“I guess that means I outrank you,” Amy said, walking over and shaking Will’s hand. “I was a lieutenant.”
“Only if the United States government is still in operation,” Will said. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“About the U.S. government? Not a thing. Lucky for you, or I’d insist you call me ‘sir.’”
“I was taking them to Mike,” Jen said. “You know where he’s keeping himself?”
“He’s in the central hub,” Amy said, before giving Will an unconvinced look. “So, what’s this I hear about silver?”
Gaby wasn’t sure what she had expected when they finally saw Mike, a twenty-something who, like most of the guys she had met so far, hadn’t shaved in quite some time. He was reasonably handsome underneath sleep-deprived eyes, but a tired face didn’t do him any favors.
“Welcome to Mercy Hospital,” Mike said, walking over and shaking their hands. “It’s not much, but it’s kept us alive and you can’t ask for more than that.”
“Been busy, I see,” Will said.
“Almost done. We’ve been using what you’ve told us about the silver. Unfortunately, there wasn’t nearly as much of the stuff on the floor as we thought, but some of us brought personal items, like crosses. I had no idea so many people were holding on to those.”
There were a dozen or so men and women gathered inside what Amy called the “central hub,” a large, circular lounge that connected the hospital’s four towers. A wide, dark cherry desk sat in the center, the glass tabletop featuring a map of the building. At the moment, Mike’s people were using it to hold makeshift weapons. Silver gleamed underneath the LED lights and what little sunlight managed to pierce through the barricaded windows around them.
The weapons had once been crosses and everyday items such as candle holders, but had since been sharpened, sanded down, and forged into bladed weapons. There had to be a good fifty, maybe sixty, dangerous-looking items piled on the tabletop. More than enough for all forty people in Mike’s group.
Will pulled out his cross-knife and showed it to Mike. “Brilliant minds think alike.”
Mike turned the cross-knife over. “And it works?”
“I’ve probably killed over a hundred with just that thing. More with silver buckshot and bullets. It works.”
“You don’t know how glad I am to hear that. I’m tired of shooting these things with a whole magazine just to watch them keep coming. It’ll be nice to see them stay down for a change. Speaking of which, Jen says you brought some goodwill gifts.”
“The boys are bringing them over now,” Jen said.
“And you need medicine?” Mike asked.
“If you can spare it,” Will nodded.
“We can. But I was hoping we could expand our relationship beyond that.”
“I’m listening.”
He gestured around him. “I have forty people here who would rather be someplace else. Jen tells me you have an island. And the creatures can’t get to it. Is that right?”
“We’ve been there for three months, and they haven’t tried to cross the water once.”
“And they know you’re there?” Amy asked.
“We see them on the shores every night,” Gaby said.
She spent most of her time in the Tower’s third floor keeping overwatch and switching shifts with Danny, Blaine, and Maddie. During her night shifts, she could see the ghouls on land, moving around like little black ink dots through her night-vision binoculars. The sight of them used to disturb her, but she had learned to tune them out.
“I was there last night,” Jen said. “Not a single creature. It’s safe, Mike.”
“Is it the water they don’t like?” Mike asked.
“We think it might have something to do with the mercury content,” Will said. “Probably.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“I don’t know anything for sure. Just that some things worked, and others, not so much.”
“What about ultraviolet? Jen says you’ve killed a few with those, too.”
“More than a few. The facility we stayed at before the island had industrial ultraviolet lamps they were using to grow plants. Those things killed the creatures on the spot, but we haven’t been able to duplicate that kind of success on our own.”
“Some flashlights and portable lamps have ultraviolet. The LED ones.”
“So do the solar-powered lamps on the island. But the creatures just run through them without any effect.”
“Wrong wavelength, maybe?”
“Or maybe just not enough of the right kind of UV. The guy who built the facility wasn’t exactly a stickler for building codes. Those lamps could have been more than just ultraviolet despite what they told us.” Will shrugged. “I’m just a grunt, Mike. I’ll leave the science fair experiments to the officers.”
Mike handed the cross-knife back to Will. “Still, it might be worth going back to that facility to find out for sure. That kind of weapon would be invaluable.”
“I wouldn’t mind heading back there myself. We left a lot of supplies behind.” He looked over at Jen. “How about you? Texas is pretty nice to look at this time of the year.”
Jen snorted. “Oh, I see. You were after my Bell all along, weren’t you? And here I thought it was my winning personality.”
“That, too.”
There were loud shuffling movements and grunting behind them as Tom, Benny, and Miles each lugged a heavy ammo can over. Sheets of sweat covered their contorted faces. Gaby guessed they hadn’t seen this much physical activity in a while, probably not since the barricades went up.
“Where do you want these?” Benny asked between grunts.
“Over there,” Mike pointed.
The men (boys) brought the green cans, each eleven-by-five-by-eleven inches over, but only Tom managed to stare at her long enough to get caught at it.
People gathered around them, peering curiously over each other’s shoulders at the ammo cans.
Mike opened one of the green, rectangular boxes and took out a 9mm silver bullet. He held it up to the light. “How many?”
“A thousand 5.56x45mm rounds and another thousand 9mm,” Will said. “Add another 500 shotgun shells to that.”
“A.50 cal can should be able to carry over 1,200 rounds.”
“Who’s counting?”
Mike grinned back at him. “You guys actually pounded out over a thousand silver bullets on that island of yours? That’s a hell of a feat.”
“We had a lot of time on our hands.”
“And a lot of ammo, I see.”
“We drove through Texas. There was no shortage of ammo along the way. And we found some more on the island.”
“God bless Texas,” Mike said. “Hell, I guess it can’t be any worse than what we’ve tried.” The former lieutenant stood up and turned to his people. “Everyone start swapping out your regular ammo with silver. If you’re not using 9mm or 5.56mm, it’s time to change now.”
“Free bullet buffet, kids, all-you-can-eat,” Jen said, flicking open the other two ammo cans.
Mike turned back to Will. “Now. Let’s talk about what it’ll take to get my people over to that island of yours…”
CHAPTER 4
LARA
The island always looked so different when viewed from the Tower’s windows. The structure stood almost 150 feet high, and gave them a complete view of the island and the surrounding shorelines. In the back of her mind, she always remembered how Karen’s people had sneaked onto the island three months ago. It had almost cost them their lives.
She climbed the spiral cast iron staircase, pushing up on the thick wooden door to access the third floor, and stuck her head up. Because of the Tower’s conical shape, the third floor was smaller than the second, which was smaller than the first.