“Ed, call it in,” Bill ordered. “Nerit was right. It’s going down today.”
They had deliberately used back roads that morning. In all likelihood, they had just missed the bandits on the main roads.
“How long ago did they leave?” Bill asked.
“Thirty minutes, maybe.” Daniel was shaking violently from nerves.
“Let them know, Ed,” Bill said.
“Taking care of it.” Ed turned the bus around and headed back down the road.
Jenni held tight to the pole near the front door.
It was time.
2.
Four, Three
In the communication center, Nerit’s eyes narrowed when the first report came in from Ken at her old hunting store. The sound of his voice made her go cold inside. She tucked away her emotions as Katarina let out a swear word.
Peggy, who was manning the center, looked up at Nerit worriedly.
“Everything going as planned here. But, you know, you can’t help but feel the ghosts,” Ken’s voice said.
Katarina lifted an eyebrow.
“You know what to do, Katarina” Nerit said.
“On my way.” Katarina strode out of the communication hub.
Peggy chewed on her bottom lip, her hands trembling.
“What is the status on the Sadler farm?” Nerit asked.
“Curtis’s team has them and they are almost back. That one was easy. There were no zombies around when they arrived,” Peggy answered. “I wonder if they just ran out of food and lied about the zombies.”
Nerit slightly shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. A successful rescue is good enough for me. Now for everything else to go just as well.”
Thirty minutes later …
“We’ve reached our target and all is quiet except for the undead. We have two missing, maybe carried off by the baddies. We saw three zombies running on down the road. I swear one of them had a shopping bag,” Ed’s voice said over the radio.
Curtis looked up from his seat in the corner. He had joined them once his team was safely back from their mission. “Nerit?”
“The bandits got two of the people we were rescuing, but we saved two others. Three of the bandits’ vehicles are heading toward Katie and Travis,” Nerit translated.
“Are you sure we can do this?”
“Of course,” Nerit answered.
There was a coldness in her voice that terrified Curtis. She could see it in his eyes. Sometimes she wondered if he understood what it meant to protect the fort. Certain things had to be done that not everyone might agree with, but opinions did not matter. Safety did—the protection of the all. The individual be damned.
“Peggy, make sure everyone is in position,” Nerit said firmly.
Peggy turned her attention to the communication center, her brow furrowed as she listened to the incoming responses. “Nerit? Old Man Watson wants a gun. He says, and I quote, that he fought in WW Two and that if he took out the Japs, he can take out some punks.” She sounded annoyed and amused at the same time.
“Give him one. Put him on the third floor,” Nerit answered.
“Nerit, he’s an old guy,” Curtis said in protest. “You can’t expect him—”
“Why not?” Nerit regarded him coolly. “I’m no spring chicken.”
Curtis gave a weary laugh. “Yeah, true, but—”
“Give him a gun and plenty of ammunition, Curtis. Make sure he understands he has to stay behind the curtains.” Nerit gave him a look that silenced his protests and only reinforced his fear of her.
Good.
He needed to be afraid.
She walked briskly out of the room, ignoring the dull ache in her hip. It was bothersome, but she wouldn’t let it slow her down. She could be extraordinarily strong when she had to be. It wasn’t uncommon for her to ignore discomfort and push her body to get things done. Later she would allow herself to feel pain, once they had won and she was behind closed doors.
Calhoun emerged from the shadows, flipping on his video camera and aiming it at her face. The red light blinked at her.
“The queen of the Amazons is in full battle mode. There is a look of death in her eyes and she is—” He faltered as she stared into the camera. “—kinda hot.”
Nerit burst out laughing and patted Calhoun’s shoulder as she passed him.
“She walks confidently, preparing to amass the defenders of this illegally built fort. The mayor has yet to explain himself and release an accurate accounting of how much taxpayer money was used in its construction. Meanwhile …”
Nerit turned and gave Calhoun a look. He stared, suddenly silent.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“It’s time for you to turn off the camera and do what you’re supposed to,” Nerit said.
Calhoun dramatically sighed, then tucked it away in his backpack. “You’re a mean old bitch.”
“I haven’t pitched you over the wall yet.”
“Are you the one pitching people over the wall?”
“Would you be surprised if I was?”
Calhoun considered this, rubbing his grizzled chin. “Nope.”
Nerit shrugged. “Just get to your position.”
“Wanna go out?’
“No.”
“Have sex?”
“Definitely not.” Nerit smirked and walked away.
“Damn Amazons.”
Jenni hit the ground running. Already the growing humidity was filling her lungs, making her feel slow and sluggish. The day was definitely going to be hot and muggy. Behind her the bus was idling, and about half a mile beyond the bus, a large crowd of zombies was coming.
The high school they had pulled up in front of was very small, very modern, and locked up tight as a drum. There was no response when they tried to contact the school by CB, but they had seen someone standing on the roof, watching their approach. Jenni was taking a chance it was one of the people they were looking for. Bill, Ed, and the others were covering her.
Racing up the steep slope at the back of the school, she ran to a set of double doors and banged on them.
“Open up! It’s the rescue team from the fort!”
A woman’s voice said from the other side, “We’re not opening up unless we know you’re not with the assholes who were here before.”
“Look, I’m from the goddamn fort and there is a crowd of very dead townspeople on its way here right now, so get the fuck out of there or we’re leaving you!”
The door opened slightly; through the gap Jenni could see the thick chain that kept it partially locked. A large woman with mousy brown hair looked at her for a long second.
“There were these guys—”
“No freaking time. We’ve gotta leave now,” Jenni said urgently. “I am not going to wait out here and get eaten by zombies while you make up your damn mind!”
Jenni turned and ran down the hill, her lungs burning, her eyes on the swiftly approaching undead. To her relief, she heard the clattering of the chain and then footsteps behind her.
“But we need to get our—,” someone started to protest.
“No time!” Jenni pointed at the zombies.
There were no more protests.
She clambered onto the bus. The nurse, her kids, and the rest of the surviving students and teachers piled in after her. They were amazingly clean and looked well fed. For a moment, they stared in shock at the two scraggly, skinny survivors the team had rescued earlier.
“Sit down,” Jenni ordered.
They obeyed.
Ed shifted gears. The bus lurched forward.
“So, on the third day?” Jenni asked, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation.
“Oh, yeah. So on the third day, the lady walks by the parrot in the doorway of the pet shop and it says again, ‘Hey, lady!’ And she says, ‘What?’ all angry, because she knows what’s coming.” Ed drove swiftly down the drive as the zombies rounded the corner behind them. “And the bird says, ‘You’re damn ugly.’ The
woman marches into the shop and says to the owner, ‘I’m going to kill your bird and sue your pants off. Your parrot tells me that I’m damn ugly every day.’ And the owner says, ‘Lady, I’ll take care of the parrot. You don’t have to do anything crazy.’ So she leaves and the bird just laughs.” Ed swung the bus around the front of the building and creamed a zombie loitering in the road. “Fourth day comes along. The lady passes the parrot and it says, ‘Hey, lady!’ And she is righteously pissed off and says, ‘What?’ And it says, ‘You know. ’” Ed grinned at Jenni.
“You’re so lame, Ed.” Jenni rolled her eyes.
Ed shrugged and the minibus lurched back onto the country road, the zombies in hot pursuit.
Travis pressed the button on the mouthpiece. “Is it just me or are the shadows longer in the summer?”
Peggy’s voice crackled back. “I hate this damn hot weather.”
“It’s putting us in a bad mood, too,” Travis sighed as he understood her code.
More trouble was coming.
“Still pacing us,” Lenore said from the backseat. “I keep seeing flashes of light off the windshield.”
“Fort’s in sight,” Katie said as they crested a hill. The towering hotel loomed in the distance.
“If they’re gonna make a move, it should be now,” Ken said, looking as strained as they all felt.
The minivan passed the Hummer as planned. Katie watched the vehicle take the lead with a mixture of relief and fear. Now their job was to protect the ammunition and guns.
“They’re making their move!” Lenore shouted, and Katie glanced into the rearview mirror to see the vehicle that had been tailing them suddenly come roaring into view.
The CB radio crackled again. “About those shadows.” Peggy’s voice was trembling. “Four more are heading in from the north.”
Katie’s hands gripped the steering wheel even more tightly as the minivan and Hummer accelerated to top speed.
Behind her, a mud-covered truck came barreling down the road.
3.
Two
From her bird’s-eye view on top of city hall, Nerit watched it all happen with a strange sense of pride.
The minivan and Hummer split up the second they reached the town. The minivan took a predetermined course that would eventually lead it straight to the fort gates. As expected, the bandits in the beat-up green truck followed. The three trucks racing into Ashley Oaks from the north also changed course, trying to cut off the minivan.
“They’re talking to each other,” Nerit said into her headset. “Find their frequency.” She adored Calhoun for rigging up a hands-free system for her. He might be insane, but he was a wizard with electronics.
“On it,” Peggy answered.
Next to Nerit, Juan was crouched down, alternately fidgeting with his gun and with the microphone Calhoun had set him up with. He looked nervous and worried.
The Hummer whipped around a corner. It was now heading directly toward the bandits’ trucks on the north end of town to intercept.
The minivan took another turn, keeping just ahead of the truck pursuing it. Below Nerit, the gate was already slowly yawning open. The minivan slowed as it neared the lock and the battered, mud-covered truck accelerated. The distance between the two vehicles closed rapidly.
“Nerit?” Juan asked uncertainly.
“Katarina’s on it,” Nerit assured him.
Then through her binoculars, she saw the windshield of the bandit truck explode into shards of glass. The vehicle veered off the street, crashing through a storefront and plowing into the building, disappearing out of sight.
“Shit.”
Nerit smiled proudly. “I trained Katarina well.”
Juan was clearly impressed.
The minivan slid safely into the first lock of the entrance. The gate slid closed behind it.
“Objective one accomplished,” Nerit said with satisfaction.
She watched as the Hummer continued on its mission.
Katie listened to Peggy’s voice, her stomach tightening. “Turn on Madison.” Travis was gripping the dashboard with both hands, watching the road anxiously. Behind him, Lenore and Ken were armed and ready. Katie twirled the steering wheel and the Hummer ripped around the corner, nearly cutting off a bandit truck as it headed down Madison. There was a great crash as the truck swerved to avoid the collision and barreled into a lamppost, crumpling the front like an accordion. Glancing into the rearview mirror, Katie watched the last two bandit trucks—a big white 4x4 and a smaller blue one—veer around the accident and keep coming.
“Just like Dallas traffic,” Travis observed with a lopsided grin.
Katie turned sharply down another side street. A lot of the downtown streets were narrow red-bricked affairs that ran in weird directions—some were diagonal and others made big loops. Nerit and Katie had spent hours studying a map of the town. It had been hard, boring work, but it was paying off in a big way now. Katie knew where she was going. The bandits did not.
Lenore sat silently, watching out the back window. Her jaw was set and her dark eyes were blazing. “All ugly, crazy white men.”
Ken glanced back, into the truck that was right on their tail. “I may be hard up for a man, but not that hard up.”
Lenore high-fived Ken. “Amen.”
Katie didn’t have time to study the men behind them. She was busy trying to make sure they didn’t die as they drew the bandits away from the minivan. She whipped the Hummer around another corner. The minivan needed to get into the second lock before the Hummer could make its run for safety.
Peggy’s voice came through the static. “Hate to say this, but shadow number five has arrived. It’s a huge-ass 4x4 black truck.”
“Where is it?” Travis asked.
“Heading straight up Main Street,” Peggy answered.
“Let’s go play chicken,” Katie said with an evil grin.
“Damn,” Ken sighed. “I’m going to die without ever getting laid again.”
Katarina lay perfectly still on top of the newspaper building. Covered in a bedsheet spray-painted to look like the roof, she blended in perfectly. Her sniper rifle was poised, ready, and warm in her grip. Her eye was just as cold and just as deadly. Her long hair was braided down her back. The wind whistled in her ears.
“We have a change in plans. Another truck has arrived,” Nerit’s voice said in her earpiece.
“Same dance as before?” Katarina asked.
“No. Let Katie play with them, and then we’re going to drop our surprise on them. Then we continue as planned.”
“My dance card has empty slots,” Katarina answered into her headset.
“I have a feeling they’ll be filled.”
Katarina smiled and watched the spread of road before the gates.
Katie led her pursuers down Main Street, toward the new arrival. The big black 4x4 didn’t see the Hummer coming straight for it until it crested the hill.
“Shit,” Travis muttered.
The oncoming black truck swerved sharply to the left and clipped a streetlamp. It shimmied, then came to a stop. The two bandit vehicles behind Katie slammed on their brakes and nearly piled up.
Taking advantage of losing the three trucks, Katie wrenched the H2’s wheel to the left and turned down a side street. “Fuck the gate. It’s getting too crowded out here and I’m low on fuel. Let’s ditch the Hummer.”
“I am all for that,” Lenore agreed.
“We’re switching to Plan B. We’re taking the side door,” Travis said into the mouthpiece as the Hummer roared up to the hotel.
“Understood,” Peggy answered. “I’ll let them know you have a delivery.”
The Hummer drew up to the service entrance of the hotel. As the car stopped, the loading dock’s heavy iron door slid open and two guards stepped out. Jumping out of the car, Katie, Travis, Lenore, and Ken made a run for safety. The guards watched the road, weapons poised.
“Hurry up!” Bill was just inside, waving at them.
Travis scrambled onto the dock, then turned to pull Katie up. She quickly got to her feet and spun around to make sure Ken and Lenore were following. Ken was right behind her; he easily climbed onto the dock.
“Lenore, hurry!” Ken screamed.
“I’m coming. I’m coming. Hold on!” Lenore, being a bigger girl, huffed behind the rest. She was almost to the loading dock when the white truck came squealing into view.
“Lenore!” Ken sounded frantic and almost jumped back into the street. Travis barely caught him in time.
With seamless grace, Lenore stopped running, turned, and loosed an arrow from her bow. The shaft drilled into the front tire. The tire blew and the truck slammed into the back of the fort’s Hummer. The screech of metal and the smell of burnt rubber filled the air, accompanied by a metallic groan as the H2 was shoved a few feet toward the loading dock. Lenore jumped out of the way.
A huge, disgustingly dirty man staggered out of the truck, bleeding fiercely from a wound on his forehead. Lenore seemed to use this as a target. The man fell back, the end of the arrow protruding from between his eyes. The two men still in the truck ducked down. Lenore started to run again. The guards on the loading dock moved into a better position to fire at the bandits, covering Lenore.
Katie shouted, “Hurry, Lenore!”
Lenore hauled herself up onto the loading dock.
“White people,” she muttered, slipping past Katie. “Always screaming about something.”
Ken threw his arms around her. “Girlfriend, you scared me shitless!”
“Get off me!” Lenore growled.
“Get inside!” Travis ordered. “Let’s not wait for them to find their guns.”
As soon as everyone was inside, the doors were sealed shut.
Nerit watched as the last two bandit trucks—a black one and small blue one—finally found their way down the road. They were moving a little more cautiously than they had been. Their leader was wising up. Peggy hadn’t been able to find the frequency they were using to communicate. It didn’t matter anymore—Nerit was sure her opponent had ordered radio silence. She could see someone in the black truck motioning to the others.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 62
