The Fires of Atlantis (Purge of Babylon, Book 4) (10 page)

She smiled. “That doesn’t sound likely.”

“No.” He paused for a bit, then, “How’s Zoe?”

“She says hi.”

“Up and about already?”

“Up, but not about just yet. You did a good job stabilizing her after she was shot, Will. Waiting a day before moving her was also smart.”

“It’s been known to happen.”

“Long story short, she’ll be fine with time and a lot of rest. You’re right; it’ll be nice to have a proper doctor on the island for a change.”

“Is that real enthusiasm or self-pity?” he asked. She could almost imagine him smiling on the other end of the radio.

“Don’t be an ass,” she said.

He laughed. “She’ll be good for us, Lara.”

“We can definitely use someone with her skills. Which I guess is good and bad. Having it, and needing it.”

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” Then, without skipping a beat, “Tell me about this Beecher guy.”

“He says he’s an Army Colonel, so I guess he outranks you.”

“Only if the United States government is still in operation.”

“He says it is.”

“Anyone can say anything these days. Danny thinks he’s the President of the United States.”

“Hey, I was fairly elected,” Danny said in the background.

“See?” Will said. Then, “Where did this Beecher guy radio from?”

“Someplace called Bayonet Mountain,” Lara said. “Have you ever heard it?”

“Yes,” Will said, but she noticed that he didn’t elaborate.

“You’ve been there before…”

“Once or twice. Did he say how many were there with him?”

“He says over 4,000 people, including civilians. Is that possible? Is that place big enough for that many people?”

“The Bayonet Mountain I knew could easily fit twice as many. Three times, if necessary.”

“So you really have been there. What for?”

“It’s a long story, and right now I need to go hunt down Gaby. When I get back, I’ll talk to Beecher. Try to suss him out.”

“You think he’s lying about something?”

“I don’t know, but we have a civilian authority for a reason.”

“This is coming from a soldier…”

“Exactly,” Will said.

They didn’t say anything for a moment.

Finally, she said, “Will.”

“Yes.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said.

“Barf,” Danny said in the background. “Get a fucking room, you two.”

She ignored Danny and said, “Hurry up and find Gaby and come back home. I like hearing your voice and I’m not quite as pissed off as I was the last time we talked, but I need more than this. You understand? I need to see
you in person.”

“I’ll be home soon. Leave a light on for me.”

“How about a big lighthouse?” she smiled.

“That’ll work, too,” Will said.

T
he ATVs would have taken
them back to L15 faster, but the roar of engines would have exposed their approach. That meant they were forced to trek back through the woods on foot. They jogged as much as they could with their full gear but spent most of the time walking at a brisk pace before reaching the same clearing from yesterday just beyond the edge of town. They took out binoculars and peered through them.

The place looked calm, and he wouldn’t have known a gunfight had taken place less than an hour ago if he hadn’t heard it for himself.

“Everything looks pretty hunky dory in there,” Danny said next to him. “What gives?”

“Two possibilities,” Will said. “Either the fight’s over, or it’s just getting started.”

“Which one of those is better for us?”

“That depends on who was doing the shooting and who was being shot at, and if Gaby is involved. And if she is, that means she made a run for it.”

“That’s a pretty big leap, chief.”

“What else could it be?”

“Maybe the boys in uniforms were just letting off steam with some target practice.”

“Could be. But it was pretty short for target practice.”

The lack of activity around the town was disturbing. A place filled with that many people shouldn’t be that calm. There was no one running around, no one shouting or pointing, and no men with assault rifles searching buildings. It made him wonder if he had been wrong about Gaby being involved somehow. But if it wasn’t her, then what was the gunfire all about?

It had to be her. The Gaby he knew would try like hell to escape, even if it cost her everything.

The girl’s a born fighter.

“It’s gotta be Gaby,” Will said after a while.

“If she did make a run for it,” Danny said, “wouldn’t we have run across her? The first thing she’d do would be to head for the interstate.”

“Maybe. They could have been keeping her on the other side of town. Kellerson didn’t know her exact location.”

“I’m glad we finally ditched that guy. Terrible conversationalist.”

They hadn’t really ditched Kellerson. He was still waiting for them in the cellar behind the house. Not that he had much of a choice. Will had left him on the same patch of dirt floor he had been sleeping on last night, still duct taped. The look on Kellerson’s face had been a mixture of concern and elation when he saw them leaving without him. It wouldn’t be long now before he realized they might not come back. Whenever Will started to feel sorry for the collaborator, all he had to do was think about Mercy Hospital, and it went away.

Clop-clop-clop.

Will looked up. “You hear that?”

“Are you kidding me?” Danny said. “What is that, a posse?”

Two men on horseback rode down the town street, the
clop-clop-clop
of metal horseshoes against cobblestone echoing in the quiet morning. The riders wore camo uniforms with assault rifles bouncing against their backs. Neither man looked entirely comfortable on top of the animals.

“Horses,” Danny said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. “What is this, the Dark Ages? What’s next, guys with bows and arrows? Pooping in the woods?”

Two more riders appeared from down the street, meeting the first two halfway for some kind of powwow. After a moment, they turned and headed off toward the other side of town, picking up speed as they went.

“That’s definitely a posse,” Will said, lowering his binoculars. “And they’re headed to the other side. What’s back there?”

Danny took out a folded map from one of his pouches and spread it on the ground. “Woods. Lots of woods. So many, they should call the place Woodsville. And there’s a lake.”

“The lake would explain why they chose this place. It gives them a water supply.”

Danny folded the map back up and put it away. “What’s the plan, Kemosabe?”

“Wait and see?”

“I’m not good at waiting and seeing. I’m more of an action man. That’s what they used to call me back in college. Action Danny.”

“Skirt around the woods, see what’s happening on the other side, then?”

“Sounds like a better plan. Action Danny approves.”

“Glad to hear it,” Will said.

He got up and began moving alongside the clearing while still sticking to the woods. Danny kept pace behind him.

“You didn’t tell me we’d be running this much,” Danny said.

“Hey, I’m the one with bullet holes in me.”

“Stop yer bitchin’. Those bullet holes are already a few days old. Plus, I was thinking…”

“Uh oh.”

“Shaddup. Anyway, I was thinking, we shoulda brought Kellerson along. I’ve always wanted my own personal pack mule. You think he could have carried me, too?”

“Not without two fingers. Hard to get a grip.”

“Yeah, well, whose fault is that?”

“He hesitated when I asked him a question.”

“He said, ‘Huh,’ just before you cut off his pinky finger.”

“What are you, Amnesty International?”

“I didn’t tell you? They even sent me a membership card. That shit was laminated and everything.”

It took them another twenty minutes of steady jogging before they reached the highway. It wasn’t much to look at—two lanes with fading yellow dividers. There were steel guardrails along the sides that they had to climb over before darting across the open to the other side.

Back in the comfort of the woods again, they continued around trees and bushes before risking a run across open ground with L15 fading to their right. After another thirty minutes, they finally reached the other side of the woods.

Will didn’t breathe easier until he had trees around him again.

They hadn’t come to a complete stop when they heard gunfire from somewhere further ahead. The unmistakable clatter of assault rifles, and this time it wasn’t a one-sided fight. There was clearly a back-and-forth gun battle going on.

They went down on one knee and listened.

“AK-47?” Will said when the shooting finally stopped.

“And at least one other rifle,” Danny said.

“How many shooters?”

“Two, possibly three.”

“Sounds about right. If it is our girl, it’s four against one. I don’t like those odds.”

“She’s a lot tougher than you think, Danny. You should have seen her at Mercy Hospital.”

“Yeah?”

Will nodded.

“Damn,” Danny said. “We should definitely open up that school we’ve been talking about. Danny and Will’s School of Badassness. My name goes first, of course. Purely based on awesomeness, you understand.”

“That goes without saying,” Will said.

They got up and moved forward, toward the source of the gunfire.

M
ore gunshots
, this time coming from a different section of the woods, which told him they were going in the wrong direction and had been for some time. Either that, or the action was on the move.

There was something odd about this new round of gunfire—there was just a volley, the very clear indication of a single rifle firing on full-auto.

“AK-47?” Danny said.

Will nodded. “Yup. Plus, we’re going the wrong way.”

“That’s the last time I let you drive.”

They changed course, heading even deeper into the woods.

T
here was
blood on the ground. Fresh. Small splatters that led them to a brown horse grazing on grass next to a big oak tree, shading itself from the morning glare. The animal lifted its head when they approached, nostrils flaring in warning. When they didn’t do anything, it went back to blissfully feeding.

The blood belonged to a man in a camo uniform sitting against a tree. His eyes stared off at nothing in particular, face frozen with an oddly perplexed expression. A still-wet pool of blood seemed to originate from his bottom.

“Ass shot,” Danny said.

“Yup,” Will nodded.

“Gregson” was written on a nametag over the man’s right breast pocket, with a large but simple white star-shaped patch on the right shoulder. There was another patch, this one in the shape of a boot on his left side. After scrutinizing the “boot” for a moment, Will realized it was actually the state of Louisiana.

“Look at this,” Will said.

Danny, who was busy watching the horse dine out, glanced over. “Whatcha find?”

“They’re organizing. Names on uniforms. Regional declarations.”

“Well, damn, it’s about time they got their shit together.” Then, “Hey, you know how to ride a horse?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever ridden one.”

“Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re from Houston.”

“So?”

“And we’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“And I’ve never owned a Stetson or cowboy boots or a belt buckle the size of my head. What’s your point?”

Danny shrugged. “Seems kind of wrong, that’s all.”

Will stood up and pointed at the ground. “There was another horse heading south. Let’s see where it leads.”

“Famous last words,” Danny smirked.

T
he trail didn’t lead
him to Gaby as he had hoped. Instead, it took them to two of the men on horseback they had seen earlier. One of the riders had climbed off his mount and was peering cautiously into the mouth of a dark cave. He saw something in there that he didn’t like, and it kept him from getting too
close to the opening.

Then the man took a step back and kicked at some bones on the ground.

A dead ghoul.

Will glimpsed nametags on their uniforms, along with the same white star and the Louisiana boot. He didn’t bother trying to make out their names, though he and Danny were close enough that they could hear the two men talking just fine.

“Are we going in there to make sure?” the one still mounted asked.

“Fuck no,” the one on the ground said. “I’m not going in there.” He kicked at a deformed skull as if it were a soccer ball and watched it roll all the way into the cave, where Will saw something
(somethings)
squirming within the darkness.

“You see that?” the mounted one said.

“Yeah,” the second one said before walking back and climbing into his saddle. “Freaks me out every time.”

“What are we going to tell the kid?”

“The kid”?
Will thought.

The second man reined his horse around. “We tell him the truth—that his girlfriend had the misfortune of trying to hide inside a cave full of the bloodsuckers and didn’t come out.”

“Girlfriend”? “The kid”?

They’re talking about Josh and Gaby…

“Just like that?” the first one said.

“But more tactfully, of course,” the other one said, chuckling.

“Of course.”

Will and Danny watched them go.

When they couldn’t hear the horses anymore, they stood up and made their way over to the cave.

“One guess what’s in there,” Danny said. He kicked dirt at the bones. They were almost pure white under the sun and looked malformed. He sniffed the air. “Lots of them, too.”

“Why don’t you go in to make sure,” Will said.

“Maybe later. So now what?”

“Those guys are either smarter than they look and she’s dead, or they’re just as dumb as they look and she’s not.”

“That’s so convoluted I bet you think it actually made sense, huh?”

Danny peered into the dark cave opening while Will looked around for tracks.

The ground was soft and malleable, which was both a good thing and a problem, because there had been a lot of activity around the area very recently. There were more than one set of tracks, both on foot and on horseback. He noted then quickly dismissed the horseshoes, along with the newest pair of boots belonging to one of the dismounted
(wannabe)
soldiers. With those out of the way, he was able to focus on three separate pairs of shoes. Two sneakers and one pair of boots.

“What’s your Injun skills tell you?” Danny said, coming up behind him.

“Three people went inside—either separately or together, but they all went inside—the cave, and the same three came back out later and headed south.”

“That’s a good sign. Everyone who went in came back out.”

“That’s a very good sign.” Will stood up and followed the tracks until they vanished through some underbrush. “Those two seemed convinced one of those tracks belonged to Gaby.”

“The ‘girlfriend’ in question?”

“Yup. If they go back to town and tell Josh she’s dead, that means she’s free and clear of him.”

Danny chuckled. “Now who’s Captain Optimism?”

Will grinned. “Let’s go find our girl.”

“Let’s,” Danny said.

They headed off, Will feeling more hopeful than he had in days.

Gaby was out there. If he had to guess, the two with her were friendlies. That was the good news. The thought of Gaby having to face all of this alone bothered him more than he wanted to admit. It was his fault she was out here in the first place. Also his fault that she had gotten caught, because he had sent her on ahead of him.

Hang on, Gaby. Hang on a little longer…

A
fter about twenty
minutes of steadily tracking Gaby and her two companions, it became clear they were using the lake—Hillman’s Lake, according to the map—as a guide while traveling further south.

“We’re going to have to stop so I can call in to Song Island,” Will said. He glanced at his watch. “I promised Lara at least two contacts a day.”

Danny made an exaggerated whipping sound.

Will grinned. “Until then, what’s up ahead?”

Danny fished out the same map. “If they keep along the lake, they’ll run across a place called Dunbar about thirty-five klicks south. If they turn left between here and Dunbar, they’ll be heading toward a place called Harvest.”

“I know Harvest.”

“Fun times?”

“Oodles.”

“Tell me about it never. In the meantime, what the hell’s in Dunbar?”

“No idea. She either has a map or one of the people she’s traveling with knows the area. Anything smaller that’s worth stopping for between us and there?”

“We’re in the sticks, buddy. They probably have towns out here that have been around since the days of Tutankhamun.”