Free The Isles of Elysium (Purge of Babylon, Book 6) by Sam Sisavath

use to do?” Steve asked again.
    “This and that.”
    “Probably ex-military,” Jack said. He was leaning against a nearby wall, clearly enjoying the show.
    “Nah, but close,” Steve said. “I can smell ex-military guys, and he’s not one of them. It’s all right. You don’t have to tell me now.” Steve stood up and looked at Jack. “Get some shut-eye and rest your leg. We’re heading back at sunup.”
    Jack nodded and found himself a spot on the same sofa that Gene was lying against and lay down.
    “The creatures,” Keo said.
    Steve, who had settled on the floor across from him, said, “What about them?”
    “They’re going to stay out there the entire night?”
    “You scared?”
    “Fuck yes.”
    Steve grinned. “Don’t worry your pretty little head off. They’ll stay away.”
    “How does it work? How do they know to leave you alone?”
    “You ever heard the phrase need-to-know?”
    “No one ever told me.”
    Steve snorted. “They’re not coming in as long as we’re in here.”
    “You sure about that?” Keo asked, watching as three more of the creatures darted across the windows. Just seeing them out there, with nothing to protect him if they stopped and turned around on a whim, made his skin crawl.
    “You better hope so,” Steve said. He laid his M4 across his lap, then looked up at the soldier with the M32. “This is Horace. He’s running around on five cans of warm Red Bull and enough caffeine to keep a herd of longhorns going. Try anything, and he has my permission to put you out of your misery.”
    Horace winked at Keo. He was a big man with an Army buzz cut. “Don’t you worry. I’ll take good care of you, spud.”
    “I feel so special,” Keo said.
    “The only reason you’re still alive is because you didn’t shoot my little brother,” Steve said. “That, and you treated him like a human being after he was wounded. Otherwise I’d have fed you to those things outside.”
    “I guess it still pays to be a good guy these days.”
    “I paid you back by letting you keep breathing, but I don’t owe you shit after that. Keep that in mind.”
    Oh, I’m keeping it in mind, all right, Keo thought while trying to ignore the tingling radiating from his cheek.
    *
    Keo opened his eyes to large doses of sunlight in his face and Steve sitting next to Gene on the sofa across the room. They looked like they were talking and had been for some time. Steve’s soldiers were already outside the house, moving around on the lawn. The one with the M32, Horace, was on the sidewalk beyond.
    “You did the right thing,” Steve was saying to Gene. “You’ll find out when we get there that all this running around was a waste of time.”
    “And I can leave anytime?” Gene asked.
    “Absolutely, but you won’t want to once you see what’s there.”
    Gene nodded, though he didn’t look as if he quite believed Steve, but was too smart to say so if he did have any doubts.
    “Morning,” Jack said, coming out of the kitchen with an open can of SPAM. He was shoveling large chunks of it into his mouth and talking at the same time. “You said you wanted to visit T18. This is your lucky day, sport, because that’s exactly where you’re going. Excited?”
    “I can barely contain myself,” Keo said.
    Jack chuckled.
    “Let’s get going,” Steve said. He stood up before fixing Keo with a hard stare. “One wrong move, and you’re a dead man. Do we understand each other?”
    “Crystal.”
    “Good man.” He turned around and called through the broken windows, “Donovan, Taylor. Come get our guest of honor.” Then to Gene, “Come on, son. Time to go home.”
    Gene nodded mutely, the kid who had fought off the soldiers these last few months seemingly MIA after last night. Keo couldn’t really blame him. He’d been in his share of scrapes, but getting gassed in a bathroom, well, that was something he didn’t want to go through again if he could help it.
    Donovan and Taylor came back inside and