As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Frater, Rhiannon

  “Who’s going to die?”

  Lydia gazed at Katie for a long, tender moment.

  Travis held his breath, then repeated, “Who will die, Lydia?”

  The dead woman hesitated. “The future isn’t set. It’s constantly changing, evolving, based on people’s actions.”

  “But you know something.”

  “Juan is going to be all right. The operation was a success,” she said softly; then suddenly she was gone and Charlotte was standing over Travis, shaking him gently by the shoulder.

  “Did you hear me, Travis? Juan is going to be all right. We got the bullet and he’s stable.”

  Katie was stirring and when she heard Charlotte’s words, she leaped up and hugged her with joy. “Thank you, Charlotte!”

  “Oh, thank God!” Rosie said, sobbing.

  Then everyone was crying and hugging one another. Travis felt relieved but weirdly disconnected from his friends. His dream still felt tangible, and despite himself, he looked around for Lydia.

  “Are you okay? You look a little odd,” Katie said.

  “I had a weird dream.”

  “Yeah, me, too. I dreamed you and Lydia were talking while I slept,” Katie said. “Strange, huh?”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  1.

  The Return of the Living Dead and More

  The fort was completely enshrouded in fog and the fading darkness of the new day.

  “Hate it when it’s like this,” Katarina groused as she stood watch on the wall, shivering in the early-morning chill.

  “Should clear up once the sun is fully up,” Monica, her partner on watch, offered.

  “Just makes me nervous.”

  “… if it was really her, then it means she’s not trapped in a rotting corpse out there…” Katie’s voice trailed out of the mist.

  Katarina felt the floor beneath her quiver as the joggers approached. The extensive catwalk that had been built around the interior of the walled-in fort was finally finished, and several people used it as a jogging path, especially in the early-morning hours. Katie and Travis emerged from the mist, huffing and puffing, jogging slowly at an even stride.

  “I don’t know if I believe in ghosts,” Travis said to his wife.

  Everyone nodded hello to one another as the joggers shot by.

  “Look, we live in a zombie-infested world. … I think that ghosts are not that much of a stretch anymore…,” Katie replied, and then they were gone.

  Katarina wasn’t sure what Katie and Travis were talking about, but on a morning like this, she didn’t want to think about zombies and ghosts. She had a rough enough time dealing with her mother’s ghost glowering at her at the worst times. Already, her skin was pricking and she didn’t dare look behind her.

  “This is the kinda thing that goes down in horror movies right before the monsters show up.” Katarina lit a cigarette.

  Monica laughed. “Oh, c’mon, you’re not going to get all spooked out by some mist?”

  Katarina gave Monica her coldest eye.

  Monica grinned in response. “Zombies exist. I think we have the major spook factor covered, huh?”

  The Christmas lights blinked on and off, small halos of red and green light illuminating the mist. As the fog parted slowly, at least a dozen zombies staggered into view. Decayed and gruesome, they pounded on the fort wall with low, rumbling moans.

  Once again, Katarina was grateful for the wall. “Not too bad a group.”

  “Bullets or spears?”

  “Save the ammo,” Katarina answered. She and Monica grabbed long spears and braced themselves against the railing. The first group of zombies looked up and froze. They stared with wide, glazed eyes and slack mouths at the Christmas lights above. Some of the zombies behind them either didn’t notice or weren’t affected by the lights; they shoved past the staring ones to beat on the wall.

  Katarina took a breath, ignoring the stench, and began to carefully plunge the spear into zombie skulls. She’d killed three of the creatures before a fourth grabbed her weapon, which she instantly released.

  She was reaching for another spear when Monica shouted, “Katarina, they’re pulling back!”

  Whirling around, Katarina saw most of the zombies trudging back into the mist. Only three remained, staring at the Christmas lights.

  “Someone’s alive down there, close by. That’s the only thing that would make them back off.”

  “Shit!” Monica pulled out her walkie-talkie. “We have a situation outside the wall. Possible human survivors approaching.”

  Moving swiftly, Katarina raised her rifle and dropped the last three zombies with a single shot each. All around the fort, spotlights were switched on, blazing out over the walls. Katarina cursed—nothing was visible except the now-gleaming mist. Hopefully whoever was out there could see the lights.

  In the distance, Katarina heard the rumble of what sounded like an engine. Monica swung her spotlight back and forth, trying to see through the fog. A new sound broke through the moans of the unseen zombies—the barks and growls of what sounded like a good-sized pack of dogs.

  “Hello!” Katarina called out.

  Travis and Katie reappeared out of the fog. “What’s going on?” Travis asked.

  “The zombies that were attacking the wall just took off,” Monica answered.

  “We think someone is alive down there,” Katarina added. “Just listen.”

  A huge chunk of mist floated down the street even as the sun’s rays began to slowly disperse the fog. The area outside the walls crept into view. The engine sound grew louder.

  “I’ll be damned!” Monica said.

  A huge tractor was slowly coming down Bowie Street, towing two flatbeds. A strange, cagelike contraption surrounded the driver’s seat of the tractor. The first flatbed was piled high with chicken coops and pet carriers; the second carried bales of hay. Behind this, following at a slow walk, was a small herd of black and white cows. Weaving in and out of the parade were dogs of many sizes and breeds.

  And zombies.

  It was almost comical, watching the zombies try to get to the driver of the tractor. Some were bouncing off the cows, which they completely ignored. Others were being attacked by the dogs.

  Even the littlest Chihuahuas seemed almost rabid in their apparent hatred of the zombies. They clamped their jaws onto the dead and tore at them viciously. As the stunned onlookers on the walls watched, the pack took down a zombie with primal savagery. When a little terrier walked out of the fray carrying the thing’s head by an ear, Katarina began to laugh.

  “I’m going to start picking off the zombies on the outer edge,” Katarina said. There were at least a dozen struggling to get past the dogs and cows to the driver.

  A male zombie scrambled up onto the side of the tractor and shook the cage. It suddenly stiffened, then tumbled over dead. The zombie of an elderly woman tripped over a dog, fell, and was trampled by the cows.

  The mist rolled back as the grayish light of dawn filled the streets. The driver of the tractor could now be clearly identified as Calhoun, complete with foil jumpsuit and cowboy hat. Katarina and Monica shot the zombies as Calhoun turned the tractor to run alongside the wall.

  Spotting the fort people, he slowed down and shouted, “Got dairy cows for milk and chickens for eggs! Nobody eats ’em or I keep driving.”

  “Okay, Calhoun, just get inside!” Travis shouted back.

  With a salute, Calhoun shifted gears and the parade continued.

  Katarina could now see that the pet carriers on the first flatbed were filled with snarling, hissing cats.

  Meanwhile, the little dog was still dragging the zombie head while a bigger dog attempted to steal it.

  “Leave that nasty ol’ head alone, Pee Wee,” Calhoun called.

  The little black dog heard its master and dropped the head. It hesitated, then lifted its leg and peed on the head before trotting after the rest of the dogs.

  Katarina thought she would die laughing.
r />   2.

  John Wayne, the Alamo, and the Republic of Texas

  “Calhoun, seriously, I want to talk to you,” Travis called from outside the rope corral. He peered through the milling cows, looking for the older man.

  “Can’t talk … milking,” Calhoun answered from somewhere in the herd.

  Travis sighed, climbed over the rope, and pushed through the cows, which barely acknowledged his presence.

  Calhoun was seated on a short stool beside one of the black and white beasts, milking away. He still wore his foil suit and smelled of sour milk and sweat. Three cats and two dogs waited patiently for their master to send a squirt of fresh milk their way.

  “So you went for your animals,” Travis commented with a wry smile.

  “Yep. Figured the feeders were about empty,” Calhoun answered. “Had them rigged up to last half a year.”

  “I see.”

  “We need milk and eggs anyway,” Calhoun said. “Keeps our brains sharp against the aliens. ’Sides, army’s been circling my farm. Don’t need them taking my stuff,” Calhoun said darkly. “Don’t take kindly to martial law. Didn’t vote for that yokel in the White House.”

  “I think that yokel is dead,” Travis said. “We’re glad you’re back, even though now we have to figure out how to handle the animals.” He looked down at a Chihuahua that was busy sniffing his foot. “We thought Blanche had killed you.”

  “That bitch? Hell no! I saw her wandering around on the roads. Almost feel bad for them zombies that ate her. Must have given ’em a bad case of indigestion,” Calhoun said with a snort.

  “Calhoun, seriously, we got to talk,” Travis said, trying to redirect the conversation.

  Calhoun looked up at him through the long, crazy threads of his thick eyebrows and said, “You wired?”

  “By who?”

  “That old woman with the devil’s eye.”

  “Nerit?”

  “I figured it out. She’s the real Amazonian queen.”

  Travis considered this, then shrugged. “Probably, but no, I’m not wired.”

  “What do you want to know?” Calhoun asked as he sprayed a cat with milk. The tabby licked the rich white liquid from its whiskers with relish.

  “How long have you known about the army?”

  “Army’s been around for a long time,” Calhoun answered. “Started back when we fought against the alien overlords that were possessing the English king.”

  “I mean, recently. The helicopters.”

  “I told you the government was kidnapping people for cloning. Then the clones got fucked up and now they’re zombies.”

  “Do you know where the helicopters are coming from?”

  Calhoun studied Travis long and hard before saying, “Madison. I monitor the military channels all the time. I will not be caught unaware again!” Calhoun squirted two dogs, muttering about zombies, clones, Ashley Oaks’ former mayor, and the possessed government.

  “You’ve been listening to military channels on the radio?”

  “Yep,” Calhoun said, nodding vigorously. “Madison Mall. They’re all holed up in there, and some she-devil overlord is running the whole shebang. Talks all high and mighty to some nitwit in someplace called Central Government. They keep telling her that they want her to stay put.”

  “Why doesn’t she take a helicopter to Central Government?”

  “’Cause they’d shoot her ass down. Bam bam bam! ” Calhoun made a great show of this happening, complete with a demonstration of how the helicopter would fall to earth. “Zombies would have barbecue.”

  The old man was making sense, in a way. “Okay, so this she-devil overlord is at this Madison Mall place and she has the military working for her?”

  Calhoun made a face. “Guess so. Mostly I listen so I know where they’re gonna be. Don’t want them near my stuff. Bad enough dealing with the aliens and the zombie-clones. Don’t need to be dealing with the she-devil’s helicopters. I seriously think she has mental powers to control people.” Calhoun pointed to his hat made out of foil. “She ain’t gonna get me.”

  “Do they have Jenni?”

  “Yep. And Bill. Heard that this morning.” Calhoun milked in earnest now.

  “Bill?” Travis felt an unpleasant combination of relief and despair, knowing that Roger and Felix had to be dead.

  “Yep. They are a-coming to visit. That’s why I brought the animals in. Figure if we’re gonna pull an Alamo, might as well have fresh eggs and milk.” With a grin, the old codger picked up the bucket and stool and headed for the hotel, a trail of kids, dogs, and cats behind him. “Y’all should have listened to me when I first told you all this. Now we’re gonna have to fight down to the last man.”

  * * *

  Katie and Nerit watched Travis’s conversation with Calhoun with some amusement.

  “We have cows,” Katie observed.

  “Yep.” Nerit smirked.

  They stood at the guard post on the edge of Main Street, looking down into the corral that had been thrown up on a cleared lot near the hotel. The cows were comfortably munching on hay and apparently enjoying the attention they were getting. People were lined up around the roped-off area, trying to pet them.

  “And cats,” Katie said, pointing to a cat walking daintily across the old construction site.

  “And dogs,” Nerit added. She gave the Chihuahua trying to mate with her boot a dark look. It grinned up at her and kept going.

  “Did we want him back?” Katie asked, scrunching up her nose.

  “Unfortunately, I think we did.”

  “We’re on crack,” Katie decided.

  “Absolutely,” Nerit answered.

  Travis joined them, a somber expression on his face.

  “Well?” the Israeli woman asked.

  “He’s plumb nuts, Nerit.”

  “Yes, Travis, but did he say anything enlightening?”

  “He says the military is at the Madison Mall like we suspected. He’s been monitoring the military channels.” Travis hesitated and took Katie’s hand gently. “He says they have Bill and Jenni at the mall.”

  Katie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Nerit merely nodded.

  “He said something about a woman being in charge and that she’s evil. I’m not sure how much to believe. He sees the world in a really warped way. He’s convinced we’re about to do another Alamo.”

  Nerit tilted her head thoughtfully. “I have a feeling that a lot of what he is telling you is true, just twisted to fit his theory of how the world runs.”

  Katie cocked her head. “Okay, what do we do now?”

  “I guess, get ready for the military to come knocking,” Travis said. “Calhoun says he heard them talking about coming to see us.”

  “And I get to be John Wayne,” Nerit stated with a gleam in her eye.

  “Oh, no, no, Nerit. I want to be John Wayne,” Travis protested.

  Nerit considered this, then shook her head. “No. I’m John Wayne.”

  Katie knew that these moments of teasing concealed serious concerns. She had read somewhere that John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death—but saddling up anyway.”

  They were going to have to saddle up.

  Sweeping her hair back from her face, she wondered what Bill and Jenni were experiencing.

  Were they saddling up?

  3.

  The Twilight World

  Jenni couldn’t believe she was in a freaking mall. At least the damn “mall music” wasn’t on.

  Grumpily, she tried to get comfortable, but it wasn’t easy on the hard canvas cot. Bill was snoring loudly in the next cot, and she was surrounded by the gentle breathing of other sleepers. It was hard to believe she was spending another night in this godforsaken place. She missed Juan with all her heart. She firmly believed he was still alive and waiting for her.

  Staring up at the high ceiling, she sniffed back tears. The mall’s emergency lights were on, keeping her awake. She needed to sleep in a pitch-bla
ck space. She needed Juan next to her. She rolled over, putting her back to Bill.

  Mikey was lying on the cot on her other side. He was fast asleep; his sweet face, slowly transitioning from little boy to teenager, made her heart beat faster.

  No, Mikey was dead.

  Yet there he was, deeply asleep, mouth hanging slightly open.

  She pressed her eyes closed.

  When she looked again, Mikey was still there.

  “No!” Jenni woke with a start, gasping. Where her son had been a moment before, she saw a little girl clutching an oversized teddy bear.

  Her heart was thudding so hard, she could barely stand it. Tears flowed as Jenni covered her face with both hands and wept silently.

  She hated the mall. Hated it! It made her feel helpless. It made her think of that horrible day. She should have found a way to save her son. But she’d been scared. She had run, and she didn’t turn back to see if he was behind her. Not once.

  “It’s about choices made and not made. It’s about what we do with our life and the impact we have on others,” a soft voice said. “Do you understand?”

  She raised her head and saw Katie’s dead wife, Lydia, sitting at the end of the bed. She recognized Lydia from the cell phone photo Katie had shown her, months earlier.

  “I … ran. …”

  Lydia nodded. “I know.”

  “Was Mikey the one who was supposed to survive? Did I steal his life from him?”

  “Right or wrong, you made a choice that day and because of it you had a second chance to find happiness. To fight to survive with those who love you. To live a new life.”

  “Why are you here?” Jenni asked.

  “Because very soon, Jenni, you are going to have to make that same choice again.”

  Jenni nodded. “I know. I’ve been feeling it. Will I make it back to the fort? To see Juan?”

  Lydia smiled gently. “Yes, you will.”

  “Then I am not afraid now.”

  The ghost’s expression became tinged with sadness. “I know, Jenni. But you will be.”

  Jenni woke with a start. The mall was full of light, and voices drifted around her. The smell of weak coffee and something close to oatmeal wafted in the air. Sitting up groggily, she looked across the store at the people gathering in line for breakfast.