looked over at the others. They were watching him anxiously. Even Aaron seemed attentive, though Keo could just be misreading his hollowed, tired eyes.
He turned back to the radio. “Gillian?”
“I’m still here,” Gillian said anxiously.
“Sit tight. We’re coming to get you.”
“Thank you, thank you.”
Keo looked over at Norris. “Seven hours?”
“Are you kidding me?” Norris said.
“We can’t just leave her,” Rachel said. “Norris, you heard what she said. She’s not alone at the hospital.”
“Rachel’s right,” Jake said. “We probably know some of those people. We can’t just abandon them.”
Norris sighed, then fixed Keo with a hard look. “Two hours. If you’re not back in two, we’re leaving without you. You’ll have to follow in your truck.”
Keo nodded. “Fair enough.”
*
It was just past ten in the morning when Keo stepped outside the police station with Jake. The younger man had armed himself with the last Remington, which looked comically too big for his small hands. Jake was tall and lanky, but he hadn’t filled out in his twenty-two years.
“You sure you don’t want to stay with Tori and your father-in-law?” Keo asked.
“We’re not married yet,” Jake said.
“Close enough.”
“Anyway, Tori and me talked, and we agreed I should go with you.”
Keo smiled. “You both ‘agreed’?”
He grinned. “Okay, I agreed and she used some choice words describing what an idiot I am. Either way, I can’t ignore a bunch of people trapped in a hospital in town, can I? Doesn’t seem right.”
“It’s the end of the world, kid. Right and wrong don’t mean much anymore.”
“Look who’s talking. You’re running off to help people you don’t even know. You don’t even live in this town. And I’m supposed to sit back and stay safe when you’re willing to do that?”
“Don’t start worshipping at the altar of Keo yet, kid,” Norris said behind them. Keo glanced up at the ex-cop, standing on the rooftop looking down at them. “He’s just going for the medical supplies, isn’t that right?”
“You can never have too many bandages,” Keo said. “Trust me on this. I learned that the hard way last night. If we’re making a road trip, we’re going to need to stock up.”
“For emergencies?” Jake said.
“That, too,” Keo said.
“Good luck,” Norris said. “You got two hours to get there and back.”
Keo nodded. “We’ll either see you back here or on the road.”
He climbed into the Lancer while Jake slid into the front passenger seat and spent some time adjusting the shotgun. Keo hoped the kid didn’t accidentally blow a hole through himself. Hell, he hoped the kid didn’t accidentally blow a hole through him.
“Last chance to change your mind,” Keo said, firing up the engine.
For a moment, Jake looked as if he was thinking about it. But then he shook his head. “Nah, let’s go.”
“Keep that shotgun on the floor with the barrel pointed up at the ceiling, okay?”
“Oh, okay,” Jake said, and arranged the shotgun to do just that.
“I thought all you country boys know guns.”
“I was never comfortable around them. You seem pretty used to them, though.”
“I’ve just been around, that’s all.”
“What are you, thirty?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“Sorry, no offense meant.”
Keo chuckled. “I don’t have a vagina, Jake. I’m not going to tear your guts out over two extra years.”
Jake gave him a slightly embarrassed look. “Good to know, I guess.”
Keo pointed the Lancer out of the parking lot. “You ever left Bentley before?”
“I was gonna go to the state school, but things didn’t work out. Never got the chance.”
“It’s a big world out there, worth exploring.” He unclipped the radio from his hip and keyed it. “Gillian, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you, Keo,” Gillian answered through the radio.
“I didn’t ask before, but how are you for weapons?”
“What weapons? I only
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