by Sam Sisavath
“I liked him, the kid,” Mason was saying. “He could be a little annoying at times, but smart as a whip. Hated to hear what happened to him. Were you there? Did the kid go down like a champ?”
Josh died to save me, and I’ll always love him for it, she thought, but didn’t say it out loud, because this man didn’t deserve to know about Josh’s fate.
“I bet he did,” Mason said anyway. “He talked about you all the time. Gaby this, Gaby that. Hell, after the first month, I think I could have written a book about the life and times of Gaby. Little Miss Perfect. Personally, I don’t see what the big fuss is about. Mind you, not that I’d kick you out of bed.”
“Mister,” Nate said, his voice rising noticeably, “I’m going to tell you one more time—”
“Or you’ll do what?” Mason said.
Nate started to get up, but Gaby grabbed his arm. “He’s not worth it.”
“That’s right; listen to blondie,” Mason snorted before miming a whip snapping in the air.
A couple of the men sitting around him chuckled, but the rest remained quiet. Mason might have been “whipping” for Nate’s benefit, but it was his men that looked as if they’d had all the fight whipped out of them. The blood on Mason was old, and they were clearly still wearing the same (smelly) uniforms since their capture. How long had they been here? A day? A week? Longer? If Mercer’s red-collared soldiers had treated her, Nate, and Danny like pieces of meat when they were captured, she couldn’t imagine what they had done to these collaborators, who as far as she knew, were the real targets.
Like Morris. Like the people back in T29.
Gaby fixed Mason with a hard stare. “Did you ever think this was how it would all end?”
“How’s that?” Mason said.
“Here, in this small room, wearing that uniform you thought would be your salvation.”
The man seemed to actually put some thought into her question. She had no doubts that Mason was every bit the opportunist she’d always seen him as: a conniving asshole who did whatever was necessary to get by, even if it meant selling out the human race. And for a while, it had worked out very well for him. Mercer’s people had changed that. They had changed everything, for everyone.
Finally, Mason shrugged. “It could have been worse. I could have spent the last year running for my life like the two of you. If this is it, you won’t get any complaints from me.”
“I don’t believe that,” Gaby said.
“No?”
“I think you’ll complain to the very end. Guys like you always do.”
“‘Guys like me’? Sweetheart, you don’t know anything about guys like me.”
“I know everything there is to know. You think you’re complicated?” She gave him a pitying smile. “You’re so simple, it’s embarrassing.”
“Is that right? Why don’t you share this great insight with the rest of the class.”
“I would, but I’d just be wasting my breath. Maybe one day, if you’re really nice, I might tell you.”
“Hope springs eternal, they say.”
“Not for you.”
Mason might have had a clever comeback, but before he could offer it, a voice from one of the open windows said, “Move to the back, now.”
She glanced up at Erin’s familiar face looking in at them.
Gaby and Nate stood up. Mason, across from her, stretched up next to a collaborator who towered over him like a giant. The sight was absurd, but Gaby didn’t have time to enjoy it before she had to move to the back of the room with everyone else.
The door opened behind them and Danny stepped inside. “Miss me?”
“You okay?” she asked.
“Hey, that’s my line.”
“Sorry.”
“I’ll let it go just this time, but only because of the clearly shitty company you’ve been keeping while I was away.”
Erin closed the door behind him, and Gaby and Nate walked back over to the other side and they sat down together.
Three against five now. I like those odds.
“Is it just me, or is Erin kind of hot?” Danny said.
“She’s okay,” Nate said, then sneaked a look in Gaby’s direction for some reason.
Men, she thought.
“You kids been getting into trouble while I was away?” Danny asked.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Nate said.
“Glad to hear it.” He held up one of his wrists. “Got my watch back.”
“Aren’t you special,” Gaby said.
“I know, right?”
“Why’d they give it back to you?” Nate asked.
“I told you, I’m special. Pay attention.”
“Did you find out where we are exactly?” Gaby asked.
“Some podunk town called Larkin.”
“We’re way off course.”
“Would appear so.”
“What did he want to talk to you about?” Nate asked. “Mercer?”
“Mostly, our differing approaches to fighting the ghouls,” Danny said. “His is to strike, while I lean more toward hiding. Like every other officer I’ve ever met, Mercer doesn’t seem to have any problems sending other people’s boys and girls to go die for him.”
“How do you know he’s an officer?”
“I can smell them from a mile away.”
“But did he actually say he was an officer?” Gaby said. “You know as well as I do that anyone can call themselves anything these days,” she added, looking across the room at Mason.
The short man didn’t respond and pretended to look at one of the open windows to her left instead.
“Oh, he’s a fancy pants, all right,” Danny said. “Or was, anyway. These days, he’s the Everyman leading the charge. We both know it’s bullshit, but as you saw out there, it seems to be working gangbusters with the masses.”
“So what else did he say?”
“The takeaway is that he thinks the only way to beat the ghouls is by destroying their food supply. One way or another.”
Food supply? she thought, but it didn’t take very long for her to understand. Oh.
“The towns,” Nate said.
“Specifically, the people in them, yeah,” Danny nodded.
“You said ‘one way or another.’ What does that mean?”
“He’s keeping that one to himself.”
“There were 400 people in T29, Danny,” Gaby said.
“I mentioned that. He may or may not have gotten a boner when he found out how many people his Warthog killed this morning.”
“Jesus Christ,” Nate said.
“What I said. Minus the whole using the Lord’s name in vain part.”
Gaby didn’t know how to respond to any of this. Nate didn’t, either, and the three of them sat very quietly against the wall and listened to a truck beep-beep-beeping its way into the hangar outside the room. One of the guards standing outside coughed just before a loud clang! as a tailgate slammed open.
“What did he want with you?” Nate asked. “He knew you were a Ranger. I got the feeling my ROTC credentials didn’t measure up, or Gaby’s.”
“He wanted me to enlist,” Danny said. “Told me I had two choices: either get with the program or get out of the way. Or, and I quote, ‘You’re either with us, or you’re against us.’”
“And what did you say?” Gaby asked.
“That I’d think about it. He wants an answer in two hours.”
“That’s why he gave you back your watch,” Nate said.
“You’re sharp, kid. I should call you Sharp Nate from now on.”
“No thanks.”
“Your loss.”
“What happens in two hours?” Gaby asked.
“They’re getting the hell out of Dodge,” Danny said. “I can be on one of those trucks with them when they do, or left behind with the dead weight. That’s what he calls everyone inside this room, by the by.”
“I’ve been called worse,” Nate said.
“I bet
you have.”
“So they’re just going to leave us behind when they go?”
Danny glanced over at her and hiked a thumb in Nate’s direction. “Captain Optimism, this guy. Thinks they’re just going to let us walk out of here.”
*
THEY STOOD IN front of the windows, watching a small handful of people still loading up the only truck inside the hangar. Mercer’s people had done such a good job clearing out the place that she didn’t realize how large the building was until now. With the drastic drawback of people and vehicles, she could now hear every squeaking footstep and clang from the back of the transport.
“Being the thinker that I am, I’ve pieced together this plan of theirs,” Danny was saying, standing between her and Nate. “Mercer didn’t confirm or deny, on account of him not fully trusting me yet. Or at all.”
“Shocker,” Nate said.
“I know, right? I have a very trustworthy face. Anyway, they’ve been bombing towns around this part of the state all morning and all day. We had the misfortune of running across one of their strafing runs. Before that, they were gathering intelligence. Probably months of preparation, all for the big payoff—which was today. The patience and planning is actually pretty damn impressive, the whole indiscriminately killing civilians part notwithstanding.”
“Earlier, Erin let slip that they had more than one plane,” Gaby said. “Did Mercer say how many?”
“Numbers have nothing to do with it. There are more planes out there than there are guys that can fly them. Mercer only has a few pilots in his stable, which really puts a damper on how far he can extend his areas of operation. That’s why the one we saw take out T29 didn’t buzz very far afterward. Mercer’s using it as his eye in the sky, watching out for a counterattack.”
“The collaborators,” Gaby said.
Danny nodded. “They have no choice. Can’t just sit there taking hit after hit, not when your bloodsucking masters’ food supply is being bled out.” He peeked back at Mason and the others on the other side of the room. “It’s inevitable, and Mercer knows it.”
“He’s drawing them in, isn’t he?” Nate asked.
“Uh huh. I got the impression today’s running just as smoothly as he’d planned,” Danny said, returning his gaze back out the window. “They’ve been here for a while now, quietly setting all this up. Until today, they’ve been raiding the surrounding towns for silver and weapons. That’s what’s in all those boxes they’re transporting. Aunt Sally’s expensive cutlery and Uncle Bailey’s all-silver retirement pen. Mercer’s taking them somewhere else, because this place isn’t going to be very useful after tonight.”
“What’s going to happen tonight?” she asked, almost afraid to know the answer.
“This airfield isn’t designed to keep people out. To keep any thing out.”
She didn’t have to ask him what any “thing” was. She knew, and so did Nate.
They were silent again, watching as a couple of teenagers in tan uniforms dragged a heavy cedar trunk across the hangar floor, then lifted it with a lot of effort into the Army truck. The two leaned against the vehicle for a moment, passing around a single canteen that they both drank from. Neither one of them looked older than sixteen.
“I don’t see where we have any choice,” Nate finally said. “We play along for now, leave this place with them, then figure a way out of it later.”
He looked over at Gaby, as if for confirmation. She nodded, because he was right. There was no other choice. It was either go along with Mercer now or stay here, and she had a feeling their captors weren’t going to give them back their weapons when they said good-bye.
“He’s right, Danny,” she said.
“That’s not going to work, either,” Danny said.
She stared at him. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“Remember Indecent Proposal with Demi Moore?”
Gaby and Nate exchanged a look.
“No?” Danny said.
“I don’t think Nate and I even know who Demi Moore is,” Gaby said.
“Damn, I’m old,” Danny said. Then, “Long story short: He asked me to the prom, but he didn’t say anything about you two tagging along.”
“He just wanted you.”
“I told you. Special.”
“Well, crap,” Nate said.
“Uh huh,” Danny nodded somberly.
Gaby exchanged another look with Nate. This time it was he who nodded back at her, and she couldn’t help but smile. It was amazing how they could know what each other was thinking with just a look. Did she ever use to have this kind of connection with Josh? Or Lara, or any of the others? Maybe this was what it was like to be Danny and Will. One look, and they knew exactly what the other was thinking.
“You should go, Danny,” Gaby said. “There’s no reason for you to stay behind, too. Once you’re able, find a way back home. Nate and I will be right behind you as soon as we can.”
“I figured we might be a day or two late,” Nate nodded, playing along. “But we’ll all be back eating fish together by the end of the week.”
Danny glanced at Nate, then at her.
She nodded and pursed her lips into a smile, hoping it was at least a little bit convincing. “We’ll be fine. Look at this place; nothing’s getting through these walls. We’ll ride out the night, then follow you home.”
“Absolutely,” Nate said. “Who knows? We might even beat you back to Port Arthur. You never know.”
Danny rolled his eyes at them. “Give me a break. I was born at night, but not last night. I’m not going anywhere without you two dummies.”
“Danny, don’t be stupid,” she said.
“Have you been talking to Carly again?”
She sighed and shook her head. “Danny, you have to go. We’ll be on your heels by morning.”
“Not gonna happen, so save your breath. Both Lara and Carly would kick my ass, and that’s not the kind of threesome I had in mind.” He glanced down at his watch. “Besides, if they were going to kill us, they would have done it already. They want to keep us alive.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I guess we’ll find out tonight,” Danny said. He glanced back at Mason and the collaborators again. “You’ve been awfully quiet. Got something to say?”
“You should have taken the deal,” Mason said. “I would have.”
“See, that’s the difference between you and me. I’m not an asshole.”
“I’m a survivor.”
“No, you’re an asshole. If I have to say it a third time, you’re going to find out what a Danny Knuckle Sandwich tastes like. Hint: It’s knuckle-licious.”
Mason snorted but looked away.
“Good boy,” Danny said, and turned back to the window. “Speaking of knuckle sandwiches…”
A Jeep had parked outside the hangar and Erin, in the front passenger seat, climbed out. She walked through the building, past the half dozen people still loading up the final truck, and stopped on the other side of the window to look in at them.
“He wants your answer,” she said to Danny.
“The conditions still stand?” Danny asked.
“I’m afraid so.” Her eyes met Gaby’s gaze for just a moment before returning to Danny. “What should I tell him?”
“We’re like the Three Musketeers,” Danny said. “One cake for all, cake for everyone. Or something. I’m not very good with sayings.”
Erin gave him a confused look.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Danny said.
The woman nodded. “Good luck,” she said, and turned to leave.
“Erin,” Gaby said.
The older woman stopped and looked back at her.
“Do you know what’s happening out there?” Gaby asked. “What your planes are doing? They’re slaughtering civilians. Men, women, and children. There were pregnant women in those towns. There were over 400 people in T29 alone.”
Gaby was hoping for some kind of sign, an indication that all
of this was new to Erin, but it wasn’t there.
She knows. Jesus, she knows.
Erin looked at Danny again. “If you change your mind in the next hour, tell the guards.”
“Not gonna happen,” Danny said.
“How do you live with yourself?” Nate asked her.
Erin ignored him and turned around and walked back to the waiting Jeep. Gaby wasn’t sure, but she thought Erin was walking faster than she really had to.
“She knows,” Nate said quietly.
“They all know,” Danny said. “But they’re committed. Heart, soul, and ammo.”
“What’s going to happen tonight?” Gaby asked.
Danny glanced down at his watch. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“I was hoping for a better answer.”
“And I was hoping for a cheeseburger and some French fries the size of my wrists,” Danny said, “but we can’t always get what we want, kid.”
CHAPTER 10
FRANK
“WHY DO YOU fight?”
It was followed by a laugh, or something that might have been a laugh. It was hard to tell nuance when his mind was filled with so many voices, so many thoughts, like trying to listen to a city of people talking all at once.
“There is no victory waiting for you at the end of this.”
A sigh of frustration, like a father growing impatient with a child. Maybe that wasn’t so far from the truth. He was like a child, at least according to Mabry. They all were; he and the millions and billions out there that flowed from Mabry’s blood.
“They’ll never accept you. She will never accept you. Can you blame her? You’re not the man you once were. You’re not even a man anymore.”
He didn’t answer, because it was a trick. Like all the other times, the voice just wanted him to respond so he would reveal himself. Mabry knew he was connected, listening in, because there was no detaching himself from them. Oh, he could erect walls and build other mental defenses, but he could never, ever become separated. That was the strength of the brood, after all—the oneness.
“You’re just making this difficult on yourself. Why can’t see you see that?”
Push it away, into the back of his mind, where the voice became smaller. He couldn’t shut it out, but he could ignore it to some degree, send it to the outer edges of his consciousness where it was still audible but less demanding. Instead, he focused on the here and now, on remaining perfectly still and quiet, and allowing his body to heal.