Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose.
“We still don’t know how were getting a team onto the roof,” Victoria said coolly. As usual, she was the voice of reason, and they all fell in to listen.
“Fire escapes?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Too much street-level damage. None of them reach low enough.” He glanced over at Blake, looking for him to back him up when he noticed that Blakewasn’t paying attention. He was drifting again. When most people zoned out, they looked dreamy or unfocused, but Blake looked a little angry. His brows furrowed, lips twisted, and his eyes took on a glassy sheen of focus that Gabriel couldn’t even begin to imagine.
“Blake?”
He didn’t answer; instead pushed himself past the collected chairs and made his way toward the front doors of the lobby. Right inside, there was a shelf of brochures. Mostly local attractions, some coupons, and some transportation companies. They’d been using them as fire starters or letting Sara color them.
Blake stepped over the scattered pages and began rummaging through the shelves until he found what he was looking for. Running his fingers over the dusty front page, Blake twisted it until the candlelight flickered against the glossy front page.
Northeast War Museumwas printed in bright yellow kitschy font.
Blake’s teeth flashed in a smile. “I have an idea.”
The Northeast War Museum was a squat, concrete building, almost lost against the gray sky. It was difficult to find, too. They’d driven past it twice before Victoria saw the small brown sign indicating a narrow gravel drive leading up a small hill.
It wasn’t visible from the road, which was probably the reason it was in such great shape. Even the windows were intact.
While Gabriel, Phin, Victoria, and Judd began clearing the surrounding area with their weapons drawn, Blake buried his nose in his jacket. It was cold. A sudden storm had whipped upthe day before, the last vestiges of winter’s cold fingers raking across their faces before she lay dormant. Behind him, Tommy seemed to have lost the fight, and Blake could hear his teeth chattering.
He couldn’t even fool himself into thinking the building would be warmer. All concrete, corrugated steel, and partially set into the side of a small hill, the museum screamed Cold War chic. Hardly comforting. But it would get them out of the wind.
The parking lot was little more than a flattened area with sets of uniform parking blocks indicating parking spaces. At one point, they’d been painted bright yellow, but the paint had begun to chip, exposing the worn-down concrete beneath.
All in, it wasn’t quite the grandiose experience the brochure promised. But—as Irving pointed out—that might be a good thing. Because the museum was privately owned, it wasn’t on the aliens’ radar when they took out military installations. Which meant that almost everything inside should be intact.
Whether they would work or not was a different question.
“Clear,” Gabriel said, his breath fogging up in front of him. “Doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a hot minute.”
“Good.” Victoria joined him. She was wearing a full-face mask and so many layers that the only thing that identified her was her long blonde ponytail trailing down her back. “Means nothing will be tampered with.”
“All the concrete is good, too.” Gabriel jerked his chin at the museum. “Might have blocked some of the EMP.”
When Judd and Phin joined them from their side of the building, they made their way toward the front door. “Most modern military equipment is shielded against EMP bursts, but even with the concrete, I’m not sure it would hold up against whatever the Off Formers hit us with. That’s leagues outside of what humans could prevent against.”
“That’s fine,” Blake assured them, grinning. “We’re not here for anything high tech.”
They passed by a small circular garden with stanchions and chains blocking it off from the walkways. Once, it looked like it had been overflowing with color. Now it was brown and crispy. Something skittered into the growth as they walked by.
The double-wide path led to large glass commercial doors. Predictably, when Gabriel tugged on the handle, the lock caught.
“Are you going to shoot it?” Tommy asked, eyes wide. He looked excited at the prospect. Blake supposed seeing a gun shooting an object could be thrilling when it doesn’t shoot back at you.
“No, the noise might draw too much attention.” Gabriel slung his gun over his shoulder and began looking for something to break the window.
Judd retreated to the garden and found a rock. It was the size of two fists, and it made his arm sag as he carried it. He gestured for everyone to step back and threw it at the left-hand door.
The rock bounced off the glass, landing on the cement with a solidthunk.
“Wow.” Phin toed it with his boot. “I’m embarrassed for you.”
Judd scowled and picked up the rock again, lobbing it with more force. This time, it shattered the glass, tumbling into the dark interior. He cleared the rest of the glass with his gun, mumbling under his breath as he stepped into the museum. Victoria and Phin followed with Gabriel bringing up the rear. Before he stepped in, he turned to the two medics.
“Yeah, yeah.” Blake waved his hand at Gabriel. “We’ll stay here not touching anything while you go do yourpew pewbadass thing.”
