The Purge of Babylon Series Box Set, Vol. 2 | Books 4-6

by Sisavath, Sam

More survivors in and around Japan. How many were out there? More than she had imagined, as it turned out. The last year had seemed so dark and hopeless, and there were so many days (and weeks and months) that she thought they might have been the only living souls still moving, looking for safety from the darkness.

  “How are you for food and water?” she asked.

  “Kinkasan has everything we need,” Takeshi said. “Food, water, even wildlife. We can survive here for centuries. We were lucky. Very lucky. A lot of people weren’t.”

  She thought about all those months on the road, the loss of Harold Campbell’s facility in Starch, Texas, and fighting for the island. Luck had a lot to do with it, but sweating blood and tears did, too.

  “What else have you heard, Lara?” Takeshi asked. “I’ve been listening to your conversations with the American government.”

  He means Beecher. The Colonel from Bayonet Mountain.

  “Not much,” she said. “Everything I know was in the message and what I told Beecher.”

  It wasn’t the whole truth, but as with Beecher, she didn’t think Takeshi or anyone else listening to them at the moment needed to know everything. While talking to Beecher, she had to constantly remind herself that anyone could tune in.

  Anyone, even the enemy…

  Dead, not stupid, right, Will?

  “I told the others about these blood farms and the camps you discovered,” Takeshi said. “Why would anyone surrender their future like that? I don’t understand it.”

  He must be young, she thought.

  Before she could reply, a voice she hadn’t heard before joined them. “Sorry to cut in without an invitation, folks, but glad to hear Japan’s still in play.” The voice belonged to an older man with an accent she couldn’t place. “My name’s Miller. Radioing in from San Francisco. I wanted to let everyone know we’re still fighting the good fight over at the Bay, too.”

  “Good to hear your voice, Miller,” Lara said. “Where in San Francisco are you?” Then she quickly added, “If you can reveal your location.”

  “It’s no secret,” Miller said. “They already know we’re here, anyway. You won’t be surprised to hear this, given your bodies of water theory—well, not theory anymore, I guess—but we’ve been getting by on Alcatraz.”

  “The prison?”

  “It’s more of a tourist attraction these days. A lot of us managed to grab a ferry when everything went to shit. Pardon my language. You’re right; the bloodsucking bastards don’t seem capable of crossing the water. Their human lackeys, on the other hand, don’t have that aversion. They’ve dinged us up over the months.”

  “Collaborators. That’s what we call them.”

  “As good a name as any. We’ve managed to fend off every assault so far, mostly because it’s hard to approach the island without being seen and some of the survivors brought weapons with them.”

  “How many are on the island with you?”

  “A few hundred. Mostly civilians. A pair of ex-law enforcement, like myself.” He paused, then, “So, what’s next, Lara?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You started this. What do we do now? How do we take the planet back from these bloodsucking bastards?”

  She pressed the microphone to answer, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Instead, she let go of the lever and stared at the radio in silence.

  “Lara?” Bonnie said behind her. “Something wrong?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  It was a lie. There was something very wrong here.

  She didn’t have any answers for Miller, and the fact that he and all the other strangers listening to them at the moment thought that she did didn’t just perplex her, it terrified her.

  “Am I going to live, Doc?” Zoe asked.

  “I don’t know; you tell me. I’m just a third-year medical student and you’re the doctor, Doctor.”

  Zoe smiled back at her. The woman had very deep green eyes. “I’ve never been shot before. It’s…a revelation. Have you ever been shot?”

  “Once.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  “Like a sonofabitch.”

  “Good. I thought it was just me.”

  Lara helped Zoe sit up on the small bed, then stacked two fluffy pillows between her and the wall. She looked better than yesterday when she first arrived with a hole in her side. Color had returned to her cheeks and her lips didn’t look as deathly pale anymore.

  Zoe let out a slightly pained sigh and looked around the room. It was an office that Lara had converted into an infirmary and stocked with beds taken out of a couple of unused rooms in the hotel. The shelves and cabinets were recently restocked with medical supplies that Roy had brought back with him along with Zoe.

  “You came here just to check up on me?” Zoe asked.

  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.

  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?”