Jake Morrison's Arc

Chapter 10 of 54

The bomb sat on the counter. Jake had it under his arm now, wrapped and heavy. Marisol had built the timer that would spark it. But a spark and a bang weren't enough. The creatures had to run the right way, at the right time. Jake needed her to understand exactly how the thing would work before anyone stepped outside. He set the device down and pointed at the cracked phone taped to the battery. "Two timers," he said. "Not one." Marisol leaned in, her nose hoop catching the light, her fingers already tracing the wires. She fixed things the way Jake fought them, close and fast. He trusted her hands more than his own now. "First one's just noise," Jake said. "A ringer. Loud as we can make it. It goes off, and every wretch in that lot turns toward the sound." He tapped the second wire. "They run for the ringing. That draws them off the truck. Then, ten minutes later, this one blows the propane. By then they're all packed around it." Marisol nodded slow. "So the noise pulls them in. The blast finishes them." She looked up. "Ten minutes. That's our window to cross and load up." "That's the window," Jake said. Marcus stood by the door with his wrench hanging from one fist. He'd stopped bluffing days ago, and Jake had stopped watching his hands. "Ten minutes is tight," Marcus said. "We load the truck, we don't stop for anything." He didn't ask questions. He fixed the plan by finding the weak part. "Second timer's got to hold. If it sparks early, we're standing in the open when it goes." Marisol pulled the phone closer and worked the wires. "It won't spark early." She set two alarms, one after the other. The screen glowed twice. "Ringer first. Blast ten minutes after. Done." Sofia knelt over a duffel bag by the shelves. She'd been quiet, filling it. Now Jake saw what she'd grabbed. Not food. Small paper packets, dozens of them, seeds for beans and tomatoes and squash. She caught his look. "The island's cabins have dirt behind them," she said. "If we're going to live there, we plant." Her hands shook, but she kept packing. It was the first plan any of them had made past tomorrow. Jake felt it land. They weren't just running. They were going somewhere they meant to stay. He lifted the bomb and looked at the three of them. "Everyone knows the timers. Everyone knows the window." He moved to the boarded door. Beyond it, the lot waited full of creatures. "Marisol carries the phone. Marcus takes point on the truck. Sofia holds the bags." He set his hand on the barricade. "When the ringer sounds, we don't talk. We move." The plan was set. The window was ten minutes. Jake started pulling the boards free.