“There are a lot of them. Maybe eight or ten of them. That guy we met on the road, on the way, the day after the war?”

“Jeffrey Grubbs?”

“Yeah. He was there. He’s the one who hit Caleb.”

“Guns?”

“Yeah. They took Caleb’s away from him. That’s when I snuck away and headed back here.”

“Can you find the spot again? The exact spot?”

“I think so. We blazed a trail. That’s how I found my way back here.”

“I’m going to find the major,” Copley said, and he was off.

Victoria brought both hands to her head, making her fingers disappear into her hairline. She needed to think. Needed to figure this through. She was going up the mountain to rescue her son, that was for sure, but what all did she need to bring with her? She needed to arm herself. If she could get some others to help, that would be great, but she didn’t have time to wait for a posse to assemble.

She turned back to Luke. “Sweetie, how far up the road did you go before you cut off into the woods?”

He shrugged. “Quite a ways. I don’t know distances that way. I don’t pay attention.”

Victoria had an idea. “I know you’re worn-out, but I need you to do a little more running for me. Caleb’s life depends—”

“I can do it. Where?”

“You know Mike Underwood, right? The boy with the El Camino? He spends a lot of time either at Dr. Rory’s or at Maggie’s. If you see his car, find him and tell him this is an emergency, and he needs to meet me at St. Thomas’s. Can you do that?”

“Sure.” He started off, but she called him back.

“Don’t waste any time. If you don’t see the car, don’t go looking. You come back to St. Thomas’s on your own and then we’ll have to retrace your steps on foot.”

“Okay.” He took off at a dead run, seemingly recovered from his exhaustion.

Victoria took off running, too—something she hadn’t done in a very long time. St. Thomas’s wasn’t far from Ty Rowley’s yard, but it was the wrong direction, away from the forest.

“Vicky!” Ty yelled.

“I don’t have time!” she yelled over her shoulder.

“Is everything okay?”

She didn’t bother to answer. Some things should be obvious.

One gun at a time, the arsenal inside St. Thomas’s continued to grow. The Boyle family had brought theirs with them when they moved in, and she knew that Caleb had brought an AR15 back with him from the raid that captured Brandon-Lee May, but there seemed to be more than she could explain.