Somehow, Lara managed to block out the pain. She ran across the floor and grabbed the other shotgun from under the south window. It had fallen down, and she thought she must have tripped or kicked it when she was scrambling away from the window during the initial attack.
She grabbed the shotgun and ran to the closest window; that was when she saw it. It looked like a bullet, but it was much bigger than a bullet — at least ten times bigger, and the bulbous tip looked golden. It slammed into the top of the window frame above her head and chipped concrete with the impact. Lara threw herself to the floor, looking back just in time to see the bullet-like object ricocheting out of view.
What the hell was that?
She heard a male voice say, “Oh, fuck,” just before a loud explosion erupted below her, outside the building. The explosion was so close that the entire length of the Tower trembled like it had been wracked by an earthquake.
Lara stood up and slipped alongside the window and looked down and saw what used to be a man lying at the base of the Tower. Parts of him were scattered among a crater of blackened and charred grass, as if he had taken a direct hit from a meteorite. She couldn’t begin to fathom what had happened, or what the huge bullet object she had seen earlier was. Was that what had caused the explosion below her and killed the man? Was it a grenade? It didn’t look like a grenade, but it wasn’t like she had seen every grenade ever invented by man.
Lara looked above her and gasped in horror at the sight of the third floor. Or what was left of it. The entire top of the building looked like it had been sheared off, exposed to the night sky. The windows were somehow still intact, along with the floodlights underneath them, but the roof and parts of the unfinished beacon housing were gone.
Oh, Danny…
She heard screaming from her floor and turned, saw Elise looking at her, large eyes focused on Lara’s right arm. The girl had a horrified look on her face, and it was all Lara could do to smile at her and fumble her way over to the eight-year-old, kneel in front of her, and take her head in her hands. Elise’s eyes darted to the blood trickling to the floor from Lara’s arm.
“I’m all right,” Lara said, as gently and forcefully as she could manage. “I’m all right. It’s just a scratch. See? I’m fine, sweetheart.”
Her head snapped up when she heard gunfire outside, very close to the Tower. Almost right next to the Tower. She knew immediately someone was shooting at the door on the first floor.
Will. Where the hell are you?
“Sarah!” Lara screamed.
Lara waited for an answer from Sarah, but didn’t get one.
She looked back at Elise one last time, smiled, kissed the girl on the forehead, then hurried over to the open door. She looked down and saw Sarah standing in front of the thick double door, the Remington shotgun in her hands.
“Sarah,” Lara called down.
Sarah glanced up, wide-eyed. “Is everyone okay up there? Jenny…?”
“Everyone’s fine, Jenny’s fine.”
“You’re bleeding!”
“It’s just a flesh wound.” I hope.
They had stopped shooting at the door, probably after realizing it wasn’t going to buckle. She heard gunfire from farther away instead. Not as far as the beach, but maybe between the beach and the Tower.
Will. Please let it be Will.
Lara unclipped the radio and pressed the transmit lever: “Will. Anyone. Are you out there? They’re attacking the Tower. Will?”
She didn’t get a response. Lara pressed the transmit lever again and was about to repeat herself when she realized it hadn’t made any sounds. Usually there was a squawk, a signal for her to start talking. Lara turned the radio over in her hand and saw two big holes in the back. Buckshot. It had cracked the radio’s shell and damaged whatever was inside.
“Lara,” Sarah said from below the door.
Lara looked back down at her. “What?”
“Listen.”
“Listen to what?”
“That.”
Lara stopped moving and listened.
Silence.
She didn’t hear another gunshot. Or voices. Or any sounds at all. It was perfectly quiet inside and outside the Tower.
It was suddenly silent all across the island.
“I think it’s over,” Sarah said.
God, please let it be over.
Lara looked up at the wooden floor above her. She thought she could almost smell the smoke and destruction drifting down from the top floor.
Danny…Gaby…
She rushed up the stairs, doing the best she could to pretend she wasn’t dripping blood with every step. She told herself they were minor cuts, remembering how badly Carly had been bleeding earlier today. Compared to that, this was a flesh wound.
She grabbed the door and pushed it open. Or tried to. It budged, but it didn’t fling open the way it was supposed to. She knew the door was unlocked, because it opened an inch for her, but that was it.
Lara braced herself against the metal step below, then put her entire body into the door. It finally moved, though grudgingly, and with a great effort she was able to throw the door open.
Her senses were immediately overwhelmed by thick, acrid smoke that stung her eyes and made her nostrils flare. She squeezed her mouth shut so she wouldn’t suck in the smoke and powdered concrete floating everywhere on the third floor.
The open night sky above her instantly came into view.
She had thought it looked bad from the second-floor window, but that hadn’t revealed the whole truth. She could see that a great big chunk of the ceiling was missing, along with most of the north side, where the explosion had originated. The floor was covered in debris, big stacks of concrete blocks and brick. The computer setup was buried, and tiny blocks with letters from the keyboard were scattered everywhere.
Gaby sat on the floor with her back against the wall. She looked dazed but alive, blood flowing down the side of her face from a big gash on her left temple. Her right cheek was pockmarked with superficial cuts, and Lara noticed, oddly, that the teenager wasn’t wearing her shirt, just her bra.
She looked down at Gaby’s lap, which was cradling Danny’s head. One entire side of Danny’s face was covered in blood, and his right arm was wrapped in some kind of sling made from a shirt. Gaby’s shirt.
Gaby somehow managed to smile across the smoke at Lara. “I don’t hear any more shooting. Does that mean we won?”
“I think so,” Lara said.
She climbed all the way up and stumbled over the pile in the middle of the room. She crouched next to Gaby and Danny.
“Your arm’s bleeding,” Gaby said, almost casually.
“I know. It’s just a scratch.”
“Lots of scratches.”
“Where else are you hurt?”
“What you see is what you get, doc.”
“Third-year medical student,” she smiled.
“Good enough for me. Check if Danny’s still alive. I can’t tell.”
Lara felt his pulse. It was weak, but it was still there. “He’s alive.”
“Good. He promised to teach me how to shoot, and I’m not letting him off this easy.”
Lara wiped as much of the blood from Danny’s face as she could before finding the source of his bleeding — a couple of gashes along his temple. Not life-threatening, though the amount of blood made it look much worse. He would scar, as they all would, but he wasn’t going anywhere just yet.
“You did this?” Lara asked, looking at the sling.