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She didn’t. The barrel continued to twitch in his direction as she went on. “They’re not normal soldiers, Matt. The uniforms are all wrong. No name tags or rank insignia. Strange colors. I think they’re private contractors, but I don’t see how anyone could mobilize that fast. All I know is they’re containing this, whateverthisis.” Her eyes somehow managed to grow wider, and she looked toward the door. “Are you alone?”
“Ellie, please put the gun down.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Matt almost lied to her, but that wouldn’t do any good. She’d see the others soon enough. “I’ve got Gabby with me, and Josh Tatum.” He paused for a second, but there was no easy way to say it, so he just spit it out. “Ellie, Sally’s dead.”
This time, the barrel of the shotgun dropped and her mouth fell open. “What? How?”
Matt told her.
Told her everything.
He rattled it off as quickly as he could.
When he finished, Ellie rounded the recliner and fell into the cushioned seat, resting the shotgun on her lap. Matt told her what Sally had said before she died—delayed internet searches, filteredresults. How she thought someone was reading her emails before allowing them to go through. “I thought she was just being paranoid, but I think she was right. Whoever locked down the town is also monitoring all our communications.”
A creak came from above, movement on the second floor.
Matt was still holding his gun. He raised it and pointed it toward the stairs. “Is someone else here?”
Before Ellie could respond, Addie Gallagher came down the steps wrapped in a towel. She was drying her hair with another. “Thanks for letting me use your shower, Ellie. I was a—” At the sight of Matt, she froze and blushed. “Hey.”
“What are you doing here?”
Addie held up her right arm. It was wrapped in gauze just above her wrist. “I was walking home and Ellie’s neighbor jumped out of the bushes screaming, came at me with a knife. If Ellie hadn’t been there, I might be dead right now.”
Matt recalled what Ellie had told him when he came in. “Butcher knife, next door?”
Ellie nodded. “It was like she was rabid, the way she charged.”
Matt didn’t have to ask how she stopped her. The look that passed between both women told him she was dead. The hows didn’t much matter at this point.
Gabby appeared in the open doorway. “Josh keeps insisting we move your car before Stu Peterson sees it, and I think he’s right. I’m gonna take it and go look for Riley. She must be …” Her voice trailed off at the sight of Addie half naked on the stairs.
Addie turned slowly on her heels and started back up. “I think I’d better get dressed.”
69
Cody Hill
UP UNTIL THAT MORNING,Cody Hill had been an eighth grader at Hollows Bend Middle School.
Two hours earlier, he decided he no longer planned to return to that life.
He’d had an epiphany.
A realization.
A come-to-Jesus moment.
He wasn’t particularly popular, never had been. Most kids didn’t see him when he walked down the halls, and that was just fine by him. The assholes of the world, guys like Mason Ridler and Brett Murphy, the ones whodidsee him, he wouldn’t miss at all. Hell, just two weeks ago they’d tied him to one of the metal beams under the bleachers after a school pep rally and left him there for the janitors to find three hours after school let out. A month ago, they’d dragged him into the showers fully clothed.
Cody went out of his way to ensure guys like that didn’t see him, and after tonight, they never would.
After tonight, those worries would be gone.
Cody smiled, bent closer to the light, and held the soldering iron still long enough to fix the thin lead wire directly to the contact on the nine-volt battery. The instructions he’d pulled from the internet didn’t include anything like that, but it couldn’t hurt. No reason to risk the battery getting jostled and coming loose. It’s not like he’d ever have to replace it.
