Chapter 451: Tommy reviewing the plan to escape Brigantine

Brigantine

Mei woke up the same way she had every morning since being brought to Brigantine.

Not because she had accepted this place.

Not because she had become comfortable here.

But because there was little else she could do.

The room was still dim when she opened her eyes. Pale morning light slipped through the cracks around the boarded window, cutting narrow lines across the floor. The walls were old, stained in places, and the air carried the familiar smell of dust, salt, damp wood, and too many people trapped too close together.

A set of clothes had already been left on the small chair near her bed.

A blouse.

A skirt.

Clean enough, at least.

The people controlling Brigantine had started giving her more choices than before. She was allowed to change clothes whenever supplies were available. There was a closed-off section of the beach reserved for women to wash themselves if they wanted. Guards remained nearby, of course, and nobody was ever truly alone, but it was still better than the first days after she had been taken.

Mei could have gone down to the beach.

She did not feel like it.

Instead, she got dressed quietly, buttoning the blouse and smoothing down the skirt before checking the door.

A guard stood outside.

He did not speak when she stepped out, only glanced in her direction and then looked away again. He was not openly hostile. None of the guards assigned to her acted like Williams had.

Not anymore.

The thought made Mei’s jaw tighten.

Williams was shackled.

Callighan had put him in a cell after what he had tried to do to her. Mei did not know whether Callighan had done it because he genuinely cared about what Williams had done, or because Williams had embarrassed him and broken his rules.

She did not care much about the reason.

Williams was gone.

That was enough.

It did not make Brigantine safe. It did not make the people around her trustworthy. It did not erase the fear that still rose in her chest whenever a stranger looked at her for too long.

But it made things less unbearable.

Mei started down the street, walking beneath the watchful eyes of guards positioned near the corners.

She hated Brigantine.

She hated the buildings, the barricades, the armed men who acted as though the city belonged to them, and the way everyone had to constantly watch what they said around the wrong person.

Still, lately, she had felt a little lighter.

Not because anything here had changed for the better.

Because the escape plan was nearly ready.

Tommy had told them they would be gone this week.

This week.

The thought had been enough to lift both Mei’s and Keith’s moods. They tried not to show it too openly. Getting excited in a place like Brigantine could make people careless, and careless people were noticed.

But Mei could not stop herself from counting the days.

Just a little longer.

As she walked toward breakfast, Keith caught up with her.

He looked more awake than usual, though his hair was messy and there were still dark circles beneath his eyes. He walked beside her with his hands shoved into his pockets, keeping his voice low.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Very well," Mei replied.

Keith gave a small grin.

"Right? Just a little more time and we’re out of here."

His eyes moved across the street, toward the distant barricades enclosing their section of Brigantine.

"Can’t wait."

"You want to see your sister that much?" Mei asked.

"Yeah," Keith said. "Of course I do."

Then his expression became more serious.

"But I also want to get out of here before something goes wrong. I don’t think I’m the only one noticing that things are getting tense around this place."

Mei followed his brief glance around the street.

She nodded.

The tension was real.

It mostly came from the former prisoners, the people Callighan had taken in and armed after he escaped prison in Philadelphia. Some of them were already growing frustrated with his rules. They had expected freedom after the world ended, or at least the freedom to do whatever they wanted without anyone stopping them.

Instead, Callighan controlled everything.

Supplies.

Weapons.

Who could leave.

Who could speak.

Who could touch whom.

The situation had worsened after Callighan beat Williams and had him locked away. Williams had friends among the former prisoners, and many of them did not like seeing one of their own punished by a man they already saw as an outsider.

Callighan had been a prisoner once too.

But he had also been a Marine.

That alone made some of them resent him.

Maybe Mei was reading too much into it.

Maybe she was simply desperate to get out and seeing danger everywhere.

But it felt like the whole place could explode at any moment.

Keith clearly felt the same way.

He wanted to be gone before it happened.

"Is Romero still beating you up?" Mei asked instead.

Keith groaned.

"He seems even more pissed off since he came back from wherever the hell Callighan sent him."

He gave a faint grin despite himself.

"You saw his ear, right? Someone got him pretty good."

Mei remembered it. ℴ

Romero had returned with a rough wound across the side of his ear. It had been partially bandaged, but the injury was obvious. Ever since then, his mood had been worse than usual. He had become more aggressive around the prisoners, especially Keith.

"It was Ryan," Mei said.

Keith looked at her.

"Ryan?"

"The Theater," Mei replied. "Tommy told me what happened. Ryan fought them there."

Keith’s eyebrows rose.

"You mean the guy who is supposed to help us get out of Brigantine? The one who keeps pissing off Callighan and Gaspar?"

Mei nodded.

"He did that to Romero."

Keith let out a quiet breath.

"Well, he did a good job. Shame he didn’t kill him."

Mei did not answer.

Keith’s expression changed slightly.

"But can he really be trusted?"

Mei turned toward him.

"What?"

"I mean, I’m not trying to start something." Keith raised both hands a little. "But isn’t he one of the people who left you here? He hasn’t come to get you himself. And now we’re trusting him to get us out through someone we barely know?"

The irritation rose in Mei immediately.

She was tired of hearing it.

Tired of people saying that Ryan had abandoned her.

Tired of hearing it repeated in different ways, as if she had not spent nearly every day in Brigantine asking herself the same questions.

Why had he not come?

Was he coming?

Had something happened?

Did he still care?

The doubt was already painful enough when it came from inside her own head.

She did not need Keith adding to it.

"He will come," Mei said.

Keith looked at her.

"At least for Emily."

"Emily?" Keith asked. "You mean Tommy’s unhinged girlfriend? What does she have to do with Ryan?"

"You ask too many questions."

Mei did not wait for him to respond.

They had reached the house where breakfast was being handed out. Several prisoners already stood in a line in the backyard, holding bowls while guards watched from the edges of the property.

Mei stepped into line.

Keith followed behind her, still looking confused.

When their turn came, they each received a bowl of watery food that was barely warm. Mei did not complain. Food was food. She took hers, then walked away from the line and sat on one of the benches near the wall.

Keith sat beside Mei on the bench.

For a while, neither of them spoke.

They began eating in silence, using the dull metal spoons they had been given. The food barely had any taste, but Mei forced herself to swallow it anyway. She needed her strength. If Tommy’s plan really worked, if they were leaving this week, then she could not afford to get weak now.

The backyard remained quiet around them.

A few prisoners sat farther away, eating their own breakfasts beneath the watch of armed guards. The ocean wind moved through the narrow gap between the houses, carrying salt and cold air with it. Beyond the wooden fence, Brigantine was waking up, boots on pavement, doors opening, people shouting to one another in the distance.

Then someone stopped behind them.

Mei noticed the shadow first.

Keith noticed it a second later.

Neither of them looked up.

Tommy stood a few steps behind the bench, dressed like one of the guards. His weapons were visible at his side, and his posture made him look like he was simply watching the prisoners while they ate.

But he had positioned himself carefully.

The nearest guards were far enough away that they would not hear them if Tommy kept his voice low.

"There’s an issue," Tommy said.

Mei’s hand stopped around her spoon.

"We need a new boat."

Keith’s expression tightened.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked quietly.

"No," Tommy replied. "I’m not."

Mei kept looking down at her bowl, pretending to eat while she listened.

"The boats are stacked near the waterfront," Tommy continued. "I need to get there and take one, but Audrey is always around whenever I go near that place."

He looked briefly toward the street entrance before continuing.

"She already thinks I’ve been acting suspiciously. If I keep wandering around those boats, she’s going to start watching me even closer."

"You can’t just take one during the day?" Mei asked.

"I could," Tommy said. "If I wanted every guard in Brigantine to see me dragging a boat away."

His voice stayed low, but irritation slipped through.

"Daytime is the worst possible time. There are people everywhere. I need darkness. I need quiet. And I need Audrey away from that area long enough for me to get the boat behind the house where you two are being kept."

Keith frowned.

"Isn’t nighttime when Audrey is always there?"

"Yeah," Tommy said. "That’s the problem."

He glanced toward the beach side of Brigantine.

"I need some kind of diversion. Something that gets her away for a few minutes. Long enough for me to get the boat loose without her seeing."

"Do you have an idea?" Keith asked.

"I’m looking for one."

Keith gave a quiet, annoyed laugh.

"Aren’t we supposed to get out of here this week? What kind of mess is this now?"

Tommy’s eyes hardened.

"I’m alone, and I’m doing what I can. You two are sitting here waiting while I handle every part of this plan."

Keith clenched his jaw.

"Then what can we do?"

Mei looked up slightly.

Tommy met her eyes.

"I don’t know yet," he said. "But if either of you can think of a way to get Audrey away from the waterfront for one night, I can get us a boat safely."

Keith glanced toward Tommy.

"What about asking Ryan to bring a boat here? Then we just take it and leave."

"I already told you why that won’t work," Tommy replied.

His voice became more serious.

"If we take a boat, it needs to be a motorboat. Fast enough to get away if bullets start flying. Ryan can come for us, but I told him to approach quietly. A smaller boat. Paddles. No engine noise drawing attention before we’re ready."

Tommy’s eyes moved across the yard.

"And this place has a monster with heightened senses walking around. If Gaspar notices us, it’s over."

His expression darkened.

"He’ll kill us. Starting with you."

Keith’s hands tightened into fists.

Mei understood why.

Gaspar was the real danger in Brigantine.

Guards could be avoided. Walls could be climbed. Locks could be opened. Boats could be stolen.

But Gaspar was something else.

If he noticed them, if he sensed Ryan’s presence or realized someone was trying to move prisoners out of Brigantine, there would be no easy escape.

They could only hope he was busy.

Or far away.

Or careless enough to miss them.

"I think I have a way to get Audrey away," Mei said suddenly.

Tommy looked down at her.

"Really?"

Keith turned toward her too, clearly surprised.

Mei kept her voice calm.

"Audrey likes women, right?"

Tommy hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah."

Keith stared at Mei.

"Don’t tell me you’re going to use yourself as bait."

Mei shot him a sharp glare.

"No."

The answer came fast enough that he stopped talking.

"I’ll ask someone else to keep Audrey occupied for a while," Mei said. "Just long enough for Tommy to get the boat."

"Who?" Keith asked.

"Caroline."

Tommy’s expression changed slightly as he considered it.

Caroline was one of the only girls Mei had managed to become close to in Brigantine. They often spoke during the women’s washing sessions near the sea, when the guards gave them a small amount of privacy and the others were less likely to pay attention.

Caroline was kind.

Or at least as kind as someone could be while living in a place like this.

Mei believed that if she asked for help, Caroline would listen.

"You’re just using someone else, then," Keith said.

"No," Mei replied coldly. "It would only be a few minutes. She wouldn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do."

Tommy stayed quiet for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"If you can make it happen, tell me when. I’ll be ready."

Keith still looked uneasy, but he did not argue further.

Instead, another thought seemed to come to him.

"What about the keys to our rooms?"

Tommy’s face tightened.

"Getting a boat is good, but we’re still locked inside at night. How are we even getting out?"

"Liam has the keys," Tommy replied. "I’ll find a way to get them."

"And Emily?" Keith asked. "She’s locked in that basement, isn’t she? How are you getting her out without everyone noticing?"

Tommy’s jaw tightened immediately.

"I’ll find a way."

Keith looked toward him.

"At worst, you might have to leave her—"

"I am not fucking leaving her with Gaspar."

Tommy’s voice stayed low, but the anger in it made both Mei and Keith go still.

Tommy glared at Keith.

"If you want to be useful, then be useful. Mei is already thinking of ways to help."

Keith looked away.

"Try getting the keys to your room and Mei’s room from Liam," Tommy continued. "Find out where he keeps them. Watch who he gives them to. Do something besides complain."

Then Tommy turned away.

He walked back toward the edge of the backyard, returning to his guard position as though nothing had happened.

Mei looked down at her half-finished breakfast.

The plan had become more complicated.

More dangerous.

But it was still moving.

That was what mattered.

They only needed one opening.

One night.

And then they would be out of Brigantine.