She felt refreshed after talking with Will, and walked down to the beach along the cobblestone pathway that serpentined around the island like the many heads of a hydra. The short walk through the woods between the beach and the hotel grounds always allowed her to pretend there was nothing wrong with the world. It was quiet and cool, the trees supplying plenty of shade against the September sun.
When she stepped onto the beach, Lara stayed on the path and watched the girls darting in and out of the lake, splashing each other with water. The fish that Jenny had caught was nowhere to be found, and she guessed they had released it. With so many fish already in the freezer back at the hotel kitchen, it was overkill to do more than just catch and release these days.
Another luxury we didn’t have three months ago. Please, God, let us never run out of luxuries.
She smiled to herself. What would her mother say if she knew her little girl had begun praying to an unseen, unknown, and unnamed God? Her father would probably have chuckled in amusement, but her mother…
Sorry, Mom, try not to be too disappointed.
Maddie was on top of the boat shack, a long, rectangular brick building that squatted in front of the piers. She sat in a lawn chair with her M4 rifle across her lap, binoculars hanging from her neck, and a bottle of sunscreen nearby. She looked like a teenager sitting in cutoff jean shorts and a T-shirt.
“I hope you remembered to put that sunscreen on,” Lara called up to her.
Maddie, in dark shades, sat up a little and smiled down. “Always, doc.”
“See anything up there?”
“Does the sun count?”
“Just make sure it doesn’t try anything funny.”
“That’s what the rifle’s for,” Maddie said, and went back to reclining.
Will wanted to build a guard tower on top of the boat shack, to give the beach the same kind of coverage that the Tower provided. It was another item on a to-do list that was getting longer every week. Not that she minded. If you didn’t work or enjoy running around the beach every day, there wasn’t much else to do on the island.
“Where’s Blaine?” Lara asked.
“He went to the hotel for a bite,” Maddie said. “He’ll be back to relieve me in a few hours.”
“Keep an eye on the girls for me.”
“You got it, doc.”
Lara headed back up the path. She liked Maddie. The country girl had come to them with Blaine and a young man named Bobby. Bobby was gone, killed during the attack on the island. It had been a bad night for all of them, but to look at the island now, she couldn’t even see signs that there had been a bloodbath on the beach just three months ago. The bodies were buried in the field behind the marina, and the blood had been washed away by the tide.
She heard laughter from the kitchen, and inside she found Blaine leaning against one of the counters, picking at a plate of baked fish wrapped in aluminum foil, while Sarah ate from her own plate with a fork. Sarah’s cheeks looked flustered, her long blonde hair — the longest on the island by far — in a ponytail that went all the way down to her waist.
Blaine was licking his fingers when she came into the kitchen. “Hey, want some fish?”
“Smells good,” Lara said.
“It would be nice if we had some vegetables to go with it,” Sarah said. “Cilantro or basil would be wonderful.”
“Zucchini or green olives, too?”
“See, I knew there was a cook in there somewhere.”
“She must be very well hidden, then.”
There was suddenly awkward silence, and Lara got the sense she had interrupted something.
She quickly turned to go. “I’m going to go do something…that isn’t here. Carry on.”
She caught Sarah blushing a bit as she left, but Blaine was already out of her peripheral vision so she couldn’t tell his reaction.
Blaine and Sarah? Was it possible?
She reminded herself what Blaine had lost just to get to the island. For the first few days after the fight, they weren’t even sure he was going to stay. At one point, she remembered Will telling her not to be surprised if Blaine disappeared into the western section of the island, into the woods, and never came back. Blaine was looking noticeably less haggard in recent weeks, and whether it was the island weather finally doing its job, or the (Sarah’s) company, he seemed to have more life in his eyes now than in all the time she had known him.
She was happy for him, for Sarah. Or maybe she was reading too much into what was really just a simple, innocent moment? She hoped it was true. The two of them had been through a lot. They all had. To find a little slice of peace, maybe even happiness, was more than any of them could have asked for when so many people had lost their lives.
She thought of Will again and couldn’t help but smile to herself as she walked through the hotel. Sometimes she forgot she was on an island, that just beyond those waters were creatures that shouldn’t exist, but did. But here, now, in this place that was designed for rich people but had never been finished, none of the world’s problems mattered.
This is our home now. God help those who try to take it from us.
Lara found Carly in the laundry room, near the back of Hallway A — the main hallway that connected the completed sections of the hotel — past the ballroom and squeezed in between some employee lounges and large storage rooms. It wasn’t quite the bowels of the hotel, but it was close.
Carly was folding bedsheets and humming some pop song Lara vaguely recalled being popular on the radio. Lara tapped her on the shoulder.
A month ago, Carly would have jumped, but this afternoon she just glanced over and pulled free one iPod earbud. “Hey. How you holding up during this separation from your lover?”
Lara groaned. “Please, dear God, don’t ever say ‘lover’ again.”
Carly laughed. “Agreed. I died a little as soon as I said it.”
Lara grabbed some dry sheets and clothes out of the industrial-size machines that lined one wall and dumped them onto an island counter. Washers took up space on the other side of the room, with a large pantry stuffed with detergent and drying sheets, along with spare baskets and miscellaneous inventory. Washing what they used was a good way to cut down on unnecessary supply runs for clean clothes, and allowed them to focus on more valuable items like silver, medical supplies, and ammo. There was no such thing as “too much” ammo.
She began folding what looked like the girls’ clothes. Elise’s or Vera’s, or possibly Jenny’s. Not that it mattered. Everyone needed clean clothes.
“How’s your neck?” she asked.
Carly self-consciously touched the bullet scar along the left side of her neck. It was tiny, but visible if you peeked. “Vera thinks it makes me look like a badass.”
“And you don’t have any trouble breathing? Or swallowing?”
“Danny hasn’t complained.”
Lara made a face. “Oh, gross.”
“Come on, we’re both adults here. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to keep her man happy, am I right?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far. As Gaby would say, TMI, Carly. Way too much information.”
Carly laughed again, and Lara joined her.
When they finally calmed down, Carly said, “Speaking of which, I’m not a big fan of Gaby going with Will. She’s just a kid.”
“She’s just two years younger than you.”
“Oh, right, bring facts into this.”
Lara smiled. “Anyway, I told him the same thing, but he disagrees. He says…” She paused.
“What?”
“He says she’s the best shooter by far after him and Danny.”