Will nodded. Mike was talking about the guns, ammo, and hunting supplies. The majority of the store’s middle sections were reserved for clothes. With the windows mostly cleared of obstruction, sunlight filtered in across the long rows of cash registers and clothing racks visible from the sidewalk.
Mike moved toward the front door, shotgun in hand. “I’ll go first. Will follows me, and the two of you watch our six.”
Mike pulled the unlocked door open and slipped inside, shotgun moving quickly up to chest level. Will kept pace with him, allowing enough of a distance that Mike could turn a full 360 degrees if he needed to. He heard Johnson’s footsteps behind him, followed by the loud, laborious squeaks of Paul’s boots.
I’m going into a ghoul’s nest with Paul Bunyan.
They turned right immediately after entering the store, and moved along the aisle with the cash registers to their right and clothing racks to their left. Someone had actually taken the time to empty a couple of the registers for God knew what reason.
The store, like all Archers, had smooth, tiled floors. There were old patches of faded blood, the color of dull brown scattered about them. The store’s racks were still mostly intact, with surprisingly very few signs of having been plundered over the last eleven months. Up ahead would be the hardware aisles, with fishing supplies in the right corner and hunting gear to the left, farther up the store. They stuck to the pathway, away from racks with too much darkness underneath and shelves that were just a bit too high.
Soon, they turned left, and after a few more meters, Mike stopped.
There was only darkness in front of them, sunlight from the windows unable to penetrate this far into the building.
Mike gave Will a nervous grin. “Silver bullets, right?”
Will nodded. “Silver bullets.”
Mike gave him an “Okay, here goes” expression and turned back around. He flicked on the flashlight taped underneath his Mossberg and—
Two ghouls, hiding in the darkness, were instantly illuminated by the bright light. They hissed and lunged at Mike, who fired instinctively, and the two ghouls were eviscerated in front of him. What was left of one creature flopped forward into the sunlight, its flesh vaporized into fine white mists on contact.
Mike took a quick step back, and so did Paul and Johnson behind Will.
The former army officer, breathing just a little too loudly, stared down at the white bones of the dead ghoul, the still-intact half of the creature lying in the shadows. Or mostly intact. The buckshot had torn its head clean off, leaving a decapitated body. The other one lay perfectly still in the shadows a few meters away.
Paul and Johnson leaned forward to look at the damage.
“Silver bullets,” Mike said breathlessly.
“Silver bullets,” Will nodded.
Mike gave him the strangest grin, then racked a fresh shell into the shotgun. “Let’s go shopping.”
CHAPTER 8
LARA
She sat at the table on the third floor of the Tower, staring at the radio. Will had signed off more than thirty minutes ago, but Lara hadn’t been able to get up and leave yet. Maddie moved quietly behind her, shifting from one window to the next with night-vision binoculars. An LED lamp hung from the ceiling above them, keeping the darkness outside at bay.
“Are you going to stay here all night?” Maddie finally asked.
Lara sighed. “I don’t know. If it keeps me from making a decision, I might.”
“I’m sure you’ll make the right one.”
She looked back at Maddie. “Really? Because I’m not. Will wouldn’t have a problem with this. He makes these decisions by morning.”
“If it makes you feel any better, Danny, Carly, and everyone else won’t second-guess you.”
“Thanks. I think.” She got up and stretched. “I’m going for a walk, try to clear my head. You good?”
“I’m good.”
Lara left the Tower.
Nightfall brought surprising coolness to the island, and it made her shiver slightly underneath her T-shirt as she walked across the grounds. The solar-powered LED lampposts that traveled across the island with the cobblestone pathways had lit up a few minutes ago. There were lights on inside the hotel lobby and bright floodlights along the sides of the building’s exterior.
“We’re lit up like a Christmas tree” was an expression Will liked to use to describe how the island looked from land.
Instead of entering the hotel from the back, which would have been quicker, she circled it, using the time to convince herself that she knew what she was doing, that she was capable of this, even if every ounce of her screamed that she was deluding herself.
I’m a third-year medical student. What am I doing deciding who goes and who stays?
This is crazy. I’m not ready for this responsibility. I might never be ready.
Do I even want to ever be ready?
She spotted a lone figure on the front patio, and Lara recognized Mae leaning against the railing, looking off at nothing. No, not nothing. Back toward the shore. Mae had looked noticeably stronger throughout the evening, as if she were gaining strength with every minute on the island.
The older woman looked over at the sound of Lara’s footsteps. “I never thought it would happen.”
“What’s that?”
“That I’d be able to stand out here, at night, and not fear for my life with every breath I take.” She smiled and breathed in the cool air. “Thank you, Lara. Thank you for this island.”
Lara felt slightly embarrassed and proud at the same time. “You’re welcome, Mae. How are you settling in?”
“It’s wonderful. This place is wonderful. It’s more than we ever hoped for.”
Lara climbed the steps and stood beside Mae. She thought she needed some alone time to think, but maybe what she really needed was someone to talk to. Someone who hadn’t already put all their faith in her like Maddie, or Danny, or Carly had.
God knows why they think I’m capable of this.
“Are they out there?” Mae asked.
“They’re out there,” she nodded. “You can see them moving around on land, along the shores. It’s impossible not to see the island, since we’re the only artificial light for miles around.”
Mae gave her a grateful smile. “I never thought we’d make it here. It was Bonnie’s idea, you know. God bless her. She pushed us to come down here. There were so many times when we wanted to give up, but that girl…she kept pushing and pushing. Even when everyone wanted to quit, especially after we couldn’t hear the radio broadcast anymore, she wouldn’t let us. She was so determined. We argued about it. Over and over.”
“Is that why it took so long for you guys to get down here?”
“Yes. Whenever we’d find a good spot — a safe place — West and Brody didn’t want to leave. But she always managed to convince them. I don’t know how she did it, but we always kept moving.”
“She’s a tough woman.”
“She is. Especially considering what she did before all of this. She was a model, you know.”
“I’m not surprised. She’s very pretty.”
“She’s gorgeous, dear,” Mae said. “Not that you’re chopped liver.”
Lara surprised herself by blushing a bit, and hoped Mae couldn’t see under the floodlights. “Thanks.”