Lara was speechless for a moment. Finally, she said, “I guess it doesn’t matter who leads the attack. One man in a soldier’s uniform is the same as another.”
Gaby looked over at her. “Just don’t hesitate, Lara.”
Lara nodded. “I won’t.” Then she stood up. “I’m going to need you tonight, Gaby.”
“That’s why I came back. You just tell me where you want me, and I’ll be there.”
“Meet me in the lobby in—” she glanced at her watch “—half an hour.”
“Should I bring my gear?”
“No. And you won’t need the M4, either. I’ll have something else for you.”
Gaby nodded. “I’ll be there.”
Lara walked to the door.
“Lara,” Gaby said.
She stopped and looked back.
“What about Will?” Gaby asked.
That’s the question of the century. What about Will?
“He can take care of himself,” Lara said. “Right now, we need to worry about us.”
“Danny’s convinced Kate’s the one pulling the strings out there. Is she capable of something like that?”
“I don’t know,” Lara said. “Let’s save that question for Will when he comes home. Until then, let’s make sure he has someplace to come back to.”
CHAPTER 17
GABY
The island had changed. She didn’t think it was possible it could look and feel so different since the last time she had walked along its white sandy beach or dipped her feet into the cool blue waters. But maybe it wasn’t Song Island that had changed. Maybe it was her. She wasn’t the same girl who had left this place. She had killed. More than once. If not for The Purge, the lives she had taken would have made her notorious.
The conversation with Lara hadn’t really gone as planned, but in many ways it went better. She loved Lara. She hadn’t realized that until they sat together and simply talked. They had both changed a lot, and maybe not all of it for the better. They had become survivors. They always had been, of course, but there was a difference between surviving and being survivors.
Was that a good thing? It was hard to say.
Once Claire finished showering, Gaby took her turn. She didn’t linger too much. Five minutes, tops, standing underneath the scalding hot spray and letting it cleanse away the days on the road, the night slept in that crypt outside of Dunbar, and whatever remained of L15 and Josh’s company.
Are you out there right now, Josh? Are you the one leading tonight’s attack?
She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she saw him tonight. Josh in that uniform, with a rifle in his hands, running toward her. Could she do it? Could she shoot him the way she had told Lara to?
Stay away, Josh. Please stay away.
Claire was already gone by the time she came out of the shower. Gaby put on clean black cargo pants and socks, then pulled on an olive green long-sleeve sweater. She dressed silently while sneaking looks at the clock on the wall.
6:15 P.M.
The audible clicking of the second hand was like a grenade going off inside the quiet room. One of these days, the batteries were going to die and the hands would stop moving. That was life now. Sooner or later, everything just stopped.
She glanced at the patio window for the fifth time in as many minutes. The curtains were pulled halfway, revealing the falling night outside. Soon, very soon, it would be complete darkness. She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. Maybe it was being back home again, or the fact she was now surrounded by friends.
Tonight felt different somehow. She was calm. Amazingly so.
The lack of activity in the hallway outside was surprising, given how many people were now calling the hotel home. She made sure to close her door before heading up to the lobby with just her pack in one hand. She walked past two doors before stopping at the third.
She took a breath, then knocked on it.
“Come in,” Nate called from the other side.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
He stood next to his bed, shirtless, with his back to her. His hair was wet, and fresh steam drifted out of the open bathroom door. His dirty clothes were in a pile on the floor, and Nate looked cleaner than she had ever seen him.
She smiled briefly, remembering the look Benny had given Nate back in the dining room. Benny had burst inside, not expecting to see her sitting next to Nate. The next few minutes had been incredibly uncomfortable, and Gaby felt miserable about not preparing either one of them for that moment.
I’m back in high school all over again, she remembered thinking.
Nate glanced over and gave her a wide smile. “You weren’t kidding about this place. Your own room, a big soft bed, and working plumbing. I could definitely get used to all of this.”
If we’re still alive after tonight, she thought, but asked instead, “How was your reunion with Mary, Kendra, and the others?”
“It was good to see them again. A lot of questions, though.” He pursed his lips. “I didn’t know how to answer most of them.”
“Mary must be especially happy to see you back.”
Mary was the teenage girl who had been a part of Nate’s group back when they were still out there on their own. The girl had stuck close to Nate the entire time, and Gaby used to feel a little guilty about Nate just leaving them behind to go with her. That guilt was compounded by what happened to him afterward.
“She was,” he nodded. “I was happy to see her, too. They all look healthier than I’ve ever seen them. Coming here was a good thing.”
Gaby wasn’t so sure about that. She couldn’t help but think about Claire, Milly, and Annie, and bringing them to a place that was about to be attacked. It must have shown on her face, because Nate gave her a reassuring look.
“We’ll get through tonight,” he said. “We’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
He turned around and picked up a shirt from the bed. She was so used to seeing him with that stupid Mohawk that not to see it perched on top of his head still took some adjusting. She was staring at his head when her eyes fell down to his arms as he pulled the shirt on.
Teeth marks.
They covered both his arms, extending from the wrists to the shoulders blades. There were dozens of them, like tiny mazes crisscrossing his flesh, or poorly thought-out tattoos. Most looked healed, but some still looked fresh. Too fresh. She stared and couldn’t look away, and couldn’t stop herself from wondering where else they were on his body that she couldn’t see at the moment.
Nate looked back and saw where she was staring. The look on her face must have betrayed her thoughts, because he quickly grabbed a knitted black sweater and pulled it over the T-shirt.
“It looks worse than it really is,” he said.
“Do they hurt?” she asked, feeling stupid as soon as the words blurted out of her mouth.
He didn’t look offended, though. If anything, she had the impression he had been waiting for this conversation.
“Not anymore,” he said. “In the beginning, yeah. Back at the pawnshop, when I was still conscious. I could feel their teeth breaking skin.” He seemed to drift off a bit, maybe flashing back to that night. “But after a while, I blacked out. When I woke up, they told me that was how it usually worked. Once they put you under, you don’t feel anything anymore.”
“Usually?”
“Some of the guys had stories…”
“What kind of stories?”
“You know all those scary stories people tell about how some coma patients in hospitals are still awake when everyone else thinks they’re asleep? But in reality they’re trapped inside their bodies and can still see, hear, and feel everything? But they just can’t move or talk? I think there’s a medical term for it, but I can’t think of it right now.”