The Gates of Byzantium (Purge of Babylon, Book 2) (71 page)

*

So they made
silver bullets.

A lot of them.

Maddie and Bobby proved to be good workers. Neither one had made bullets before, but Maddie knew her way around a rubber mallet, and Bobby took instructions easily. Blaine wanted to help, but Will sent him to Lara to see to his wounds instead. The gunfight at the marina hadn’t done Blaine any favors, even if he insisted otherwise.

Will also decided Danny should go back to the Tower to keep overwatch with the ACOG.

“You think they’ll hit us back this quickly?” Danny asked.

“I would,” Will said. “They lost a few people back there.”

“Man, you’re just going around the end of the world making friends, aren’t you?”

After Danny left, Sarah and the girls chipped in, bringing more silver from around the island, even raiding the kitchen and closets and racing through all the rooms.

They didn’t stop until they had melted all the silver and pounded out as many 5.56x45mm and 9mm bullets and as much buckshot as possible. There was enough ammo from the Tower’s basement, collected over months from all the poor souls lured to the island before them, that they ran out of silver long before they ran out of bullets to recast.

At one point, Maddie said, “If I knew I’d be working this hard, I would have stayed behind in Beaumont.”

Bobby, drenched in sweat next to her, grunted his agreement.

The acrid fumes of smelting metal, iron, and brass, mixed with silver, lingered over the island long after they were done. Will didn’t let them stop until they were literally walking around in puddles of their own perspiration.

“Load up with what you can carry,” he told them. “Silver and regular ammo. The rest goes into the Tower.”

“And these will actually work?” Maddie said, holding up one of the silver bullets.

“They work,” Will said. “Shotguns for close quarters. You’ll need to keep all three types of ammo with you at all times. There are two more Benellis in the Tower. When in doubt, load the silver. They’ll kill a man just as easily as a ghoul.”

Bobby tapped Maddie’s shoulder excitedly and nodded at Will.

“He wants to know if you have any more assault vests,” Maddie translated.

*

Before six in
the evening, he took away the M4s that Maddie, Bobby, and Blaine had arrived with and gave them new ones from the Tower’s basement. The new M4s had fully automatic capabilities, which would come in handy in a frenzied firefight. Amazingly, the more they searched the Tower’s basement, the more useful things they found, including assault vests and more radios.

Later, they ate in the lobby, loading up on calories and proteins from fish and MREs. Blaine had rejoined them, looking better. Or at least, not walking with nearly the same noticeable limp as earlier. Bobby took to the MREs, and that got a chuckle out of Will and Danny, who had never really seen anyone who wasn’t ex-military take a liking to the bagged food the U.S. military was known for. The MREs were designed for maximum efficiency, supplying nutrients and over a thousand calories per bag. The taste, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired.

Afterward, he got them set up along the beach, where he expected to need them to repel the coming attack on the island. If they were lucky, the people at the house would wait for tomorrow, and all of the preparation would be a waste of time.

If
they were lucky.

Yeah, right.

Lara was waiting for him on the hotel patio, arms folded across her chest as if she was cold. “You really think they’re going to attack?”

“I would.”

“But they’ve already lost too many men. Why would they attack again so soon?”

“Who says that’s all they have? There could be more coming.”

She frowned. “That’s a terrible thought.”

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Isn’t that our motto?”

She gave him a wry smile. “You’ll have to fight with Carly about that. She likes the ‘Adapt or Perish’ one better.”

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s stable. That’s the good news.”

“The bad news?”

“She lost a lot of blood, Will.”

Will nodded. He put his arms around her, and she sighed into his chest. “She’ll be fine,” Will whispered. “She’s a tough kid. Remember before The Purge? It was just Carly and her sister, and she got through it. She’s a fighter.”

“I know,” Lara whispered back, though he wasn’t sure if she actually believed it.

*

Will walked with
Lara back to the Tower. Carly had been moved to the second floor and was lying unconscious on a bed Danny had brought over from the hotel. They had dumped Tom’s old cot and most of Tom’s stuff out the window. Lara had set up an IV drip, and there were fresh flowers in vases. The place reminded him of a patient recovery room, minus the suffocating, cold, and sterile feel of a hospital.

Carly looked like she was in a deep slumber, which wasn’t far from the truth. Lara had given her enough sedatives that he wondered if even an attack on the island would wake her up. Probably not. He had seen wounded soldiers sleeping through firefights before.

“How’s Vera taking it?” Will asked.

“She’s worried. She wouldn’t leave Carly’s side after it happened. Danny and I had to practically drag her out. Elise is taking care of her.”

“Elise?”

“Yes, Elise.” Lara smiled. “They’re more than sisters now, you know. They pick each other up when the other is down. It’s amazing how fast kids adapt.”

Will looked out the window. He could see the marina and the house from here. Well, silhouettes of the buildings, anyway. It was quiet, and he couldn’t detect any activity across the lake.

He stuck his head out of the window and looked up, and wondered if Gaby was up there looking at the marina, too.

When he pulled his head back in, Lara was watching him. “You should go up there. I talked to her, but it’s not the same. I think she needs to hear it from you.”

He nodded reluctantly.

*

Gaby was at
the south window, looking at the shoreline with binoculars. She stood very quietly, almost relaxed, when he opened the third-floor door and climbed up. She looked over and smiled a bit, though he could tell she had been crying, and her eyes were still slightly red.

He understood why Josh had been so head-over-heels about her. Gaby was a pretty girl. In a lot of ways, she reminded him a bit of Lara. A younger, taller Lara. In a few more years, she would have men tripping over themselves to get her attention. Not that they wouldn’t be tripping over themselves already, given the option.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Nothing yet.” She walked back to the east window and peered out at the house and marina.

He walked over and stood silently next to her.

Say something, you idiot.

“They kept a boat outside the mouth of the inlet for a few hours after the shoot-out,” she said, “but then they pulled it back and I haven’t seen them move again since.”

Her voice sounded normal, but what did he know? He was never that good at reading women. Even worse at comforting them.

“I’m sorry about Josh,” he said.

She didn’t say anything for the longest time, or seem to react at all, and Will wondered if she had actually heard him.

After a few excruciating seconds that felt more like minutes (or hours), she said, “I know you did your best to save him. I don’t blame you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I know.”

“You and Danny always do your best to keep everyone safe. I know that. We all do.”

“He was a good kid.”

“He was a pretty good guy. Funny thing is, it took the end of the world for me to realize that.”

“You guys…” He started to say, but stopped himself. What the hell was he doing? Jesus, he was bad at this. “I’m sorry,” he said instead.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t know what else to say, so Will said nothing. Thankfully, she seemed just as willing to let the rest go unsaid.

There was a fair breeze, and he could feel the coming night despite the heat coating the island like a thick wool blanket. He didn’t dread the night. He never did. He anticipated, expected, and prepared. That was how he lived his life, how he had survived The Purge.

“Can anyone learn to shoot?” she asked, finally breaking the silence.

He was surprised by the question. “Anyone can learn to shoot, yeah.”

“I mean, shoot like you and Danny. I was watching Danny earlier today, when those two boats came over. He could have hit every single one of them from this Tower, but he didn’t. I know that rifle scope he was using helps, but I don’t think just anyone can use it, especially on moving targets.”

“No, you’re right. Danny’s the best shooter on the island, by far.”

“That’s what I figured. Anyways, after Danny shot at them—those warning shots—the people on the boat shot back. They were just shooting at anything, like they didn’t know what they were doing. The difference was so obvious. Can anyone learn to shoot like that? Like you and Danny?”

“Anyone can learn to shoot, but not everyone can shoot.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Have you thought about that man in Beaumont? The one you shot to save Josh? Or the one in the semitrailer. What was his name?”

“Betts.”

“Have you thought about them since?”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel? Thinking back on those moments?”

“I’m not happy about what I did, if that’s what you mean. I did it because there was no other choice.”

“Would you do it again, if put in the same situations? Knowing what you know now? How it made you feel afterward?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “To save Josh, or to save any one of you guys. I’d do it again.”

He nodded. “To answer your question, anyone can learn to shoot. Not everyone has the will to shoot. You did. Twice. The first time wasn’t with a gun, but it’s the same thing. So yes, you can learn to shoot like Danny and me. We’ll teach you when this is over.”

“Thanks.”

“It won’t be easy.”

“I know.”

“You’ll want to quit.”

“I won’t.”

“You’ll want to.”

“I won’t,” she said.

They said nothing for a while.