Lara went into the back to grab the ham radio. She turned it on as she walked back, and the recorded female voice was already in mid-message:
“…broadcasting on the FEMA frequency to any survivors out there. We want you to know there is hope. There are survivors on Song Island. We have food, supplies, electricity, and protection against the darkness. If you are receiving this recorded message, we encourage you to make your way to us. I repeat: we have food, supplies, electricity, and protection against the darkness. Hello. If anyone can hear me out there. This is Song Island on Beaufont Lake in Louisiana. We are broadcasting on the FEMA frequency…”
“It’s a recorded message,” Lara said, turning the sound down a bit. “It repeats the same message over and over.”
“Who’s broadcasting it?” Josh asked.
“We don’t know. Will thinks it’s possibly some ex-military types, or maybe ex-government officials. Someone who knows about the FEMA frequency.”
“Why wouldn’t they just say who they were?”
“I don’t know, maybe they just wanted to keep the message short.”
“That means they have power, right?” Josh said, brightening up. “You’d need power to send that kind of message.”
“It could be hydro power,” Lara said. “The facility where we were staying before this used a water turbine to generate electricity. These people are on an island, so it makes sense if that’s how they’re getting their electricity, too.”
“Song Island?” Gaby said. “I’ve never heard of it. Then again, I’ve never been outside of Texas.” She glanced over at Josh. “What do you think? Is it possible?”
“Maybe,” Josh said, though Lara didn’t think he was sold on the idea. “It’s definitely possible. Why not? It’s an island, surrounded by water. If the bloodsuckers have a thing about water… Do they have a thing about water?” he asked, looking over at Lara and Carly.
“I guess we’ll find out, because we’re going there,” Lara said. “The two of you are welcome to join us.”
“God, yes,” Gaby said quickly. “Right, Josh?”
“Count us in,” Josh said without hesitation.
Josh would run through a wall for her.
Ah, teenage love. Or possibly lust.
Close enough.
Lara and Carly got Josh and Gaby settled into the courthouse, even though they fully expected Will and Danny to tell them they were moving. That was usually how it happened. After that disastrous night at a bank outside the city of Cleveland, Texas, that had nearly cost them their lives, Will was determined to not let it happen again. The ghouls had proved too intelligent and too creative for him to risk being hunkered down inside a building that could be breached. The best way to avoid them, Lara had learned, was to actually avoid them.
Dead, not stupid.
That meant hiding. She wasn’t ashamed of it. In fact, she preferred it. Hiding was always a better option than fighting, especially when your enemy had an endless number of (undead) bodies to throw at you.
Lara found Blaine outside the courthouse, under the hood of a beat-up white Toyota truck with the letters “TRD” on the side. It was covered in dust and looked like it had been abandoned some time back, but must still be working because it hadn’t been in the parking lot the last time she was out here. Lara saw a key in the ignition.
Blaine pulled his head out from behind the hood of the truck. “Hey.”
“Going somewhere?”
“After Sandra.”
“Did you talk to Will?”
“He understands.”
“So you’re going by yourself?”
“It’s my thing,” he said. She thought he was going to elaborate, explain his “thing” to her, but he didn’t.
“I can’t talk you out of it?”
“Why would you want to?”
She thought about it and realized he was right. “I wouldn’t.”
He slammed the hood back down and wiped blackened hands on a rag, then walked around the truck and leaned into the driver’s seat and turned the key. The truck jumped to life.
“Sounds good,” she said.
“It’ll do,” Blaine nodded. He turned the engine off and sat behind the steering wheel for a moment. Then he seemed to make up his mind about something and looked at her. “I don’t have any right to ask, but can you spare any food and supplies? I already talked to Will about weapons, and he’s going to let me have one of the AR-15s to replace the shotgun.”
“I’ll put a care package together for you. When are you leaving?”
“Whenever you’re done.”
“Give me ten minutes,” she said.
“Should we try to talk him out of it?” Carly asked. “I feel like we should.”
Lara was putting Blaine’s care package together using one of the smaller crates. She packed blankets, bedrolls, pillows, canned food, and toiletries, utilizing the space to its maximum, a trick she had picked up over the months. She packed the box with the intention of it being used by two people. Maybe it was a fantasy, but she thought Blaine would want that, and the optimist in her wanted that happy ending for him.
“Will didn’t,” Lara said.
“That’s Will and Danny. I mean we, as in us.”
“I don’t think I can. I tried, but I just didn’t have my heart in it. Wouldn’t you want Danny to come after you, if that was you out there?”
“Of course I would. But only if I knew Danny wasn’t limping around with three bullet holes in him. How long do you think he’s going to last out there? He can barely walk, Lara.”
“Danny wouldn’t care.”
“Danny can be an idiot, too,” she said.
Lara smiled. “Love makes you do crazy things.”
“I guess so. God knows I love that guy. Bad jokes and all.” She looked back at Gaby, playing clapping hand games with Elise and Vera, while Josh watched with a big grin on his face. “She looks like you.”
“Who?”
“The girl. Gaby. A younger version of you. Did you look like that ten years ago?”
“God, ten years ago,” Lara said, looking over at Gaby. She did see a slight resemblance. Had it really been that long since she was an eighteen-year-old teenager? It felt like another incarnation. “Maybe,” she said.
“You guys could pass for sisters.”
“I already have a sister.”
“Really? You never told me that. What’s her name?”
Lara gave her a look and rolled her eyes.
Carly laughed. “God, I’m so dense.” She smiled at Lara before suddenly grabbing her in a big bear hug. “It’s nice to be the little sister for a change. I’m tired of always being the big sister. It’s too…much…work.”
Lara laughed. “Okay, okay. Only if you promise to do what I say and clean your room so I don’t have to.”
“No promises.”
The radio clipped to Lara’s hip squawked, and she heard Danny’s voice: “Ladies, when was the last time you went to church and repented your sins to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?”
“Stupid Danny, always ruining a great moment,” Carly said, wiping away tears.
That almost made Lara cry, too, but she somehow managed to fight through it, if just barely.
Lara went outside with the crate and put it into the back seat of the Toyota. She opened the lid and took out a small white bag.
Blaine was slipping on a gun belt. A Remington 870 and an AR-15 rifle lay across the hood of the truck next to him.
“You sure you won’t change your mind?” she asked. “Song Island isn’t going anywhere. We’ll go back with you to find Sandra tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait that long. She’s out there now, Lara. She went back for me. I need to find her.” He tossed the weapons into the front seats. “Thanks for the care package.”