Behind him, the pretty creature smeared in blood was silent. He could almost believe she was a ghost, but he had seen enough of those to know she was flesh and blood. It was tough being a medium when the world was full of the dead, but he was slowly getting used to it.
The final gate opened and the bike roared into a busy paddock. The woman pointed, and he directed the rumbling bike over to an empty parking spot. She slid off the bike and patted his shoulder lightly.
“Thanks, dude. I needed that.”
“No prob. Name’s Rune,” he said, extending his hand to her.
“Jenni,” she answered, shaking it briefly. With her dark hair shifting around her blood-spattered face, she looked fierce. “Also known as La Loca.”
“Loca is good,” Rune said, giving her a rakish grin.
“Sometimes,” she answered, winking and walking off.
He watched as she headed over to where people were cleaning spears, machetes, hatchets, and other weapons. A small, newly constructed building had steam rising out of it, and Rune guessed that was where returning citizens cleaned off the zombie gore. Halfway there, Jenni leaped onto the back of a tall, lean, Hispanic cowboy. With a grin, the cowboy carried her over to the others.
Rune sighed. Of course a fine woman like that was taken.
“Okay. Who the hell are you? And what’s in the bag?” It was the old codger that reminded him of his deceased father. He probably only had ten years on Rune’s forty-eight, but seemed older.
“Rune.” He opened the bag to reveal the grenades. “And a whole lot of hurt.”
“Mind leaving that in the weapon storage?”
“As long as I can reclaim it later, old-timer,” Rune answered, handing over the bag.
The man chuckled. “Name’s Ed. Welcome to the fort.”
“Just staying until the storm blows over. Then I gotta move on.”
“You sure?”
“Gotta keep moving,” Rune answered. He discerned the ghosts around him, faint shimmering things. “Gotta keep ahead of the dead.”
Ed looked at him strangely.
“There ain’t no rest for the wicked, man,” Rune joked. Or for mediums, he thought. Ghosts were everywhere, just like zombies.
“You can’t escape the dead in this world,” Ed finally said. “You’re welcome to stay if you like.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll think about it.” Rune shifted on his feet. “Like I said, we’ll see how it goes.” The man who could see the dead looked around, studying the fort, seeing the flickering of spirits all around him. “We’ll see how it goes.”
3.
Promises and Shadows
Juan grimaced at the stink coming off the woman he loved. She was hanging on his back, covered in drying blood and gore, and reeked of death. In the first days, when they’d been under siege, he’d become used to the stench of the dead. It was strange how humans could acclimate to things like that. But once the dead throngs were cleared out and clean, fresh breezes filled the fort, and the smell of the dead was again sharp and repellent to him.
“You ruined my jacket, Loca,” he grumbled, trudging toward the cleanup area.
“It’s ugly anyway,” she assured him. “Besides, I’m tired. Spoil me.”
“As if I have a choice,” Juan drawled, grinning and grimacing at the same time. “What did you do this time to get so messy?”
“Up close and personal decapitations of the zombie kind. I went whacky-whacky with my trusty ax.”
“You’re supposed to shoot them before they get too close.” He felt his stomach clench at the thought of her fighting in close quarters with the ravenous dead.
“Yeah, well, sometimes runners see it differently.”
“Shit!”
“Fresh and fast.” Jenni sighed, laying her head against his shoulder.
He tried hard not to be angry with her. She had a tendency to act first, think later, and her rabid hatred of the undead often spurred her to insane acts of heroics. “I just wish you wouldn’t take so many chances,” he said at last.
“Well, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. Zombies need to be killed or they munch on us.” Her voice was soft, almost petulant. “Besides, it works, doesn’t it? Zombies die. I come home to you.”
“I just worry.”
“I’m not going to die without a fight,” Jenni vowed.
“I don’t want you to die.”
“I’m not gonna!”
“Says the loca.”
They reached the fenced-in area where the weapons were being cleaned and where Charlotte, the fort’s nurse, was tending to the wounded. Her chin-length brown hair was pulled back from her round face with a pink headband that matched the nursing scrubs under her heavy coat.
Everyone knew a bite was deadly, but twice people had hidden their injuries and turned after entering the paddock. Nerit had implemented additional measures to keep the fort safe. Now, two armed guards stood watch as Charlotte finished bandaging a newcomer. A holstered pistol on the nurse’s hip was an extra precaution.
Juan plopped Jenni onto a lawn chair and stared down at her, amazed again at her bloody appearance. “Seriously, you couldn’t shoot them in the head before they reached you?”
“Well, I was trying, but they were kinda fast. And then it just got all crazy.” A dark and frightening emotion briefly shadowed her countenance.
With a sigh, Juan slouched in his chair next to her, taking off his cowboy hat. There were moments when it was clear that Jenni was overwhelmed with grief, but he had learned she did not want his comfort at those times. His beloved rarely spoke of her past as an abused trophy wife and mother. Occasionally a snippet or two of information would leak out, but never on purpose. It was always worse when she saw something out in the deadlands that reminded her of her children.
Jenni flipped her hair over one shoulder and stared at him. He had a feeling she knew he was holding his tongue.
“What?” he finally said.
“A kid got bit. The new guy on the bike had to kill her. I saw the light go out of her eyes. I saw the hunger come into them.” His eyebrows flew up. “I’ve never seen that before,” Jenni continued. “I saw her life vanish, like a curtain falling. Then— bam! —hungry zombie.” She pulled the ax off her back and tossed it onto the ground.
“Fucking scary, huh?”
Jenni slumped down in the chair. “It sucked.” Jenni thought for a long moment, swinging her legs back and forth. “I don’t want that to happen to me. I don’t want you or anyone else to see the light go out in my eyes and the crazy, hungry, zombie look come into them.”
“Jenni, that’s not gonna—”
“You can’t say that!” Jenni pointed at him, her voice vehement. “You cannot say that! You don’t know. None of us know. Bob died today. I’m sure he didn’t go out there thinking he was gonna bite it.”
“Okay, okay. You’re right,” Juan said, hands raised in a placating gesture. “None of us can know. You just gotta be extra careful when you go out there.”
“I want a bullet right here—” Jenni pointed to her forehead. “—if it ever goes down that way. I want it fast. I don’t want to be one of those things, not even for a second.”
Juan stared into her dark, luminous eyes, tinged with the madness that made him love her more than he thought possible. The idea of her not being next to him made his throat tighten with emotion. He didn’t know what to say, though she seemed to be waiting for words to soothe her. At last, he managed to say, “Okay,” his voice cracking slightly.
With a satisfied nod, Jenni curled up in her chair. She looked so small and so delicate, the blood splatter and the reek couldn’t keep Juan away. He grabbed her arm and tugged her onto his lap. Holding her close, he nuzzled her cheek. Her body melded to his and she made a small, happy sound that made him smile.
CHAPTER THREE
1.
The Boring Things in Life
Katie found the hotel’s ground floor packed with weary workers, j
ust off shift, making their way to their rooms. Tucking her hands into her jacket, she pondered if she should look for Jenni outside, or wait for her near the elevators in the lobby. Her friend usually headed upstairs for a nap after missions.
“Got Muslims now,” Curtis said, joining Katie. He nodded toward an older man and woman dressed in traditional Indian garb being checked into the hotel by Ken.
“They may be Hindu,” Katie answered.
“Still heathens,” Curtis said, shaking his head. “Don’t know if we should be taking in heathens.”
Katie frowned at the younger man. “Really?” Her voice dripped with displeasure.
“We’re a God-fearing group, Katie. Bringing in other kinds is gonna cause trouble.” Curtis’s boyish face flushed with emotion. “It’s rough enough keeping things going as it is.”
“Curtis, people are people. We can’t start picking and choosing who we allow into the fort or we’ll end up like the Vigilante, offing people because we don’t approve of them.”
A look of horror washed over the police officer’s face. “I—I didn’t mean…”
Feeling bad for the harshness in her tone, Katie patted his arm. “It’s okay, Curtis. I know you’re concerned.”
He covered her hand with his own and squeezed, guiltily blushing.
Jenni stomped up to them. Her hair was damp, her face was flushed, and she was dressed in a big bathrobe. She had a bag slung over one shoulder and was holding her boots in one hand. “Charlotte declared my clothes totaled. I really liked those jeans!”
“Oh, c’mon. It’s a great excuse to go dig a new pair out of the inventory.”
“Yeah, but still … they looked good! I looked five pounds smaller in them!”
“You are five pounds smaller,” Katie stated. Everyone was slimmer lately. The kitchen crew was careful not to waste food by preparing too much. Though people ate their fill at each meal, they usually did not overeat, and hard work was whittling the fat off beer bellies and strengthening muscles.
Curtis made his escape as they spoke and Katie let him go. The poor guy was so easily flustered. She felt bad for the young man. He had been the youngest member of the Ashley Oaks police force and its only survivor.
“I got stuff to show you!” Jenni patted the bag at her side. “I had fun out there until…” She waved her hand as if to wipe away the pain that lingered in her eyes.
Katie knew better than to push Jenni. “When do I get to see?”
“Let’s go to your room. This is top secret stuff.”
“I will not be treated in this manner!” A sharp female voice sliced through the drone of conversation. A big candle hurtled through the air into a painting, sending it to the ground with a loud crash.
Blanche Mann, a former beauty queen and the richest woman in town before the zombie rising, was the meanest bitch most of them had encountered. She stomped into the lobby, her high heels clicking loudly in the sudden silence. A beautiful woman dressed in a skintight red dress, she appeared younger than her thirty-plus years. She was carrying another candle, which she flung at the woman retreating in front of her.
Monica, one of Juan’s cousins, ducked as the candle flew over her head. “You said you would give me the Imitrex if I cleaned your hotel room!”
“You call that cleaning? That’s the most piss-poor job I have ever seen! You didn’t even polish my shoes or iron Steven’s clothes!” Blanche was in a fury.
“Look, bitch, give me the Imitrex! We need it for the clinic!” Monica wasn’t about to be intimidated. “I did what you asked. Pay up!”
“I caught you going through my things, trying to find something to steal!”
“I was looking for the pills you promised me!”
“You’re a thief and I’m going to report you to Bill!”
“Call him, you stupid bitch, and I’ll tell him how you scammed me!” Monica kicked a chair with agitation.
“You stupid, thieving spic!”
That was enough for Katie. She stepped between Blanche and Monica. “Calm down, Blanche. We’ll get this sorted out. You don’t need to resort to insults.”
“Get out of my face!” Blanche shoved Katie with both hands.
Chaos erupted. Jenni swooped in like an avenging angel, shouting in Spanish. Katie wasn’t hurt by Blanche’s push, but everyone seemed to think she should sit down, much to her chagrin.
It wasn’t until Bill showed up that any semblance of order returned to the hotel lobby. The tall man with the kind face, sandy hair, freckles, and dwindling gut waded into the ruckus. He got everyone separated and ordered those not involved to move on.
“Okay, now what is going on?” Bill’s voice was calm, but held a hint of authority.
“She said if I cleaned her pigpen of a room, she would give me some Imitrex. Manny is having really bad migraines and we ran out of the right meds a few weeks ago,” Monica explained, her voice edged with anger. “None of the supply teams have found any.”
“She did a shitty job and tried to steal from me! And then she had the nerve to lip off.” Blanche glowered at Bill. “Besides, I don’t have any Imitrex here. She’ll have to go to my house to get it.”
“You didn’t say that!” Monica lunged forward. Katie caught Monica’s arm before she could hit Blanche. Jenni grabbed Monica’s other arm and whispered something to her in Spanish.
Bill sighed with exasperation. “Blanche, we already took everything we could use out of your house.”
“How dare you!”
“Steven knew all about it,” Bill said. “And you know that we take what we need for the fort wherever we find it.”
“You stole from my home!”
“Fuck this.” Monica pulled away from Katie and Jenni, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I was fooled by that bitch.” She stalked off.
Curtis fell in behind Monica, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder as they left the lobby.
Bill shifted his belt up over his belly. “Blanche, you best just let this drop. You did Monica wrong and everyone knows it. You ain’t making many friends around here.”
“I don’t need friends. I should have left to meet up with my sister when the damn zombies showed up. I’d be with her, safe and sound, and not dealing with you disgusting hicks.” Blanche whirled around on her high heels and stalked off.
Bill let out a long, slow breath.
“She’s such a whore,” Jenni said.
“Her sister is even worse. I had the displeasure of meeting her more than once.” Katie rubbed her forehead, feeling very tired.
“I didn’t vote for her,” Jenni grumbled. “Of course, I never voted, but…” She shrugged.
Bill hooked his thumbs over his belt. “Blanche is not used to being ordinary folk and taking care of her own needs.”
“I’m not going to feel bad for her,” Katie replied.
“Don’t expect you to.” Bill hooked his thumbs on his belt. “But we need to remember she’s a very unhappy viper. She’s gonna strike out at whoever is closest to her at any given moment.”
“We should make a suggestion box for the Vigilante,” Jenni murmured. “I got a name to shove into it.”
“Jenni, behave.” Katie hooked her fingers through her friend’s and squeezed.
With a sigh, Jenni relaxed her stance and tugged Katie to her feet. “Let’s get out of here.” The two women headed for the elevators. “Poor Bill,” Jenni said softly. “He has to deal with all the crazy shit.”
“What isn’t crazy nowadays?” Katie asked, arching a brow.
Jenni snorted. “True dat.”
2.
Rough Spots
The small bonfire sparked and dark smoke rose into the graying sky. As Nerit watched Charlotte burn the blood-soaked clothing taken from some of the returning fort members, the slim older woman couldn’t help but think of Bob, lying out there somewhere. Proper burial was a thing of the past.
“One loss,” Ed said beside her, as if reading her thoughts. “Seven more
people to feed and care for.”
“It never balances out,” Nerit said, flipping her silver braid over one shoulder.
Nerit was indulging in another cigarette, grateful the salvage team had found more cartons. She wasn’t picky about the brand. Cigarettes calmed her nerves and were her one small luxury in this life. She missed her husband—murdered by bandits—every day, and she couldn’t think too long about his death without feeling tired and old.
“Lenore brought back a whole bunch of beauty supplies for Ken,” Ed added after a few beats. “Seems silly to me.”
“People need a few pleasures.”
“I think they’re gonna set up a beauty shop.” Ed seemed perplexed by the notion.
“Honestly, I think that might help morale. Life isn’t easy nowadays.”
In the distance, cold rain fell in a gray curtain over the hills.
“My boys were hoping I’d ask you out,” Ed said casually. Nerit choked on her smoke. Ed continued, “I told them that you’re too much of a man for me. That you could probably kick my ass ten ways till Sunday.”
Half-coughing, half-laughing, Nerit grinned. “Probably.”
Ed crossed his arms over his chest and planted his feet slightly apart. “I ain’t gonna ask you out, Nerit. I admire you something fierce and yer my friend. But knowing my boys, they’ll be dropping hints like crazy, so I thought you should know.”
“That’s fine, Ed. I am flattered.” Nerit smiled a little, trying not to think of Ralph and her own adult offspring. She hoped that her children and grandchildren were still alive in Israel.
“Storm’s going to hit hard by the looks of those clouds. Better sound the alarm and get everything tied down.”
“Agreed. Please take care of it,” Nerit said.
“You got it.” Ducking his head down against the strengthening wind, Ed rushed off.
Nerit continued to stare at the small fire after he left. Her hip and leg were throbbing, and she was afraid that if she moved, she’d fall. The people in the fort had elevated her to legendary status, and she would not disappoint them by appearing fragile.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 68
