They didn’t say anything for a moment, and the only sound for the longest time was the humming of the lights around them.
Finally, Lara said, “What if they don’t do what I think they’ll do? What if they’re smarter than that?”
“They’ll definitely go for the beach,” Danny said. “They won’t be able to help themselves. They have the manpower and firepower for it. They’ll overwhelm us with force. Shock and awe. Or, at least, that’ll be the plan. Personally, Willie boy and me could have come up with something better. Like, a billion times better. But we’re not talking about professionals here. They’ll take the path of least resistance because they’ll be overconfident in their numbers.”
“Do they really have that many soldiers?”
He nodded. “However many you think they have, they actually have more. Everyone loves a winning side, right? And you don’t get any more winning than taking over the planet in one night. Hell, if we’re smart, we would have joined them long ago.”
“It’s a good thing you’re not that bright, then.”
“Ouch.”
“But I love you anyway.”
Danny put his arm around her and pulled her tight against him. “One more day. That’s all we need. Just long enough for Big Willie to make his way home. I don’t like to tell him this, but he’s the brains of the operation, you know. If there’s a Will, there’s a way.” Then he added, “Get it?”
“I’m not an idiot, Danny.”
“Well, you did drop out of school.”
“I had a really good excuse,” she said.
She found Gaby in her room. The same one she had left behind weeks ago when she climbed into the helicopter with Will and didn’t come back to until now. It still looked the same because Lara hadn’t touched it since, and Carly had visited it once every few days to keep the dust at bay. From the looks of the clean carpeting and bed, Carly had done a good job of it.
Gaby was sitting on the end of the bed, looking at the open bathroom door across from her. Someone was in the shower singing some song that sounded familiar, but Lara couldn’t quite place it. It was probably the young blonde girl who had stood on one side of Gaby while the young man, Nate, stood on the other when they arrived on the island earlier. Looking at the two girls was like seeing sisters, and she wondered if that’s what people saw when she stood next to Gaby.
A dirty T-shirt and pants lay crumpled on the floor next to the supply packs Gaby and the girl had brought with them. Gaby was still wearing her gun belt, and her M4 rifle leaned against the bed within easy reach. There was an awareness about her, as if she was waiting for something to happen so she could explode into action, that hadn’t been there when she had last seen the teenager.
Always the soldier. You trained her too well, Will.
“Hey,” Lara said.
Gaby looked over. Despite the bruises, the cuts, and the healing broken nose, she still looked very much like the painfully pretty eighteen-year-old teenager who had come to her and Will not all that long ago. Josh had been with her then, but that was another life. These days, Gaby had other boys scrambling for her attention, and no amount of bodily injury was going to stop that.
“Some homecoming, huh?” Lara said. “‘Welcome back. Oh, by the way, we’re about to be attacked by an overwhelming force. Can you grab that rifle?’”
Gaby smiled. “Beats what’s going on out there.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“Who hasn’t?”
Lara nodded. She couldn’t argue with that.
And Will was still out there…
“I was hoping you’d come by,” Gaby said. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to see me after…earlier.”
“I’m sorry about that. I reacted badly.”
“I’m just glad you didn’t shoot me and Danny.”
They exchanged a brief smile, then Lara pointed at the open bathroom door.
“Claire,” Gaby said.
“Mini you.”
Gaby chuckled. “I guess we do kind of look alike.”
“What’s she singing?”
“I think that’s a Taylor Swift song.”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Taylor Swift?”
“Yeah.”
“She was a country singer, sang mostly about boys and breaking up and all that girlie stuff. Then she became a pop singer. Then…well, I don’t know what she did after that. This happened.”
Lara walked over and sat on the bed next to her. Gaby hadn’t changed clothes since she arrived. She was still wearing the same cargo pants and long-sleeve shirt, clothes that would make other women look tomboyish or plain, but of course other women weren’t Gaby.
“You should have seen me this afternoon,” Gaby said. “I was wearing a dead man’s uniform.”
“Why in the world were you doing that?”
Gaby told her about posing as soldiers in order to get past the barricade at the Lake Dulcet exit.
“Oh,” Lara said. She wondered how many of those “soldiers” were running around out there right now. More importantly, how many Will would have to elude (kill) in order to come back to her.
However many it takes, Will. You better come back to me.
“From what Carly told us in the dining room, it sounds like you have everything ready,” Gaby said.
God, I hope she’s right, Lara thought, but she said, “Will has a saying: No plan survives first contact with the enemy. I just hope I don’t get everyone killed.”
“We’ll do fine. I was trained by two of the best, and you guys have been fighting for this island for a while now. We’re going to give them a hell of a fight.”
They didn’t say anything for a while. Instead, they sat quietly and listened to Claire singing inside the shower. Gaby was right; the song was about a boy and heartbreak, and maybe a high school was involved somehow. They could make out Claire’s figure behind the curtain, scrubbing herself down as heavy mist drifted through the open door.
“I told her there was a five-minute limit,” Gaby sighed. “I think she’s way past that.”
“It’s okay. Let her enjoy it.” Because it might be the last shower any of us gets for a while, she thought about adding, but didn’t. She said instead, “Then you should take one, too.”
“I will. I have a lot to scrub off.” She paused for a moment, before adding, “Thanks for keeping my room clean, by the way.”
“Thank Carly. She did all the work.”
Gaby looked toward her patio window. “What are the chances he’s out there, you think?”
“Who?”
“Josh.”
The question caught her off guard. It had never occurred to her that Josh would be out there right now, somewhere on the shoreline waiting for nightfall. Would Kate send him to do her dirty work? The Josh she knew was still eighteen, tall but gangly, even nerdy, and if she had to pick someone to lead a battle, he would have been the last person on her list. But according to Will and Gaby, that teenage boy was long gone, replaced by a very capable (and dangerous) ghoul collaborator. So who was to say what he was capable of now?
Adapt or perish. Maybe Josh has adapted, too.
“I don’t know,” Lara said. “Would they let him join in the attack?”
“The Josh I saw out there wouldn’t be a part of the attack, Lara; he would be leading it.”
“Josh?” She knew he had changed, but had he changed that much?
“He’s gone, Lara.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s gone. He’s not a boy anymore. You can’t think of him as the same boy who you met in Lancing. If you get the chance — if you see him tonight — don’t hesitate. Shoot him, because he’ll shoot you.”