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.”

“I bet all the boys turn their heads when you walk into a room.”

“There’s only one boy I care about these days.”

“The mysterious Will. Oft-heard, but not yet seen.”

“He’ll be back soon. You’ll like him.”

“If he’s anything like Danny, then I’m sure I’ll like him. It’s very easy to be fond of your Danny. All the girls are smitten, and they’re heartbroken he’s already taken.”

“Carly will be happy to hear that,” Lara smiled.

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Mae said, sounding giddy.

“What’s that?”

“To be able to talk about inconsequential things like this.”

Lara nodded. “It is, isn’t it?”

“What is?” a deep male voice said behind them.

They both looked back at West, coming out of the lobby. He had showered, slicked his hair back, and changed into a new pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt.

He smiled at them. “Am I interrupting something, ladies?”

“Girl talk,” Lara said.

“What about?”

She shook her head. “Nothing important.”

He walked to the railing and breathed in the air. “It’s a hell of a place you guys have here, Lara. When I heard the creatures—what do you guys call them, ghouls?—couldn’t get to it, I was skeptical. But it’s true. Look at us, standing out here in the dark, in the open, talking like we’re on someone’s porch. It’s amazing.”

“It certainly is,” Mae said. “I was just telling Lara that.”

“Aren’t you tired, Mae?” West said, looking over at the older woman. “You look tired. You should probably go get some rest.” Then to Lara, as if to explain, “We had to push it this afternoon to get down here. We were so close the ladies couldn’t wait. Heck, I think we almost ran out of gas. That right, Mae?”

Mae nodded. “That’s right, West.”

“You should go get some rest,” West said again.

Mae looked at Lara almost apologetically. “I should go get some rest. Thank you again, Lara. This island…it’s everything we dreamt it would be, and more.”

“You’re welcome, Mae. I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast.”

Lara hugged her and was surprised by the strength in Mae’s embrace.

“God bless you, dear,” the older woman said, before pulling away and disappearing back into the lobby.

“I have to tell you,” West said, looking after Mae, “there were times when we didn’t think she’d make it. She’s not exactly a spring chicken anymore.”

“She looks pretty strong to me.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, they’re a tough bunch. Brody and me didn’t think some of them would make it during the trip down here, to be honest with you. You know, we almost turned back after we couldn’t get your radio broadcast anymore.”

It wasn’t our radio broadcast, she thought, but said instead, “Mae says Bonnie wouldn’t let you guys give up.”

“Bonnie can be pretty persuasive.” He smiled to himself, like he was reliving a private joke. “She’s a tough one. But then, I guess you’d have to be to survive these days, right?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

He looked around at the bright hotel grounds. “How many lights are on this island? I stopped counting after about twenty.”

“There’s a lot.”

“And they’re all solar-powered?”

“Yup,” she said.

He must have sensed the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. “I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot,” he said, looking at her. He was so much taller, with broad shoulders, that she felt like a child staring back at him.

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling that I got. Maybe I’m wrong.”

“What’s on your mind, West?”

“Brody and me, we’re not bad guys. We’ll earn our keep around here.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

“I can’t promise the same thing about the company we came with. But you’re not going to have to worry about us. We’re not afraid of hard work. Never were, and never will be.”

“I believe you.”

“So in case you have any doubts, don’t. I get it, we need to earn your trust. And we will. You just have to give us a chance, that’s all.”

“We’ll see,” she said.

Lara gave him a smile that she hoped (prayed) was at least semi-convincing.

* * **

She headed for Danny and Carly’s room, next to the one Vera shared with Elise. The conversation with West continued to gnaw at her, ten minutes after leaving him behind on the patio by himself. It wasn’t just what he had said, but what he didn’t say. There was a tone in his voice that she couldn’t quite figure out.

Was he warning me? Or maybe threatening me?

She knocked on Carly and Danny’s door. “You guys decent?”

“No, but come on in anyway,” Danny called from inside.

Lara entered. Carly was folding freshly laundered clothes on the bed, while Danny was brushing his teeth in the open bathroom door, with only a towel around his waist.

He winked at her. “Hey, Lara, like what you see?”

“Oh, gross, babe, go finish your shower,” Carly said.

“Shout if you want a piece of this,” Danny said, flexing his biceps before disappearing into the bathroom. She heard the shower turn on a few moments later.

Carly looked over at her. “The love of my life, Lara. Can you believe how charming he is?”

“Mae says all the new girls are swooning over him.”

“Of course they are. It’s the blue eyes and California good looks. Why did you think I jumped his bones in the first place?”

“Oh, so the secret’s out now.”

“Was it ever in?” Carly picked up a stack of shirts and walked to a dresser. “You’re worried about them.”

It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t even have to elaborate on who “them” was.

Lara sat down on the bed. “Yeah.”

“Did you decide what to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about.”

“I think it’s the right decision.”

“I didn’t tell you what I’ve decided.”

“You don’t think I can read you like an open book after all we’ve been through?”

“So you agree?”

“It’s the only decision. The other girls are terrified of them, especially the younger ones.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Bonnie told you she’s been able to keep the two of them away from the other girls and her sister Jo, right?”

“She did, but she didn’t say anything about the others.”

“She didn’t have to. It’s inferred, Lara.” She cocked her head. “Is ‘inferred’ the right word?”

Lara smiled. “Close enough. Tell me what you mean.”

“If you read between the lines, it means Brody and West have tried to do things with the other girls before. One of them is what, thirteen?”

Lara nodded. Lucy was fourteen, and Kylie thirteen. They were both pretty girls, and she saw how Bonnie, Jo, and Gwen protectively watched over them. She imagined it must have been the same with her and Carly, and the girls.

The shower turned off and a few seconds later Danny reappeared in the doorway, wearing the same towel around his waist, wet hair dripping onto the carpet underneath him.

“Lara and I were talking about that thing,” Carly said.

Danny grinned. “I get to be in the middle.”

“Don’t be an idiot, babe. The cowboys.”

“But we can still discuss the other thing, right?”

“Maybe later,” Lara said. “What do you think, Danny?”

He shrugged. “Just call it Brokeback Island.”

“What does that even mean?” Carly said.

“You know, that movie? Brokeback Mountain?”

Carly and Lara exchanged a confused look.

“You know what he’s talking about?” Carly asked.

“Not a clue,” Lara said.

“Christ, how old are you two?” Danny grunted.

* * **

She barely slept all night. The queen-size mattress felt too big without Will, and she kept turning over on her side to look across the bed, expecting him to be there. His presence was always such a soothing reminder that everything was fine, that if Will was sleeping soundly, it had to be safe for her to do the same.

She couldn’t count on that tonight.

Instead, she lay awake, staring at the patio window. There was a nightlight in one corner, but most of the room was dark and she only had her conflicted thoughts to keep her company. It was cool outside, and she pulled the blankets up to her chest.

Will they fight?

Yes, they would fight. Brody and West were fighters. She knew that the second she laid eyes on them. The same trait that made them so valuable out there was what would make them a problem on the island. They were aggressive, daring, and most of all, willing to cross lines in order to get what they wanted.

Even so, she couldn’t completely fight back the feeling of guilt about what she was about to do to them when the sun came up. Brody and West had saved the others. Bonnie admitted as much, regardless of what they may or may not have done to other survivors…

I can’t risk it. If they did kill those other people…

I just can’t risk it. Not with Elise and Vera, and the others…

She turned over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Dark patches of shadow danced above her, mocking her.

I can’t risk it…

There was no decision here. There was only the one choice in front of her. It was obvious.

Wasn’t it?

She told herself her experiences with the Sunday brothers had nothing to do with this. No, she wasn’t punishing West and Brody because of what the Sundays had done to her all those months ago…

When her mind slipped—and it did, every now and then—she found herself reliving the days inside that cabin hidden in the woods. The Sundays. Life with the Sundays. They had kept her chained to the floor, and she could still smell the desperation, along with the filthy dress they forced her to wear because she wasn’t deserving of decent clothing. She could still feel the cold, merciless bite of the metal collar around her ankle…

May you forever burn in hell, John Sunday. You and your brothers.

* * **

The gunshot woke her up. It split the calm, serene night air like lightning, shooting across the island and through every room and hallway of the hotel.

Lara was on her feet before the gunshot even finished its echo. She snatched up her Glock from the nightstand and scanned the room to make sure there was no one inside. She calmed her breathing, put the gun back down, and grabbed her pants and shirt and pulled them on, then spent more precious seconds struggling to shove her feet into socks and sneakers.

Footsteps raced across her door, then Danny’s voice: “Lara!”

“I’m coming!” she shouted back.

The footsteps faded as Danny raced up the hallway. She listened to the direction he was heading.

North.

That meant the back of the building, which meant—

The Tower.

Then two more gunshots, this time coming in quick succession.

Shotguns.

Lara glanced at her alarm clock: 2:14 a.m.

Blaine.

Maddie had the night shift in the Tower, but Blaine would have already relieved her at midnight. He would be there now.

Lara threw her gun belt around her waist, slipped the Glock into the holster, then snatched up the Benelli M4 shotgun from the corner and ran for the door.

Carly was in the hallway in pajamas and a cotton T-shirt, standing just outside the girls’ room with a Glock in her right hand. “Danny just went.”

“Stay with the girls!” she shouted, and ran up Hallway A, following in Danny’s footsteps.

She burst out of the hotel’s back door, the cool air sending a thrill through her body. Or maybe it was just the adrenaline.

She ran as fast as she could, making a straight line for the Tower.

She was halfway there when she saw the door into the lighthouse had been thrown open, bright lights spilling out across the grass. She caught movement from the corner of her eye and looked up at the windows on the second and third floor, glimpsed movement along the second floor, just before Danny appeared in one of the openings.

He was scanning the hotel grounds when he spotted her. “Lara! Get down!”

“What?” she got out, just before a shot shattered the night air around her. She felt something fast zip past her head.

She threw herself to the ground so awkwardly that she lost the shotgun halfway down. It landed in the grass a few feet from her. Lara scrambled forward, snatching it back up and turning toward where she thought the shot had come from.

She heard two shots coming from behind her and looked back at Danny, who was firing from the second-floor window with his M4A1. She tried to follow where he was shooting, but even with the bright LED lights all around them, there were still too many patches of darkness where anyone could be hiding.

Lara scrambled to her feet and raced toward the Tower, even as Danny fired two more shots. The hidden shooter answered Danny’s shots with two of his own, and chunks of the Tower’s second-floor window—where Danny was standing—filled the air.

Danny stepped back a bit, but undeterred, kept returning fire.

When she was almost at the Tower, she stopped short at the sight of blood on the grass outside the door. There was more blood inside, a jagged line running along the floor and continued up the spiral staircase. She darted inside then hurried up the steps, listening to Danny shooting from above her.

She stuck her head carefully through the second-floor opening. Danny was still at the window, peering out with his rifle. “Danny, what’s happening?”

“Third floor, Lara,” Danny said. “Blaine’s hurt.”

She climbed up onto the floor, then hurried over to the second set of cast iron staircases.

“Watch for the blood,” Danny added, just as a shot dislodged a section of the window frame above his head. Danny took another step backward, before returning fire.

“Whose blood?” Lara asked.

“I don’t know, a lot of bleeding going on up there.” Danny fired again. “I have him pinned down behind one of the palm trees.”

“Who’s out there?”

“One of the cowboys. West. I think.”

“You think?”

“Hard to tell who’s up there with Blaine.”

“Danny, what—”

“Upstairs, Lara,” he said, cutting her off. “Blaine’s kinda bleeding to death.”

Lara hurried up the staircase, almost slipping on the fresh blood that covered the steps. She grabbed on to the railing to keep her balance, and pushed on toward the opening.

When she stepped up onto the third floor, she was greeted by another thick pool of blood right away. It was coming from a body. Brody. Or what was left of Brody. A shotgun blast had taken his head almost clean off, spraying chunks of it against the wall. A knife lay nearby, very close to his open hand. It looked like one of the knives from the hotel’s kitchen.

Blaine sat on the floor across from Brody’s lifeless body. There was another knife sticking out of Blaine’s left side, and he was pressing his hand over the wound, his Remington shotgun resting in his lap. Three spent shotgun shells formed a kind of semicircle around him.

“Hey, doc,” Blaine said. His face was covered in sweat despite the chilly night air. “Sorry about this. You must be sick and tired of keeping me from bleeding to death by now.”

Lara made an effort to smile. She stepped over what was left of Brody’s body, moving toward Blaine. “What happened?”

“They showed up and tried to get the drop on me. I managed to get one of them, but the other one split with the M4. Sorry, boss.”

Two more shots rang out from below them.

Lara crouched next to Blaine and put down her shotgun. She eased his hand away from the knife to get a better look. “I’m going to have to cut off a piece of your shirt to see how bad it is.”

“Go for it,” Blaine said. He drew a big combat knife from a sheath along his hip and handed it to her hilt first.

She took the knife and started cutting. “Tell me what happened.”

“One of them showed up and made small talk. Then the second one comes up from behind and I saw the knife in his hand and I shot him. But the first one tries to stab me. Well, not try. He actually did stab me. Then he grabbed the M4 and took off. I tried picking him off when he was running down, but I missed. I’m a lousy shot. Always have been, even with a shotgun.”

She looked back at Brody’s mostly decapitated body. “Brody would beg to differ.”

“Lucky shot. He was close, and when he saw me catch him coming up the staircase, he sort of froze. I got real lucky tonight, doc.”

“Why didn’t West shoot you if he had the M4?”

“He was backing up when he tried, but I guess he was fumbling with the weapon, forgot all about the safety. What an amateur, as Will would probably say.”

She smiled at that. Will would definitely have said that.

“Then he took off,” Blaine continued. “I guess he thought he’d figure it out later.”

They heard two more gunshots, this time coming from outside the Tower.

“I guess he’s since figured it out,” Blaine said. “Is it bad, doc?”

“Compared to when I first saw you? This is a cakewalk.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said, closing his eyes and leaning back. “I’m gonna go to sleep for a while, doc. Wake me up when it’s over, will ya?”

* * **

Blaine wasn’t entirely a bad shot. Besides blowing Brody’s head off, one of his other two shots had hit West, who bled all the way down to the first floor, and then kept on bleeding on his way out of the Tower. He had gotten halfway to the beach when Lara and Danny came out of the hotel. The M4 West had in his possession was equipped with the ACOG, which gave him an advantage over Danny during their back and forth exchange.

Danny, wearing night-vision goggles, had tracked West away from the hotel. “He’s headed into the woods on the west side,” Danny said over the radio. “Bleeding like a stuck pig, from the looks of it.”

“Be careful, babe,” Carly said through the radio.

“Careful’s my middle name,” Danny said.

“Since when?”

“Since I ran across this spunky redhead. She’s got me all kinds of messed up these days.”

“I love you, too,” Carly said.

Until they could find West, Lara ordered the hotel sealed. The doors were closed and windows locked. She gave Bonnie and Roy gun belts with Glocks and told them to stay inside until it was over. She considered confining everyone to their rooms but thought better of it. Instead, she put them all in the lobby for the night with Carly so they would know where everyone was at all times.

Maddie had gone back to the Tower to keep overwatch. Will had drilled the importance of having constant overwatch in the Tower for so long, Lara wasn’t surprised how effortlessly everyone responded to taking turns up there.

With the help of Bonnie and Roy, Lara carried Blaine back to the hotel manager’s office behind the kitchen, where she had converted the room into a makeshift infirmary a few months back. It was just big enough for a couple of beds they had liberated from some of the unused rooms, and she had added a cabinet to hold extra medical supplies. Afterward, Roy wandered back out into the lobby to be with the others.

Bonnie didn’t leave right away, but stood by quietly as Lara stitched Blaine’s wound. The big man was asleep, snoring lightly under general anesthesia. He bled profusely when she had pulled out the knife, but thankfully the blade had missed his left kidney by half an inch.

When she was finished, Lara tossed the surgical latex gloves into a bin and washed her hands in the sink.

“I’m sorry,” Bonnie said behind her.

Bonnie had been so quiet that Lara was actually surprised she was even still there. “For what?”

“This is my fault, isn’t it?”

“I asked, and you told me the truth, Bonnie. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Maybe I should have waited…”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. Danny had doubts about them from the very beginning. It’s a dangerous world out there, Bonnie. There are a lot of dangerous people. I—we’ve—encountered plenty of them since all of this began.”

The Sundays…

May you all burn in hell.

Bonnie nodded. Lara couldn’t tell if she was convinced. She hadn’t known the woman long enough and there was an inherent sadness about Bonnie, despite the perfect everything, that told Lara the other woman had been through more than she was willing to share.

Bonnie finally looked down at the Glock holstered on her right hip. “Can I tell you something?”

“You’ve never used a gun before?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Kind of. Will and Danny can teach you, if you want.”

“I’d like that. Thank you. Roy wouldn’t mind a lesson or two, either.”

“I’ll ask them—”

Two gunshots, in quick succession, interrupted her. It sounded far away, from the other side of the island.

Lara snatched up the radio from the counter. “Danny, what’s happening?”

“Found him,” Danny said through the radio. “I’m pursuing him through the woods now.”

“Be careful.”

“Will do.”

Lara said to Bonnie, “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything,” Bonnie said.

“Stay here with Blaine in case he wakes up and needs something. He should be sleeping for most of the day, but he’s stubborn, so you never know. After this is over, we’ll issue you and Roy radios. Until then, Carly will be outside in the lobby the entire time.” Lara picked up her Benelli and headed for the door, but stopped and looked back at Bonnie. “Hey.”

Bonnie looked over.

Lara gave her a pursed smile. “Don’t blame yourself. For any of it. You did what you had to in order to get here. What West and Brody did to Blaine wasn’t your fault. They made their own choices. Okay?”

Bonnie nodded back. “Okay.”

Lara hurried outside. “Danny,” she said into the radio.

“Yeah,” Danny said. She thought he might be whispering.

“I’m coming to you. Where are you exactly?”

“About thirty meters directly behind the power station.”

“How many is that in feet?”

“Ninety-eight, give or take.”

“Can you wait for me?”

“Sure, why not,” Danny said. “The more the merrier. Bring pajamas. We’ll have a sleepover.”