So what’s the point?
CHAPTER 38
WILL
“How many?” Ben asked, somewhere between incredulous and horror.
They were back inside the Control Room, with Ben leaning against the dashboard and Will standing nearby eating a bag of MRE that tasted like dirt, but it was food and he needed the calories.
“Five hundred,” he said, between spoonfuls of something that was supposed to be mashed potatoes. “At least. We didn’t have time to do an exact head count, but it’s definitely more than just the town. Davies said there were only 300 or so people in Dansby. There were more than that in the auditorium alone.”
“Blood farm?” Ben said for the third time since Will filled him in on what they had found in Dansby, Texas. Will didn’t blame him. It wasn’t an easy thing to grasp — much less accept — unless you saw it for yourself.
He nodded. “They’re smart, Ben. Way smarter than we’ve given them credit for. They definitely have a command structure. How big, how wide does it go? That’s the question.”
“There’s probably a hell of a lot of them out there, ones like this blue-eyed bastard,” Ben said. He seemed to weigh everything Will had told him, before adding, “All right. We’ll load up and go back there tomorrow. You think there are more of these blood farms out there? Around the country?”
“They went through a lot of us during The Purge. If they’re as smart as we think they are, then yeah, they probably had this planned from day one. The big ones have to be in the cities, in the big population centers. I get the feeling the ones in Dansby are just local branches, so to speak.”
Ben shook his head. “I don’t mind telling you, I’m not going to be sleeping a lot tonight. Hell, I’ll be lucky if I get even a second of shut eye.”
“There are pills for that.”
“I don’t want them. I want to stay as awake as possible.” Ben shook his head again. “Blood farms. Fuck.”
Will finished the MRE, running his tongue around the interior of his mouth to dig out the horrid taste, then tossed the empty bag into a nearby trash can. “I’m gonna go get some sleep.”
Ben sniffed him. “When was the last time you took a shower?”
“It’s been a while.”
“You should rectify that.”
“That bad?”
“I almost threw up in my mouth.”
“Say no more.”
Will left Ben in the Control Room and walked through the hallways, turning the blood farm and how to free those poor souls tomorrow morning over in his head. They would need more vehicles than they already had. That was the first step. The next and more important was waking those people up. That was Lara’s department. He’d leave that to her.
Thinking of Lara made him smile. She had such wonderful, kissable lips…
Will went back to his room, determined to think the problem through, but was dozing on the small cot almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. It wasn’t unusual. His body always knew when he was preparing for a long day, starting back in Afghanistan. In the months since The Purge, his body had reverted back to in-country mode, but instead of a mission every week or month, it was now every day.
Survival had become the new mission, and it was ongoing.
In his dream he was back in Afghanistan with Danny, and they were playing soccer, but with a goat’s head instead of a soccer ball. Lara was there, rooting him on from the sidelines, wearing a shiny dress that made her hair sparkle for some reason. She may or may not have been doing a cheer, because he was too busy chasing after the goat’s head to hear what she was shouting.
It was one of his rare, fun dreams.
He woke again at 8:15 p.m. to a soft, hesitant knocking on his door. He almost didn’t hear it over the quiet hum of the turbine.
Will got up and padded over in the semidarkness.
8:16 p.m. That meant he had slept for almost four hours. A dream scenario in his book.
He opened the door and was surprised to find Lara outside in the well-lit hallway.
“Hey,” he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“I woke you, huh?”
“I was dreaming I was back in Afghanistan.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“I was playing soccer with Danny, but instead of a ball we were using a goat’s head.”
“Wow.”
“And you were there. You were doing a cheer. I think.”
She smiled. “For you, I hope.”
“I think so. I couldn’t really hear what you were cheering, though.”
“I’d like to know, too. I’ve never cheered in my life.”
“I figured. You wanna come in?”
He stood aside, then closed the door after her and hit the light switch on the wall.
Lara had showered and wore new pants and a T-shirt that was at least one size too large for her. Her hair looked clean and shiny like in his dream, and he decided he really liked the way her blonde strands fell around her face.
“You smell good,” he said.
“It’s soap.”
“It must be great smelling soap.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls who knock on your door in the middle of the night, while you’re having soccer dreams involving goat’s heads.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
He watched her for a moment, fully aware of how painfully beautiful she looked and how great she smelled. That led to him sniffing himself discreetly. Ben was right. He really did need a shower. Or two.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.
“You got something?”
“Not really, no.”
She laughed, sounding nervous.
“How’s Megan and Elise?” he asked.
“They’re adjusting. Elise has Vera to help her, so she’s doing better than I expected. Kids are good at that, you know? Adapting. Megan’s got her legs back, so she can almost walk again. The rest of it, the mental stuff, that’s going to take a while.”
“What about you, Lara? Are you okay?”
She turned around to face him.
God, she’s beautiful.
She must have seen the expression on his face, because she blushed a little. “Is it over between you and Kate?”
“It’s been over for a while,” he said, hoping that the absolute certainty in his voice came through.
It must have, because she nodded and said, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay,” she said again. “I think we should finish what we started yesterday.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve never been so sure of anything before in my life.”
He moved closer to her, then put his hands on her shoulders and waited for her reaction. When she didn’t stiffen or move away, he pulled her closer and looked her in the eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he said softly.
She leaned forward and kissed him. Will hesitated at first, but her lips were so insistent and soft and she smelled so good that he couldn’t help himself. He leaned into her and kissed her and really tasted her mouth.
Her hands slipped around his waist, and he pulled her tighter against him. He breathed in her scent and let his hands explore her curves over the T-shirt. It was too big and loose for her, but it didn’t do anything to hide the woman underneath. She moaned against his mouth when he slid his hands inside the fabric and brushed his fingers lightly against her belly. It was soft, like velvet, just as he knew it would be.
For a moment he hesitated, and she must have sensed it because she reached down and pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
She smiled at the way he was looking at her breasts, pleased by his reaction.