“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I believe in it. It’s just that, I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything that tells me God exists.”
“Josh, there are bloodsucking creatures that come out at night. If those things can exist, why not God?”
“I don’t know,” Josh said. The kid was struggling to express himself. “I just don’t think the existence of one necessarily proves the other. Okay, I believe in bloodsucking monsters, or ghouls, or whatever you want to call them, but that’s because I’ve seen them. Show me something God has done, and I’ll believe in him, too.”
Gaby looked exasperated. “Whatever. You’re all crazy. You can’t see what’s right in front of you. I know there’s a God, and he’s looking out for us. He gave Will and Danny those silver crosses.”
“You’re just going on faith.”
“Of course I am. That’s what religion is, Josh. It’s faith.”
Josh was about to reply, but he stopped himself and reconsidered. He said instead, “Where do you even get silver bullets, anyway?”
Smart kid.
“You don’t,” Will said. “You make them. One of our main priorities when we go out on supply runs is to look for silver. When we get the chance, we melt the stuff down and cast it into bullets. That’s why we only carry three types of weapons. Nine-millimeter for the Glocks, 5.56 for the rifles, and buckshot for the shotguns. That means you’ll have to dump the fancy six-shooter.”
Josh nodded. “It’s not mine, anyway.”
Josh and Gaby exchanged a brief, private look. There were some bad memories associated with the gun, apparently.
“How have you guys been avoiding the ghouls?” Lara asked.
“By hiding, mostly,” Gaby said.
Josh added, “If we find a good hiding place in a town with enough food and supplies, we’ll stay for a while. It’s only until those things run out that we move on. It’s worked for us so far. Until a few days ago, anyway.”
“You’re both from Dallas?” Lara asked.
“Ridley, Texas,” Gaby said. “It’s close to Dallas.”
“Close enough that we get most of their TV,” Josh said. “That’s how I learned about what was happening. Reports coming out of Dallas, even before it hit Ridley.”
“What about your parents?” Lara asked them.
“I don’t know about mine,” Josh said. “They went out on one of their date nights and never came back.”
“My family didn’t make it,” Gaby said.
“I’m sorry,” Lara said.
The teenage girl nodded, then turned to look out the window. Josh reached over and put his hand over Gaby’s.
Lara sat back in her seat, clearly regretting having ever brought up the topic.
“Where were you when it happened?”
“How did you survive?”
Those were the questions on everyone’s mind when they met someone new. As if knowing how someone else had survived added to the information wall about the how, why, and when of the current world.
It was human nature. The need to know.
It was 5:16 p.m. by the time they got everything transferred from the trucks and into the First Assembly of the Lord’s basement. There were no nearby garages and no real good choices to hide the trucks but the parking lot, so they decided to bring everything in rather than risk losing anything during the night. Thankfully, they had two additional pairs of hands in Josh and Gaby, so the transfer went much faster than usual.
While the others adjusted the supply crates along the walls and made room for eight people, Will and Danny left to visit a local hardware store a few blocks away. There, they loaded the Ranger with lumber — more than they needed, but Will didn’t feel like making a return trip if they fell short.
They didn’t bother with the stained glass windows or doors in the church. If the ghouls found them, they were coming in regardless. Instead, they reinforced the twin basement doors on the outside, then barricaded the interior side with two layers of lumber before sticking support beams under them in case of a prolonged assault. Through trial and error, they had found that basements were always the easiest to defend. Once you reinforced the doors, they were essentially impregnable.
When they were done, Danny turned to the others. “Bathroom’s through that door in the back. It’s a little icky — okay, I wouldn’t want to use it with a twenty-foot pole — but if you gotta go, you gotta go.”
They had crates full of the small 16.9-ounce water bottles, along with a couple of the five-gallon variety, the kind used for water coolers. The rest of the supplies were spread out, occupying nearly half the basement space. Bedrolls had been laid out, and Vera and Elise were already working on coloring books Danny had found for them during their stay in Grime a week earlier. Will wasn’t surprised to see Josh and Gaby sticking close together.
Kids in love in the apocalypse, he thought with a slight smile. That would make a great title for a book. Or maybe a TV show. Something on the CW, of course.
He glanced at his watch: 7:41 p.m.
Nightfall, and he waited for them to attack.
But they didn’t.
An hour after nightfall, he was still waiting.
And they still didn’t attack.
Around ten at night, Will sat very still at the foot of the metal stairs, his back to the basement doors, and listened. He heard snoring around him, but the four oscillating fans, all set on low, dominated the room with their quiet, soothing whirring. They had turned off most of the LED lamps except for the one that sat next to his feet. The lamp was on its lowest setting, providing just enough light for Will to make out the sleeping forms in the basement.
Eleven o’clock came and went, and still no attack.
After midnight, Danny untangled himself from Carly, slipped on his assault vest and picked up his weapons, then walked over soundlessly. He sat down on the steps with a can of fruit. He pulled the tab and tossed the aluminum lid into a nearby heavy-duty trash bag hanging off the stairs, then poked at a pair of pineapple slices with a plastic spork.
“Anything?” Danny asked, keeping his voice low.
“Not a squeak.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Nope.”
“That doesn’t sound right. We lost them in Grime, but they must have picked up our scent by now.”
“Must have.”
“Maybe we’re just really, really that good.”
“Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
“Spooky.”
“Yeah.” Will picked up the Remington and stood. “Wake me when you get scared of the dark.”
“Sure thing, pa.”
Will walked over to Lara, asleep on top of her bedroll, rather than inside, because of the heat. She lay on her left side, slightly curled up with her back to him. He watched the fan nearby playing with her hair and smiled. She looked beautiful asleep.
He laid down the Remington and stripped off his vest and gun belt, then lowered himself next to her. Even asleep, she seemed to sense his presence and rolled over to her other side, her head coming to rest against his shoulder, while her right hand somehow ended up on his chest.
Will closed his eyes and thought about staying awake for a few more minutes. He couldn’t chase away the nagging feeling that the ghouls were planning an attack very soon. It didn’t make a damn lick of sense that there were no ghouls in Lancing, Texas. What the hell was going on out there? What were they waiting for?
But the attack never came, and soon Will drifted off to sleep.
And for the first time in a long time, he saw Kate.
CHAPTER 12