The Ashes of Pompeii (Purge of Babylon, Book 5) (39 page)

“Oh, Jesus,” Roy said.

He was looking at a lone black-clad figure crawling out of the pile of bodies. It was a man, but he might as well have been a ghoul because that was all they could see—a twisted, bloodied black thing moving slowly, painfully toward them. He might have been groaning, or moaning, or even saying something, but it was hard to tell. Or maybe she just didn’t want to know for sure. The man was having trouble pulling his legs out of the unmoving bodies stacked on top of him.

Roy put away his rifle, drew his handgun, and aimed at the man.

Lara waited for him to shoot, but the gunshot never came.

Roy finally let out a sigh and lowered the gun to his side. “I can’t,” he said, almost breathlessly.

Lara drew her own sidearm slowly. It was the only way she could get it out because her hand was shaking, her fingers having a difficult time gripping the Glock.

She took aim at the figure, even as the man lifted a hand toward her, but before she could fire there was a loud
bang!

One side of the man’s head exploded and showered the cobblestone. The body slumped to the ground and didn’t move again.

A figure walked calmly out of the tree line to their left side, and a voice said, “I come in peace.”

Danny.

Lara gratefully holstered her gun. Her hand was still trembling slightly, and she had to grip the M4 to give it something to do.

Danny walked toward them with a noticeable slight limp. He opened his mouth to say something when—

BOOM!

The ground shook for a few seconds, and Sarah gasped loudly behind her.

“What the hell was that?” Roy almost shouted.

“That was an explosion,” Stan said.

“What was that?” Lara said into her radio. “Anyone know what that was or where it came from?” When no one answered, she shouted, “Someone answer me!”

She waited for a response, but there wasn’t one for what seemed like an eternity, until Carly finally said, “The shack! It’s the shack!”

Oh, God, did she just say the shack?

“Shack?” Nate said through the radio. “What shack?”

“The one at the power station!” Carly shouted. “It’s open! Lara, the shack’s open!”

The power station was halfway between the hotel and the western cliff. It was a large but unremarkable gray building that controlled the island’s power source. Without it, Song Island was just another dry patch of dirt. But the station itself wasn’t “the shack” Carly was referring to. That was the building next to it—a structure no bigger than what you’d find in someone’s backyard. It was locked and sealed, because on the other side was a tunnel that connected the island to an entranceway along the shoreline of Beaufont Lake. There hadn’t been any activity there for months. Even if someone had managed to sneak their way into the tunnel unnoticed, the door was sealed. It would take…

“The explosion,” Lara said breathlessly.

She was still trying to wrap her mind around the last few seconds when a new burst of gunfire ripped across the island. It wasn’t coming from the beach, because the landing had failed and the invaders were dead. This time it came from the other side of the sprawling but darkened hotel, from the direction of the power station.

Lara spun around and almost bumped into Danny.

“It’s time,” he said.

He was amazingly calm despite everything that had happened, despite what he must know (because she knew, too) what was about to happen.

“Will,” she said, her voice coming out in gasps. “What about Will?”

“He can take care of himself,” Danny said. “We have to go.
Now
.”

“Lara, what do we do?” Roy asked.

“The shack,” Stan said. He was looking in that direction. “Without the shack…” He didn’t finish.

“Lara?” Sarah said. “What should we do?”

She glanced at Danny one last time.

He nodded.

She turned around and fumbled with the radio, found the right switches, and shouted into it.

“This is Lara! Everyone who isn’t already there, head to your designated exit points now! I repeat! Head to your exit points now! The island is lost! I repeat! The island is lost! We’re evacuating Song Island!”

‡

ALL GOOD THINGS
…

WILL

He was alive,
and as long as he was breathing, things weren’t completely hopeless. It would take some doing, but it could be done. He could be on his way back to Song Island by the morning and finally see Lara again after being away from her for so long.

I’ve been in worse situations.

He couldn’t remember when exactly, but it would come back to him eventually. Besides, he was dealing with two grunts who were far from home and isolated from their unit. If Mason were around, things might be different. That midget was smarter than he looked. These two, on the other hand, maybe not so much.

“You see that?” Rick asked.

The second guy, whose name turned out to be Millard
(Close enough)
, had stood up and taken a step away from the pools of moonlight pouring in through the gas station’s glass curtain wall. Will wondered if he had done that intentionally or if it was an involuntary response. Either way, the reaction of both men told him that despite whatever deals with the devil they had struck, the fear of the creatures amassed outside hadn’t gone completely away.

“What?” Millard said.

“I thought they moved,” Rick said. He had risen from the floor but remained in a slight crouch, his M4 resting at his side like a crutch.

That’s no way to treat a rifle, soldier.

Of course, Rick wasn’t really a soldier. Despite the fact that the former paramedic had essentially saved his life, Will didn’t feel very warm toward the man. Besides, it would make having to kill Rick easier.

“I don’t see anything,” Millard said.

“No, I swear, I thought I saw them move,” Rick said.

“You said ‘thought.’”

“I saw it.”

Millard had retreated completely into the shadows at the back of the store. Will didn’t know what Rick saw (or thought he saw), but the creatures outside didn’t seem to have moved in any way. They continued to stand, shoulder to shoulder, their numbers so thick that it was impossible to see past them and at the I-10 highway in the background.

It didn’t help that this part of the world was pitch black with no source of artificial light for miles. Not that he minded that, either. Given the shape he was in now, Will wasn’t excited about seeing what he looked like anyway. The bandages, the bloodied clothes he was still wearing, the pool of dried blood he had been sitting on ever since he woke up. What part of him wasn’t covered in blood?

At least Rick had been nice enough to give him back his pill bottle as promised. Will tilted it up to his lips now and swallowed the last three remaining lifesavers. He swore it worked almost right away, but maybe that was just his mind trying to convince him his entire body wasn’t about to shut down from the pain of the last few days.

“They freak me out, man,” Millard was saying while clutching the carbine as if it were a baseball bat.

“So don’t look at them,” Rick said.

“I can’t help it. Can you?”

“No…”

Millard was skinny and tall, whereas Rick was thick and slightly pudgy. “Man, they must really want you bad,” he said to Will.

“They don’t want him,” Rick said. “She does.”

“She?”

“Yeah.
She.
”

“Oh,” Millard said, turning back to the window. “So what happens when she shows up? We just give him to her or something?”

“Mason says to stay out of her way. We’re just here to make sure he doesn’t run off again.”

“What about them?”

“They’re here to make sure he doesn’t run off, too.”

“I doubt he’s going anywhere. The guy looks like a bad extra from
The Mummy.
”

“Yeah, well, he’s done it before. So we just sit tight until she shows up.”

“Freaky,” Millard said. He looked at Will again. “I don’t know what you did, buddy, but you must have fucked up bad.”

Will chuckled.

That prompted a glance from Rick. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Will said.

Rick walked over and crouched about a foot in front of him, leaning the rifle across his knees. Will fought every instinct to grab at the weapon. It was so damn close…

“Come on,” Rick said, “I wanna hear what the dead man thinks is so funny.”

“Have you ever met her in person?” Will asked.

“Who?”

“Her.”

Rick and Millard exchanged a look.

I guess that’s a no
.

“She’s not like the others, you know,” Will said. “She’s different from the ones outside.”

“Yeah, we know,” Millard said. “Blue eyes, right?”

“That’s right.”

“What else do you know?” Rick asked him.

Apparently more than you.

“They like to play,” Will said.

“Play?” Millard said. “What the hell does that mean?”

He thought about Harrison and how the blue-eyed ghouls had toyed with him. Then there were the people from Mississippi who had suffered the same fate. Gaby had also told him and Danny an interesting story about a man named Peter, whom she had escaped L15 with. Peter had fled the town because he was afraid for his life, because men had a bad habit of going missing, never to be seen again.

And there it was.

He had been searching for a way out ever since he opened his eyes, and it was right under his nose the entire time. Now all he had to do was tell a convincing enough story because his life depended on it.

“It means she’s not going to just come and take me,” Will said. “It’s not how this works.”

“‘This’?” Millard said. “What’s ‘this’?”

“This is Mason, leaving you here for a reason. This is Mason, offering you up to her.” Before they could respond, he added quickly, “You’ve heard the stories, haven’t you? About people going missing in the towns? Men who are never seen again?”

He watched their reaction: The way they exchanged another quick glance, the way their shoulders trembled ever so slightly, and the way they gripped their rifles as if their life depended on it, because maybe it did. They didn’t really understand their ghoul overlords, he realized now, but they had heard the whispers. The rumors. Maybe they’d even talked about it amongst themselves in quiet rooms when they were certain no one could hear.

God, I hope this works.

“You’ve heard the stories,” Will said.

“Maybe,” Millard said hesitantly. “Guys have said they’ve seen some crazy things.”

“About the blue-eyed ones.”

“Yeah…”

“The stories you’ve heard? No matter how crazy they sound, I can tell you this: They’re not even close to the real thing, because the truth is worse.”

“Bullshit,” Rick said.

“When she comes, it won’t be just me that she takes,” Will said, keeping his focus—directing everything out of his mouth—at Millard, and Millard only. He could feel Rick staring at him, but he ignored the other man. He didn’t have to convince both of them—he just needed one of them on his side. “The ones outside? Those are pets. The blue-eyed ones are the masters. And masters take what they want. Me, I’ll survive this, because
she
wants me to. But you two? I don’t see it. You’re not here to protect me, or to keep me from running off. Look at me. I’m not going anywhere. You two are here for a reason. You’re snacks.”

“He’s lying,” Rick said. “Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t know anything.”

“Where’s Mason now?” Will said, pressing on as if Rick hadn’t said anything. “Did you ever wonder why he left just the two of you behind? Let me guess. You got on his bad side recently? Maybe talked back one time too many?”

“How do you know all this?” Millard said. His mouth twitched, which was either a sign Will was getting to him or…the guy just had a twitch.

“I’ve been around,” Will said. “I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. I’ve fought the blue-eyed ones. More than once. And I’ve lived to tell the tale. What about you two? You really think you’re supposed to survive this? Wake up.”

“Shut up,” Rick said. Then to Millard, “Don’t listen to him. We’re rejoining Mason in the morning.”

“Where?” Millard said. “Where’s Mason now?”

Rick didn’t answer right away.

“He doesn’t know,” Will said.

“He’s at Lake Charles,” Rick said.

“He’s lying,” Will said. “Look at his face.”

Millard peered at Rick in the semidarkness, almost leaning forward with his entire body. “He’s at Lake Charles?”

“Yes,” Rick said. “He told me himself.”

Will laughed. Loudly. When both men looked back at him, he said, with all the conviction in the world, “You’re a shitty liar, Rick. Mason’s gone. He never told you where he went because you didn’t need to know. Because he won’t see you or Millard again after tonight.”

Millard looked at Rick, then at Will, then back at Rick. “He’s in Lake Charles right now?”

“That’s right,” Rick nodded. “He’s just messing with your head. Don’t listen to him. Mason told me to be careful with this guy. He’s slippery.”