Sam Sisavath - The Isles of Elysium

Jordan leaned her head back against the wall next to him and threw her arms around her bent knees.

“Relax,” Keo said. “Whatever happens, you’ll be fine.”

“Is that what you think this is? That I’m just worried about my own hide?”

“Aren’t you?”

She sighed. “You’re clueless.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Never mind, Keo.”

He looked at her for a moment, not sure where any of this was going. He had never been particularly good at reading women, but-

“They were friends, you know,” she said.

“Who?”

“Miller and Tobias.”

“I figured that one out myself.”

“How?”

“He kept referring to Miller as ‘Steve.’”

“Yeah. They were friends for a long time after everything happened. They were in the camp together. Then one day, they were running things.”

“How did that happen?”

“I don’t know for sure. Tobias never told me, but I’ve heard rumors that they-the creatures-choose leaders. I don’t know how, and frankly it gives me goose bumps to think about communicating with those things.”

“The blue-eyed ones.”

“You’ve heard of them?” she asked, looking over.

He nodded. “The people I knew at Song Island have experience with them. A lot of experience. The ones with blue eyes are like the overseers-the commanders. They can talk, too.”

She stared disbelievingly at him.

Keo shrugged. “That’s what I heard.”

She shivered. “Great, now I’m going to have nightmares. As if the black-eyed ones weren’t bad enough.”

“About Tobias and Miller…”

“They were in charge of T18 back when it was still just Wilmont. Ran the whole place for a while. It was just after the transition to a full-fledged town that they had a falling out and Tobias left, taking some of the men with him.”

“Reese?”

“Uh huh. He was one of them.”

“Why did Tobias leave?”

“It was that whole agreement with the ghouls. Tobias was always uneasy about the daily bloodletting, but I think it was the pregnancies that did it. I know that’s what happened to me. ‘Donating’ wasn’t so bad, but seeing those pregnant girls and knowing what would happen to their babies, to the human race in a year or a decade from now…” She shivered again. “I couldn’t take it. Tobias couldn’t, either. Since then, he’s been trying to help as many people escape from T18 as possible.”

“How’s that working out?”

“Not great.” She leaned her chin against her knees. “We haven’t managed to get any of the pregnant ones out. It’s mostly been the men, with a few women in between, like Pita. She was one of the nurses in the camp. She left with the girl that’s always hanging around her, Shelley. Pita didn’t want her to become like the others, so we managed to help them escape. They’re valuable, you know. Anyone with medical skills, especially the doctors. There are only a few of them in each town, but I hear they’re constantly training nurses. Pita was doing a lot of that when she was there.”

“How does it work? Escaping the town. You said before that you have inside help.”

“Tobias talked a few people into staying.”

“That must have taken some convincing.”

“Well, he does look like Steve Rogers.”

“Who?”

“Steve Rogers. Captain America’s civilian alter ego?”

“Ah. So if Tobias is Capitan America, who’s Reese? Robin?”

“Bucky. Robin is Batman’s sidekick. Bucky is Captain America’s.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you making this up?”

She smiled. “No. I guess you really didn’t use to read comic books.”

“Too busy chasing girls.”

“Of course,” she said, and rolled her eyes at him.

“How does a jock like you know so much about comic books?”

“My brother had stacks of them. Sometimes I would partake.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, without the inside guys, we probably wouldn’t even have what little success we’ve managed so far, never mind the M4s and MREs.”

“Where do they get those, anyway? The weapons?”

“I don’t know, but they have crates of military-grade stuff in town. Grenades, handguns, you name it.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “What do you think?”

“About what?”

“The town they’re building. T18.”

“I never got past the marina. Miller gave me the job as soon as I arrived.”

“And he never let you see Gillian?”

He shook his head.

“And yet you took the job anyway,” Jordan said.

“I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t already seen with my own eyes that she was alive.”

“Did you really think he was going to keep his side of the bargain?”

“What can I say? I have too much faith in people.”

Jordan chuckled. “Since when?”

“People change, Jordan.”

She looked over at him and stared for some time before finally nodding. “You really have changed, haven’t you?”

*

“Here,” Tobias said, tossing him something huge and sparkling. “That’ll convince Steve you killed me.”

Keo looked down at a big, gaudy, diamond-encrusted ring that no man with any semblance of taste would be caught dead wearing. Which probably explained why Tobias didn’t have it on him but had been keeping it somewhere else. It was bigger than Keo’s thumb and featured the state of Texas in the center, with the words “State Champ” on top.

“It’s the only thing of value I have from the old world,” Tobias said. “Steve would know I wouldn’t give it up to anyone unless I was dead. It should get you back into T18 in one piece. What happens after that is up to you.”

“You don’t want me to kill Miller?” Keo asked.

“I don’t care one way or another. Steve is just a mouthpiece for the creatures. They’d just replace him with someone else if he was gone. My goal was never to kill Steve or his people; it was always just to save the townspeople.” He sighed, looking at the ring in Keo’s palm. “I don’t know why I held onto it. Maybe it was just a reminder of what used to be. If you’re still alive when we meet again, you can give it back to me.”

There was a line of vehicles filled with people and supplies waiting in the parking lot of the YMCA. Reese was in one of the cars and Wyatt was perched in the back of a truck. The street behind them was empty, and he could see the raised structure of I-45 in the distance. It looked gray and never-ending, but also strangely inviting.

“So this is it?” Jordan asked. “You’re giving up?”

Tobias gave her a pursed smile. “Not by a long shot, Jordan. But for now-right now-it’s time to take a break.” He glanced back at his people. “They’re tired. I’m tired, too. My number one job was always to make sure they stay alive. That means giving them time to get healthy. After that, we’ll reevaluate.”

“What about the people back in T18? They’re going to wonder why you’ve stopped communicating with them.”

“They’re smart, and they’ll get by until we make contact again.”

Jordan shook her head. She wasn’t convinced.

“You’re not coming with us, are you?” Tobias asked her.

“No.”

“About yesterday…”

“It’s not yesterday,” Jordan said. “Keo’s going to need my help to get back to T18 and save Gillian.”

That caught Keo by surprise, and he looked over at her.

She avoided his stare and focused on Tobias instead. “She’s my friend, too. I owe it to her.”

“All right,” Tobias nodded. “It’s not like I could ever make you do anything you didn’t want to, anyway.”

He waved to Reese, who, along with another man, grabbed some weapons and packs out of one of the trucks and jogged over to them. Reese didn’t look happy when he handed them over-including the MP5SD and Keo’s pack-but Keo couldn’t care less. He was too busy clasping the belt back on and beaming as he checked the magazine inside the submachine gun.