He was surprised when Carrie knocked on the open door and leaned inside. In all the chaos of the last few days, he had forgotten about her and Lorelei.
“Busy?” she asked.
He gave her his best smile. “I got time if you got time.”
She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed and watched him stuff a couple of extra T-shirts and a few rolls of duct tape into the bag. The Rangers had really stocked up on the duct tape.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“I just wanted to come see you off. We wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for you. Lorelei and me. I’m sorry to see you go.”
“I made a promise.”
“I know. And you always keep your promises.”
Not always, he thought. “These days, yeah. I try.”
“It’s too bad we never got to talk.”
“What would we talk about?”
“I don’t know. What you were like before. What I was like. What could have been…”
“Ah. Trouble lies in that direction.”
She laughed. It was just a little bit forced. “I guess you’re right, so maybe we shouldn’t go there.”
“Probably a good idea.”
“It’s going to be lonely out there by yourself. The Gulf of Mexico is a big place.”
“So maybe you should come with me.”
Carrie looked surprised. She wasn’t the only one. It took Keo a second to realize what he had said and another second to know that he meant it. It wasn’t because he wanted the company. Well, that might have been a part of it, but it was also the undeniable fact that he had brought her and Lorelei here, a place that was about to come under attack. He felt, as difficult as it was to admit to himself, responsible for the two of them.
“It’s not safe here,” Keo said. “You must know that after everything we’ve been through the last few days. Especially after last night.”
“I know it’s dangerous…”
“Dangerous isn’t quite the word I’d use, Carrie.”
“What, then?”
“Endangered.”
“‘Endangered’?” She gave him a puzzled look. “I don’t understand.”
He hesitated and spent some time searching for the right words. What would make her understand? Did she really know what was coming tonight? How was he going to convince her without scaring her at the same time? Or maybe that was exactly what he needed to do right now. Terror might be what she needed.
“They want this place,” Keo said. “The soldiers working for the ghouls. And they’re going to take it. If not tonight, then the next, or the one after that. Eventually, it will happen. These people are fighting a losing battle.”
He paused. Was he using the right approach? Was the truth what she wanted to hear? Needed to hear?
“Sooner or later, the island’s going to fall,” he continued. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. And when that time comes, one of two things will happen to you and Lorelei along with everyone here. They’re either going to capture you and take you back to the towns, or they’re going to kill you. That’s it. There is no third option.”
Carrie didn’t say anything. Instead, she looked down at her hands. He didn’t have a clue what was going through her head at the moment. Keo had never been especially good at reading the opposite sex, and the end of the world hadn’t changed that.
“Come with me,” Keo said. “You and Lorelei. There’s plenty of room on the boat. Lara would probably be okay with giving me extra supplies.”
She finally looked up at him. Damn if he had no idea what she was about to say. He guessed picking up women in seedy bars across the world, as it turned out, hadn’t been very beneficial to understanding them.
“What’s out there?” Carrie said.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s better than what’s going to happen here when night falls. You saw the same things I did out there. The second time I was at the staging area, there were even more soldiers than before.”
Her face paled a bit. He had never asked her what had happened to her that forced her and Lorelei to go on the run in the first place. There was that whole thing about the women in the collaborator towns being impregnated, but he always suspected there was something else. He hadn’t pushed her about it because he didn’t think it was his business.
Now, looking at her, he wanted to ask but managed to bite his tongue. He said instead, “You’ll like Gillian. And I hear the Texas coast is nice this time of year.”
“We’re not going,” she said. She pursed her lips into a half-smile. “Lorelei doesn’t want to leave, either.”
“Carrie…”
“I know the risks, Keo. I also know there’s nothing out there for us.”
“There’s something in Texas.”
“You don’t know that. You just hope there’s something waiting for you.”
Crap. She’s got me there.
He hadn’t been in touch with Gillian or Jordan in months, ever since they split up back at Earl’s cabin. That was…how many months ago? Too long. So what were the chances Gillian was actually out there waiting for him, like he kept telling people? Or if she was even alive at all? For all he knew, Mark’s boat could have sunk on the way over. Or they might have met more of those soldiers, or…
I’m hoping for the best, just like a sucker. I’m no different from these people.
“Maybe she’s there, and maybe she’s not,” Carrie was saying. “You’re just like Lorelei and me before you met us, Keo. You’re looking for a place to belong, hoping something’s there when you finally arrive. Well, we found that. Here on Song Island. You could stay with us. With me.”
He didn’t answer right away. It was a tempting offer. Gillian may or may not be out there, but Carrie was here, now. That was a certainty. And he’d always been more pragmatic than a dreamer, so what was keeping him from accepting her offer?
Tonight. The answer was tonight.
It’s going to be a bloodbath. Only an idiot would stay behind.
“You don’t seem to understand what I’m saying,” Keo said. “There won’t be an island after tonight.”
“Maybe,” Carrie said. “Maybe not. Lara’s friends are coming back.”
“The Rangers.”
“Yes.”
“They won’t be enough.”
“You don’t know that.”
“It’s just an island, Carrie. There are other islands.”
“The one in Texas is just an island, too, but you’re doing everything you can to get to it anyway. What’s the difference?”
He sighed. Christ. She had an answer for everything. The woman was going to drive him crazy if he spent any more time arguing with her.
And she was right, too. That was probably the most galling part. Dammit, she was right.
“So you’re staying,” he said. “You’ve decided?”
“It’s not about the island,” she said. “It’s about the people on it. It’s always been about the people. Stay with us, Keo. There might not be anything for you out there, but there’s something here, now.”
“Not after tonight.” He walked to the dresser and picked up the Glock and holstered it. “I guess there’s nothing left to say.”
“Yeah,” she said, the disappointment showing on every inch of her face. So she had come here with a mission after alclass="underline" To convince him to stay. “I hope you find her waiting for you in Texas. I really do.”
He nodded. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say next, because everything he was thinking of at the moment would have come out sounding too obviously forced.
Carrie, thank God, decided to take mercy on both of them and left before he could come up with something.