Thinking of Lorena and Jeremy, he forced himself to believe that statement.
He swallowed as he said the words. They were meant to inspire his companions. But they also inspired him. He considered his own struggle the night before. The beast had almost taken hold of him, but he'd fought it off. Whether it was force of will or the assistance of some higher power, he wasn't sure, but he'd successfully saved Maria and Emily.
That had to count for something.
Maria, Emily, and Joseph nodded at his words. He thought he saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes, or at least he told himself he did. They approached another turn in the road.
He wasn't sure how far they were from the bunker, but he took solace in the fact that he'd led them this far.
Even though he'd succumbed to the curse, it wasn't the end of him. Not yet.
An excited shout from Emily solidified that hope.
"Over there! A fire truck!"
"I hear something," Flannery whispered, cocking his head. He put his finger to his lips, aiming his gun at the hatchway. Mike tensed up and joined him.
Still holding the children, Kelsey strained her ears. She expected to hear some sign of what they'd detected, but all she made out was the muffled breathing of the people around her.
She felt like she was in a cage, buried instead of hiding. She glanced around the walls, wishing there was a way through them. A few minutes ago, Mike had guessed it was approaching nighttime, though he wasn't positive.
What if dusk had descended, bringing with it the beasts?
Silas whimpered.
"Quiet," Flannery mouthed.
Silas and Katherine tensed in her arms. She watched Flannery and Mike, a hard knot in her stomach. She didn't need their warnings to know to remain still. Flannery crept closer to the exit, cocking his head again.
Kelsey clutched the children tighter, panic coursing through her. Flannery traced a path with his gun, as if he might shoot through the bunker ceiling. His face was set with grim determination.
The sound didn't repeat. After a while of waiting, Officer Flannery and Mike resumed their vigil by the radio.
"It must've been nothing," Mike said.
"Keep alert, in case," Officer Flannery warned.
She noticed they kept tight grips on their guns.
The fire truck was as out of place in the neighborhood as the October storm. The sprawling truck bed was almost the width of the cul-de-sac. Seeing the ladder, Tom was reminded of his night at the hospital, when he'd been forced to climb down it, shaking and unstable.
It also reminded him of the people he'd come to find. Were they still here?
The vehicle indicated they were.
Looking at his companions, Tom saw an expression of relief and joy. Maria and Emily smiled and hugged each other. Even Lana was content, kicking excitedly underneath her blankets. Passing by the fire truck was like reuniting with an old friend.
The excitement dimmed as they traveled into the yard.
"Where is it?" Maria asked.
"I'm not sure," Tom admitted. "When I left, they were headed into the backyard. I assume it's back there somewhere."
Tom looked for boot prints as they trudged around the property. The snow had filled them in, but he saw caved impressions where people had traveled. Those should give him enough of a clue to find where he was going.
The house—a raised ranch that was as battered as the rest of them—looked eerily vacant. The windows were broken out, the curtains flapped in the breeze. Tom had the sudden, morbid image of his companions lying dead inside. What if they'd been coaxed from hiding, slaughtered by the beasts? Almost an entire day had passed since he'd left them. Anything could've happened.
Swallowing the thought, he continued across the yard. A border of tall arborvitaes surrounded the property. The neighbors' houses were visible over the tips. Despite that, the yard was covered in snow, showing no signs of a bunker hatchway.
But that made sense.
Mike would've wanted to hide it.
Tom followed the tracks to their ending. An unassuming yellow shed stood in the back of the lot, painted so perfectly it matched the house. Tom smiled as he reached it, bringing his troupe of survivors with him.
He tried the handle. "It's locked," he said. He rapped the door several times, but his knocks echoed and died. There were no windows on the shed. He called out the names of his companions, but after a few minutes of trying, he heard nothing.
Despite his sinking stomach, the locked door made sense. Mike and the others would've wanted to put every layer between them and the beasts. Why would they have left the shed open, risking someone wandering in?
A cold, gusty wind blew across the yard, kicking up dusty snow. Lana's curiosity melted into unhappiness as she stammered a cry. Joseph held her tighter.
"What are we going to do?" Joseph asked.
"Break down the door, I guess. Maybe they'll hear when we get to the entrance. We have to try something."
"Do it," Maria agreed.
"Get back, everyone."
Tom ushered Maria, Emily, and Joseph back while he surveyed the door. With a last look to ensure they were alone, Tom prepared to kick it in.
Before he could move, the door flew open, knocking him backward, and the shadowy figure of Officer Flannery emerged, aiming a rifle at his chest.
"Get back!" the officer yelled.
"Drop it!" Officer Flannery yelled, motioning to Tom's weapon. The others gasped. Not wanting to risk harm to the group, Tom dropped his gun.
"It's me!" he cried to Officer Flannery. "It's Tom."
Flannery said nothing. The look on his face showed he wasn't in the mood for discussion. He waved Tom backward until they were deeper into the yard. Mike came out behind him, aiming another gun. Did they know whom—
what
—he was? They must.
"Put it down!" Flannery barked, louder this time.
Tom furrowed his brow as he located his relinquished weapon. It took him a second to realize they were no longer talking to him, but Maria.
"What's going on, Tom?" Maria asked, her voice wavering as she aimed her rifle.
"It's fine, Maria. Put the gun down and we'll sort this out."
"I thought you knew them?"
Maria motioned Emily, Joseph, and Lana behind her. Lana's cry pierced the air.
"Put it down!" Flannery shouted again.
Maria didn't comply. Tom felt a surge of panic. They'd been immersed in the journey so long that he hadn't had a chance to work out a proper plan. His intention had been to see his friends to safety and leave. He hadn't meant to cause a confrontation like this. But none of that mattered now. He had to defuse it.
"Please, we're not here to—"
"Who are these people?" Mike shouted.
"Other survivors," Tom said. "People I found."
The others huddled behind Maria, who still held her gun.
"We heard what happened to you," Flannery said to Tom, keeping his eyes locked on Maria. "We know you were bitten."
This time it was Maria's turn to be surprised. "What are they talking about, Tom?"
Tom looked over at her. Her eyes burned with a new fear.
"I…I didn't tell you everything, Maria."
"Is it true? You were bitten?"
"It's true," Tom said, a pit forming in his stomach. "Please put down the weapon, and we'll sort this out."
"Were you going to kill us, Tom?" Her eyes were manic as she leapt through assumptions.
"He saved us," Joseph said, interrupting. "He never threatened us."
"How can I believe that when he lied?" Maria's voice grew harsh with anger.
"Put the gun down!" Officer Flannery said. "Don't make me shoot!"
Maria held her ground for several more seconds. Then she swiveled the weapon toward Tom. "Last night, when you came in the house…you weren't sick," she put together. "You were one of them. You were changing."
Tom raised his hands, slowly backing up in the snow. "You're right."
"That's how you killed that thing in the kitchen," she put together.
"He told us to hide, Mom," Emily interrupted. "Remember? He saved us!"
"But he lied…"
Maria gritted her teeth as she processed the information. Her hands shook on the rifle. Tom waited for the gunshot that would end his life. Or would it? He didn't know. He closed his eyes and reopened them, hoping something would come into focus, giving him the answer. He stared past Officer Flannery and Mike and into the shed. Where was Kelsey?
Was she still in the bunker?
He had the random thought that he didn't want Katherine and Silas witnessing what was going to happen. Neither did he want Emily or Lana to see it. Maria steadied her grip on the gun, staring at Tom with a look of anger.
She lowered her weapon.
Some of the tension deflated from the yard as Maria threw the rifle by Officer Flannery's feet. She turned and hugged Emily, crying. Flannery and Mike collected Tom's and Maria's weapons. Joseph clung fast to the baby, soothing her.
Looking back at Officer Flannery and Mike, Tom realized they had refocused their aim on him. He'd saved Maria, Emily, Joseph, and Lana. He'd gotten them to the bunker before nightfall. Even though the sun was setting, he'd beaten the light of the moon.
Things had worked out as best as they could.
A sense of calm washed over him as he embraced his fate.
I'm coming, Lorena.
Gunshots pierced the air.
Tom closed his eyes and reopened them, certain he'd feel pain. But the pain never came. Refocusing, he saw Officer Flannery collapse, his coat splashed with blood. Mike fell next to him, clutching his chest in violent spasms.
The gunfire ceased.
Confusion washed over Tom as he saw Maria, Emily, and Joseph on their knees. It took him a second to realize none of them had fired the fatal shots. They were raising their hands.
"Stay down or we'll shoot!" a voice screamed.
The clean-faced man Tom had encountered earlier emerged from behind the shed, his shirt bloodstained from his injured nose. He waved his rifle maniacally while his bearded friend emerged from the other side, training a gun on Lana and Joseph.
Tom thought back to the neighborhood they'd just left. He'd sworn someone had been watching them.
He'd been right.
His gaze flew back to Mike and Officer Flannery. Both men had ceased moving. Patches of wet blood darkened their clothes. They'd been shot from behind, crept up on from behind the arborvitaes in back of the shed. Who knew how long the men had been waiting, or what they'd heard?
"What do you want?" Tom asked, his insides churning.
Lana's frantic crying was accompanied by the heavy sobs of Maria and Emily as they pleaded for the men to leave them alone. Tom looked cautiously at the shed, but saw no sign of Kelsey. She was probably still hiding. He couldn't blame her for staying with the kids.
"Listen, if you'll just—" Tom started.
A blast of pain hit Tom's skull as the clean-faced man ran over and whipped him with the rifle. Tom's eyes flashed color. He fell to the snow. He was pulled back to his knees, woozy. He should've killed them when he had the chance. Mike and Officer Flannery's bodies were soon to be accompanied by the rest of them.
"Who are these people?" the clean-faced man asked.
Maybe they hadn't heard as much as I thought.
"Leave them alone. Do what you want with me," Tom said, trying to maintain his calm.
The bearded man said, "That's not going to happen. We need all of you."
"We don't have anything of value," Tom said, his head swimming with pain. "If you want to get back at me for what happened, I understand. Leave the others. Take me. No one will say anything."
"Whom would they say something to? The police?" The bearded man exchanged an amused glance with his friend as he looked at Officer Flannery's fallen body. "We don't give a shit about that. When this is over, no one will care what we've done. They'll have enough shit to clean up."
"What do you want?" Tom asked, wincing.
Tom studied the men's eyes, thinking he'd detect the same cunning he'd seen in Ranger, but it wasn't that. The look in their eyes wasn't that of the creatures, but one of paranoid madness.
"In a way, we should thank you," the clean-faced man said, wiping his nose. "You've done our job for us by finding others."
"We're going to give these fucking things what they're looking for," the bearded man said, nodding as if Tom might agree with him. "Then they'll leave us alone. We'll sacrifice you to save ourselves."
The clean-faced man looked at his glove, as if he might find some more blood there. Tom looked over at Maria, Emily, Joseph, and Lana. He didn't need to ask more questions. He understood. And that understanding led to a deep panic unlike any he'd seen before. These men had never been looters. Their intentions had always been darker. The bearded man dug in his pocket, taking out several lengths of rope.
Enough to bind us and leave us somewhere
, Tom figured.
"Please!" Maria shouted as the man moved toward them. "We have a child! A baby!"
"We need all of you," the bearded man repeated, as if it were a mantra.
"Let us go!" Joseph yelled, Lana squealing in his arms.
"Are there others in the shed?" The bearded man peered into the shed, but didn't seem to find anything. He grabbed Emily as if he couldn't hear her pleas. Maria clung to her daughter's jacket, refusing to give Emily up. She swatted at the bearded man.