by Sam Sisavath
Gaby was too busy fishing out a chunk of pineapple dripping with heavy, artificially-flavored syrup to reply. She plopped it into her mouth and sighed with bliss.
*
AMY WARNED HER to keep her blinds closed at night, and she did. Even so, once darkness fell, Gaby heard them almost immediately.
She knew the ghouls could climb, and there were enough handholds along the sides of the hospital for them to use. Even so, she was stunned by the speed with which they appeared once the sun set. It had been so long since she was this close to a ghoul, she almost cringed at the realization that they were outside her window at this very moment.
She sat on the floor, back against the side of the bed, and listened to them moving. The M4 lay across her lap, the magazine in it, like the ones around her waist, loaded with silver bullets. They had stopped carrying regular ammo a long time ago. Silver killed a human being just as well as a ghoul.
The window blinds were made of thick, hypoallergenic fabric that did a tremendous job of reflecting sunlight in the daytime, and was just as effective at night against moonlight. She could barely make out the lone, thin figure clinging to the windowsill on the other side. She didn’t have to see it to know what it was, though. There was nothing human about the way it moved, the thin, almost skeletal shadow it cast against the moonlight in the background.
How many were out there now, climbing the sides of the hospital? A hundred? A thousand?
Gaby swore she could hear them moving in the floors under her, too, scurrying about like cockroaches. She hadn’t heard them earlier today, even though she knew they were down there the whole time. It was the night, she thought. They lived—they thrived—at night.
The ghoul outside seemed to be tapping its fists lightly against the window. She could barely make out the noise through the thick glass.
Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap…
She wasn’t nearly as terrified as she thought she would be. Maybe it was her training, maybe it was all the days and weeks working with the M4 and the Glock that infused her with a surprising amount of courage.
The creature stopped its odd activity when it was suddenly joined by a second skeletal figure. This one looked even thinner than the first, with what looked like shadowed bones sticking out of its skin.
Gaby wasn’t sure when she made the decision, but she was only vaguely aware of standing up and walking forward and reaching for the blinds’ drawstring. She jerked it with one smooth motion, and the hypoallergenic blinds opened up in a loud rush.
The first ghoul had wandered off, leaving behind the new arrival to cling perilously to the windowsill. Hollowed eye sockets and something that might have been eyeballs peered back curiously at her from the other side. Moonlight reflected off its hairless, pruned skin, and its slightly upturned, almost impish nose flared at her presence.
She wondered if the creature could smell her, too. Probably not…
The creature opened its mouth, revealing devastated teeth jutting out from gums that were pink and black and oozing thick fluids. It might have been drooling, or maybe it was just bleeding. The bones of its left leg below the kneecap were sticking out from punctured flesh, matching bones protruding out of its ribcage. When the creature moved, it did so awkwardly, in a way that made her think it was in great pain—if they even felt pain at all.
Gaby leaned toward the window, ignoring the black eyes staring back at her, and looked down. She thought she was ready for what she would see, but she was wrong. The sight took her breath away.
They were everywhere, crawling up the side of the building. She imagined they must have looked like spiders scaling the brick structure, scurrying wildly from handhold to handhold like adrenaline junkies.
She looked to her left and right, and saw more of them.
Hundreds. Definitely hundreds.
Gaby walked back to the bed and sat down. She laid the M4 and Glock on both sides of her and stared back at the ghoul outside the window. There was movement, and a second ghoul appeared and joined the first.
A moment later, two became three, then four, crowding around the window, so many that one was knocked loose and fell, plummeting out of view. Not that it stopped the others. They kept coming, squirming into the small rectangular area, leaving sticky puddles on the glass.
They stared in at her as if they were deformed mimes incapable of speech, their nostrils flaring from time to time. She wondered what was going through their minds at the moment. Did they even still think? Or was it all instincts now?
“Dead, not stupid” was how Will described them.
Gaby picked up the can of Dole Pineapple Chunks off the floor next to her. She used the spork to fish out one of the half dozen or so remaining pieces and tossed it into her mouth. She chewed slowly, savoring the sweet syrup.
She watched the creatures watching her.
For the life of her, Gaby didn’t know why she wasn’t afraid. Not even a little bit.
CHAPTER 6
LARA
SHE SHOULD CALL Will. That was the smart thing to do. Will would know how to handle this.
So why hadn’t she called him yet?
It was the way Danny had asked her about what they should do. They were friends, but there was more to the look he had given her. He actually trusted her. She didn’t know what she could have done in the past to merit such commitment from him.
But it was too late to reconsider, and she was left to watch Danny approaching the marina in the pontoon through binoculars. Maddie stood behind him, steering the boat. They were a good 300 yards from the mouth of the inlet when the people at the marina saw them coming and pointed. She couldn’t tell their reaction from this distance. Excitement? Suspicion? Alarm? That uncertainty sent a sudden pang of apprehension through her.
Call Will. He’ll know what to do.
She looked back at the ham radio on the desk. It would be easy. It had only been an hour ago since she last talked to him.
Call Will. You are not ready for this.
The radio on her hip squawked, and she heard Danny’s voice: “Five men and six women. Three children. Two boys and a girl.”
“Weapons?” she asked.
“Armed to the teeth, but that’s the fashion these days. Don’t leave home without your AK.”
“Be careful, Danny.”
“Careful’s my middle name. But don’t tell Carly that. I told her it was Ronald.”
“The boss lady means it, Danny,” Carly said through the radio. She was at the beach with Blaine, standing on top of the boat shack. “You get shot and fall overboard, I’m not swimming over to get you. You know how much I suck at swimming.”
“Yes, dear,” Danny said.
Lara had grimaced a bit when Carly called her “boss lady.”
Not her, too. Who do these people think I am?
She keyed the radio, meaning to say something profound to Danny—something Will would say—but she only managed, “Don’t take any unnecessary risks, Danny. You too, Maddie. The first sign of trouble, get out of there.”
Okay, not too bad.
“Will do,” Danny said. “But it looks like we might not have too much of an issue.”
“Why?”
“They’re putting their weapons on the ground and stepping away from them.”
She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “That’s a good sign, Danny.”
“Or a trap,” Carly said. “This whole thing smells like an ambush. Something an asshole collaborator would come up with.”
“What’s an ambush smell like, my dearest?” Danny asked.
“Pungent and acrid,” Carly said without missing a beat.
She was describing the ghouls. Once you got a whiff of the undead creatures, it was difficult to forget. The memory was burned into your soul.
Lara looked over at the ham radio again.
Call Will. You’re not ready for this. What are you waiting for?
She looked through the binoculars at the marina instead. Danny’s pontoo
n was still moving up the inlet.
“Give me an update, Danny,” she said into the radio.
“They’re not shooting at me, which is a good sign,” Danny said. “They also have an old woman with them. That’s another good sign.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s the end of the world. No one lugs around an old broad unless they’re really nice.”
Good point.
Danny and Maddie were pulling the pontoon up alongside the marina as two men approached them with hands raised. Danny stood at the front of the boat (What was that, the port? Starboard? Will would know…) and was chatting them up. It seemed as if the conversation was going well, and soon Danny stepped off the boat and onto solid ground.
Her radio squawked, and she heard his voice: “They’re willing to hand over their weapons. And they promise they don’t have Dillingers hidden in inappropriate places.”
“What’s a Dillinger?” she asked.
“Uh, you know, those small handguns? Never mind.”
Danny was wearing his old special forces comm gear, with the throat mic and earbud, so she knew she was safe to ask her next question: “Can we trust them?”
“I don’t see why not.” Danny had walked away from the others so they couldn’t hear him. “Of the five hombres, only three are really worth being concerned over. One looks too friendly to have shot anyone, and the other two—well, I can keep an eye on them. Then there’s a teenager and a kid who looks about ten.”
“Will they let us frisk them?”
“That’s a no-brainer.”
“Okay, Danny. If you think we can trust them…”
“I don’t think we can trust them,” Danny said. “But I think we can manage them. The old woman and the girls look innocent enough. Tired and hungry. And like I said—there are only two guys I would have to keep an eye on.”
“Can we leave those two behind?” Carly asked.
“That’s not going to happen,” Danny said. “They’ve survived together for a while. They won’t abandon each other now.”
“Just like we wouldn’t abandon Danny, despite his god-awful jokes,” Lara said.
“Oh, that’s funny,” Danny said.
Lara smiled. “It’s your call, Danny.”
“They won’t be left behind, but maybe they’re willing to part ways temporarily.”
“You think they’ll go for that?”
“Wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
“Okay. Do it.”
She watched Danny walk back to the group. She could only imagine what he was saying to them: “Good news and bad news! The good news is, we’re going to let you guys on the island. The bad news is, we’re going to have to give you a cavity search first.”
Knowing Danny, she was probably close.
*
LARA WAITED FOR Blaine to show up before she headed down the Tower, because someone always had to be on the third floor at all times. More standard operating procedure that Will had drilled into their heads.
When the big man finally arrived, Lara hurried over to the beach to join Carly, who was waiting on the roof of the boat shack with her Benelli shotgun slung over her back. Lara had her own Remington 870 with her. Like Carly, she was trained on the rifles, but being trained on them wasn’t the same as actually hitting something with them. The shotguns, on the other hand, were harder to miss with.
Carly glanced down at her. “Hey, boss lady.”
“Stop calling me that, please.”
“What? You don’t like it?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on. With Will gone, you’re our new fearless leader. Accept it.”
Lara frowned. “When did you and Danny come to that conclusion?”
“Last night. We were hoping Will’s leadership abilities had seeped into you by osmosis. You know, on account of how you guys have hot sex every night.”
Lara smiled. “Is that what you think Will and I do every night? Have hot sex?”
“Just a little bit?”
“Maybe a tad.”
She climbed up to the roof using a ladder in the back. The shack was a smooth concrete block, completely unappealing to the eyes, and used purely to store supplies and fuel. Even a hurricane probably wouldn’t be able to lift the ugly thing, which was the size of a four-car garage.
Carly handed her the binoculars. “They’re on their way back. I can’t believe they agreed to bringing just the women and children first.”
“They’re desperate,” Lara said. “You remember what it was like for us out there. I just hope we didn’t make a really big mistake.”
“I trust you.”
Why? I don’t even trust myself.
*
LARA WALKED UP the middle pier to meet the pontoon boat as it slowed, then drifted toward her. Danny stood at the front with his M4A1 rifle slung over his back. The carbine had been damaged during the attack on the island, but Danny had gutted parts from a couple of M4 rifles Tom had stored under the Tower to fix it.
Maddie was in the center of the pontoon, looking even smaller behind the big steering wheel. The boat was not built for speed, but it had plenty of space for the eight people crammed into it at the moment.
The fact that half of them were children, and the adults looked thin, helped to calm her nerves. Besides backpacks, the newcomers carried only luggage with them. Lara wondered if she had looked that way—somewhere between hopeful and very afraid it might all be too good to be true—when they first arrived on Song Island.
And did I ever look that thin?
Danny tossed a rope over to her, and Lara tied it around a metal anchor while Danny pulled the pontoon in by hand, stopping only when they were alongside. He quickly hopped out and wrapped the rest of the rope’s length around the anchor before cinching it.
“Ladies and gentleman,” Danny announced, “welcome to Song Island. Pictures are five dollars apiece and can be purchased at that delightful little concrete block at the end of the pier.”
The newcomers consisted of four women, one elderly woman, and three children—two girls in their early teens and a boy. They stared at the island and its white beaches with a mixture of awe and barely-contained joy. The women looked on the verge of tears.
Please God, let this be the right decision.
One of the women was striking and tall, with auburn hair that looked red under the sun. She helped the older woman out of the boat. “Easy, Mae, don’t rush it.”
Mae looked to be in her sixties, brushing frizzled gray hair out of her face as she reached up and took the attractive woman’s hand to be pulled up. Danny and another woman, a short blonde in her twenties wearing a slightly dirty sweater and cargo pants, also lent a hand. Lara was afraid the older woman might break under the three people pulling at her slim figure all at once, but she somehow got onto the pier in one piece.
“Just luggage?” Lara asked.
“The rest are back with the men,” the tall woman said. She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Bonnie.” She pointed at the others. “This is Mae. That’s Gwen and Jo, and the kids are Lucy, Kylie, and Logan. Thank you for letting us come here. We’ve been…looking for it for a long time.”
Lara managed a smile back. “You guys must be hungry.”
“Starving,” a young woman with ash blonde hair, Gwen, said. She was short and barely went up to Bonnie’s chest, but she made up for that with breasts that were twice the size of Bonnie’s.
“Come on, we have some food at the hotel,” Lara said.
“You have a hotel?” the younger brunette, Jo, said. Lara guessed Jo and Bonnie were related. They had similar prominent cheekbones and hazel eyes. Jo looked barely out of her teens but was already taller than Lara.
The women and the boy exchanged excited looks at the mention of “hotel.”
She had to smile at that. “When was the last time you guys had cold water? Or ice in your soft drinks?”
“I…” Bonnie began to say, but couldn’t get it out.
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Jo laughed. “I think what Bonnie’s trying to say is, it’s been so long, we can’t remember.”
*
LARA AND DANNY watched the women and the boy feast on plates of fried, boiled, and baked fish in the big dining room next to the lobby. The unfinished room was massive, with a large marble table that seated twenty. The new arrivals didn’t seemed to notice the lack of proper flooring or walls—or ceiling, for that matter—when the food was served.
Sarah and Carly brought out the dishes and the newcomers devoured everything put in front of them, probably a combination of real hunger and having to eat out of cans and bags for the last eleven months.
Ah, the good ol’ days.
Danny tapped her on the shoulder and nodded toward the door. She followed him back into the lobby, then over to the front doors.
“So how’d I do, boss?” Danny asked.
“You did good, kid,” she said, playing along. “I have a cookie here somewhere.”
“Yum.”
She put on her serious face. “What about the men?”
Danny looked back at the open dining room door, at the women inside. “It’s still early. I’ll let them stew in the sun for another couple of hours.”
“That seems kind of mean.”
“I want to see how they react.”
“Meaning?”
“When I go back, I want to see their reaction. Are they agitated? Annoyed? Ready to shoot me between the eyes?”
“Sounds kind of dangerous.”
“Will and I would never have let some guys we didn’t know from Adam take you and Carly to an island while they left us behind. The fact that these guys did means they’re willing to bend over backward to get here. You have to wonder why. And like I said, there are two guys back there that I don’t really trust.”
“You’ve said that before. What about them bothers you so much?”
“They have squirrelly eyes.”
She smiled. “Squirrelly eyes, Danny?”
“Will and I had a CO back in the Stan. Guy had squirrelly eyes. One day, we were on assignment in the mountains and we walk right into an ambush. They knew we were coming, don’t ask me how. Anyway, long story short, first thing our CO does is he bails. Just like that. Drops his rifle and takes off for cover, while his men are in the middle of the road with bullets flying everywhere.” Danny smirked. “Moral of this lesson? You can’t trust guys with squirrelly eyes.”