Danny was over on the east window looking through binoculars. “What’s up, doc?”
“Is that still funny?”
He grinned. “Only if it annoys you.”
“Then I guess it’s never going to stop being funny.”
“Ha!”
She glanced up at the ceiling for a moment. There used to be a big gaping hole up there, the result of a grenade launcher finding its mark. The new roof had a skylight that looked out into a cloudless sky, with the middle of the floor bathed in bright, rectangular pools of warm sunlight. It was easy to tell which part of the third floor was rebuilt after the attack. The top half of the walls were noticeably brighter — almost white — against the dark and weathered gray of the old construction.
“How’s everyone adjusting to life without Will and Gaby?” Lara asked.
“Maddie’ll take over Gaby’s spot and we’ll cycle through the nightshift so everyone gets daylight duty every other day.”
“Why, Danny, are you actually being responsible for once?”
“Yes, but don’t tell anyone.”
“And the arm?”
Danny moved his right arm around in a circular motion, like a baseball pitcher winding up for a pitch. “It only hurts when I do this.”
“So don’t do that.”
He grunted. “Set you up pretty good for that one, huh?”
She smiled. “And I appreciate it.”
“Did I ever tell you the joke about the priest and the clown?”
“I don’t wanna hear it.”
“Ah, come on, without Willie here, you’re the next best thing.”
“There’s Blaine.”
“Too scary.”
“Maddie.”
“Too short.”
“Sarah?”
“Too always-cooking-something.”
“I guess you’re out of luck, then.”
Lara grabbed one of the binoculars hanging along the wall. She peered south and saw Blaine and Maddie working on the boat shack on the beach in front of the piers. Elise and Vera were building castles, while Jenny struggled with a fishing pole, screaming excitedly at the other girls.
“Jenny caught another fish,” Lara said.
“Fishing pole?”
“What else would she use?”
“I threw a rock into the lake this morning. Two fish floated to the top.”
Danny was exaggerating, but not by much. Beaufont Lake was teeming with fish. Without fishermen to thin the herd, there was enough sea life in the water to feed them for a long time. Lara found that both reassuring and oddly a little depressing.
Still better than cans of SPAM, I guess.
“Anything from Will?” she asked.
Danny glanced at his watch. “He’s only been gone for two hours, Lara. Relax. It usually takes Big Willie at least three hours to pick up a girl from the bar. The forever love that knows no bounds you two crazy kids share is still safe for at least another hour.”
“I knew I could count on you to cheer me up, Danny.”
He chuckled. “That’s what I’m here for. But just in case you’d like to remind him you have something better to offer back home, I wrote down the hospital radio’s frequency, along with the one for Jen’s helicopter.”
Lara hung the binoculars and walked over to a table on the other side of the room. There was a ham radio on the tabletop and a sheet of paper duct taped next to it. An antenna extended outside the Tower gave the radio excellent range, not that they had made use of it in the last few months. Surviving, waiting constantly for Kate to attack, had taken precedence over broadcasting out into the world. Besides, without the computer that once ran Karen’s automated FEMA signal, the idea of manually calling out seemed like too much of a crapshoot — and too much work.
“Give it half a year,” Will had said. “If we’re still around then, we’ll see if anyone’s still out there. Right now, we need to help ourselves first.”
The radio was one of the things they had found in the Tower’s basement, one of the few places on the island she dreaded visiting. Every time she did wander down there — and usually only when she absolutely had to — she couldn’t help but feel a great sense of loss and tragedy. The equipment, the supplies, and the clothes stacked in piles were reminders of the poor souls that had come here seeking hope, only to find tragedy. It never failed to depress her.
She sat down in a swivel chair and turned the ham radio on, then manipulated the frequency dial for a moment until she found the correct one.
She pressed the transmit lever and spoke into the microphone. “Hello, this is Song Island to Mercy Hospital. Can you hear me?”
“Say ‘over,’” Danny said behind her.
“What?”
“You have to say ‘over’ when you’re done talking. It’s a radio thing.”
“I used to talk on the radio all the time when I was a kid, and I never said ‘over.’”
“Well, you’re all grown up now. Different rules.”
She turned back to the mic. “This is Song Island to Mercy Hospital. Are you receiving this? Um, over.”
She waited, listening to static on the other end.
“Say it with more conviction,” Danny said.
She pressed the lever again: “This is Song Island to Mercy Hospital. Can anyone hear me over there? Over.”
She waited again, but there was still no reply.
“Are you sure this is the right frequency?” she asked Danny.
A male voice answered through the radio before Danny could respond: “This is Mercy Hospital. We read you loud and clear, Song Island. Over.”
“Told ya,” Danny said.
“Shut up,” she said. Then into the radio: “Roger that, Mercy Hospital. I’m looking for one of ours. He should have arrived by now. His name is Will. Over.”
“He’s here, Song Island. I’ll go fetch him for you. Over.”
“Thanks. Uh, over.”
“Ask him if there are any hot girls over there,” Danny said.
“What do you care? You already have a hot girl here.”
“Hey, I like to keep my options open.”
“I’ll tell Carly you said that.”
“Go ahead. She’s keeping her options open, too.”
Before Lara could reply, a familiar voice spoke through the radio: “Hey there, beautiful, you were looking for me?”
She smiled at the sound of Will’s voice.
“What’s he talking about?” Danny said behind her. “I wasn’t looking for him.”
Lara ignored him, and said into the microphone, “How was the ride?”
“Slightly bumpy,” Will said, “and the flight movie kinda sucked. How are things over there?”
“It’s only been two hours, but we’ve managed to get by without you. Although it’s been tough. You are, after all, indispensable.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
“How’s the situation over there?”
“What Jen said. They’ve sealed the entire floor off from the ghouls, but that still leaves nine infested floors below them.”
Lara felt the hairs along her arms and neck prickle at the thought. “Great. Fresh nightmares for tonight. Thanks, Will.”
He laughed. “Sorry.”
“Sounds like they’ve gotten by so far.”
“So far, yeah. Anyways, I was talking to Mike, and he wants to make other arrangements.”
“What kind of ‘arrangements’?”
“He wants to bring his people over to the island.”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. Right now, it’s just an idea. But we have to be open to it, or something like it.” He paused, then continued, “So, tell me how much you’ve missed me already…”