The Lair

Why did he want her here?

Not that it mattered.

Because here’s what it came down to: Lily was scared and alone with a baby she couldn’t care for, being pursued by people whose motives we could only guess at. I didn’t need to know any more than that.

“Okay,” I said again. “I’m coming for you. Don’t turn yourself in. Do you promise me?”

“Carter, I—”

“Just give me until sunrise. If I can’t find you by sunrise, then . . .” Well, then I still wasn’t going to be frickin’ okay with her turning herself in, that was for damn sure. “Well we’ll worry about that after.”

“After what?”

“Your goal is just to stay alive and keep that baby alive. Got it?”

“Okay,” she said finally. “Where are you in Texas?”

“San Angelo. And Dawn is here. You remember Dawn, right?”

“Dawn Armadale?”

“Yeah. She talked her way into the car. She’s a nurse, right? So she’ll know what to do for Josie. And surely you trust her more than whatever nurse a Farm would have.”

I could practically hear her mulling it over on the other end of the phone. “Yeah. I guess.”

“I’ll be there around midnight. Just stay safe. Stay alive. And keep your phone on.”

“Okay.” Her voice sounded steadier than it had even just a few moments ago. She was pulling it together. I’d never had any doubt she would.

I got off the phone with her quickly after that, which was one of the hardest things I’d ever done, because I wanted to keep her on the line. I wanted that reassurance that she was following my orders and that she was staying safe. Because it felt like the only way to actually keep her alive was to maintain that connection to her. But I hung up anyway because a fully charged phone was too precious to waste.

As soon as I hung up, my mind started racing through the list of things I’d need to get out of here fast. I grabbed my bag of gear and headed for the Dean’s personal stash of food. Zeke walked in as I was zipping up the bag.

He stood in the doorway, blocking my way out. “What’s up?” he asked, frowning. “You look like you’re packing.”

“I am. I’m heading out.”

“You’re bailing?”

“No, I’m just—”

“Jesus! After all your big talk about how we need to save these people, you’re bailing.”

“I’m not bailing.” Except I kind of was. “Look, Lily is in trouble. I’m going to get her.”

“Lily, your girlfriend?” His sneer said it all.

“Yeah. She’s in trouble. Serious trouble.” I stepped closer to him, waiting for him to get out of the way.

Instead, he gave my shoulder a shove. “There are a thousand kids here at this Farm who are in serious trouble. You’re going to throw them to the Ticks to save your girlfriend?”

I didn’t even have to think about it.

Yes. Yes, I was.

I knew it made me a bastard and a total ass. Hell, maybe it made me a sociopath.

I knew—I knew—that the needs of the many should outweigh the needs of the few. And ninety-nine percent of the time they would. But not today. Not now. Not when Lily was in trouble. Because she meant more to me than all those other kids combined. She was all that mattered.

“Yes,” I said slowly, “I am. And unless you want to throw down right now, you can’t stop me.”

The anger in Zeke’s gaze wavered and bled into fear. “You can’t leave us.”

I gripped the back of his neck and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “The fences will hold at least through tonight. Tomorrow, you take whatever blood donations are fresh and you have someone dump them far away. It’ll keep the Ticks away for at least tomorrow night. It won’t matter if the fences aren’t on if the Ticks aren’t nearby to test them. There are twenty-five guys here who know as much about fighting Ticks as I do. Dawn is level-headed. Besides, I’ll be back in two days. You’ll be fine.”

By the time I was done talking, Zeke even looked like he believed me.

He nodded and blew out a breath of resolve. “We’ll be okay.”

Before I could give him any more instructions or reassurances, someone knocked on the door frame behind him. He stepped aside. Victor was out in the hall.

“Hey, boss,” he said. “We found Preacher Joe. Someone’s bringing him up right now.”

Standing in the doorway, I had a clear shot of the elevator. My heart started pounding as the doors slid open. There was Joe. Preacher Joe really was Stoner Joe. When he saw me, a big-ass grin split his face.

If what I’d heard was right, then Joe was the kind of guy who prayed. And he’d probably been praying for something exactly like this. Praying that someone would come who could help the Greens here at this Farm. Praying that he’d find some connection to the world outside this place, some connection to the girl he loved.

Right now, I was the answer to his prayers.

And I had to tell him that McKenna was dead.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Lily

Sweetwater, Texas, didn’t have a Wal-Mart.

Lily had driven down the town’s two main roads looking for one. She’d even broken into a house to check the phone book, just to be sure. The phone book had turned up no superstores of any kind, but the house was a treasure trove. There were two cars in the garage with gas in both tanks. The pantry had a bag of beans and rice. Five cans of veggies and four of tuna. A bottle of vitamin C and the real brass ring: three cans of evaporated milk.

It still took a while to get Josie to drink from the cup, but by now, the baby was starving and eager. Once she got going, she drank and drank. It wasn’t perfect, but it would keep her alive.

Lily gave the house one last pass, finding a stash of soda in the garage and bag of Halloween candy in one of the drawers in the master bedroom. As she drove down the road toward the town’s only grocery store, a Town and Country, she ate a fun-size Twix bar. There was a mini-roll of Rolos, too, but she set those aside for later.

Carter was coming for her. She’d share the Rolos with him when he got there.

Josie was asleep by the time she pulled into the parking lot of the Town and Country. By the standards of a Wal-Mart, the place was tiny.

She left Josie asleep in the car when she went in to secure the freezer. Something—something other than Ticks, if Lily had to guess—had knocked holes in the roof in a couple of places. Maybe a tornado had come through here in the past few weeks. This was prime tornado alley.

A little moonlight filtered through the gaps in the roof, making it possible for her to forage as she searched for the freezer section. Along the way she found a few cans of food and some bottles of Gatorade. They even had some cleaning supplies. More bleach, which was always useful, and five mops. She brought Josie inside before carrying in load after load of plants and the other supplies she’d found. She set up the antenna for the sat phone just outside the car. Once she had locked herself and Josie in the freezer, she spent a few hours whittling the mop handles into stakes. There were some things you could never have enough of. Food was one. Stakes were the other.

Logic said she should sleep when Josie did, but her mind wouldn’t quiet. Had she done the right thing? Maybe she should have argued harder against Carter coming to find her. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him where she was at all.

Not calling him hadn’t been an option. He needed to know about Ely. And as much as she wanted to pretend that she was strong enough and independent enough to handle anything, she wasn’t. Everyone needed help