The woman was properly chastised. “I guess not.”
“Right,” Gaby said, and looked away.
Anna smiled at Milly instead. “Hey there, kid.”
“Hey, Anna,” Milly said. The girl smiled, playing along. She was definitely a more convincing liar than Peter. “How’s Bobby?”
“He’s okay. Working at the barn with the horses now.”
“That’s cool.”
Anna looked back at Peter before her eyes shifted over to Gaby again. “So, I’ll let you guys get back to work.”
“Okay,” Peter said. “See you around.”
“Yeah, sure.” She gave Gaby a pursed smile before walking off.
Gaby looked after her.
She knows.
She must have been unconsciously raising the AK-47 when she felt Peter’s hand on the rifle’s barrel. “No,” he said softly, shaking his head. “Please. She’s a good person.”
They’re all good people until they shoot you in the back, she thought, but said instead, “Whatever. Let’s go.”
She started up the sidewalk again. Peter and Milly followed in silence for a moment, their quickening footsteps sounding almost in tune to the hammering across the street.
Gaby risked a quick glance over her shoulder.
Anna, farther back down the street, was watching after them, and her eyes met Gaby’s again.
“Pick up the pace,” Gaby said.
She began moving faster, dodging people in their path. If they were indifferent to her before, they became slightly alarmed as she moved aggressively around and sometimes through them. Gaby measured the distance between them and the woods.
Fifty yards, give or take.
Her pace quickened and she was almost moving at a trot now. “Hurry.”
“What’s happening?” Peter said.
“Just hurry!”
Peter and Milly already looked out of breath and they weren’t any closer to the tree lines. The girl probably hadn’t built up much of a stamina delivering food, and Gaby could already see the strain on her round face. Peter didn’t look any better. She guessed cooking for people in the bed-and-breakfast hadn’t done him any favors, either.
Forty yards…
…thirty-five…
“Hey!” a male voice shouted behind them.
Gaby looked over her shoulder a second time.
Anna was standing next to a uniformed guard, the woman pointing after them. The man was too far back for her to make out any details, but she could easily discern the M4 hanging at his side.
“Stop where you are!” the man shouted.
The hell with that.
She took off, shouting, “Run!”
She knew Peter and Milly were close behind because she could hear them gasping, their sneakers slapping against the pavement. People stumbled out of their way, others hurrying into open doors. Men working on a building across the street stopped what they were doing and stared curiously.
A gunshot pinged! against a metal sign hanging four feet above her head. Gaby ducked reflexively, even though she didn’t really need to.
She picked up even more speed.
Twenty yards…
She glanced back and saw Peter holding onto Milly’s hand, the two of them somehow keeping pace despite the sweat and veins popping out along their temples and foreheads.
God, they’re out of shape.
Gaby didn’t stop. Didn’t waste precious seconds shooting back at the guard. The first gunshot would already be bringing other collaborators. One or two, she might have been able to prevail against in a stand-up fight, but if even half of those seven showed up, she was a goner.
No, not seven. Six. Because Mac was probably still bleeding on the second floor of the bed-and-breakfast right now.
Death by roller pin. Now that’s a hell of a way to go.
Ten yards…
…five…
She finally reached the end of the sidewalk and darted into the woods just as the man fired again, the pop-pop-pop of a three-round burst chopping into the branches above her head. She heard Milly scream and glanced back at the girl’s terrified face. Peter had picked her up and was cradling her like precious cargo as he struggled to catch up.
“Keep running!” she shouted.
He might have nodded, she couldn’t be sure. But he didn’t stop, and that was all that mattered. Milly was clinging to his neck, her face shoved against his chest. She might have also been whimpering, but Gaby couldn’t be certain with her own heartbeat slamming against her chest.
As she ran, Gaby wondered how long it would take Josh to hear about her escape and come after her. How many men would he commit to getting her back under his thumb? That would probably depend on how badly he wanted her. At the moment, she didn’t particularly care. She had weapons again and freedom, and she’d be damned if she was going to give up both of those things now.
Come and get me, Josh.
Come and get me if you can…
6
Keo
Sunset Deluca Drive, with its commercial buildings and vast parking lots to one side and the crystal clear waters of Lake Dulcet on the other, made for a great morning walk. The only sounds came from the soles of his boots against the pavement, a welcome distraction after last night’s near miss. The wind blew through the palm trees and birds glided through the air with all the time in the world. He could almost believe there was nothing wrong with the universe, that at any moment the area would be filled with tourists snapping photos.
Keo walked under streetlights and alongside dead cars, most of them still with keys in their ignitions. But minus gas or working batteries, they were useless. There was surprisingly little traffic, with only the occasional sedan or abandoned truck to break the monotony of gray concrete and random spurts of weeds. He had traveled this stretch of the city dozens of times, and the silence never failed to make him just a little bit uncomfortable.
It was noon by the time he finally made it back to the marina.
He stepped out of the street and onto the cobblestone walkway, dodging the same three white trucks that had been parked there since the day he had arrived with Zachary and Shorty. He took note of each truck’s windows and their current positions and was satisfied they hadn’t been moved or tampered with since yesterday morning.
The marina had three long docks and sixteen slips, with the middle section capable of hosting eight vessels while the outer two were able to hold four each. There was only one boat in the entire place at the moment. A sailboat with blue along the sides, about thirteen meters long. It was spacious enough to house five or six comfortably, with an American flag fluttering proudly at the stern. Inside the cabin, they had found photos of a family of six. A nice-looking group of people with blue-blood genes in expensive polo sweaters and Ralph Lauren slacks.
The fact that there was only one lone sailboat in the entire marina was a bit of a mystery. Inside, they had found emergency rations, nonperishable food, and cases of bottled water, which led Keo to believe the cruisers had arrived only recently. Maybe they docked, went into the city, but never made it back onboard. In a way, it was similar to how Mark and Jordan had been surviving since the end, which would mean the previous owners knew about water being a sanctuary from the monsters.
So where were they now? Maybe out there, somewhere.
Or dead, like Zachary and Shorty.
That wasn’t entirely true. There were worse things than death these days…
The problem with the sailboat was the size. Thirteen meters was big, and the vessel wasn’t designed for single-handed sailing. Even with Zachary and Shorty, two men who were even more novices at this than he was, it would have been a chore to manage the boat along the veins of the river heading south—