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

by Sisavath, Sam

  “What are you growing?” he asked Steve.

  “Everything,” Steve said. “Wheat, corn, vegetables, fruits… When was the last time you had fresh corn?”

  “I can’t remember.”

  “Or tomatoes? Potatoes? What about fresh from-the-oven bread? This is just one of our agricultural fields. We have two more on the other side of the subdivisions.”

  “It’s…impressive,” Keo said, and realized that he actually meant it.

  “This is what Tobias was trying to save them from. Now do you understand why he’d never have won? But that was something he could never understand. I tried to explain to him. I really did, but he just couldn’t fathom why this is a better life than running around out there scavenging and hiding from the crawlers. That’s no way to live.”

  “You’re right. That is no way to live.”

  “I’m glad you agree,” Steve said, and reached over and slapped Keo on the shoulder. “My brother Jack’s a good second-in-command, but he’s a little gimpy right now.”

  “You offering me a job?”

  “Why, you interested?”

  “I’m not opposed to it.”

  “That’s what I wanna hear. But not just yet. You did me a favor removing Tobias, but let’s wait and see how you feel tomorrow. After all, it’s probably going to be the biggest decision of your life.”

  They drove on past the fields, which seemed to keep going and going around him. And to think this was just one of three in T18. Keo didn’t even want to imagine how much bigger the other two were, or how much manpower was working them.

  “Around 4,000,” Jack had told him when he asked about the population of T18.

  Eventually they passed the fields, and Steve turned into a subdivision blocked by a tall rolling gate. It had a sign across the front that once read “Wilmont Heights” but had since been covered up with a banner now reading, “T18A1.”

  Like the marina entrance, this one also had a guard booth. A soldier rushed out as they approached and pushed the gate open for them. Steve drove through.

  “There are five subdivisions,” Steve said. “One’s for military personnel only, and the rest are for everyone else.”

  “Jack told me you had 4,000. How do you control that many people?”

  “Control?” Steve said, not even bothering to hide his amusement. “What makes you think we control them? They can leave whenever they want. But why would they? These houses are the only things standing between them and the crawlers at night. There’s nothing for them out there.”

  Keo had gone through whole subdivisions during his trek across Louisiana, and the empty houses never failed to leave him utterly depressed. But he didn’t get that same abandoned vibe now as they cruised up T18A1. The streets were sparse but clean, and he found out why when they drove past the first of what turned out to be a dozen or so workers along the sidewalks picking up garbage and stuffing them into bags. They were all civilians, and he didn’t see a soldier in sight.

  “What did these poor bastards do to get this job detail?” Keo asked.

  “You ever heard the phrase, ‘People who can, do; those that can’t, teach’?” Steve asked.

  “I may have run across it once or twice.”

  “Well, these guys can’t even teach, so this is the price of staying in town. You get it now?”

  “What’s that?”

  “This is what they’ll do to stay here. That’s how valuable this place is compared to what’s out there, why Tobias would never have been able to ‘rescue’ them. Because they don’t want to be rescued.”

  “Nothing wrong with picking up garbage for a living.”

  “It’s not, but you don’t wanna know what the poor bastards who can’t even do this are doing to earn their keep.”

  “Does it smell?”

  Steve chuckled. “Boy, does it ever. But hey, someone’s gotta do the dirty work, right? That’s how the world runs. Everyone’s got a role to play. That includes you and me.”

  There were row after row of homes around them. They looked almost identical, except for a few add-ons and color schemes. What caught him by surprise were the yards; they all looked as if they had been recently mowed, though they seemed to lack the uniform clean-cut look he was used to seeing in suburban neighborhoods before The Purge. Almost all of the windows were open, even if he couldn’t see any homeowners around. Keo guessed they didn’t have to worry about crime these days.

  The golf cart was the only vehicle in the entire place, its mechanical hum drawing curious looks from the people along the sidewalks. Keo was used to seeing cars and trucks parked along curbsides in subdivisions, but there were none of those here. As a result, the streets looked wide and inviting and nothing at all like what a real neighborhood should look like. In fact, there was nothing “real” about T18A1, or T18 for that matter.

  Steve finally slowed down and turned into the driveway of a house near the back of the street. It was a two-story building, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. At least, nothing that would indicate this was where a man of Steve’s position lived.

  “Here we are,” Steve said, putting the cart in park. “Your stop.”

  Keo climbed out. “Where are we?”

  “Go knock on the front door and find out.” Steve put the golf cart in reverse and started backing down the driveway. “I’ll send someone to come get you later, but until then, I would refrain from wandering off.”

  Keo watched Steve back into the street, spinning the steering wheel, then tipping a nonexistent cap to him before driving off.

  One of the men picking up garbage across the street stopped what he was doing and waved at Keo for some reason. He was in his fifties, with a full white beard and looked like Santa Claus, if Saint Nick had lost a good hundred or so pounds. Keo wasn’t entirely sure what to do, so he waved back.

  Then, he turned around and looked at the house. It had brick in the front but wood paneling along the sides and, he guessed, in the back as well. It had an attached garage like every other house up and down the street. There were no mailboxes, but there was evidence someone had attempted to grow flowers around the walking path.

  Keo took that walkway now, up to the front door.

  He was halfway there when the door opened and she looked out.

  She had one hand on the doorknob, the slight breeze picking up her long jet-black hair. The months hadn’t dulled the brilliance of her green eyes, and Keo couldn’t have stopped the stupid smile spreading across his face even if he wanted to.

  “Keo,” she said. “You’re here. You’re really here.”

  “I promised, didn’t I?” he said.

  She smiled. “Yes, you did.”

  He was so focused on her face, on the way her hair fluttered behind her, that it took him a while before he saw the rest of her. She was clutching the doorknob with one hand—a bit too tightly, for some reason—while the other one was rubbing her stomach, which was a lot bigger than he remembered…

  Chapter Seventeen

  “You’re pregnant,” he said.

  “You always were a master of observation, Keo.” She smiled at him, though he thought it was probably a little more forced than she had planned.

  “How long?”

  “Four months.”

  Four months.

  It had been three months since Jordan escaped T18, and what had she said when he pressed her on why Gillian hadn’t left with her?

  “She was different in the weeks leading up to the escape. To this day I don’t know what happened, but when the time came I was the only one who left. Only she can say why.”

  Four months…

  Keo watched her pour hot water from a pot into a pair of ceramic mugs, then open a package and dipped two tea bags into them. He was in too much of a daze, and had been for the last few minutes, to recall where the hot water came from.

  “Tea?” he said.

  “Black tea. The green ones expired a long time ago, though the guys running the
farms say we might be able to grow our own very soon.”

  She brought the mugs over and sat down across from him. Keo stared down at the tea, then at her.

  “What?” she said. “You think I’m trying to poison you?”

  He smiled. Or thought he did. “Of course not.”

  “It’s really not that bad. I hated it in the beginning, but you learn to get used to things. Tea’s a luxury these days.”

  He picked up the mug and sipped it. It wasn’t bad, but he was never much of a teetotaler. The Gillian he remembered had never been one, either. He remembered the two of them finishing off bottles of whiskey they had found in Earl’s basement. Then there was the occasional good red wine he and Norris would pick up during one of their scavenging trips.

  But not tea. Never tea.

  “It’s better with some milk or honey,” she was saying. “Or sugar. But those are rationed.”

  I bet Steve has plenty at his house. Maybe I can go and borrow some.

  “Hey, Steve, you got some milk or honey? My pregnant girlfriend would sure like some with her black tea.”

  Girlfriend. Did he just refer to Gillian as his girlfriend?

  Christ, maybe Tobias’s love-tap had done more damage to his brain than he thought.

  Keo took out the pill bottle Jordan had given him and shook out two.

  “You okay?” Gillian asked.

  “Headache.”

  “Does it have something to do with that?” She touched her own forehead.

  “Lucky guess,” he said, and tried to force a smile, but gave up about halfway.

  He swallowed the pills and put the bottle away. Then he watched her sipping tea across from him, sunlight from the open windows splashing across them. He wished it were darker inside the living room so he wouldn’t have to see her belly. The most painful part was that she was still as beautiful as he remembered; maybe even more so.

  “I was wondering why they told me to come home,” Gillian said. She put the mug down and placed her hands over her belly. “It’s supposed to be safe for me to work until the end of my second trimester. Some of the women here are in their third, and they’re still in the fields.”

  “Isn’t that dangerous?” he asked, because he didn’t know what else to say.

  “You would think so, but I guess not.” She pursed her lips. “I’m glad you’re alive, Keo. I spent a lot of restless nights worrying about you. When I saw you yesterday on the boat, you looked so different. I’m not talking about the scars. Everyone has scars. I wasn’t sure then, but seeing you again, here, I was right. You’ve changed.”

  “For the better?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  She was watching him closely and Keo found it difficult to meet her stare, so he stood up and walked around the living room to get away from it.

  The walls were almost entirely barren. There were no pictures or signs of the previous owners. He guessed that was on purpose. Out with the old, in with the new…

  “It’s kind of plain, huh?” Gillian said, as if reading his mind. “I’m just glad I have a room with a carpet and a bed and honest to goodness pillows. They gave me the house because I’m pregnant. We all get one. Otherwise, they put you in one of the other subdivisions.”

  “Steve told me there were five in all.”

  “Steve?”

  “Steve Miller. The guy who runs this place.”

  “You’re on a first-name basis with him already?” she asked, sounding slightly amused.

  “I make very good first impressions,” he said, managing to smile convincingly back at her that time.

  “I remember,” she smiled back.

  Keo found himself next to an empty bookcase. He absently ran his hand over the thick layer of dust on one of the shelves, then had to wipe it off on his pant leg.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me?” Gillian said behind him.

  “Ask what?”

  “Who the father is.”

  Christ, do I have to?

  “I assumed he’s out there working somewhere,” he said.

  “He’s one of the doctors.” She paused, maybe waiting for him to say something in reply, and when he didn’t, she added, “He’s a good man, Keo. I didn’t…really plan it. It just kind of happened.”

  Keo walked across the living room and sat down on a stool next to the kitchen counter. The tabletop was spotless unlike the bookcase, and he rested his elbows on it and ran his fingers through his hair. It was dirty, and he needed a shower in the worst way.

  “His name’s Jay,” she said behind him.

  She was probably looking at him, but he didn’t feel like turning around to make sure. Instead, he stared across the kitchen at his reflection in a silver refrigerator, at the scar along his left cheek that looked freakishly out of proportion for some reason. He wondered why they still had the refrigerator since there was no electricity to run it. Maybe they were using it as an extra storage container. He could have thought of better uses for it, like storing Jay’s body. A good man or not, Keo bet he could fit the fucker in there just fine, even if he had to chop him up into little chunks to do it.

  “Keo,” she said. “Say something.”

  “That’s why you didn’t leave with Jordan,” he said.

  “I wanted to, until I found out I was pregnant.”

  Four months ago. What was he doing four months ago? He wished he could remember…

  “She’s alive?” Gillian asked. “Jordan?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank God. I’ve been so worried about her.” She paused, then, “Did she tell you what happened to the others? Mark, Rachel, and Christine?”

  He nodded.

  “That didn’t have to happen,” she said. “They didn’t have to die, but they did because we made bad choices.”

  Keo stood up and walked to the back door, peering out at the backyard and the thick tree line in the background.

  He didn’t know why he was moving around. Maybe he was hoping to find a way out of the house and away from her, from her belly. Of course, if he really wanted to do that, he could. None of the doors were locked, and the windows were all open...

  There was a wooden fence out behind the house, about six feet high, separating the subdivision from the woods out back. Six feet. He could hop that easily and be in the woods before Steve even knew he was gone. Despite the presence of darkening clouds, there was still enough light out there. A few hours’ worth, at least. He could find Jordan, hiding somewhere out there, and go…someplace far from here.

  So what was stopping him?

  “You can leave anytime?” he asked.

  “Anytime,” she said.

  “And they won’t try to stop you?”

  “No.”

  “How do you know?” He looked back at her. “How can you be sure?”

  “Keo, what do you see out there?”

  “Trees.”

  “Right. Trees. If you want to leave, go ahead. They’re not going to stop you. Why should they? That’s why all this fighting is so unnecessary. People are dying out there for no reason. It’s not perfect in here, but it’s worse out there.”

  “They brought you here against your will, Gillian. They killed Mark and Rachel and her daughter in the process, remember?”

  “I know that. Don’t you think I know that?” She looked visibly frustrated, maybe even angry with him. “I’ll never forget what happened to them. But I can’t change the past, or dwell on it. I can’t afford to.” She put her hands over her belly again. “I have to think about the future.”

  And where do I fit into that future?

  He knew the answer without having to ask it, without having to hear her say it. He could see it in the way she caressed her stomach, as clear as day. Gillian couldn’t afford to dwell on the past, and that was exactly what he was—the past.

  “Keo,” she said.

  He met her eyes and watched her get up and walk over to him.

  “I’m really glad you’re alive,�
�� she said, and he wanted desperately to believe her. “Seeing you here, safe and sound, is a miracle. I didn’t think I would ever see you again, get to touch you again…”

  She placed her hand against his cheek, over the ugly scar that Pollard had left behind. Her skin felt warm and welcoming, and he couldn’t help himself and closed his eyes and leaned into her palm.

  “Keo,” she whispered, and he had never heard such a wonderful sound coming out of another human being as his name from her lips.

  When he opened his eyes, she was crying, but not making any sounds.

  “Keo,” she whispered again.

  He kissed her.

  He expected her to push him away, to tell him there was only (fucking) Jay now, but she didn’t. Instead, she kissed him back and pressed forward until Keo felt her growing belly, filled with another man’s child, rubbing against him. He should have been disgusted, even angry, but he wasn’t.

  He wanted her. Desperately.

  Maybe it was all the months alone, with only Norris’s complaining for company. Then, later, almost dying on Song Island. Though, he thought it was more than that. It was a primitive longing for her, for this woman he had been searching for, for so long now, never really sure she was even still alive.

  And to finally find her again...

  She began pulling away, and even though he didn’t want to let her go, he had no choice, and did.

  She was gasping for breath as she stepped back. “Keo…”

  The way she said his name drove him crazy and he reached for her again, but she pushed him away and took another step back. She wiped at her tear-streaked cheeks and smiled at him, but he could tell it took her a lot of effort just to do that much.

  “Jay’s a good man,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  She turned and walked away, and he watched her go up the stairs until there was just the sound of her footsteps.

  Then, seconds later, a door opening and closing softly.

  “Shit,” Keo said to the empty room.

  Five houses.

  Then ten.

  They all looked the same. Mostly. One was two stories, one was one story, then he found another two story. One had three stories, and a woman in one of the bedroom windows watched him walk by along the sidewalk. She looked young, maybe in her late teens, and she was combing her hair. He didn’t see a belly, but there was a good chance she had one.