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

by Sisavath, Sam

  The bathroom smelled of something rotten, and it wasn’t just from their sweat and blood. Will had been breathing mostly through his mouth ever since he struggled to drag Danny inside about four hours ago. Even though there were no windows, visibility had greatly improved and he could feel the warmth of the sun against his skin and face coming into the room from…somewhere.

  “So,” Danny said after a while.

  “So…”

  “Blue-eyes.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Two?”

  “Four.”

  “Four?”

  He told Danny about his dream, the one Kate had shown him. About how they had ambushed Harrison’s people.

  “Smart buggers,” Danny said.

  “Bratt had it right.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He called them shock troops. The tip of the spear, sent behind enemy lines to break the resistance. That’s what they did. Harrison and his people have been causing problems for the ghouls, attacking their convoys, that sort of thing. So Kate sent the four blue-eyed ones to take Dunbar.”

  “And it was all your ghoulfriend’s idea?”

  Will sighed. He hated that word. “She claims it was. She was a former ad executive, you know. It’s what she used to do for a living. Getting people to do what she wants.”

  “That how she got you into bed?”

  “All she had to do was take her clothes off to accomplish that.”

  Danny snorted. “Tits and ass is all it takes with you, huh?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “You’re such a dude, dude.”

  “Dude, right?”

  Danny chuckled for a moment, then smacked his dry, cracked lips together. “So, four?”

  “I saw four.”

  “In the dream.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “And we’re sure the dream was real?”

  “It didn’t feel so much like a dream as they were…memories.”

  “Whose?”

  “She said one of the ghouls’.”

  “She can do that now?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Man.”

  “Yeah,” Will said.

  A few more seconds of silence passed between them before Danny said, “But there were only two last night.”

  “Two minus four is indeed two.”

  “So Mrs. Miller was right. Math really does come in handy in real life. So where are the other two?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Does that worry you?”

  “Every second of last night.”

  Danny’s stomach growled. “Excuse me.”

  “Hungry?” Will smiled.

  “Just a tad.”

  “Well, we know where our packs are…”

  “Ennis’s.”

  “Yup.”

  Danny sighed and reached over and picked up his rifle. “What are we just sitting around here twiddling our thumbs for, then? Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Tommy’s headless body wasn’t in the hallway when Will and Danny emerged from the bathroom, weapons at the ready. There wasn’t a whole lot of light back here, and patches of shadows jumped out at them from both sides of the passageway.

  They swung left, then right, then stood with their backs together, rifles pointing into the darkness on both sides of them, waiting for something to happen. There should have been an attack from a nest of waiting ghouls, only there wasn’t.

  “Shoot for the head?” Danny asked.

  “Shoot for the head,” Will nodded.

  “Should have told me that last night.”

  “I didn’t know last night.”

  “Yeah, well, this broken face is still your fault.”

  “Relax. You still look pretty.”

  “That goes without saying…”

  Even among the shadows, multiple streaks of blood ran up and down the hallway, including a long jagged trail from when Will dragged Danny to the bathroom. And another big swath of blood, where Tommy’s body used to be.

  “They take the bodies, right?” Danny said.

  “As far as I know.”

  “Why?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “We should really sit down one of these days and talk about everything we know about them. I’ll dictate and you type.”

  “What makes you think I can type?”

  “I dunno, but you look like the typing kind.”

  “What kind is that?”

  “You know, with dainty fingers and such.”

  They moved toward the lobby, passing the spot where he had last seen the blue-eyed ghouls. He wasn’t surprised to find them gone, leaving behind only smeared, clumpy black blood in their wake, too far from the sunlight to have evaporated. There was still a wet quality about the liquid, which shouldn’t have been possible given how many hours since they had bled out.

  “That them?” Danny asked.

  “Yup.”

  “Blood’s still wet.”

  “Yup.”

  “How’s that possible?”

  “Hell if I know.”

  “Do you know anything?”

  Will pointed at the patch of dried red blood on the wall. “I know that’s you.”

  “Damn. Are you sure I’m still alive? Maybe this is just one big freaky Jacob’s Ladder type of scenario?”

  “Are you saying you’re Tim Robbins?”

  “Hell no. I’m much handsomer.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, buddy.”

  “I do every day. Someone’s gotta.”

  They stepped over the blood—a difficult feat, since there was so much spread around the narrow passageway—and continued down toward the lobby, drawn forward by the warmth of the morning heat. There was just enough sunlight as they neared the half-circle arched entrance that they began to relax.

  “Right in the head?” Danny said.

  “How many times are you going to ask me?”

  “So it’s the brain.”

  “I think so, yeah.”

  “Why do you think that is?”

  “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

  “When will that be, you think?”

  “Five years, two months, one week, and three days from now.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that. Anything else you wanna share, now that we’re both in a sharing mood?”

  “I think Kate’s going to attack the island.”

  Danny sighed. “How many times have I told you? Stop dating the psycho bitches. But do you ever listen to me? Noooooo.”

  “In my defense, we barely dated.”

  “You know what I always say about those one-night stands, man. They’re killer.”

  The lobby looked like a war zone, with shards of glass covering most of the tiled floor, scattered among dozens of bleached-white bones. The acrid smell of evaporated flesh and tainted blood hung in the air.

  Will started breathing through his mouth again. It seemed like he was doing a lot of that lately.

  They maneuvered around the chaos and death and stepped outside onto the sidewalk and into the hot sun. The street looked even more empty this morning, and the city of Dunbar was eerily quiet, with hardly any wind at all. Debris and spent shell casings littered the streets.

  Except for the two of them, there were no sounds or signs of any other survivors.

  Danny looked over at Ennis’s next door. “You think any of them made it?”

  “Doubt it.”

  “Maybe Rachel got out.”

  “You think?”

  Danny thought about it, then shook his head. “Nah, I can’t even muster up enough optimism for that one.”

  “Some Captain Optimism.”

  “I know, I’m really not living up to the title these days. You wanna give it a try for a while?”

  “No thanks.”

  Danny glanced around him for a moment, then said, “So, what else did your ghoulfriend say about attacking the island?”

  Ennis’s ba
sement was covered in swaths of dried red blood. Or, at least, the part of it that they could see using the light pouring in from the side door. There were still large sections of the room covered in darkness, and Will and Danny scanned the place with their flashlights first and were surprised to find it empty.

  They headed straight into the back, where Rachel’s people had taken their packs last night. They found what they needed in a corner, some of the contents spilled around the area. Everything was still there, including the radio.

  They hurried out and climbed back up to the alley next door, then stepped through another graveyard of bones, this one thicker and deeper and longer than the one in the Dunbar museum. It was impossible to take a step without crunching a femur or snapping a finger or pulverizing ribcages. The lingering acrid smell of dead ghouls was overwhelming, and they had to put handkerchiefs over their mouths and nose to get through the alley on their way in and out.

  Will took a moment to gather himself back out on the sidewalk, pulling out a warm bottle of water from one of the packs and quenching his thirst. He spent the rest of it washing as much of the blood and grime off his face and hands as possible. Danny had already wasted two bottles cleaning the dry blood off his face, grimacing and hissing each time he touched his broken nose.

  The city hadn’t gotten any livelier since they stepped outside the museum thirty minutes ago, though it seemed to have gotten hotter, the streets on both sides of him flickering like mirages.

  He found a beat-up red truck on the curb and sat the portable ham radio down on the hood and powered it on. He pressed the pre-set button to bring up the island’s designated emergency frequency and adjusted the attached antenna as high as it would go.

  “How’s this going to work?” Danny asked, drinking the rest of his second bottle. Mostly free of his bloody mask, he actually looked even more bruised and battered in the sunlight, if that was possible.

  “What do you mean?”

  “So, you’re just going to tell Lara that your psycho ex is going to launch an attack on the island, and that she told you herself in a dream?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “And this doesn’t strike you as the least bit odd?”

  He thought about it. Then, “Lara and I have talked about it before.”

  “And she believes you?”

  “Of course she does.”

  “Why?”

  “Because—” Will stopped.

  It was a good question. But whenever he thought about it, he always came back to the same answer: because Lara had seen Kate that night in Harold Campbell’s facility back in Starch, Texas. Once you’ve seen the blue-eyed creatures and had their existence confirmed with your own eyes, it was easier to accept that they were capable of things that weren’t always entirely explainable. Danny, for all his involvement in their survival, had never actually seen Kate. Last night was, in fact, the first time he even saw one of the blue-eyed ones.

  “Because she’s seen them,” Will said finally. “Just like you did last night. Did you really believe me before then?”

  “Of course,” Danny said without hesitation.

  “Really?”

  “Well…” Danny grinned. “Okay, I had my doubts.”

  “And after last night?”

  Danny sighed and nodded at the radio. “Call the island. Then we have to get the hell back there as soon as we can.”

  “Are you sure?” Lara asked.

  “Yes,” Will said.

  “Will, are you sure?”

  “Lara, she’s coming. I don’t know how, or when, but she made it pretty clear that she’s been ignoring the island all this time because we haven’t been worth her attention.”

  “And now, because of the broadcast, she’s paying attention again. So all of this is my fault.”

  According to Kate, yes, he thought, but said, “Don’t blame yourself. It was bound to happen sooner or later. We couldn’t hope to stay under the radar forever. We’re a loose end. She said as much.”

  “Kate…”

  “Yes.”

  “Goddammit, Will.” He could hear the exasperation in her voice. And maybe a little bit of anger. Or a lot of anger. It was sometimes hard to get all the nuances of someone’s tone over the radio.

  “Look, anything she says can’t be taken at face value,” Will said. “Maybe she’ll attack, and maybe she won’t. Maybe it’s because of the radio broadcast, or maybe she’s just using it as an excuse. I don’t know. But we shouldn’t take any chances.”

  Lara didn’t say anything for a while.

  “Lara…”

  “I’m still here,” she said. “What about Gaby?”

  Now it was his turn to take a long pause.

  “Will, what about Gaby?”

  “The island is vital, Lara.”

  “It’s just an island.”

  “But you’re on it. And Carly. And the kids…”

  “You have to find Gaby. We don’t leave our own behind, remember?”

  He wanted to find Gaby, but he couldn’t deny what had happened last night. Kate had all but ended Dunbar and its occupants. It had been so easy, too. That was the most disturbing part. Everyone who was here before last night was dead (or worse), and that included Gaby. Will was still certain she had come into the city. What were the chances she had made it out after last night?

  “We’ll keep looking for her on our way back,” he said finally.

  He must not have been convincing enough, because she said, “Will, you can’t leave her out there alone. Not again. You can’t give up now.”

  “The island is important, Lara. We can’t lose it.” He added, “Gaby would understand.”

  There was another long silence, this time from both of them.

  “Do you know where she is now?” Lara finally asked.

  “That’s the problem. Danny and I tracked her to Dunbar yesterday. If she was still here after nightfall… I don’t know. I just don’t know. I’ll keep looking. But the island, Lara, the island…”

  “I know,” she said softly, her voice barely audible over the connection. “I know.”

  He didn’t know what else to say and was grateful for the sound of a car engine coming from up the street. He glanced back as Danny turned the corner in a white Ford Bronco.

  “Danny found a vehicle,” Will said into the mic. “I have to go.”

  “Find her, Will. Do everything you can to find her.”

  “Lara…”

  “Promise me.”

  “The island…”

  “Don’t worry about the island. I’ll take care of us here. You just take care of yourself and Danny, and find Gaby. Find her, Will.”

  If she’s even still alive, he thought, but said, “We’ll keep looking for her on our way back. But we can’t stay out here forever. Not with the island in danger.”

  “There’s something…” she started to say.

  “What is it?”

  She didn’t answer right away.

  “What is it, Lara?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “Nothing that I can’t handle. Just find her and come home. In the meantime, I’ll look after things here. You trust me, don’t you?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Good. I love you, Will.”

  He smiled. “I’ll see you soon.”

  He put the microphone down and turned off the radio as Danny parked the Bronco in the middle of the street behind him, then hopped down from the raised driver side door.

  “How’d it go?” Danny asked.

  “It went.”

  “You told her about Gaby?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “And she was fine with us coming back without the kid?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Well, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to tell Carly it was all your idea.”

  Will grunted. “Sounds fair to me.” He nodded at the truck. “Where’d you find that beast?”

  “Auto body garage next to a VFW hall on t
he other side of town. Harrison might have been an idiot, but he wasn’t a total idiot. There were a half dozen working vehicles inside, including a fuel truck. Working batteries, too. From the looks of it, they kept all the cars running just in case.”

  “Any survivors?”

  “There was a hell of a lot of blood in the VFW. They had the windows and doors barricaded, but apparently it didn’t work. There was a basement in the back, but I heard scurrying from down there and decided I’d rather not investigate further.”

  “Smart.”

  “It’s been known to happen.” Danny watched Will pack up the radio. “Song Island or bust?”

  “No choice,” Will said. The words came out like gravel. “Can’t take the chance that Kate will attack without us there.”

  Danny nodded. Will knew he didn’t like the idea of giving up their search for Gaby any better than he did. But like him, Danny had come to the same conclusion.

  The island. They had to protect the island. It wasn’t just the beach and the hotel and the solar power, though those were important, too. It was the people on the island.

  Lara, Carly, Vera, and Elise….

  We can’t lose the island. Not now. Not after we’ve fought so hard to keep it.

  “Well, let’s get truckin’, then,” Danny said. “I’m driving.”

  “You’re a terrible driver.”

  “I’m a great driver. Better than great. I’m a spectacular driver. Back in college, they used to call me Danny the Driver. True story.”

  The back of the Bronco was piled high with supplies Danny had raided from the VFW hall, though to hear him tell it, there were probably more goodies in the basement. He had stockpiled a generous amount of MREs, granola bars, and unopened cases of bottled water. He had also picked up weapons and ammo, along with a Mossberg pump-action and a FNH self-loading tactical shotgun.

  Will grabbed the FNH from the back and turned it over. Eighteen inches, black matte finishing, and it didn’t look as if it had ever been used. It had a metal shell carrier along the left side with six shells already preloaded. The shotgun was semi-automatic, which meant you didn’t need to pump it after each shot. Harris County SWAT had been thinking about switching from the Remingtons to the FNHs but had never gotten around to it.

  “Nice, right?” Danny said. “For the lazy shotgunner.”