I stand up. “If I need to use it, I won’t have enough time for that. I’m going to check the general store first. No one has to come with me. I’ll report back.”
“I’ll go,” a fellow student named John says.
“Let’s slow down and talk this out.” Cosgrove puts his palms out in a calming gesture. “It’s important that we stay together.”
I tuck the pistol into the waistband of my shorts. “We don’t have enough drinking water to go back to the island for another week. We need to find out what’s going on.”
My mother’s message has been running through my head all week, never louder than it is right now.Stay where you are, no matter what’s happening.
I’m my mother’s nature loving, inquisitive daughter, but I’m more my dad’s. He taught me to always be assessing. Assess everything: where you are, who you’re with, what you might be able to use, potential threats.
Staying on the island means staying in the dark, and I can’t do that for another hour, let alone another entire week.
Cosgrove’s sigh is defeated. “Okay. We’ll go to the general store together.”
My flickering flame of hope is snuffed out when I make out the general store through the binoculars I had in my backpack. I used them for spotting birds and whales on the island, but they’re coming in clutch for locating armed guards.
The small, rectangular building’s windows are all boarded up, but there’s a gaping hole where the front entrance once was. It looks like the store has been picked clean; the shelves I can see are empty. Three armed men sit near the front entrance, using the building to protect their backs.
I lower the binoculars, my stomach churning on the walk back to the rest of the group. I couldn’t risk anyone making noise, so I went alone.
“Well?” John’s brow furrows with concern when he spots me approaching.
“There’s nothing left there. The armed guards are protecting the gas stored under the pumps.”
“Shit,” Greta says.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. My phone is powered down and buried in my pack, in hopes I’ll be able to get service at some point.
“So what do we do?” Eric, a student I haven’t talked to much, looks at the faces around him. “We can’t call the police.”
“We could hike to the closest town,” John suggests. “Then we could?—”
Greta cuts in. “What if we run into more people with machine guns?”
“Let’s just take a moment,” Professor Cosgrove says. “We don’t want to overreact.”
“I’m not going back to the island,” John says. “I need to make sure my girlfriend and my family are okay.”
Cosgrove rubs his temple, looking irritated. “All we know is that we don’t have cell service and the general store and pub have apparently been...”
“Looted,” I finish for him. “I’m leaving. My parents live about an hour from Seattle, so I’m?—”
“Briar, no!” Cosgrove raises his voice, adamant. “Your mother is a very smart woman and she told you to stay where you are.”
I meet his gaze, reminding myself he wasn’t raised by Ben Hollis. He doesn’t plan for the worst.
“I’m a smart woman, too. We don’t have enough food and water to survive on the island.”
“But what if that’s how we survive the virus?” Greta asks. “What if your mom told you to stay where you are because of the virus?”
I exhale softly. “I get what you’re saying. I don’t expect anyone to go with me. The island might be the best choice for some of you.”
Cosgrove wipes the back of his hand across his sweaty brow. “We have to stay together.”
“I’m not staying,” John says firmly. “I have to get back home to Ohio.” His gaze flicks to mine. “Can I come with you?”
I nod, taking off my pack so I can adjust the straps to fit better for traveling. “Anyone who wants to come with me can, but we’re going where I want at my pace.”
