Page 30 of The Gathering
Bacon reached over his shoulder and she handed the binoculars back.
He looked again.
Fuckin’ fuck, just what the hell were they doing?
“Maybe they squattin’,” Phelony whispered.
They were moving too weird for that. So far he counted four. They moved almost chaotic. In a hurry maybe. For what, exactly?
“You think it’s them Viki’s?”
Bacon’s muscles stilled at the thought. “They better pray it ain’t them.”
“Cause of Bullets?”
“Hell yeah.”
Could be worse things, though. None he wanted to consider but had to. His first hunch he’d had the day Seer mentioned checking the hatch crept up on him. It was a worst-case scenario hunch, the kind that ended in bloodshed. He liked action but he did not like the idea ofkillinganother person. He’d seen what it had done to all the brother’s who had. Strong as fuck brothers. So, hell no, he wanted zero parts of that.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. “Get that for me, Bee,” he whispered, counting five people now. No kids that he could see. Kids would likely mean drifters. He considered what they’d have to do to even reach that side of the hatch given it was water-locked.
“It’s The Revelator!” she hissed.
Bacon reached over his shoulder, keeping the binoculars pressed to his face.
“I answered it already,” she whispered, putting the phone in his hand.
“Seer.”
“Theo.”
Bacon’s pulse jumped at his urgent tone.
“Eveque called us all to Bullets hatch,” he said. “Where are you?”
“Checking out those shadows,” he whispered. “Turns out you were sure right.”
“Son, listen to me.”
Bacon’s adrenalin spiked at the fear he heard in his rough voice.
“Do not engage in any way. Get to Bullets’ place immediately. King Nidev got some of the intel from 8-Bit’s drones. Those Dead Kings are on the move, and they’re not working alone.”
****
Bishop pressed the phone to his ear as he power-walked towards Bullet’s place. “We don’t know what the breach is yet,” he said to a frantic Beth. “It could be nothing, but it could be something, this is a precaution. We’ve got eyes on them while we discuss how to proceed.”
He ducked around branches on the path, his adrenalin pumping. “We talked about these scenarios, remember? Tell mewhois most important?”
Beth choked out a hesitant, “I…”
“Don’tfuckaround about this, Beth,” he ordered, his fears hammering him. “Whois most important?”
“The baby,” she strained.
“Youand the baby, you understand?Youand the baby.”
“Yes. Me and the baby,” she whispered. “I understand, I won’t do anything you’d think is stupid, I promise, I love you.”
