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

by Frater, Rhiannon

  “What?” Juan leaned out next to him. “Oh, man.”

  “Juan,” Travis said again, very softly, “what did you do?”

  “Nothing! I swear. When I got here, he was not at his post!”

  Travis rubbed his brow.

  “I did not throw him out the goddamn window, Travis!”

  “Then who did?” Travis asked. “Who did?”

  3.

  Judgment Is Drawn

  They gathered in the hotel manager’s office. Travis stood in one corner with his arms folded across his chest. His face was solemn and his gaze intense. The mayor was using the manager’s desk. Peggy, Curtis, and Juan took the chairs and Jenni and Katie stood near the door, both of them looking very pensive. No one said a word until Nerit strode in, her rifle over one shoulder, looked at Travis, and said, “It’s taken care of.”

  Bill followed her in, holding a notepad. “Okay, we hooked the body after Nerit put him down and dragged it up to a balcony. I examined it and even though there was extreme damage to the corpse, I was able to conclude that there was no trauma other than some abrasions on his knees and hands. I think he was pushed out the window fully conscious. There was no sign of head injury, though his eyes and parts of his face were missing.”

  Manny fidgeted, then said, “Could he have fallen?”

  “I might have considered that a possibility if not for the fact that we’ve already had one murder,” Bill answered, referring to the drug dealer who had been tossed out of the fort a few weeks back.

  “I didn’t do it,” Juan said gruffly.

  “I hate to say it, but you are the most likely suspect, Juan. Both Ritchie and Jimmy were people you had a beef with,” Bill said.

  “We all had issues with Ritchie, and Jimmy did piss off a lot of people yesterday,” Travis pointed out.

  “True. We could have two different murderers on our hands, but the fact remains that two people were forced into the hands of the zombies,” Bill said in a very serious tone.

  “I can deal with this if you want, Manny,” Curtis said to the mayor.

  “No offense, Curtis, but I think Bill should deal with this. He has a lot more experience than you and he’s an outsider, so he isn’t biased,” Manny replied.

  “No one is an outsider anymore,” Katie spoke up. “We’re all intertwined in each other’s lives. We can’t just go after the first convenient suspect. For all we know, lots of people had reasons to want Ritchie or Jimmy out of the way. You need a solid case before any action is taken; we can’t just go on a witch hunt.”

  “Spoken like a true prosecutor,” Bill said with amusement.

  “I don’t want this getting out,” the mayor said. “A party is planned for tonight and we need it for morale.”

  “People are already talking about Jimmy,” Nerit cut in. “It is hard to keep things like that quiet in such a small community.”

  “She’s got a legitimate point. Besides, hiding something this important from the general population will only end up blowing up in our faces,” Katie remarked.

  “I’ll handle the investigation and keep it on the low down or as low as I can,” Bill said. “And I’ll start by questioning Juan.”

  Juan let out an explosive sigh and threw up his hands. “Fine. It’s not like I have anything to do to keep us all safe.”

  Jenni sat down next to him and took his hand. “I’m staying with him.” She looked pointedly at Bill. “I’m as strong a suspect as Juan is, after all. I’m the one Jimmy nearly got killed.”

  Bill nodded. “That’s fine, but the rest of you should go.”

  Manny said, “Okay, but let me know what you find out.” As he and the others filed out, the mayor drew Curtis aside, whispering, “We need damage control, Curtis. We can’t let this get out.”

  Travis sighed and walked on, hands in his pockets. Some things never changed, he supposed; once a politician, always a politician. He caught up to Katie in the hall. The fact she was now with him still made him grin and feel a little overwhelmed. He laid his hand on her cheek and gave her a kiss. Her lips were soft and sweet against his. She slid her arms around his waist and rested against him and they kissed quietly for a moment. Then, “I need to get to work,” Travis said, reluctantly.

  “So do I. I have lunch duty,” Katie murmured against his chest. “I’ll see you tonight at the party.”

  “Are we going?”

  Katie pressed against him and gave him a look he found hard to resist. “I figured we could make an appearance, then sneak away.”

  “How about just sneaking away?” Travis asked with a grin.

  “Par-tee,” Katie said firmly, but with a wicked gleam in her eye.

  “Okay, okay,” Travis conceded. “Anything you want.”

  “Good,” she answered, and pressed her lips against his.

  Travis slid regretfully out of her grasp and headed for the construction site. With the “civilians” now tucked into the hotel, the construction site was being reorganized. They would set up a third “lock” in the new vehicle entry to add more protection against the undead, then clean and repair the upper floors of the newspaper building and begin to use it for projects.

  Jason was hanging out near Travis’s office in the trailer, Jack at his heels and a big backpack at his feet. The teenager looked nervous and unsure, his bangs hanging heavily in his face.

  “Hey, Jason, what’s up?”

  “I was wondering if I could talk to you about some ideas,” Jason answered.

  “What kind of ideas?”

  Travis opened the door to his office, relieved that no one was living in the trailer anymore. The former residents had cleared out their personal effects the day before. He was glad to have his office back. Jason and the dog followed him in.

  “Ways to kill zombies other than with guns or bows and arrows. No one is really good at archery anyway,” Jason answered, “except for Lenore.”

  Travis raised an eyebrow. “True. What do you have for me?”

  Jason heaved his backpack onto a chair and unloaded it onto a cleared desk. He looked nervous and hesitated a few times before laying down what looked like carefully organized notes. The piles seemed to consist of pages torn out of books, computer printouts, and crayon drawings, all topped with sheets of yellow notepad paper and fastened with paper clips.

  Travis sat down and picked up the first stack.

  “That’s for a concussion grenade. It would rip off the zombies’ legs, maybe their arms. If we get lucky, their heads. No fire, since fire would maybe end up burning us down,” Jason said in a rush. “I have the main ingredients written out, but I’d need help finding the stuff to put them together.”

  Travis reviewed the list and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think these are doable. We may not have everything on-site, but maybe we can figure it out.”

  Jason pointed to another stack. “This is for a catapult that would toss really heavy shit. I got that from The Lord of the Rings. We could flatten them. We’d have to make sure it was long range so they couldn’t crawl up on the stuff we throw and try to get over the wall.”

  Again, Travis had to admit that was a decent idea, though he wasn’t sure what they’d use for ammunition.

  Soon Jason was talking in a torrent of words, pointing things out to Travis, getting more and more articulate as he went on. Travis found himself smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm and impressed with his ideas. In many ways, the adults had been obsessed with survival and basic needs. But this kid obviously had killing on his mind.

  “Jason, I think I’m going to hook you up with Roger. He used to teach science in junior high before the zombies took over.”

  “Okay, cool. Some of the other kids have ideas, too. They could definitely help out.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Travis gave the boy an approving nod.

  “Cool!” Jason gathered up his material and started stuffing it back into the backpack. He hesitated, then looked at Travis. “Katie’s not gay. She’s bi. You should g
o for it.”

  Travis was surprised and a little taken aback. “What?”

  “She told me not to tell anyone. I think ’cause she thought you’d hook up with my mom. But Mom’s with Juan and life is short and stuff, so you should go for it.”

  Travis rubbed his brow, bemused. “Okay. I will.”

  Jason heaved his backpack over his shoulder and headed out the door. “So you’ll let Roger know?”

  “Definitely. And once we clean out the rest of the newspaper building, I’ll let you kids have some space for your projects, as long as Roger is with you whenever you are working with chemicals or anything dangerous.”

  “Cool. We can deal.” Jason opened the door and stepped out, with Jack beside him.

  Travis leaned forward, resting his hands on his head. Why had he been foolish enough to think that once they were in the hotel, everything would be fine?

  4.

  Enter the Empress

  Katie added more boiling water to the instant mashed potatoes she was making and stirred as vigorously as she could. The kitchen was a bustle of activity with the lunch crew working diligently to make a decent meal from their supplies of boxed and canned food.

  After a rigorous run on the treadmill in the very modern hotel gym on the second floor, Katie had enjoyed a long shower before reporting to the kitchen. Rosie, Juan’s mother, ran the kitchen with the efficiency of a woman who had supervised the high school cafeteria staff for the last few years. Today’s lunch menu was chipped beef with mashed potatoes and green beans. Since Katie could barely make a sandwich without a recipe, she had been handed the box of potato flakes and put to work.

  Rosie’s great joy had been the discovery that the grocery store’s cold storage had remained at freezing temperatures and that some of the frozen meat could be salvaged. The delicious smell of beef cooking in rich gravy blended with the scent of the big, flaky buttermilk biscuits that were being drawn out of the ovens to cool on the counters.

  Gretchen, the librarian, had volunteered to make dessert. Big pans of peach cobbler were making Katie’s stomach growl. Frowning into her bowl, Katie felt pretty sure the potatoes weren’t supposed to look so stiff and hard. She added more hot water and really put her muscles into stirring.

  “Well, Jimmy was a klutz, but I just can’t see him falling out of the window,” Gretchen said to Stacey.

  “But why would anyone push him?” Rosie asked as she slid the hot biscuits into a large basket that would be set on the buffet in the dining room. “I can understand that puto Ritchie being killed after what he did to all those kids, but Jimmy? He was just a little grumpy man.”

  Roger carefully poured a large pan of green beans into one of the buffet tins. “He fucked up yesterday. He almost got Jenni killed.”

  Katie flinched. She had been really hoping that he would keep his mouth shut.

  “Really?” Rosie’s eyes grew stormy. “My Juan’s Jenni?”

  “Yeah. He freaked and left her in a hotel room with three zombies. That’s why she’s all banged up today. I heard she had to jump from one balcony to another to escape,” Roger said with all the fervor of a well-practiced gossip.

  Rosie’s explosion of Spanish cuss words impressed Katie even though she understood only about one word in four. Juan’s mother slammed a skillet lid down and waved her gravy-covered spoon about like a sword. “Then he deserved to fall out the window!”

  “Maybe Juan pushed him,” Stacey said softly.

  “Oh, he wouldn’t do that, would he?” Gretchen looked up from where she was spooning cobbler into little bowls. Gretchen loved to gossip and was obviously baiting Rosie.

  “He might punch his lights out, but I’d be the one to throw him out the damned window.” Rosie’s expression was so intense that Katie felt certain that the older woman would indeed have shoved Jimmy out the window if she had known that his cowardice had almost killed Jenni.

  Then the prosecutor side of her whispered, Well, how do you know she didn’t know? This could be an act.

  “Well, maybe someone took care of Jimmy,” Gretchen said in a soft, conspiratorial voice, “like Ritchie was.”

  “A vigilante,” Roger said.

  “Yeah. A vigilante.” Gretchen shook her head. “I don’t think I like that.”

  Stacey leaned across the counter, snagged a biscuit, and pulled it apart. Rich, fragrant steam rose up from its center, making Katie even hungrier. “So we have to find the vigilante now and do what?”

  “Thank him,” Rosie said irritably, “or her.”

  “Or … um … put them on trial?” Gretchen asked.

  Roger looked at Katie. “What do you think?”

  “I think we need to finish lunch and not worry about all of this. Bill’s going to find out what happened, and then we’ll go from there,” Katie answered as neutrally as possible.

  “But aren’t you worried?” Gretchen asked. “What if whoever took out Ritchie and Jimmy goes after Jenni next, or after you?”

  Katie lifted the spoon and let a huge dollop of mashed potato fall back into the bowl. “Yes. But speculation isn’t going to help Bill solve this any faster.”

  “My son didn’t do it,” Rosie said firmly. “He may look guilty, but he’s just a very fiery Latino who loves his woman.”

  “Oh, aren’t they cute? Juan and Jenni,” Gretchen gushed. “They’re so cute together.”

  Stacey continued to eat the biscuit, listening intently.

  Roger dumped more green beans into another pan. “Well, Juan has the biggest reason to do something about Jimmy being a dumb-ass.”

  “I’m her best friend. Maybe I did it,” Katie said pointedly.

  “Crazed lesbian kills ex-girlfriend’s almost killer,” a man’s voice said very sarcastically from behind her. “Oh, yeah. I see that.”

  Katie turned to glare at Shane, who had come in through the side door, carrying a box. He was part of crew sent to bring in more supplies from the grocery store freezer since the hotel’s freezer was now cold.

  Rosie waved her hands at him. “Don’t go near the food. You’re all sweaty and gross.”

  Shane just grinned at her. “Yeah, and we smell real funky. Had to kill more of those deadfucks.” Shane turned his gaze back to Katie, cold, furious hatred in his eyes. “What’s up, lesbo?”

  “Nothing, dickwad.” She moved to dump the potatoes into a serving bin.

  “Fuckin’ lesbo bitch,” Shane hissed, stepping closer.

  “Out! Don’t mess up my kitchen,” Rosie ordered, waving a towel at him.

  Happy to get away from Shane, Katie busied herself carrying the big metal bins out to the buffet setup. Already the water that would keep the food warm was bubbling deep inside the buffet table, steam rising up to greet her.

  It was five till noon and the old folks, as usual, were already lining up. Two walked with canes, one with a walker. Old Man Watson saw Katie, smiled, and waved. She smiled and waved back.

  Stacey brought out the big basket of biscuits, which brought a lot of ooohhs and aaaaaahs from the line. Roger arriving with the big bin of chipped beef made them even more excited. Katie’s somewhat pathetic mashed potatoes and the green beans had them positively beaming.

  “They’re gonna flip over the cobbler,” Stacey whispered to Katie with a grin.

  Katie laughed. When the cobbler was rolled out, it sent little waves of excitement through the growing line.

  It was very rewarding to watch people happily digging into the food they had prepared. The construction workers came in to eat and Stacey was dispatched with lunch boxes for the guards. Mealtime was not the sheer chaos it once was, now that they had a decent facility. There was plenty of room to spread out and really enjoy the meal.

  Katie was kept busy going back and forth from the kitchen. She kept the food bins full and made sure there were enough clean plates and utensils. Jenni and Juan came in, hand in hand. They both looked solemn as they sat in a corner, eating alone at a small table. On her way to clear a bi
n of dirty dishes, cups, and silverware, Katie stopped to check in on her friends.

  “How did it go with Bill?” she asked.

  “I’m his prime suspect,” Juan responded grimly. “But he’s got no proof.”

  “I could have killed Jimmy. Easily,” Jenni said with a frown.

  “By the way, the food is great.”

  “Thanks. I did the potatoes,” Katie answered, then said, “Juan, I’m sure Bill realizes that it wasn’t you.”

  Juan shrugged. “Yeah, but who else would do it? Loca? Travis? You?”

  Katie sighed and heaved the heavy tub up onto her hip. “I’m sure other people had motives.”

  Juan shook his head. “It doesn’t fucking matter, Katie.”

  Rosie came up to the table and Katie hurried off under her stern eye. She glanced back to see Rosie hugging her son tightly and talking to him in a low voice. Katie hated to admit it, but Juan was the most likely suspect. It killed her to think of him doing anything like that. But then again, she had been furious when she heard about Jenni being left in that room. If she had been there when it happened, who knew what she would have done to Jimmy.

  Back in the kitchen, she helped rinse off plates and load them into the industrial dishwasher. Between loads, she managed to eat lunch. She was famished and loved every bite. Finally, the crowd thinned out and they were able to finish clearing the tables and wash the rest of the dishes.

  “Did anyone see Travis?” Katie asked as she began storing the leftovers in Tupperware containers.

  “No, can’t say I did,” Rosie answered.

  Stacey glopped some mashed potatoes into a plastic container and shook her head. “Eric said Travis was working on something and said he’d eat later.”

  “Well, since we’re pretty much done here, I’m going to take some food out to him,” Katie said.

  With a nod, Rosie handed her a clean plate. “Go take care of that boy. If it wasn’t for him, none of us would be here right now.”

  Smiling slightly, Katie quickly assembled what she hoped was a man-sized meal for Travis.

  Stacey, who was eating cobbler, asked, “What do you mean, Rosie?”