“We don’t know what’s happened. We shouldn’t start having their wake just yet,” Maddie said gently.
“You don’t know how we feel. You didn’t know them.” Curtis crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the older woman.
“Don’t get in Maddie’s face,” Dale said shortly.
“I’m just saying she has no idea—”
Peggy put her hand on Curtis’s arm and squeezed. “Shut up.”
“What?” He looked at her in surprise.
“Just shut up. We’re all upset, tired, and pissed off, and we’re just trying to get a little comfort from each other. We don’t need you wagging your badge or your dick in our faces.”
Monica snorted whiskey out of her nose as she laughed. Curtis shot her a hurt look.
Slamming her hands down on the table, Lenore glowered at no one in particular. “I did what I thought was right.”
“I wouldn’t be here if not for you,” Ken said, hugging her arm.
“But maybe the rest of the team would be here if you hadn’t fired your gun,” Curtis snapped.
“That’s it!” Peggy stood up, grabbed Curtis’s wrist, and dragged him out of his chair. “Go back to the communication center and do your job. Now!”
Curtis sputtered, but the look on Peggy’s face shut him up. With a dark scowl, he stomped off.
Monica downed the last bit of whiskey and stood up, swaying on her feet. “I’ll go calm his ass down.”
“Is that what they call it nowadays?” Peggy felt a sharp pang of disappointment as Monica started after Curtis.
With a shrug, Monica kept walking.
“I’m not going into the communication center until tomorrow,” Ken proclaimed.
“As long as they’re still listening for our people,” Peggy said, and sighed.
“Nothing wrong with comforting each other in our time of need,” Dale said.
“Nothing at all,” Maddie agreed. She was sitting next to Lenore and gently stroking her hair.
“You remind me of my grandma,” Lenore said quietly.
The people at the table lapsed into silence and Peggy began to butter another biscuit. She couldn’t stay much longer. Cody was sleeping over in a friend’s room and she wanted to make sure he was okay before the friend’s parents turned in.
She took a deep breath. Maybe it was the manly scent of Dale next to her or the smell of the biscuits, but she felt a little more relaxed.
2.
Choices Made in Haste
It was nearly dawn when Travis finally climbed into bed. Katie was curled up with Jack, who gave Travis a petulant look as the man scooted the dog to the end of the bed. Spooning his wife, Travis kissed her shoulder.
“Are they back?” Her voice was thick with sleep.
“No,” Travis sighed. “Nerit is taking a team out to look for them once the sun rises.”
Katie rolled over and studied her husband’s face, her green eyes glistening with tears. “You think they’re dead, don’t you?”
“No,” Travis said, trying to keep the uncertainty from his voice. “I think there’s a good chance that they’re okay.”
“I don’t want to lose Jenni,” Katie said, her voice quivering. “When I saved her, she saved me, too. She gave me a reason to live.”
“Katie, we’ll find her.” Travis gently tucked her hair back from her face and kissed her brow. “It won’t do you any good to upset yourself by thinking the worst.”
Katie pressed her palms against her red eyes, nodding. “I know you’re right. I just can’t bear to lose her.”
“Jenni won’t leave this world without a fight. We both know that.” Travis yawned loudly.
“Didn’t sleep, did you?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Travis pulled the covers over him as he kicked off his boots. They hit the floor with a resounding thud. Jack again gave him a disapproving look.
“How is Juan?” Katie spoke hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“Stable, for now. Charlotte’s doing the best she can. At least she now has some good monitoring equipment and some drugs to help control the infection.”
“Thank God, he’s still alive.” Katie wrapped her arms around Travis’s neck and kissed him lightly.
He sighed with weariness and contentment as she snuggled against his side. He felt her rounded tummy pressing against him. “I felt wired, so I stayed up working on some ideas. Plus, Ed gave me shit for not allowing the fort to vote on Blanche’s fate.” He looked at Katie, expecting her to be angry, but she looked pensive. “I was pissed. I was done with her. People had been killed and my best friend was dying. All over that damn Hummer.”
“You knew leaving her at the mansion was a death sentence,” Katie said flatly.
Travis moaned and covered his face with one hand. “Yes, I knew.”
“Ed was upset?”
“He said we should have taken it to the fort.”
“But it’s done now.”
“I should send someone out to check on her, shouldn’t I?”
With a weary sigh, Katie said, “I don’t know. I don’t give a damn what happens to her, but if it adversely affects the fort…”
“Maybe we should bring her back, let everyone have a say, like we will with Brewster.” Travis groaned. “Just when I thought I would get some sleep…”
“You’re not going out there yourself, are you?”
“Nah. I’ll find a volunteer.” He glanced at the clock. “I’ll go meet Nerit’s team, see if anyone wants to look in on Blanche instead. They should be heading for breakfast.”
“Then you’ll come back for a few hours of sleep?”
“Yeah. Unless something else happens.” Getting out of bed and reaching for his boots, he gave the reproachful-looking German shepherd a pat on the head.
3.
Walking Hamburgers and Helicopters
The morning was very cold and misty. The Hummer sped along the back roads. Occasionally Nerit spotted a dark figure in the wispy haze, but mostly the world seemed sadly empty. The few houses they passed were desolate looking. Before winter set in, nature had begun dismantling the buildings; the season’s damp weather had accelerated the process.
She stared out at the dead world thoughtfully. Behind the wheel, Katarina yawned as she drove past a herd of cows gathered around a pond. Nerit observed that they appeared relatively healthy, considering how long they had been on their own.
Curtis and Dale sat in the back, quiet and half-dozing.
“It won’t take too long,” Nerit commented.
“Huh?” Katarina asked, glancing at her before returning her attention to the road.
“For nature to take back the planet.” Nerit motioned to the fallen fences alongside the road and a farmhouse with a listing front door.
Katarina glanced over. “Yeah. It’s already going to hell. We never built anything to last.”
“Hopefully humanity can outlast the disposable world we created.” Nerit’s thoughts lingered briefly on her family in Israel.
“Some of us are still here,” Katarina asserted.
“The lucky and the too damn stubborn to die,” Nerit said with a wry grin.
“I know which category I’m in.”
“Me, too, Katarina.”
“Damn lucky?”
“Absolutely.” Nerit chuckled.
“Weird how it worked, huh? If you made it through the first day, it got easier somehow.” Katarina steered the Hummer around a discarded tractor. She gestured to the zombie stumbling along the side of the road. “This feels normal now.”
Nerit inclined her head in agreement. “People are beginning to move on. We’re expanding our home … planting gardens…”
“Falling in love…”
Nerit studied Katarina suspiciously. “You like Bill.”
“He’s nice,” Katarina said after a second.
“Nice is good. Ralph was nice.” She felt the smile on her face soften
at the thought of her dead husband. She missed him dearly. Then Nerit stiffened as she caught a flash of red ahead. “There,” she said, pointing.
Katarina pulled over and stopped. The red pickup that had once belonged to Nerit’s late husband, Ralph, was smashed into a fence post. Its deer guard had absorbed most of the damage, so it might be drivable. Both doors were wide open and it was obvious that the truck was empty.
“Shit,” Curtis said sleepily, straightening up. “This isn’t good.”
Dale woke in mid-snore and sputtered incoherently before saying, “Hey, cows.”
“They must have got out when the truck took the fence down,” Katarina said.
Nerit gestured toward the crashed vehicle. “Get out slowly. Cover all sides. Let me examine the area around the truck.” Opening her door, she slid out.
“You got it,” Dale said.
Katarina jumped out of the truck, holding her gun easily in her hands. Curtis stumbled and worked a crick out of his leg as Dale strode in a slow circle, keeping his eye on the cows.
“Them’s good eating,” he said finally.
“Keep to the objective,” Nerit responded as she moved toward the red pickup. With a little groan, she squatted down to squint at some shoe prints in the mud by the rear wheel. Curtis joined her, appearing perplexed.
“Jenni and Bill always wear cowboy boots. What do Roger and Felix wear?”
“Roger wears those nasty sneakers,” Curtis said, “and Felix always has on those white trainers.”
“What do these look like to you?” Nerit pointed at the impressions in the mud.
“Honestly? Combat boot prints.”
“Exactly.” Nerit stood up slowly, feeling her hips and back protesting. Gazing inside the pickup, she saw drying blood, sticky in the humidity of the morning, smeared along the passenger side.
“Military?” Dale asked.
“Possibly,” Nerit replied. “Someone was hurt.”
Curtis was instantly at Nerit’s side. “Think they got bitten and went at each other?”
Nerit lifted a makeshift bag out of the truck. The white fabric was stained with blood and it clinked as she set it on the hood. She showed the others the tear in the fabric. “I think Jenni was stabbed by something in here.”
“You can tell who was hurt by looking at the blood?” Dale asked in surprise.
“No, sweetheart, by looking at her wadded-up, bloodied leather jacket,” Nerit answered, gesturing to the article of clothing lying on the floor of the truck.
Katarina pointed. “There are drag marks in the grass.”
“And along the side of the truck,” Curtis added.
“A helicopter set down in the pasture,” Nerit said after looking around once more.
“How can you tell?”
“Look at the grass, Curtis. It’s flattened in a circle. And it’s not one of Roger’s crop circles.” Nerit moved around the truck slowly.
“Only two bodies,” Curtis said from behind her as he studied the drag marks.
“Yes,” Nerit answered. “Just two.”
“So they, whoever they are, got Jenni and one other person.” Katarina’s voice was devoid of emotion, but Nerit knew the other woman was devastated by the turn of events.
Nerit climbed into her familiar old truck. Turning the key, she furrowed her brow as the engine tried to turn over. Suddenly it roared to life.
Katarina was stoic, but Nerit knew she was in pain. Curtis looked bewildered. Dale was still staring at the cows like they were walking hamburgers.
“What do we do now?” Curtis asked.
“We go back and tell everyone that we’re not alone. And that they, whoever they are, have Jenni and one other survivor.”
Curtis shook his head. “Fucking shit! If Lenore hadn’t tried to save Ken—”
“She did what I would have done, fucktard,” Dale growled. “You don’t let friends die right in front of you.”
Curtis recoiled from the harshness in Dale’s voice. “Okay, okay.”
“We do what comes instinctively. Lenore saved her friend. But we lost two others. That is the nature of this world,” Nerit said grimly. “There are no second guesses, Curtis. We just do our best.”
“Yeah, but Bill, Jenni, Roger, and Felix … they’re gone,” Curtis said in a low, tight voice.
“Yes, they are,” Nerit answered calmly. “Now, let’s go home.”
Wordlessly, Katarina returned to the Hummer and climbed in. Curtis joined her, hunching down in his seat.
“Can I have a cow?” Dale asked.
Nerit snorted. “No.”
Dale sighed, then climbed into the red truck with her, heedless of the drying blood. Nerit backed up slowly, relieved when the truck responded without a hitch.
“So you think the fucking military is out there?”
“Yes,” Nerit answered, falling in line behind the Hummer. She gripped the steering wheel tightly. “The combat boots could have been anyone, but the helicopter signals military.”
“Great. Fucking great. And who do you think controls them?”
Nerit lifted her shoulders. “People of power.”
“Dammit,” Dale cussed. “I was kinda hoping Congress got ate.”
4.
Only Questions
Katie hurried across the lobby, avoiding some of the old-timers who were taking up their morning bingo spots. Her blond curls were pulled up into a ponytail, and she was clad in one of Travis’s shirts. Her swelling belly was beginning to pop out the bottom of her tops. Though she felt sheepish to admit it, she loved her baby bump. Instinctively, she placed a hand against her stomach as she ran, almost as if she could protect the baby from whatever news Nerit and the others had brought.
When she’d woken not long ago, Katie groggily realized that Travis had never returned to bed. She’d called down to the front desk to see if Peggy knew where her husband was located. Grumpy herself, Peggy told Katie that both teams Travis had sent out earlier were on their way back to the fort. After changing her clothes, Katie had rushed downstairs.
Entering, she could tell by the expression on Nerit’s face that the news was not good. Nerit looked calm, but her gaze was fierce. She stood talking with Travis, whose expression was likewise serious as he rubbed his brow.
“What happened?” Katie asked as she reached them, her voice raw. She feared the worst.
“We found the truck and they weren’t in it,” Nerit answered simply. Shocked, Katie recoiled at the bluntness of the statement. Before she could say anything, Nerit went on, “They were taken, apparently by the military. We think it was Jenni and one of the men.” Nerit’s tone was gentle, despite the steel in her eyes.
“So we lost two people at the hospital,” Katie said sadly.
Travis nodded, his mouth pressed into a grim line. “And the military is out there somewhere.”
Nerit explained how she’d figured out that Jenni was one of the missing, then added, “We brought back the surgical equipment they’d found and gave it to Charlotte. She says it will help save Juan.” Nerit smiled bitterly. “The mission was successful.”
Dizzy at the thought of Jenni being hurt, being carted off by some unknown military force, Katie leaned against Travis. His arm snaked around her and he held her briefly, releasing her as Ed and Monica approached.
“What did you find at Blanche’s?” Travis asked. His voice was weary; Katie suspected he didn’t want to hear any more bad news.
“A wrecked Mercedes, packed to the gills with supplies. We think Ray busted the axle trying to drive off-road, maybe to keep from being seen by Curtis and Katarina yesterday,” Ed replied.
“We saw someone’s remains on the mansion’s porch. It looked like a man, so it was probably Ray. Gunshot wound to what was left of his head.” Monica shivered. “The front door was open. Zombies inside. We didn’t go in.”
“We didn’t stick around. There were no signs of life,” Ed added.
“Think she got away?” Katie wasn’t sure
if she wanted Blanche to be alive or not. She wasn’t happy about the choice Travis had made about the woman’s fate, but it was hard to feel sympathy for Blanche.
“Nope.” Ed’s keen eyes looked toward Travis. “I think she’s dead.”
Monica snorted. “I don’t feel bad for the bitch. She shot my cousin and killed two men.”
“Justice has got to be fair for everyone or it ain’t justice,” Ed said, biting off each word.
Travis bristled under his words and started to retort, but the phone rang. He picked it up, listened, said, “Okay,” then hung up. “That was Peggy,” he said. “She said word’s getting around about the military, and people are asking questions. We should go see what’s going on.”
The little group left the office and went into the lobby, where a group of excited people had gathered near the front desk.
“Is it true that the army is coming to rescue us?” asked Harry Gilbreath eagerly. He was the father of a young family who had been saved in the early days of the fort.
“We don’t know. They took two of our people,” Travis answered.
“Yeah, but they know we’re here now. Our people will tell them where to find us. Right?” Harry said.
“Is that true?” asked Belinda hopefully.
“We don’t know anything. Two of our people are missing. It looks like they were taken away in a helicopter by military personnel,” Nerit responded.
“But if it’s the army, that means we’re saved!” This from an older black woman named Tamara. Her expression was rapturous.
“Maybe it’s not the army at all,” Reverend Thomas suggested.
People were becoming agitated; voices swelled and arguments broke out. Some seemed almost desperate to believe this was good news while others looked dubious. Katie counted herself among the doubters.
Nerit held up a hand and gradually things quieted somewhat. “The truth is, we do not know enough about the situation to draw any conclusions.”
“We shouldn’t get excited,” Travis added. “We don’t know what this means for the fort.”
“But they’ll rescue us,” said Janet, a local. Her face was flushed and anxious.
“Save us how?” Travis asked her, point-blank.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 77
