As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Frater, Rhiannon

  Dead Man’s Party

  Jenni changed into a pale green tank top and jeans and ran up the stairs to the roof. To her surprise, there were quite a few people up there enjoying the evening, including her son, who sat in a small circle of preteens and teenagers. There were only five of them, two boys and three girls. For the first time in a long while, Jason was smiling. The ever-faithful Jack was at his side, smiling a doggy grin. The kids were drinking cola and listening to a CD player someone must have snagged on a supply run.

  “Hey, Mom!” Jason scrabbled to his feet to give her a hug. “Is it cool if I camp out with the rest of the kids tonight?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she answered, and eyed the pretty brunette she had saved earlier that day. The girl’s haunted eyes were less swollen and red. Jenni was glad to see she seemed comforted by the companionship of the other teens.

  “We’re trying to cheer up Michelle. Her mom and little sis got killed today,” Jason explained.

  “I totally get it,” Jenni assured him. She was slowly starting to panic. What if Juan arrived while Jason was still standing there, beaming. Her son looked so happy; she didn’t want his smile to disappear. Though Jason had never spoken to her about her being interested in someone new, she had seen the tightness around his lips and the narrowing of his eyes when she had been crushing on Travis. And now, much to her surprise, she was about to try to move on with Juan. She knew Jason would not take it well.

  Abruptly, Jason frowned and Jenni turned around, worriedly wondering how to make Juan recognize the need to be low-key.

  Instead she saw it was Travis and Katie walking onto the roof. They were talking animately and not touching, but somehow looked intertwined. Jenni felt a pang of jealousy and pouted. She didn’t care if Travis was in love with Katie, but Katie had to be close to her, not Travis.

  Katie smiled at Jenni as she walked over to embrace her and kissed her cheek. Jenni clung to her and felt better. The world was so cruel right now; she did not want to lose anyone else dear to her.

  “I heard what happened with those kids. Glad you’re okay,” Katie said, touching Jenni’s damp hair.

  “Juan took care of it. Kicked the shit out of her head.”

  “He’s a good guy. Glad he had your back.” Katie hooked her thumbs into her jeans pockets and let out a long breath. “Glad this day is over.”

  “Tell me about it.” Jenni watched Jason rejoin his group of new friends and tried not to freak herself out. She had already made up her mind that she was going to get laid tonight, and she couldn’t let herself be afraid of what Jason thought.

  Travis set a huge pack of beer down on the roof as Mike and a few other workers emerged from the stairwell. Curtis came up last, holding candles in one arm and some bags of chips in the other.

  “It’s turning into a party.” Jenni tried not to look uneasy. Her time alone with Juan and a bottle of tequila had evolved into something completely different.

  “We need one after this day.” Travis handed a beer to Katie and offered one to Jenni.

  “No, thanks. I’m waiting for tequila.” She tried to look nonchalant as she checked the arriving group of partygoers for Juan.

  There was a flurry of activity as folding chairs and tables were brought up. More people spilled onto the roof, conversing excitedly, shaking off the fear of the earlier attack. In the distance, the moans of the zombies still clawing at the gate could be heard.

  Soon, candles were burning in little jars set up along the edges of the roof, and people were milling around, drinking beer and soda, talking, and relaxing. There was a sense of relief among them. Once more, disaster had been averted.

  Jenni and Katie linked arms as they chatted, while Travis made the social rounds.

  “You look sad,” Jenni said after a few minutes.

  “Overwhelmed, that’s all. Tomorrow we’re going to get ready to go into the hotel.” Katie was very obviously trying not to look at Travis as she sipped her warming beer.

  Jenni watched Travis try to engage Jason and his friends in conversation. Jason watched him with the scrutiny only a teenager could achieve.

  “Uh-huh.” Jenni instinctively knew more was going on. “Is your mood about him?”

  Katie shrugged dismissively. “He’s a friend.”

  “And?”

  “Jenni, you know.” Katie arched an eyebrow, her tone slightly disapproving.

  Jenni rolled her eyes. “Look, I know you’re into chicks, but maybe you could…” Jenni felt the full weight of Katie’s objection to her train of thought bear down on her. “Okay, that was just dumb of me.”

  Katie forced a small smile and shrugged her shoulders slightly. “I just need time. Even if he were the hottest woman in the world, I wouldn’t pursue. I need to deal in my own way. It’s only been a few weeks, and though I was once nefarious in hopping from relationship to relationship, I need time.”

  “You miss her terribly, don’t you?”

  Katie let out a puff of breath as she looked down at her wedding ring. “More than I can bear at times.”

  Over Katie’s shoulder, Jenni witnessed Juan literally trip onto the rooftop. His boot had snagged on one of the electric cords being run up to power the stereo. Confusion in his gaze, he sought out Jenni. After spotting her, he wandered toward her, trying far too hard to look casual. In one hand, he held one of the biggest bottles of tequila Jenni had ever seen. In his other hand were two shot glasses.

  Casting a wary glance at Jason, she saw him speaking to the new girl and not gazing in her direction. Tonight she just wanted to embrace life. She could talk to Jason about her need to move on once she knew for sure what was going on with her and Juan. Looking toward the well-built, fine-looking Mexican-American, she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what might happen.

  Katie studied Jenni’s suddenly flushed face and nervous body language, lifted both eyebrows, and said, “I thought you had a thing for Travis?”

  Jenni flipped her drying hair back from her face and flashed a brilliant smile. “A girl can change her mind.”

  Katie chuckled. “God, I’ve been a fool.”

  “What do you mean?” Jenni looked at Juan coyly over one shoulder, signaling him with one finger to hold on.

  “Nothing. Go have fun.” Katie winked at Juan and playfully poked Jenni. “I won’t wait up for you.”

  Jenni pulled Katie close and kissed her hard on the cheek. Letting free all her feminine wiles, Jenni tucked her hands into her jeans pockets and sauntered toward Juan. Jenni knew she was turning it on sufficiently when several guys turned to watch her strut by. Juan still looked a bit dazed, but he smiled when she drew near.

  There are times in life when pretense is just bullshit and a waste of time. Juan and Jenni spent about ten minutes at the party before disappearing downstairs. Holding Juan’s roughened hand in her own, Jenni dragged him down to the janitor’s room. Grabbing the shower sign-in clipboard, she scribbled, OUT OF ORDER on it.

  “Loca,” Juan chuckled. “What are you up to?”

  “Shut up,” she ordered, shoving him into the room.

  He barely managed to put the still closed bottle of tequila on the sink before Jenni was on him. She had already made up her mind that he was hers, at least for tonight, and she claimed him with burning kisses as she seductively wrapped herself around him.

  “You’re loca, Loca,” he said with a satisfied grin as she pulled his clothes from his muscled body.

  “Yeah, you keep saying that. It’s about time you experienced it,” she countered flirtatiously.

  Fire and water, heat and passion, desperation, and perhaps something more fueled their lovemaking. Jenni felt no fear as only the second man she had ever been with lifted her into his arms, pressed her naked back against the cool shower tiles, and slid himself into her. She tangled her hands in his wet hair and kissed him deeply as the nightmare world they lived in faded to the dim edges of her reality. Only she and Juan existed. It was perfect.

  * *
*

  Nudging Travis in the ribs, Katie watched Juan and Jenni exit the roof. They were sitting side by side at the edge of the roof, their legs dangling. Travis glanced at their departing friends and raised his eyebrows as he turned his attention to Katie.

  “I’ve been really oblivious to some things, evidently,” she confessed.

  “Well, at least now I won’t have to worry about you fixing me up with her.” Taking a long swig of his beer, he smirked at her.

  Katie elbowed him lightly and took another draft of her beer. The mood on the roof was surprisingly relaxed, considering that a small crowd of zombies was gathered outside of the gate. No one really wanted to deal with the undead tonight. People were tired of the zombies and tired of the siege. For a few weeks, they had been able to go out scrounging supplies and rescuing survivors. During that time, they almost recaptured a sense of normality. Now the zombies were back, but the survivors still wanted to forget how trapped they truly were.

  Katie observed Jason talking intently with the other teenagers and a few preteens. They were drinking soda and eating chips, and once in a while, Jason would laugh or smile. It was great to witness. It reassured Katie that he had not seen his stepmother disappear with Juan.

  Travis rubbed the back of her neck with one hand and she looked over at him. He gave her that sad-eyed smile that made her heart ache for him. So she did the only thing she could think of—she crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

  Laughing, he drew his hand away and leaned toward her. “You know, it’s little things like that which make me think there is so much more to you than meets the eye,” Travis asserted.

  “Oh, there is,” she admitted, feeling a pang of guilt at her determination to make him think she was an unattainable lesbian. That she was drawn to him felt like an utter betrayal of Lydia. Trying to keep the mood light, she said, “I have all sorts of deep dark secrets.”

  “Ah, I see,” he said, squinting at her. “You know, I don’t believe you.”

  Katie giggled. “Seriously. I have secrets that would scandalize you. But that’s okay. My life as a super-spy should be kept secret. I made James Bond look like a wuss.”

  “Well, then, I won’t tell you that I’m a space alien,” Travis said somberly, but with his eyes twinkling.

  Katie smirked and clicked her bottle of beer against his. “You got a deal.”

  Curtis wandered over and looked at them uncomfortably. “Did you get an update on our newest addition?”

  “Yeah, Bill said you had him locked up,” Travis answered.

  “Look, I know I’m not one to say what does or does not happen, but I think we should just put him out of his misery and dump him over the wall. Seriously, he’s nothing but a piece of white trash.” Curtis looked more upset than Katie had ever seen him.

  Travis stood, took Curtis’s arm, leaned toward him, and said, “Curtis, this is something that we’ll all have to discuss together. Seriously, in this world, I feel everyone has a chance, even the local crack dealer.”

  “Meth dealer,” Curtis corrected.

  Katie stood up as well. “But, Travis, at the same time, we need to make sure our safety isn’t compromised by people who have no idea of how to work within a community.”

  Travis looked startled. “Talking like a prosecutor there, Katie?”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “A human being is a human being, Katie.”

  “Yes, but at the same time, what will this human being add to our community? If he sacrificed his friends to save his own life, then how do we know he won’t do the same to us?” Katie lifted her eyebrows.

  “That’s bullshit, Katie. I’m sorry. They were all strung out and not in their right minds. Now he has a chance to do better. To be better.” Travis put his hands on his hips and returned her gaze.

  Curtis threw up his hands in disbelief. “Look, Travis, I have some serious concerns and I’m sure others do as well.”

  “Then we handle it as a group,” Travis retorted immediately.

  “Don’t get defensive if we don’t agree with your opinion, Travis.” Katie set her hands on her hips and glowered at him.

  “I just don’t understand how you cannot see that everyone has a right to life,” Travis protested.

  Katie looked away from him, annoyed with his argument. Her gaze settled on the new lock area. There were at least four men up on the wall. From their gestures, they seemed to be shouting at the zombies. Katie noticed that one was even peeing on them.

  “Travis, I think we may have other troubles,” she said, and pointed.

  “Ah, shit.”

  Katie watched as another man flung a beer bottle at the zombies. Maybe it was because she was now aware of the situation, but she could swear the zombies were getting louder.

  “I’ll get Bill. We’ll take care of them,” Curtis said gruffly, walking off.

  Travis said, “I’m going to go get them down before one of them takes a header into the crowd.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Katie said, setting down her half-empty beer.

  Travis headed for the stairs with Katie in his wake, her hands in her jacket pockets. As they passed the closed door to the tiny room she shared with Jenni and Jason, she smiled, realizing she and the boy were probably going to have to find somewhere else to sleep.

  Out in the courtyard, there was more commotion. Ed was talking loudly to Mike, demanding that he shut up the men on the wall.

  “They’re going to bring the zombies down on us,” Ed complained. “We won’t even be able to get out of the gate once it’s fixed if there’s a whole lotta them out there!”

  “We’ll take care of it,” Mike assured him. “We’ll take care of it right now.”

  “Never ends, huh, Mike?” Travis said as Mike fell into step beside him.

  “Nope. Never does. The older folks were already complaining about the party when those morons got up there and started whooping it up.” Mike was obviously exasperated. “Damn fools.”

  A few more men, drunk and rowdy, had climbed onto the wall next to the gate, jostling each other, trying to get into position to either throw things down at the zombies or urinate on them.

  “Let’s get them,” Travis said to Mike.

  Curtis and Bill emerged from city hall and hurried toward the commotion.

  “You guys need to get down.” Travis was standing at the bottom of the platform that served as the entrance to the lock area.

  Shane, the redneck who had punched Katie, turned and laughed. “Ah, c’mon, they just stand there with their mouths open.”

  “You need to get down now, Shane,” Mike said forcibly as he stood behind Travis, looking up at the rabble-rousers .

  “Haven’t you caused enough trouble?” Travis added.

  “Look, Travis, I promised to behave if you let me out, and I ain’t doing nothing wrong,” Shane responded belligerently.

  Next to him was his best buddy, Phil. “Yeah, Travis, they’re just a bunch of dead dumb fucks.”

  The pounding on the wall was frantic.

  “You’re stirring them up. Come on down,” Travis repeated.

  Several of the obviously very drunk men laughed. Shane said, “C’mon, Travis. Stop being pussy-whipped by your lesbo girlfriend. Lighten up.” He whipped out his cock and waggled it at Katie before turning, drinking a slug of beer, and urinating onto the zombies.

  Katie turned away in disgust.

  “Enough of that,” Mike barked. “Do not make me go out there and get you!”

  “C’mon, boys. Bring it back in,” Bill said in a firm, authoritative voice. He was walking up with Curtis in tow.

  “You ain’t a cop no more. Back off,” Phil snarled.

  “Acutally, I am. Sworn in and everything.” Showing his badge, Bill gestured for Mike to move aside and took a step onto the stairs.

  Shane sneered at the badge. “Looks like a toy.”

  “This is going to turn dirty,” Katie whispered to Travis.

  “S
hut up, lesbo bitch! Who asked you to fucking open your mouth?” Phil’s voice was full of hate, and his gaze was hostile.

  “Nah, Phil. Let her open her mouth. I got something right here for it,” Shane stated, thrusting his cock at her.

  “God.” Katie averted her gaze, revolted.

  Bill patted her shoulder. “We’ll take care of this, Katie. Curtis and I are the law now. You go back to the party.”

  With a slight nod, Katie started walking slowly toward city hall. Hoping no one would notice, after a few steps she stopped and turned back to watch the confrontation unfold.

  Curtis stepped around Travis and gestured, indicating he should step back. “Now, Shane and Philip, you need to stop being assholes and start obeying the laws of the fort. Shane, you agreed to abide by the rules when we let you out.”

  “I ain’t done nothing but show that woman what’s she’s missing out on,” Shane slurred.

  “Get down right now. This has gone far enough,” Bill said in a calm, deadly tone.

  “She just needs to be shown a good time with a good man,” Philip chortled.

  Travis angrily took a step forward, but Bill caught his arm. “We got this, Travis. You go on back to the party.”

  Recognizing he needed to support the police officers’ authority, Travis headed after Katie.

  “She ain’t gonna give you any, Travis. She’s a waste of ass,” Shane said mockingly.

  “Fuck off, Shane,” Travis snapped over his shoulder. He saw Katie in the shadows and shifted direction to join her. Unfortunately, that drew the attention of the men on the wall.

  Shane continued to dance around, exposing himself. “She don’t know what she’s missin’!”

  Travis swiveled on his heel, looking ready to go out onto the wall and punch Shane’s lights out.

  Katie grabbed his arm. “Let it go.”

  “Yeah, Travis, let it go. She don’t want you. Maybe we should just bend her over and turn her back to the man side of the force,” Phil said nastily. He began fumbling drunkenly with his zipper. He wobbled and went tumbling forward. He hit the top of the wall sideways and started to roll off. Shane grabbed him.

  “Oh, God,” Katie murmured as Bill and Curtis rushed onto the narrow top of the wall to rescue Phil.