“Maybe Lara knows,” she said absently.
“Probably. Anyways, some guys said they could still feel the ghouls drinking them when they were unconscious.” He shook his head. “But I didn’t, so I can’t really say for sure either way.”
“Then you woke up…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry, Nate,” she said quietly.
“What for?” he said, smiling across the room at her. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Gaby.”
“You wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not like you forced me to. Or even asked me to. I volunteered, remember?”
“I know. Still…”
“Gaby,” he said, and there was a forcefulness in his voice she hadn’t heard before. “You didn’t do this. Understand? Those things did. Everything else was my choice. Okay? You don’t ever have to apologize for what happened to me. I don’t blame you. I never did, and I never will.”
She didn’t know what to do or what to say, so she just did what felt right at the moment, and that was to walk silently to him. Nate opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him down and kissed him. His arms slipped anxiously around her waist, and he pulled her body to his and ground his mouth down against hers with a hunger that momentarily took her breath away.
They kissed for the longest time. Or maybe it was just a few seconds. It wasn’t until she couldn’t breathe anymore that she pulled slightly back, but she was still so close to him that she could feel his warm breath against her face. He was, she noticed, breathing harder than usual. Maybe even harder than her.
“You wanna see this wicked scar I have on my back?” he asked with a grin.
She gave him a confused look. “Why would I want to see that?”
“I dunno, but you saw the scars on my arms and I got this. I figured, scars must turn you on.”
She shook her head. “They don’t.”
“Wow. Totally read that signal wrong, then.” He glanced at his wall clock. “We still have a few minutes—”
“Not nearly enough for everything I want to do with you,” she said, and pulled him down and kissed him again.
She sent Nate to the lobby ahead of her to join the others while she made a detour to the infirmary first. Carly had given them a quick tour of the new rooms as they were walking through earlier, so Gaby didn’t have any trouble finding it again. It was also close enough to the lobby that she could hear voices on the other end of the hallway. Muted conversations, part anxious and scared, but there was a determination among them that heartened her.
The only person in the infirmary was a blonde woman sitting on a stool at a counter, her back to Gaby. When she entered and knocked on the open door, the woman turned around and Gaby smiled at Zoe.
“Long time no see,” Gaby said.
Zoe smiled back, which was something Gaby found amusing, since the last time they were in the same room, she had threatened to kill the other woman. More than once, actually.
“Gaby,” Zoe said. “Welcome home.”
“Glad to be back.” She walked over and sat down on a stool. “You look pretty healthy. Will told me you were shot.”
“Yeah. Word of advice? Don’t get shot.”
“Good advice.” She looked around the room. “Not bad. Beats working out of a tent in the woods.”
“I know, right? It only took the end of the world to get my very own medical practice. And on a tropical island, no less. I still don’t know where they got those palm trees from, though.”
“They were here when we showed up.”
“That’s what Lara said. This place was supposed to be a resort for the rich and famous. I bet they didn’t expect it to become a refuge for humankind’s last holdout.”
“Wow. I never thought of it quite like that.”
Zoe laughed. “What, too ominous?”
“Just a bit,” she said, pinching her fingers together. “You’re not going to the lobby for the big powwow?”
Zoe shook her head. “That’s just for the badass warriors like you. The rest of us already got our marching orders. I’m just finishing up here before heading off. Lara’s got it all figured out.”
Gaby had seen the way Lara took control of the island, giving orders with the kind of authority she’d only seen Will exert.
You would be proud of her, Will. She’s like you — only prettier.
“I spent most of this afternoon following Lara’s orders,” Zoe was saying. “She’s got me running back and forth from the yacht.” She looked thoughtful, adding, “I can see why Will likes her so much. She’s the female him.”
Likes her? Will doesn’t like Lara. He loves her. We should all hope for something close to that at least once in our lives.
“So,” Zoe said, “what can I do for you? Or is this just a friendly visit?”
“I was hoping to stock up on something for tonight.”
“What kind of something?”
“You have any painkillers you can spare?”
“Is it your nose?” Zoe leaned forward slightly. “Does it hurt? It looks like it was broken recently.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
She thought about complaining to Zoe about her shoulder, which still bothered her if she sat around in one place for too long, but decided the occasional numbness wasn’t worth mentioning.
She said instead, “I want to make sure I have something to fall back on if I need them. Maybe a field first-aid kit. Just in case.”
“Just in case,” Zoe repeated. “You sound like Lara.”
Gaby smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
By the time she reached the lobby, the only people left were Danny and Lara. They were talking quietly next to a large granite table in the center of the room, which looked cavernous with just the two of them inside at the moment. There were extra gun belts, magazines, and two ammo cans on the table between them, along with a pair of M4s and shotguns that hadn’t been claimed yet.
“Where is everyone?” Gaby asked. “I didn’t know I was that late.”
“You’re not,” Lara said. “Everyone’s where they should be.”
She looked at Lara, then Danny, and realized they had stayed behind on purpose. They were waiting for her.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Lara picked up one of the M4s. It looked like the one she had left behind in her room except for the long and slightly bulky scope mounted on top. She took it from Lara and turned it over under the harsh lobby lights.
“Night vision,” Danny said. “You’re going to need it. It doesn’t have the range of the ACOG, but it’ll do in a pinch.”
“How many of these do we have?” Gaby asked.
“Not nearly enough,” Lara said.
Danny held up his M4A1, the same rifle he had been carrying around ever since she had known him, though it had gone through plenty of fixes and replacement parts. It was also equipped with the same scope as hers.
“Just you and me, kid,” he said. “Keo’s going to have to make do with a laser pointer and NVD.”
“NVD?”
“Night-vision device. Basically, goggles with glowing green beer cans for lens.”
“The laser sounds cool.”
“This is cooler.”
“I feel so special.”
“That’s because we are special. Special snowflakes in an ocean of dripping crap.”