The Walls of Lemuria by Sam Sisavath Page A

twenty-three years. Could have been stubborn and stayed for another four, hit the max and get pushed out, but what the hell—I’d always wanted to travel.”
    “How long have you been traveling?”
    “On and off for ten years now.”
    “That’s a hell of a lot of traveling, Norris.”
    “Retirement, kid. You keep waiting for it, thinking about all the things you’re going to do when you hit that magic number. Then it creeps up on you, and suddenly you realize you don’t wanna do half of the things on your list. So what do you do? You look for other adventures.”
    “Where’s your next stop?”
    “No idea. Wherever the wind takes me. A few weeks ago I got an itch to see the Deep South. And here I am. What about you? Got plans after retirement?”
    “Making plans would mean I expect to live to retirement age, old timer. To be honest with you, I’ve already overachieved after last night.”
    “That’s a hell of a thing to say, kid.”
    “It’s been a hell of a life,” Keo said. “So, about tonight.”
    “What about it?”
    “What you said about the back room. You think it can withstand a prolonged attack?”
    “I think so,” Norris nodded. “I saw them attacking the windows and doors last night. They kept at it for hours and hours, but they didn’t make a dent in the bars. I don’t think they’re that strong. Hell, I think they’re weaker than they used to be—”
    He stopped in mid-sentence when they heard the faint pop-pop-pop of automatic gunfire coming from well across town. The source was so far away that they would have missed it entirely if they hadn’t been standing on the rooftop at that moment.
    “You heard that?” Norris said.
    “Yeah,” Keo nodded, looking in the direction of the gunfire.
    “How many shots did you hear?”
    “About a half dozen. Maybe seven.”
    “It’s stopped.” Norris scratched his chin and thought about it. “Could be anything. Anyone. Maybe one of those people from the hospital.”
    “If any of them are still out there, they should be making their way to us by now.”
    “What were they shooting at, you think?”
    “Too bad we can’t ask them,” Keo said.
    *
    Gillian was waiting for them in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs when they climbed down from the roof.
    “I thought I might have heard gunshots,” she said.
    “You did,” Keo said. “But no one showed up and we didn’t hear it again.”
    “It might have been Brent and the others. I don’t understand why they’re not here yet. It’s going to be dark pretty soon.”
    “I’m sure they’re fine.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    “I’m just trying to think positively.”
    “Maybe they left town,” Norris said, hopping down behind Keo. “That’d be the smart thing to do, rain-slicked roads or not. We probably should have done the same thing. The more I think about it, the more I think we’re pushing our luck staying here two nights in a row like this.”
    “We didn’t miss anything,” Keo said.
    “That’s what I keep telling myself too, kid.”
    “You’re just being paranoid.”
    “I’ve been called worse,” Norris grunted, then walked past them and up the hallway.
    Gillian looked after him, while Keo down at his watch. “We’ll get through this. We didn’t know what we were dealing with last night, but this time we do.”
    “You really think that’s going to matter when they come out of their hiding places and swarm the building?” she asked.
    Keo smiled at her. “Absolutely,” he lied.

CHAPTER 11
    The one hour until nightfall felt like an eternity.
    They gathered in the lobby and waited in silence. Keo spent the time checking the Remington while Gillian sat quietly next to him. One of the portable LED lamps glowed a few meters away, throwing a halo around them and half of Norris’s face, the ex-cop leaning nearby against a desk. The only noises were the wrinkling of bags, the crunch of chips, and the occasional sloshing of bottled water.
    Keo busied