight felt different somehow. She was calm. Amazingly so.

  The lack of activity in the hallway outside was surprising, given how many people were now calling the hotel home. She made sure to close her door before heading up to the lobby with just her pack in one hand. She walked past two doors before stopping at the third.

  She took a breath, then knocked on it.

  “Come in,” Nate called from the other side.

  She opened the door and stepped i
nside.

  He stood next to his bed, shirtless, with his back to her. His hair was wet, and fresh steam drifted out of the open bathroom door. His dirty clothes were in a pile on the floor, and Nate looked cleaner than she had ever seen him.

  She smiled briefly, remembering the look Benny had given Nate back in the dining room. Benny had burst inside, not expecting to see her sitting next to Nate. The next few minutes had been incredibly uncomfortable, and Gaby felt miserable about not preparing either one of them for that moment.

  I’m back in high school all over again, she remembered thinking.

  Nate glanced over and gave her a wide smile. “You weren’t kidding about this place. Your own room, a big soft bed, and working plumbing. I could definitely get used to all of this.”

  If we’re still alive after tonight, she thought, but asked instead, “How was your reunion with Mary, Kendra, and the others?”

  “It was good to see them again. A lot of questions, though.” He pursed his lips. “I didn’t know how to answer most of them.”

  “Mary must be especially happy to see you back.”

  Mary was the teenage girl who had been a part of Nate’s group back when they were still out there on their own. The girl had stuck close to Nate the entire time, and Gaby used to feel a little guilty about Nate just leaving them behind to go with her. That guilt was compounded by what happened to him afterward.

  “She was,” he nodded. “I was happy to see her, too. They all look healthier than I’ve ever seen them. Coming here was a good thing.”

  Gaby wasn’t so sure about that. She couldn’t help but think about Claire, Milly, and Annie, and bringing them to a place that was about to be attacked. It must have shown on her face, because Nate gave her a reassuring look.

  “We’ll get through tonight,” he said. “We’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  He turned around and picked up a shirt from the bed. She was so used to seeing him with that stupid Mohawk that not to see it perched on top of his head still took some adjusting. She was staring at his head when her eyes fell down to his arms as he pulled the shirt on.