Seconds later, Bill fell beside her. Despite his weight, he managed a better landing than Jenni had. He got up quickly and called to Roger to hurry.
Roger carefully perched on the sill. Jenni saw a gray, chewed-up hand reach out from behind him.
“Jump!” she and Bill shouted at the same time.
Catching a glimpse of the zombie hand, Roger screamed and jerked to one side. He fell wildly and landed feetfirst, hitting the hard gravel surface of the roof. Jenni heard his legs break and saw white splinters of bone erupt from his shins. Roger screamed in pain and collapsed.
“Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have worn this red shirt,” he wailed.
Quickly, Jenni hooked her hands under Roger’s arms. “Bill, help me!”
Bill stared at the window. “We need to go,” he said in a desolate tone.
“Help me!” Jenni repeated, trying to drag Roger across the roof. The injured man howled in agony.
“Now, Jenni,” Bill ordered. “We need to go now.”
She looked up in time to see the first zombie plunge out of the window. Luckily, it landed headfirst, splitting its skull open. But the second landed on the first and immediately began crawling toward them.
Roger looked at her, terror in his eyes. “Make it fast,” he said, his voice cracking. “It’s over, Jenni.”
More zombies were tumbling onto the roof and making their way toward the living.
“Jenni, do as he says!” Bill’s voice was urgent and stricken all at the same time. “I lost my gun up there!”
“Make it fast!” Roger screamed at her, his gaze fastened on the zombies crawling toward him. “I don’t want to be eaten alive! Do it!”
“Roger, I’m so sorry,” Jenni whispered. She drew her weapon and pulled the trigger.
Bill grabbed her and they ran to the edge of the roof. “Roll when you land,” Bill instructed.
With a nod, she sat down on the edge of the roof, her legs dangling. Taking a breath, she pushed off. She landed hard but managed to roll. A sharp, swift pain hit her and she felt blood on her hands, warm and sticky. Glancing down, she realized one of the surgical tools had sliced through the makeshift bag to cut a shallow, two-inch-long gash in her side.
Bill landed with a thud next to her and got to his feet, panting. “Just run,” he said.
There were zombies all over the front lawn and more climbing out of a lower window. Slow, shambling figures grabbed at Bill and Jenni as they weaved quickly through the undead throng to the truck. Leaping inside, they slammed and locked the doors. Instantly, zombies began banging on the sides of the pickup. Turning on the engine, Bill floored the gas and broke through the wave of zombies pouring out of the hospital before they completely blocked the road.
Pulling off her jacket, Jenni tried to stanch the flow of blood from her wound.
“What happened?” Bill demanded tensely.
“Cut myself on something in the bag,” she answered, lifting her sweater to show him the slash in her side.
“Okay,” Bill said with relief.
The side mirror showed Jenni the throng of zombies crowding the front lawn of the hospital. There were far more of the things in the building than the scavenging teams had realized. They had been incredibly lucky to escape.
They fell silent as the truck roared into the hills. The sun was setting and the sky was ablaze in pinks and purples.
“We had to leave him,” Bill finally said. “His legs were broken. We couldn’t have carried him.”
“I know.”
“We all knew the risks,” Bill continued.
“I know.” Jenni was crying and her side was killing her, but she had the tools needed to save Juan. She hoped what she and the others had salvaged was enough. An hour back to the fort and then Juan would have his operation.
“Did you see the moving van?”
Jenni shook her head dismally. “It was gone.”
“They must be ahead of us then.” Reaching out, he snagged the CB mouthpiece. When he turned it on, a screech filled the cab.
“Shit!”
Bill tried to change the channel, but the electronic screech continued. Finally, he turned it off.
“Must be something interfering. A storm or something,” he said in confusion.
Jenni checked her wound. The bleeding had slowed.
The darkness of the night washed over them, chasing away the brilliance of the sunset. Soon they were submerged in inky blackness.
“I liked them,” Jenni said, a hitch in her voice.
“Me, too. Felix and Roger were both great guys.”
Abruptly, the cab was filled with a bright, blinding white light. The red truck veered off the road, plunged through some brush, and slammed into a fence post.
Inside the cab, nothing stirred.
CHAPTER TEN
1.
Full Circle
Jenni swam up from the depths of unconsciousness, her mind spinning and her body spasming. She fought to wakefulness, pushing her eyes open, straining to see. There was a loud ringing in her ears that made her feel sick to her stomach.
Something bad had happened, she knew, but the fragments of memory refused to form a coherent image.
Where was she? She’d been in a truck. … The truck had crashed! But she wasn’t in the truck now; she was on a bed or cot. Was she in a hospital? She had been in a hospital, but they had escaped. Hadn’t they?
Were there zombies around?
“Good to see you’re awake.”
It was a voice she didn’t recognize. Struggling to sit up, she saw a handsome black man with the kindest green eyes she had ever seen sitting in a chair near the cot she was lying on. Dressed in fatigues, he was staring at her curiously.
“Fuck you,” Jenni said, her fear quickly turning into angry defiance.
“We hardly know each other,” the man answered, flashing a brilliant smile. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Lieutenant Kevin Reynolds. And you are?”
“I don’t care who you are! You fucking kidnapped me!” Jenni nearly growled the words. Her fear for Juan was jumbled with the disaster at the hospital and the bright light blinding her and Bill. “Where’s Bill?”
“Is that his name?”
Jenni clamped her mouth shut, determined to give nothing away.
“We’ve met before,” Lieutenant Reynolds said. “You were wearing a pink bathrobe and you had this dog that looked exactly like one I had when I was a kid. There was a blond woman with you.”
Taking a deep breath, Jenni glared at him and said nothing.
“I told you to come here, to Madison. But you went somewhere else.”
The officer opened up a folder and began to show her photos of the fort and the people in it. The pictures had been taken from a distance, probably with a telescopic lens. One image showed Jenni and Juan. The sight of the man she loved brought tears to her eyes.
“Tell me about your home,” Lieutenant Reynolds said in a soft, warm voice.
“Fuck you, puto. I’m not going to tell you a gawd damn thing,” Jenni snarled. “You kidnapped me!”
“Our orders are to bring any civilians we find outside of the designated rescue center back here. It’s for your protection.”
Juan needed her, and these assholes were holding her prisoner.
“Please, talk to me. Tell me about your friends.”
“Fuck you! I’m not telling you a damn thing! Let me go!”
With a sigh, Lieutenant Reynolds stood, closing the folder and tucking it under his arm. “Well, I see you don’t want to cooperate. I’ll give you a little time to cool off.”
“I’m not going to tell you anything! You kidnapped me!” Jenni managed to pull herself off the cot. She staggered after the soldier as he slipped out the door. She heard the metallic click of the lock. Banging on the door, she screamed, “Let me out of here! You can’t keep me here!”
* * *
Bill looked at the photos, then at Lieutenant Reynolds. He sat in a chair, his hands folded on his lap. So
far he’d been treated well, though he had heard Jenni screaming. But in a way, that was to be expected. Even if she was being treated kindly, she would kick up a fuss.
“We’re just survivors making our way,” Bill said.
“Are you a militia of some kind?”
“No, no. We’re just trying to stay alive.”
“Any religious affiliation?”
“You mean like a cult? No. We’re all kinds: mostly Baptists, some Catholics, a few Hindus, a Jewish person, an agnostic or two … maybe even an atheist. And one guy who believes in aliens,” Bill answered honestly.
Lieutenant Reynolds looked thoughtful. He tapped one of the photos that showed the walls of the fort. “And you did all this on the spur of the moment? There was no preplanning?”
“It was all done out of necessity, sir. Really. I mean, you gotta survive somehow when the dead come back.” Bill shrugged a little.
“Back at the beginning, did you hear the order to report to Madison?”
“Honestly, no. I was hiding, just trying to stay safe.”
Lieutenant Reynolds nodded again, looking thoughtful. “Well, martial law was enacted and all civilians were ordered to report to rescue centers.” Bill stared at him. The soldier went on, his expression grim. “It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of the civilian population and keep our nation alive in any way possible.”
“Yeah, so?”
The lieutenant studied Bill’s expression intently as he said, “My superiors plan to take over the fort.”
Bill blinked slowly, then lowered his head. He thought long and hard, swallowed a few times, then looked up. “The fort people won’t take kindly to that.”
Lieutenant Reynolds stared at him, then gave him a curt nod. “Thank you for your time.” Gathering his things, he left the room.
As the guard shut the door behind the officer, Bill sat back in his chair, exhaling slowly. “This ain’t good.”
2.
The Pendulum Sword
From the window of her hotel room, Katarina watched a single truck near the fort, its headlights slicing through the blackness of the night. She had been waiting nervously for the last few hours for Bill to return. Dressed in her best jeans and blouse, she was ready for their date. She was still stunned that he had asked her to join him for a drink. Men did not usually take notice of her as anything more than a friend.
A few more minutes ticked by without any sign of the second vehicle that had been dispatched to the hospital.
“Shit,” Katarina swore.
With a sinking heart, she feared the worst. Grabbing her coat, she rushed out of her room. In the hallway outside the clinic, she caught sight of the crew, led by Monica, carrying medical equipment.
“Monica, where are the others?” she asked.
“We don’t know. We got overrun,” Monica replied sadly before wheeling what looked like a heart monitor into the clinic.
Breaking into a run, Katarina headed for the garage, where she found Nerit, Travis, and Ed standing near the moving truck.
“Where are the others?” Katarina asked as she joined them. “Have we heard?”
“We don’t know. We can’t raise them on the CB,” Nerit answered.
“Monica told us that there was a horde of zombies in the hospital. They broke out of a secured area and attacked the teams.” Travis took a deep breath, obviously trying to steady his nerves. “Lenore said it got bad really fast.”
Katarina hesitated, then said, “I’ll take a crew and go look for them.”
“The airwaves are full of static, so we won’t be able to talk to you. A norther is blowing in.” Travis’s tone was miserable. “We can’t chance a bad storm and losing more people. We’ll wait until morning.”
Katarina swallowed hard. “What if they need help?”
Travis folded his arms over his chest and lowered his head slightly. He was obviously torn, but finally he shook his head. “We can’t risk it.”
“Everyone heading out knew there was a chance they weren’t coming back,” Ed added grimly. “No use risking other people to get them back when the conditions ain’t good.”
“Chances are, they are fine,” Nerit said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Katarina knew Nerit was trying to keep her calm and give her hope. But Katarina didn’t feel calm or hopeful. “I’ll go alone. I know the roads around here. I can handle it.”
“No,” Travis said simply. “We can’t risk it. Lightning is flashing on the horizon. We still got those zombies on the outskirts wandering around. If something went wrong—”
“Something has already gone wrong,” Katarina reminded him. “Those are our people out there!”
“You and I will go look for them in the morning,” Nerit said in a tone that was all ice. Her fake smile was nowhere to be seen.
With a slight bob of her head, Katarina headed back to the hotel. She struggled to breathe and regain her composure.
The thought of Bill being lost to the zombie hordes hurt her more than she’d thought possible. Raising her eyes to the night sky, she prayed silently for his safe return.
3.
Revelation
Jenni was surprised when Bill came to claim her from the holding cell. After giving him a hug, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“They’re having us join the rest of the people here in the rescue center. Got work and sleeping assignments.”
Jenni gave him a wary look as he guided her out the door and down a long corridor. “So they aren’t letting us go home? Shit.”
“That’s not the worst of it,” Bill confessed.
“What is it?” Jenni frowned, not liking his tone.
“You’re not going to like this,” Bill warned.
Bill and Jenni stepped through the door and onto a walkway, then gazed over the railing into the world of Madison.
“Fuck,” Jenni groaned. “It’s a mall.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
1.
Waiting
Peggy slammed her coffee cup down on the table; a little liquid sloshed out. The people gathered around the large table in the dining room regarded her curiously. “No word. Nothing.” Grimacing, she tucked herself into a chair next to Dale. He gave her a short, comforting squeeze and she relished the moment.
Across the table, Lenore reached for a biscuit and grumbled, “That ain’t good.”
Ken gently rubbed her shoulder. “It’ll be okay. They’ll come back.”
“We shouldn’t have left them,” Monica whispered, pouring whiskey into her coffee.
“We had to get out of there and get the equipment back,” Dale stated. “Plus, the damn zombies were coming out of the woodwork.”
Maddie ran her delicate hands down over her long tousled hair, which was a pretty mix of white, silver, and strawberry blond. “You can’t second-guess yourselves. You did what you felt was right.”
Peggy was torn between being spitting mad and succumbing to despair. She was tired of losing people. Tired of grief. Tired of the whole damn mess.
She grabbed a biscuit from the Tupperware container and reached for the butter and the peach jam. She was all about comfort eating. Rosie had put out coffee and hot tea as well as the day-old biscuits for a late-night snack. “Well, there ain’t nothing out there tonight but static. Storm is kicking up a lot of wind, and the lightning isn’t helping.”
Monica passed the liquor bottle to Dale, then set her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her knuckles. “They just came at us so fast—I still don’t know how we got Ken out of there.”
“It was a blessing you did,” Maddie said, patting Ken’s hand.
Ken shook his head. “Not if it got the other team killed.”
“I did what I had to,” Lenore said hotly. “I was not letting my best friend die.”
“No one is blaming you,” Dale assured her. “I would have done the same damn thing.”
“Felix, Jenni, Bill, and Roger all kick ass on a regular basis,
” Monica said. “If anyone can make it out of a hospital full of zombies, it’s them.”
Unexpectedly, tears spilled down Lenore’s cheeks. “If they died…”
“Oh, Lenore, don’t cry!” Maddie slid to her bare feet and rushed around the table to hug her. “You did what you thought was right.”
“I may have gotten Felix killed,” Lenore whispered. “And Jenni. Bill. And stupid ol’ Roger, always going on about Star Trek…”
“It’s my fault, Lenore, not yours! I shouldn’t have gone down that hall!” Ken was adamant.
“But you were supposed to go there. It was your part of the mission. And you didn’t know the zombies were there. What else could you have done?” Monica finished her coffee, then took the whiskey back from Dale and poured more into her cup.
“It’s okay, little buddy. You were a tough hombre out there and you did good. I was damn proud of you.” Dale raised his cup to Ken.
“Really?” Ken perked up.
“Really.”
Monica gulped her drink and poured more. “We know the risks. Every time we go out there, we know the freaking risks.”
“Should I cut you off?” Dale eyed the Latina thoughtfully.
“Try it.” She gave him a sly smile.
“No flirting!” Ken pointed at her accusingly.
“You stop first!”
Dale chuckled as Ken sputtered.
Peggy sighed and stuffed a whole biscuit in her mouth. Dale looked at her, obviously impressed. When she’d finished chewing its floury goodness, she stared at him and said, “I was hungry.” The truth was she was about to say something that would have pissed everyone off. She was in a bad mood and knew it. Yet she didn’t want to be alone.
Curtis walked into the dining room and headed over, one hand shoving his thin blond hair back from his face. Peggy thought he looked about as harried as she felt.
“Monica, there you are. I thought you were going to join me in the communication center,” Curtis said.
“I’m getting drunk,” she answered, clicking coffee cups with Dale.
“Oh,” Curtis said. He shot a peeved look at Dale, then sat down on Monica’s other side.
“Felix was such a great guy,” Monica said. “He was my buddy. And Roger, that fucking perv, taught me how to swear in Klingon. And Bill … man … Bill…”
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 76
