by Sam Sisavath
She remembered the Mercy Hospital children looking out the back window of the fleeing Humvee at her with tear-streaked faces, an image she would never be able to forget for as long as she lived.
“Oh, no, they’re not going to give the babies to the ghouls,” Josh said, and he almost laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. Don’t be morbid, Gaby.”
Morbid? This whole thing is morbid, Josh.
“Those babies will all grow up into healthy boys and girls,” he continued. “The ghouls need us, Gaby. Animals won’t do it. Yes, they can drink animal blood, and they have been, but it’s not the same. They were always going to do this. This was always the plan all along. They just didn’t really know how to go about doing it.”
“That’s where you come in…”
“That’s where Kate and I came in, yeah. She used to be human—still is, for the most part. The trap on Song Island? That was her idea. All this? Her idea. I just added in the little details, made sure everything was working in the daytime. The less she and the other ghouls show themselves around the people, the easier it is to control them, to convince them that this is for their own good.”
He motioned for her to follow him outside. She did, and stood next to him as he gestured at the people in tents, the ones walking around, the men ripping cooked meat with their teeth around the campfires.
“Look around you, Gaby,” Josh said. “This was my idea. I showed these people there’s nothing to fear. We let them go if they want, but the vast majority of them stay.” He gave her that eager to please smile again. “We’re giving them food, a place to live, and they don’t ever have to fear the night again.”
“What happens at night?” she asked.
“Nothing. Nothing happens at night. That’s the point.”
“What about blood…?”
“We have that taken care of, too.” He looked over at the blue tent. “There’s another, smaller tent behind that one. People give blood there. That’s what we give to the ghouls. They don’t need to suck it out of you, they just want the end results. It’s like donating blood. Painless.” He smiled again. “This is good for us, Gaby. That’s why I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Why is that, Josh?”
“Because I get to see you again, that’s why!”
He laughed and moved toward her, but Gaby took a quick, involuntary step away from him before she even realized what she was doing.
He froze, then frowned. “But you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe, Josh.” Find a way to salvage this. “You were supposed to be dead, then it turns out you’re not. Three months, Josh. Three months.”
His frown eased, and she saw a hint of regret.
There. Keep going…
“And then you show up and tell me you’re in charge of these collaborators?” she continued. “Not just that you’re one of them, but you’re actually in charge of them?”
People were stopping to look at them now. For the first time, she saw Josh feeling less than in charge. He reached for her arm, but stopped himself in time.
“Let’s go back inside,” he said quietly, almost meekly.
She followed him back into the tent.
“I should have contacted you sooner,” he said. “I really wanted to. God, you have no idea how much I wanted to. I’ve missed you so much, Gaby. Every day I think of you, about that night we spent together.”
His shoulders slackened, and he was suddenly the eighteen-year-old boy she had lived out of basements with all those months, always worried about when he went searching for supplies with Matt, and had been so happy to see when they came back safe.
Josh, are you really still in there?
“Please, don’t be angry with me, Gaby.” His voice almost pleading now. “You know how I feel about you. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I did all of this for you. Please, can’t we just…” He paused. Then, softly, “Can’t I just hug you? Please? It’s been so long, and I’ve missed you so much…”
At that moment, he sounded like the same Josh, the awkward boy in love with her, who followed her around and sneaked looks at her in school when he didn’t think anyone was watching. She threw herself into her training with Will and Danny in part to forget about him, to push away the hurt of losing him. And it had hurt. Not because he was the great love of her life, as he wanted so desperately to be, but because she liked him. Truly, truly liked him, and though she hadn’t felt it yet, she was certain she could have grown to love him too, if they had only spent more time together.
Then he was gone, taken away in a hail of bullets.
Only to resurface now, so different, and yet…so much like the same Josh.
He looked as if he was about to cry, when she rushed forward and into his arms. She pressed her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms so tightly around her that she couldn’t breathe for a moment.
“Gaby,” he whispered. “God, it’s been so long. I’ve missed you so much. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.”
“Me too, Josh, me too,” she said, forcing back tears.
In the back of her mind, one thought kept going around and around:
Can I kill him? If I have to—and God, I might have to—can I kill Josh?
Book Three
‡
TOWNIES
CHAPTER 26
WILL
JOSH WAS ALIVE. That shouldn’t have been possible, but there it was. In living person. Flesh and blood. He was still Josh. Eighteen years old, with longer, shaggier hair than Will remembered, but still the same kid.
Will remembered watching him drop into the water, the urge to jump in after him overridden by the sight of the collaborator boat bearing down on them. At that moment, he had been forced to make a decision—save himself, Blaine, Maddie, and Bobby, not to mention the supplies they had come for, or risk everything for one kid.
He liked Josh. He did. But Josh was one life, while there were many more, including Lara, on the island. He wished he could say it was a difficult decision, but it wasn’t.
Just when you think everything was starting to make sense, the world reminds you that you don’t know Jack shit.
He stood next to Josh’s tent and listened to the conversation inside. He moved slightly backward and out of view when Josh led Gaby out. When Josh told Gaby there were no reasons for the people to leave the camp, Will couldn’t disagree. The kid was right. These people didn’t want to leave. And why should they? They had it good here. Too good.
Will remembered what Kate had once said to him: “But then again, I was always good at selling dreams to desperate people.”
And that was exactly what this was. A sell job. Where Kate began, Josh continued. Giving people a place to call their own, safety, and the ability to live and love and die of old age was a damn fine offer, especially given the alternative. No wonder most of the people around him now—the laughing kids, the smiling pregnant women, the gruff men gathered around campfires cooking fresh meat—thought this was better than running and hiding and constantly fearing the night.
Because, in so many ways, it was.
Josh and Gaby went back into the tent, where they continued their conversation. He could tell by her questions that Gaby was trying to squeeze Josh for information, to keep him talking.
Smart girl.
He glanced at his watch: 2:45 P.M.
Plenty of time, but it wouldn’t last. He would have to do something sooner rather than later. Either rescue Gaby and Nate, or at least one of them. Eventually someone would notice the “Givens” on his chest. He couldn’t remove it, either, because everyone here had a label—with the exception of Josh. Will guessed that was due to Josh’s rank, his ability to come and go as he pleased.
Maybe that was it. Josh. Maybe that was his way out with not just Gaby, but Nate, too.
Doable.
Will walked around the tent and slipped inside the open flaps.
Josh looked up, clearly annoyed at the sig
ht of him. “What is it?” Then Josh saw the gun in Will’s hand. “What—?”
Gaby turned, saw Will, and recognized him instantly even behind the gas mask. “Thank God you’re alive. They took Nate.”
“I know,” Will said.
“Gaby?” Josh said. “You know him?”
Will pulled the gas mask up, perching it on his forehead.
“Will,” Josh said, frowning slightly.
“How you doing, kid?” Will said.
“I’m…fine.”
“I can see that. Gaby,” Will said, and nodded at Josh’s handgun.
Gaby quickly pulled it—a 9mm Glock—free and slipped it into her own empty holster.
Josh’s eyes snapped to her. “What are you doing, Gaby?”
“You know what I’m doing, Josh.” She opened the pouches along his gun belt and stuffed his spare magazines into hers. “How did you think this was going to end?”
Josh’s face seemed to crater. Will almost felt sorry for the kid. “You don’t believe me,” Josh said. “After everything I’ve told you, you still don’t believe me.”
“I believe you think you’re doing all this for me. But it’s bullshit, Josh.”
“It’s the truth.”
“No, it’s not. The truth is, you’re not the Josh I remembered.” She looked over at Will. Her face was stone, but he could see through it to the emotions roiling around inside her at the moment. “What about Nate?”
“They took him to the blue tent.” He looked over at Josh. “Kid.”
Josh looked up, his face shell-shocked.
Gaby was moving around the tent, looking for supplies. She picked up a backpack from the ground—Josh’s—and stuffed in anything she could find. Busy work. She didn’t want to look at Josh. Didn’t want to see the heartbreak on his face.
“How many collaborators are in the camp?” Will asked Josh.
“Too many for you to kill them all,” Josh said.
Will grinned back at him. “Are you sure about that?”
“Assuming you could. Then what?” he said, his voice challenging. “Look around you, Will. No one here wants to leave. The gates are open. They’re not leaving because they don’t want to. Look outside if you don’t believe me.”
“I’ve seen enough. I’ve also seen the pregnant women in the blue tent. You’re breeding blood farms, Josh.”
“No. You’re looking at this all wrong.”
“You’re turning the human race into chattel. Open your eyes.”
“No!” he shouted.
Will lifted a finger to his lips. “Don’t do that again.”
“Or what? You’re going to shoot me?” Josh looked as if he might laugh. “They saved me from the lake, Will. Not you.”
“I couldn’t come back for you. Not with the others and the supplies at risk.”
“You could have, but you didn’t. You made a choice. Just like I did.”
“Is that what you tell yourself?”
Gaby walked back over to them, avoiding Josh’s searching eyes. “I’m not leaving without Nate.”
Will nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”
“So what’s the plan?”
Josh was staring at Gaby. “You lied about him,” he said accusingly. “He’s not just some guy.”
Will thought Gaby would keep ignoring him, that she’d pretend Josh had never spoken. But she surprised him by turning around and looking Josh in the eyes. “I didn’t lie to you. I did just meet him this morning. He didn’t have to come here, but he did. I don’t care what you think this is, Josh, but he’s my friend, and I don’t leave my friends behind.”
“What about me, Gaby?” That might have been a question, but Will thought it sounded more like another accusation.
“What about you, Josh?”
“You’re going to leave me again? After three months? After everything I’ve done—”
“For me?” Gaby finished. “I never wanted this. I don’t want this. Stop fooling yourself into thinking this is all for me.”
“But it is,” Josh said, almost pleading now. “Why can’t you see that? Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve accomplished, it’s all for you. This is how I’m going to keep you safe, Gaby. This.”
“Look at me, Josh.” Gaby stepped toward him, and though they were the same height, somehow she seemed to tower over him anyway. “I don’t need your protection. I never did, and I never will. So you can stop lying to yourself about why you’ve done the things you’ve done. It’s bullshit, Josh.”
Josh’s entire body seemed to flinch under her words, and he looked away.
Will holstered his gun. “All right, kids. Enough with the Days of our Lives. We’re going to get Nate. Everyone. Together.”
“Then what?” Gaby said.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
*
WILL WALKED THROUGH the camp toward the big blue tent for the second time. This time Gaby was beside him while Josh led the way up front. The kid walked awkwardly, as if he had to force his unwilling legs to move. He hadn’t tried to run yet, which surprised Will. He wondered if Josh was afraid of getting shot trying to escape, or if he still thought he could salvage this somehow.
Gaby. He’s still clinging to hope that he can convince her. That’s why he hasn’t run.
Josh’s gun holster was empty, but no one seemed to notice. The few men in hazmat suits they saw along the way either nodded to Josh, who wasn’t wearing his gas mask, or didn’t acknowledge him in any way. They did the same to Will and Gaby. Somehow, all of this made sense to these people.
They’ve had it too good for too long. They don’t know how to do it any other way.
Will felt a little bad for Josh. He believed the kid when he said everything he did was to protect Gaby. He had seen them together in the days before Josh “died.” Everything the kid did, he did it with the singular goal of keeping Gaby safe. The problem for Josh was that the Gaby he remembered was an eighteen-year-old high school senior. That Gaby was long gone. The fact that this Gaby survived the Mercy Hospital attack, while most of Mike’s people died, was proof of that.
“The towns,” Will said. “Where are they, Josh?”
“They’re everywhere,” Josh said.
“You didn’t build them from scratch?”
“There was no need, not with so many small towns just lying around.”
“So you’re just repurposing them.”
“Yeah.”
“Your idea, or Kate’s?”
“Both,” Josh said. There was none of the pride Will had heard earlier when Josh was trying to convince Gaby. “It seemed easier, and most people don’t care. Swap out the carpets, fix the windows and sometimes the doors, and it’s almost like new again.”
“Except for the blood, and the stench of death.”
Josh didn’t reply.
“You’re moving the next group tomorrow,” Will said. “What time?”
“I haven’t decided.”
The kid really is in charge.
Will looked around him at the camp, at the woods beyond. “Are they around?”
“Who?” Josh said.
“You know who.”
“A few.”
“How many is a few?” Gaby asked.
“A few hundred. Maybe a few thousand. It’s not like I’ve sat down to count.”
“In the forest,” Will said.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t see any while I was running through earlier.”
“Neither did I,” Gaby said.
“You wouldn’t. They—” He stopped.
“What?” Will said. “They what, Josh?”
“They’re very good about hiding from the sun,” Josh said. “But you already know that.”
*
“WHAT NOW?” GABY said, when they were inside the blue tent.
“This is where it gets dicey,” Will said. “If anything happens, grab Nate and run. Even if you can’t get to him, you need to run, Gaby.”<
br />
“Not without Nate.”
“Gaby…”
“Not without Nate,” she said stubbornly.
He sighed. “All right. Not without Nate.”
Will wondered if Josh had heard their little back-and-forth. Maybe not. The tent was loud with conversation and noise, the sounds of people eating, drinking, and even snoring. It was entirely possible Josh hadn’t heard, but it was also very possible he had heard every single word, including Gaby’s very clear pronouncement she wasn’t going anywhere without Nate.
Ah, teenage love in the apocalypse. So unpredictable.
“Where would they take Nate, Josh?” Will asked.
“He’s being watched by armed guards, so it’ll be one of the private tents,” Josh said.
“Lead the way.”
Josh led them across the large room toward the dozen or so smaller tents lined in a row near the back. One of the tents belonged to Zoe, the doctor, and Will was relieved to see it wasn’t her tent that Josh was making a beeline for. The one they were approaching had an armed man in a hazmat suit standing outside of it. The label on his left breast read “Henry.”
The man saw them coming and nodded at Josh.
“How is he?” Josh asked.
Henry shrugged. “He’s alive. Doctor’s in there with him now.”
Josh slipped inside the tent, and Will and Gaby followed. Will glimpsed Henry looking after Gaby, ignoring him completely. It was a good thing Gaby was between the two of them. Will was still waiting for his Givens cover to get blown, but apparently the guy hadn’t been all that remarkable or made much of an impression on anyone, judging by how little reaction the name Givens got from those he had met so far.
There was a second man in a hazmat suit standing near the back of the tent, his gas mask clipped to his hip. His label read “Williams.” He looked bored and was staring down at an old copy of Playboy.
Nate was shirtless and lying on a cot in front of a woman in a white doctor’s coat. Fresh gauze was wrapped almost entirely over the left side of his body, all the way down to his elbow, as if someone were getting ready to turn him into a mummy. He looked cleaned up, but that wasn’t hard to do; the last time Will had seen him, Nate had been covered in blood and dirt.