Restoring the theater was part of that expansion. Rosie, Juan’s mother, put on social events every week to help the fort’s inhabitants blow off steam and relax. But the town council knew that people needed something more, something that was closer to the world they had once lived in. The movie theater was a mess, having been closed for several years, but the cleanup team was making steady progress. Jenni and Katie, working through the upstairs, had almost died laughing when they found a hidden stash of porn magazines and fetish gear.
“Can you imagine the guy who owned this place hanging out here with all this stuff while his wife thinks he’s working?” Jenni grinned at Katie as she shoved more fetish magazines into the trash.
Katie blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I hate to think what he might have been up to.”
Jenni dangled some shackles and handcuffs in front of Katie before tossing them into a box for Bill to look at. “And who with?” She threw another bag out the window, then looked across the street. “Hey, Charlotte is still up on the roof watching the zombies.”
Katie tied off the bag. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Jenni adjusted her gloves, then grabbed another bag and hurled it out the window. “I wonder why.”
“Scientific research, maybe.” Katie leaned down to pick up a full, black trash bag.
Jenni lifted the big bag, shooing Katie away. “You’re pregnant. No heavy lifting.”
“Yes, Mom,” Katie said, rolling her eyes. “I swear, between you and Travis, I don’t know how I’m allowed out of bed. I’m five months pregnant, not nine!”
“You’re just lucky we don’t use those shackles on you!”
Jenni peered out the window to see the Reverend Thomas pulling up to the front of the building, riding on a power mower that was towing a large cart. The cart was loaded with sack lunches. He honked the horn several times, summoning the workers to eat. Jenni liked the reverend, who was always smiling and laughing. Plus, his sermons were actually good and not at all boring.
“People need God in times like these,” he had said to her at lunch one day. “We’re in the new Eden … just got more than that damn snake to deal with.”
Jenni yanked off her gloves and tossed them onto a pile of cleaning supplies. “Let’s go eat. I’m hungry and need a break.”
“Sounds good,” Katie answered. “I’m pretty tired, too.” She pulled off her own gloves, dropped them, and rubbed her baby bump absently.
Together, they trudged down the narrow staircase. The fading black-and-white pictures of old movie stars were strangely comforting. Jenni blew a kiss at Cary Grant as they passed his photo. She tried not to think about the fact that Hollywood was gone. Maybe someday humanity would get control of the world again and new movies would fill old theaters.
Outside, the workers gathered around the cart were cleaning their faces and hands with damp hand towels from a basket offered around by Reverend Thomas. Jenni grabbed one and pressed the moist cloth to her cheeks. It felt amazingly refreshing. After cleaning her face, she ran it over her hands and arms.
Katie tossed her used one into a second basket. “That felt good, but I’m dying for a shower.”
Jenni draped her towel over the back of Katie’s neck to cool her down. As she grabbed a lunch bag, the reverend said, “Make sure to drink plenty of water.” He pointed at the cooler packed with water bottles. Sitting on the curb next to Katie, Jenni bit eagerly into her peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich.
“Oh God, when did water start tasting so good!” Katie gulped down a bottle.
“When peanut butter and jelly started tasting like manna from heaven,” Jenni answered. “Everything just tastes better nowadays.”
Three of the new people were part of the cleaning crew. They wandered over, looking for open spaces on the curb, and sat down. One was an older woman who reminded Jenni of the artist types who used to inhabit South Austin. She had a funky way of putting clothes together. With her were Rune and a massive guy with prominent muttonchops and unruly dark hair.
“Hey, Rune!” Jenni said, smiling.
“Hey, Jenni. Good to see ya.”
“I thought you’d be long gone by now.”
“Figured I might stay a short spell. Decided to help out some.” He bit into his sandwich. Watching, Jenni wondered if she’d be able to get another ride on his bike.
Charlotte sat down on Katie’s other side and started to eat, looking thoughtful. Though she was a rather plain woman with mousy hair, her brown eyes were keen and her gaze intense.
“How are you today, Charlotte?” the reverend asked as he handed out more water bottles.
“Figuring it out, Padre,” Charlotte replied.
“Figuring what out?” Jenni asked, watching Katie pull the crusts off her sandwich.
“The zombies. I’ve been studying them,” Charlotte said while chewing. “I’m trying to figure out how they tick. We have to know our enemy, after all.”
“True words for a sad time,” the reverend agreed.
Jenni snagged Katie’s crusts. “Just kill ’em.”
“Notice anything helpful?” Rune asked, ignoring Jenni.
“Well,” Charlotte hesitated, appearing to gather her thoughts, “I’m planning to put it all into a report for the council, but I can tell you the basics. The regular process of decay is just not happening. There’s no rigor mortis, the bodies don’t bloat as the gases inside build up, et cetera. I really expected there to be some exploding zombies. But not one.”
“Exploding zombies?” Jenni blinked. “That would be awesome.”
“Normally, gases build up in the body as it decays. Sometimes those gases burst out of the body. But not now. It’s just slow … really slow … rot.”
“And they’re fast at the beginning. That is so breaking the rules,” Jenni said with disappointment, then let out a huge burp.
Rune handed her another bottle of water. “I noticed that they kinda beat themselves ragged. They don’t stay fast for long.”
“Yes, they do slow down fairly quickly. The truly dangerous ones are new ones that are just turned, especially if they’ve only suffered minor damage to their limbs. That’s why so many people died in the first days.” Charlotte sighed sadly. “But you’re right, Rune. They don’t feel pain, so they just go and go, breaking themselves apart as they try to get to prey. The older they get, the slower they are.”
“Ha! I knew Romero had it right!” Jenni grinned with satisfaction, then saw that Katie rolled her eyes. “He did. C’mon. They’re so much slower. Everyone knows it. And it’s so much easier to kill them now.”
“They seem fascinated by our Christmas lights. They will stare at the lights all night and only move when they are turned off.” Charlotte opened a bag of chips. “I seriously don’t think we should take them down.”
“Really?” Katie lifted an eyebrow.
“Really.”
The reverend whistled. “We could string up a lot of lights.”
“Well, if there are enough humans in view, the zombies wake up, but otherwise they’ll just stare. The fireworks on New Year’s Eve had them completely stone-cold still.”
“Why haven’t you said anything about this to anyone?” Katie demanded, an edge to her voice.
“I wanted to make sure.” Charlotte popped a chip in her mouth. “They don’t really seem to think. I have a feeling their behavior is all instinct. On the first day of the rising, I saw a zombie try to mow the lawn at the school. I don’t think it was a reasoning action, just something the man had done often in his life, maybe some sort of residual memory. A few days later, he was banging on the windows like the rest of them.”
“So you think in the first few days after they change, they might have a memory of how to do things?” Jenni frowned, not really wanting to know what this meant.
“Not real memories, Jenni. I think their brains fire off in weird ways as they transform into zombies.” Charlotte stuffed more chips in her mouth, then flicked crumbs from her
fingers. “That could explain why some of the zombies figured out how to climb over the truck barricade in the beginning days of the fort.”
“So, if a zombie tries to open a door on the day it turns, that doesn’t mean it will be able to do that the next day?” Katie looked at Jenni. “Remember that girl who tried to open the truck door?”
“Oh, right!” The image was seared into Jenni’s mind. She had been terrified that the zombies were actually thinking, and she knew others shared that fear.
Charlotte nodded her head. “I theorize that as their brains are dying or transforming or whatever, residual memory pathways may allow some zombies to perform mundane human actions. But after a day or two, those neural pathways die and we’re left with a creature that has only an instinct to feed.”
“So they’re stupid,” Jenni said with satisfaction. She drank more water, washing away the salty taste of the chips. Jenni liked Charlotte’s theories. They made things nice and simple, just the way Jenni liked it.
“Do you think there’s anything human left inside them? A spark of who they were?” Maddie asked.
From the expression on Katie’s face, Jenni understood that this was a question her friend had been afraid to ask. She took Katie’s hand, saying, “Of course not! Right, Charlotte? They’re just dead things!”
“I haven’t seen any of them acting remotely like they have any memory of who they were. Have any of you? Most of us saw friends and family turn. All they want to do is eat us,” the nurse said calmly.
Reverend Thomas was nodding in agreement. “I haven’t seen any of my old friends or family, my former parishioners, look at me as anything other than food,” he said. “Their souls have moved on. They’re free of this world.”
“Actually, Reverend, not to correct you or nothing, but they haven’t really moved on.” Rune swept his gaze over the group as he spoke. “They’re all around us, all the time. They’re caught between the world of the living and the dead. All the dead rising like that, the natural order of things got screwed up.”
“Kinda like that line in Dawn of the Dead when they said when there was no more room in hell, the dead walk the earth?” Jenni felt Katie’s hand trembling and knew she was thinking of Lydia. Jenni refused to think that her kids were not in heaven. Knowing they were there and safe was her salvation when the nightmares came.
“I don’t know, rightly. All I know is that I see ’em. I see ghosts. Everywhere I go,” Rune said, looking at them a bit defiantly.
The reverend seeemed to be about to respond, then apparently reconsidered and looked away.
Rune continued, “I think they’re all waiting for something to happen so they can move on. Something big. I don’t know what it is, but they’re trapped here until it gets done.” The biker took a big bite of his sandwich as if to say that he was finished talking for now.
There was an awkward silence as people pondered what had been said.
“I don’t know if it’s a consolation or not, thinking of our loved ones being ghosts while their dead bodies try to eat us,” Katie said at last, “but it makes me feel a little bit better, knowing they’re not trapped in those rotting husks.”
“At least we know the zombies are stupid,” Jenni said. “Stupid is good, right?”
“And they’re afraid of fire. We’ve seen that when they are near our controlled burns,” Charlotte added, as if the conversation had not taken a strange, metaphysical turn. “Another primitive fear of the reptilian brain.”
Jenni envisioned bonfires all around the fort. The image appealed to her.
Katie said, “So, we have ideas for a few really weird new weapons.” Her voice didn’t sound shaky anymore.
“Christmas lights,” the reverend said as a smile spread slowly across his face.
“Fireworks,” Charlotte added. “And bonfires.”
Jenni grinned. “Damn. That’s just kinda funny.”
CHAPTER SIX
1.
Jenni’s World
“And what do you do if you see a zombie?” Nerit asked in a loud, clear voice.
“Poke it in the eye!”
The chorus of children’s voices drew Jenni’s attention. She was helping lay cement blocks on top of the old wall, but now she stopped working to watch the fort’s young inhabitants at their lessons. A group of twenty youngsters, ages four to ten, were gathered around Nerit and a dummy made of burlap bags, stuffed and painted to resemble a zombie. The students all held makeshift spears.
“And then what do you do?”
“Shake it hard!”
“Why?”
“To make brain soup!” a little wiseass called out.
The students broke into wild peals of laughter.
Nerit smiled, then ordered, “Okay, line up! Let’s make zombie brain soup!”
Next to Jenni, Juan was also watching the children. He was sweating hard and his long, curly hair had slipped free from his ponytail.
“This looks so wrong.” Jenni sighed.
“They need to know how to fight back.”
A young boy, about Mikey’s age, walked up to the zombie effigy. He rammed his spear into its cloth eye, then shook it violently.
The children laughed again.
Jenni sighed and spread more wet cement with a trowel. “I wish Mikey hadn’t turned back to defend me.”
“He didn’t know, babe,” Juan said softly.
“I know, but … you would have liked him,” Jenni fought back a few tears and lifted the heavy cement block into place. She rarely spoke to Juan about her kids. It was hard, not being able to share that part of her life with him.
Juan kissed her cheek, causing the makeshift platform they were on to wobble a little. “I know, Loca. I know.”
“If I could find a way to give you kids…”
“Loca, it’s okay. Really. I got you. I got Jason, even though he kinda hates me, and I got Jack. And Jack is pretty badass. Kinda furry, but a great kid.”
Jenni laughed despite the lump in her throat.
“Besides, Katie and Travis are probably going to be spitting out kids left and right and we’ll end up with babysitting duty.” He wiped the sweat from his brow, managing to get a little cement in his hair. “If we’re together, I’m happy. Even if you are batshit crazy.”
Jenni laughed and leaned against him. “Crazy is good.”
“And fun in bed.” Juan grinned at her lovingly.
“You’re such a pervert,” she teased, and kissed his salty cheek.
“And you like it.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then moved to lay another brick.
Below, Nerit called, “Okay, who’s next?”
A slew of young voices shouted, “Me!”
* * *
“Hey, Mom.” Jason slid into the seat next to Jenni at lunch. He peered out at her from beneath his long bangs, seeming a little embarrassed.
“Hey, baby, what’s up?” Jenni shoved a couple of home-style fries dunked in mustard into her mouth and ignored Jack, who was staring at her longingly from beside Jason’s chair.
“I was wondering if I could have Michelle over to watch movies tonight?” the teenager whispered, blushing.
“You gonna make out?” Jenni asked.
“Mom!”
Jenni grinned. “Are you?”
Ducking his head, Jason muttered, “Maybe.”
She playfully nudged him with her elbow. “My sexy son is getting some loving!”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay. Have your make-out session, but she has to leave by eleven.”
“You’re so embarrassing, Mom,” Jason grumbled.
“Hey, I gotta tease you when I can. You’re always off with Roger and your crew, making crazy, mad-scientist, zombie-killing stuff.” Jenni hugged him and pressed little kisses to his cheek. He squirmed with discomfort.
“Mom, stop! I get it, I get it, okay? And thanks, Mom,” her stepson said, wiggling away. Moving quickly, he kissed her on the cheek, then stood up.
&n
bsp; Jack laid a paw on her knee and looked at her plaintively. With a sigh, Jenni gave the dog her dessert—two peanut butter cookies. Graced with a doggy grin, she smiled back.
The boy and his dog jogged away, leaving her to finish her fries alone.
* * *
Jenni loved the aftermath of lovemaking with Juan. They lounged around in bed, naked and tired, smiling every time each caught the other’s eye. She painted her toenails, one foot propped on his knee as he read a book. It had gotten cold after the sun set; Juan was nearly buried in blankets, but Jenni was nude to the waist, enjoying the feel of cool air on her skin.
“Blanche was giving me shit again today,” Jenni said after a while.
“Yeah? Why?” Juan didn’t look away from his book.
“She was on cleanup crew tonight and ragged on me for not putting my dinner plate into the proper bin. Then she ragged on me for a bunch of other stuff. I stopped listening after the ‘stupid spic’ comment.”
Juan frowned. “I thought she just called me that.”
“No, no. She calls everyone she thinks is Mexican a spic, including Rashi, the Indian guy we picked up the other day.”
“That woman is such a bitch,” Juan growled. Putting down his book, he rubbed Jenni’s leg gently as she finished polishing her toenails.
“Too much drama,” Jenni said, studying her handiwork.
Juan shook his head. “Gotta wonder if they realize what is really going on.”
Flopping back on the pillows piled behind her, Jenni giggled. “Stupid people doing stupid things, huh?”
Juan flipped the book off the bed. “Yeah, but we’re keeping them alive for some reason.”
“Entertainment value!”
“Are your nails dry yet?”
“Um … no … why?”
Juan looked at her toes, then said, “Eh, fuck it. You can redo them.” He leaned over and kissed her passionately, pulling her close.
With a grin, Jenni wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 71
