“At least one of them is still alive,” Liz said quietly. She was the tallest woman in the group, with short blonde hair and brown eyes. Keo’s six-one frame had a few inches on her, but not by much. She wore a white choker around her neck with a diamond-encrusted basketball. The shiny jewelry didn’t fit with the tough exterior Liz was trying to give off and mostly succeeding.
“Just one survivor?” Keo asked.
“We’re only sure about one,” Sharon said. She was older than the other two by a good decade and had a stoic toughness about her. Unlike Liz, she didn’t have to try to make it obvious.
“How are you even sure about that?”
They were loitering around in the hallway, occasionally glancing at the back door as the ghouls continued to pound away.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump…
After a while, Keo had started to tune them out. They weren’t going to get through that steel door no matter how long they kept at it. Hours? Days? It didn’t matter. They could coat it with as much of their flesh and blood as they wanted, and it wouldn’t make any difference.
In response to his question, Liz had produced a handheld radio from a satchel that she carried around her waist. She turned up the volume, but nothing came through the speakers.
“What am I supposed to be listening to?” he asked.
“The only one we’re sure that made it,” Sharon said. “Her name’s Carter.”
“She has a radio?”
“Yes,” Liz said. She was staring at the two-way in her hand. “After we got split up, we were sure the others didn’t make it. But then Carter contacted us. She’s still alive.”
“Where is she now?”
“We don’t know,” Sharon said. “Carter doesn’t know, either. She was taken.”
“‘Taken?’”
Again, the three women exchanged a quick look.
“That’s what Carter said when she first radioed us,” Jackson said. She was the only African-American among the three, and shorter than the other two by nearly a foot. Keo at first thought she might have been in her early twenties, but then later settled on younger than that. Eighteen or maybe nineteen. Not that age really mattered much anymore; you grew up fast these days or you didn’t at all.
“What else did she tell you?” Keo asked.
“She was unconscious when they took her, after her group was overrun,” Sharon said. “She doesn’t know what happened to the others, just that she woke up in some kind of basement later on. She was still carrying most of her equipment, including her radio.”
“Weapons?”
Liz shook her head. “She said she ran out of ammo and lost her knife during the struggle, before she was knocked out.”
“And she’s alive?” Keo said, when what he really wanted to ask was, “And she’s not underneath a swarm of ghouls right now, being fed on?”
“She’s alive,” Sharon said with a nod. The look on the older woman’s face told Keo even she didn’t quite believe it. “She doesn’t know why, either. But they haven’t done anything to her.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know,” Sharon said. “It didn’t make any sense to us, either. But Carter wouldn’t lie about that. Why would she?”
“Maybe because she wants you to come rescue her. If you knew she was already bitten…” Keo let the rest of it trail off before continuing. “You know how it works, right?”
Sharon looked almost offended. “Of course I know how it works. Everyone knows how it works. They bite you, and if that doesn’t kill you, you turn into one of them. You become infected. Sometimes it takes hours, sometimes minutes. It depends on the strength of the infection.” She paused for a moment. Then, “I know how it works. We all do.”
“And so does Carter,” Liz said. “And she said she wasn’t bitten.”
“What about the others?” Keo asked. “How many more of your people were out there?”
“Four,” Jackson said somberly.
None of the three women added details about what had happened to those other four, but Keo could guess. He’d heard the gunfire go on for some time before just stopping completely. And the fact that none of them were carrying silver ammo made their fate all the more obvious.
The younger Jackson sat down on the floor across from Keo while Sharon remained standing to Keo’s right, occasionally checking the rear door up the hallway where the thump-thump-thump of ghoul pounding continued unabated.
Liz had begun pacing to Keo’s left. “We have to go get Carter. She’d come after us.”
“We don’t know where she is,” Sharon said.
“We have to go after her, Sharon.”
“I know, Liz, but that doesn’t change the fact we don’t know where she is.” Sharon looked over at Keo. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Keo said.
“You’re from here, aren’t you?” Jackson asked. “You know this city. You must have some ideas where they might be keeping her.”
Keo shook his head. “I’m not from around here, either.”
“Goddammit,” Liz said, turning away.
“We were hoping…” Jackson said, before she, too, looked away.
“Was that the only reason you guys saved me?” Keo asked.
“You’d have to ask these two,” Sharon said. “I didn’t know what they were doing before they did it.”
Keo looked to Jackson, who gave him a sheepish look and a shrug.
“It was a long shot,” Liz said.
“Sorry for the bad news,” Keo said. “But thanks for saving my life anyway.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I don’t think she means that, Keo thought with a half-smile.
He looked over at Sharon, who was once again staring up the hallway. They were far enough from the door that Jackson’s light didn’t reach it, which was probably just as well. Listening to the ghouls banging away was enough to know they were still out there.
“Did Carter say if she’s alone in that basement?” Keo asked.
“She said she was alone,” Sharon said.
“Is she sure?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, were there lights in this place? Or did she have that”—he nodded at the LED on Jackson’s wrist, held in place by, from what he could tell, leather straps—“on her?”
“She doesn’t,” Jackson said. She held up her wrist and smiled with some pride. “I did this myself. I offered to make them one, too, but the others didn’t want it.”
“What difference does it make?” Sharon asked Keo.
“Is she absolutely sure she’s alone down there?” Keo said. “There’s a big difference between being alone and not being alone, you know.”
“She said she was alone, and we believe her.” She paused before adding, “But she also didn’t say if she had any lights with her.”
“The kid was terrified,” Liz said. “She’s only fourteen.”
“Fourteen?” Keo said.
“Just fourteen,” Sharon said. “She’s been with us since she was just a little kid. I can’t imagine her down there all alone.”
As if on cue, the radio clipped to Liz’s hip came to life:
“Guys? Guys? Are you still there? Guys?”
The speaker was female, and her words were mostly intact, but it wasn’t crystal clear. There were occasional breakups and static interruption. Despite that, Keo could easily detect the fear in the girl’s voice.
“Guys? Guys?” the voice that Keo assumed was Carter continued. “Are you still there? God, I hope you guys are still there.”
Liz quickly unclipped her radio again and pressed the transmit lever. Then, in a calm voice that probably took a lot out of her, said into the two-way, “Carter, we’re still here. We hear you. Are you okay?”
“Oh, thank God,” Carter said, the relief in her voice coming through despite a brief interruption between the thank
and the God part. She sounded very young.
Only fourteen, and alone in the dark. Damn.
“I’m okay. They haven’t come back for me yet.” Then, with some excitement, “Guys, I found something. It’s in the room with me. I think it might be important.”
Sharon had moved closer to the radio in Liz’s hand. Keo stayed where he was and kept his mouth shut and just listened.
“What is it?” Liz asked. “Did you find out where they’re keeping you?”
“No, no, not yet,” Carter said. “But I did find something. I don’t know, maybe it might be a clue?”
“What did you find, Carter?”
“—barrels. Like, a dozen of them, all lined up against the wall.”
“Barrels? Did you say barrels?”
“Yeah. Those things you put beer in? And pour beer out of? I don’t know what you call—” Some static, before the girl’s voice returned: “—look like barrels to me.”
Liz glanced over at Jackson and Sharon. She had no idea what Carter was talking about, and from the looks on their faces, neither did the other two women.
“Beer kegs,” Keo said. “She’s talking about beer kegs.”
“Kegs,” Sharon said. “He’s right.” Then, her eyes widening slightly, “Some place that serves beer from kegs. Or used to.”
“A bar?” Liz said.
“Maybe. Ask her what else she found.”
Liz turned back to the radio. “Carter, what else did you find down there besides barrels?”
“—pool table,” Carter said. “It was hidden—” The radio cut out, before returning: “—kind of tarp. I bumped into it. Hurt like hell, too. It’s really dark down here, guys. I can barely see—” Her voice cut out again.
“A pool table,” Sharon said. Keo thought he could actually hear the gears in her head turning as she tried to piece together the clues. “She’s in the basement of some kind of bar. They always store their used kegs down there. The pool table confirms it.”
“Carter,” Liz said into the radio, “do you see anything that looks like a sign? Or the name of an establishment? A bar? Anything that could help us nail down your location?”
“No,” Carter said. “It’s really dark down here. I can barely—” She disappeared in midsentence one more time.
They waited for Carter to come back, and when she didn’t after a few seconds:
“Carter,” Liz said, her fingers gripping the radio tighter. “Are you okay? What happened? Carter, come in. Carter!”
“—okay,” Carter said. Keo thought the teenager was whispering a little softer now, and at the same time with even more urgency in her voice.
“What just happened?” Liz asked.
“—clothes down here, in one of the corners,” Carter said. “I didn’t see them before because it’s so dark—” Static, before she returned a couple of seconds later: “—smelled them.”
That drew another round of confusing looks among the three women.
“They’re in a pile,” Carter was saying. “There’s blood on them. That’s what I was smelling. The blood—” Her radio cut off again.
“Bloody clothes?” Sharon said while they waited to hear from Carter again. She was looking at Liz when she said it, though she could have just been saying it out loud to herself.
“What the hell is this place?” Liz said.
“It sounds like a temporary holding cell of some kind,” Keo said.
Liz looked over at him. “A holding cell for what?”
What do you think? Keo wanted to ask, but he thought Liz already knew the answer to her own question.
The radio squawked, and Carter came back. “Guys, are you still there?” Keo thought her voice had grown even more panicky since they last heard from her. “I think there was someone down here before me. I don’t think I’m the first one they brought down here...”
Six
Thump-thump-thump…
Thump-thump-thump…
If Keo closed his eyes, he could almost convince himself there wasn’t a horde of ghouls out there with just a metal door standing between him and them. Well, if he closed his eyes and stuck his fingers into both ears and started chanting Lara’s name over and over.
Thump-thump-thump…
Thump-thump-thump…
Keep at it, boys. Keep right on at it.
“How are we going to find her?” Jackson was asking.
“There can’t be that many bars in Paxton,” Liz said. “All we have to do is find the right one. We can’t afford to wait till morning. We don’t know how long she’s going to last in there by herself. You heard her; she’s not the first one they put down there.”
“She said the blood was fresh,” Sharon said.
“Yeah, she did. Someone was down there before her. How long before they come back for her, too? They put her there for a reason.”
“They,” Keo thought. The women were either being very deliberate not to expand on who they were, or… No, there was no or, because they were ghouls. The same ones that had taken out the rest of Sharon’s group and also absconded with the kid.
Unless there hadn’t just been ghouls out there in the first place. Was that possible? Was there something else?
Someone else?
“Did you see anyone out there while you were fighting those ghouls?” Keo asked.
The women turned to look at him. They were now all standing in the hallway together, almost huddling as they went back and forth between the three of them. For all he knew, they might have even forgotten he was sitting on the floor nearby until he spoke up.
“What?” Sharon said.
“Did you see anyone out there when you were fighting earlier?”
“You mean besides us?” Liz asked.
“Yeah,” Keo said. He added, “Someone else,” and left the rest hanging.
Liz and Sharon picked up on it right away, but Jackson, in the middle, looked lost.
“No,” Sharon said, shaking her head. “It was just us and those nightcrawlers out there the entire time. If there were someone else, I didn’t see them.”
“Neither did I,” Liz said. “Why does it matter if there were?”
“Because I’ve never heard of the black eyes doing this,” Keo said. “Taking a survivor without hurting them. Putting them in a basement for…some reason. I’ve never heard of that happening. Not with the black eyes. Have either of you?”
Liz and Sharon exchanged a look, before Sharon said (answering for both of them, Keo guessed), “No. Never.”
“None of this makes any sense,” Keo said. “If there was someone else out there besides a ghoul, then why didn’t they take her radio away, too? Why just take her guns and knife, but leave the radio? They had to know she’d try to contact you. Right?”
“Maybe,” Sharon said.
“There’s no maybe about it. The fact that they left her her radio…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense, especially if someone other than the black eyes took her.”
“What is he talking about?” Jackson asked the two women. “What else could have been out there besides those nightcrawlers?”
“Collaborators,” Liz said. “He’s talking about ghoul collaborators. There were a lot of them during The Purge.”
“Collaborators? What are those?”
“Humans that worked with the creatures,” Sharon said.
“‘Worked’ with them?”
It didn’t surprise Keo that Jackson had never heard of or seen a collaborator in person. She was too young. It was likely she’d run across one or two of them before but just never knew what they used to be. Unlike him, Sharon, and Liz, the kid had grown up in this new world and didn’t have to deal with all the intricacies of that hellish yearlong Purge.
“They were on the bad guys’ side,” Liz was saying. “That’s all you need to know.” Then, to Keo, “But you’re right. I’ve never heard of the black eyes taking prisoners, either. At least, not the way they took Carter.”
Keo nodded. Liz hadn’t come right out and said it, but by “the way they took Carter” what she meant was that the ghouls hadn’t fed on her immediately. He’d seen ghoul nests with half-dead survivors slowly being drained of their blood, but he’d never heard of something similar to Carter’s current situation.
It didn’t make any sense. None of this thing with Carter did.
And that was the problem. When it came to ghouls, you could bet the shirt on your back on their reaction to certain situations. They were predictable in their simplicity: Hunt, feed, and survive. They didn’t grab survivors and put them inside a makeshift prison for…what?
It didn’t make a lick of sense to Keo, and he could see that both Sharon and Liz were realizing the same thing. Even Jackson was starting to figure it out, albeit a little slower.
“It doesn’t matter how she got there, she’s there,” Sharon said. There was finality in her voice—the leader asserting control. “What matters is finding her. Anyone got any ideas on how to achieve that?”
“We know she’s in the basement of some bar,” Liz said. “But I didn’t see one while we were moving through town earlier. When the fighting began, we were already in the back alleys. Hard to pick up signs back here.” To Jackson, “What about you? Did you see one?”
Jackson seemed to think about it. “Maybe…”
“What did you see?” Sharon asked.
“There was a place with a couple of beer pitchers on a sign above it. It looked like a bar. I didn’t catch the name though. It was too dark. But I remember the sign as we rode past it.”
“There could be a dozen bars in a town this size,” Liz said.
“Maybe, but she’s in the one that’s closest to us,” Keo said. “Possibly even the one that Jackson saw. How far was that place?”
All three women turned to look at him. Again, he had a feeling they’d temporarily forgotten he was sitting nearby.
“It’s just down the street,” Jackson said. “Maybe half a block?”
“What makes you think they’re keeping Carter nearby?” Sharon asked.
“You said she had a two-way portable radio on her,” Keo said.
Liz took out her own radio. “Like this one. And?”
“Two-ways work best when there’s nothing between them, like a perfect line of sight. You put a brick wall—or, say, a basement—and they don’t work quite as well. The fact that you could receive Carter’s radio signal at all given her current location has to mean she’s relatively close by.”
Road to Babylon (Book 8): Daybreak Page 5