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

by Frater, Rhiannon

  A growl—close by—startled her. Turning, she saw a horribly scorched, reanimated Amy step onto the platform. Freshly reborn, the zombie’s residual memory had enabled it to ascend the staircase.

  Raising her gun, Jenni fired at her zombified friend.

  The gun clicked empty.

  Amy lunged forward, her teeth snapping shut.

  Jenni jerked her hand away in shock. A surge of rage hit her and she slammed the gun down on Amy’s head until the dead woman’s skull shattered. Cursing, Jenni reached into Amy’s head and ripped out chunks of her brain, throwing them to the zombie horde below. Amy’s corpse slid to the ground, truly dead.

  I made the right choice, she thought again. Bending down, she washed her hands in the rushing water, which turned red with her blood.

  On the catwalk at the top of the stairs, Katie was waving and yelling, telling Jenni to jump into the pool of water below. The zombies had yet to entirely encircle the waterfall pool and at the moment, there was a chance Jenni could reach the stairs the others had used to escape. Katie didn’t understand, Jenni realized.

  She straightened and raised her arm, displaying her hand. Blood, hot with her life, trailed down her arm.

  “No!” Katie’s shout rang out over the roar of the water and the cries of the dead.

  Jenni kept her hand up in victory as she watched Katie turn to Kevin. The first lieutenant handed Katie his rifle. Jenni knew she had done the right thing. There was no running away this time. She had faced the monsters and she had saved the people she loved.

  She had won.

  I love you, Juan. I love you, Jason. I love you, Benj. I love you, Mikey. I love you, Katie.

  Katie raised the rifle.

  Yes, I did the right thing. This is how it should be. Absolution is good. I can face God and myself once more. I saved the children. I saved those people. I saved the ones I loved.

  Jenni smiled beatifically as peace filled her. She clenched her bitten hand into a tight fist over her head, the blood pouring down her arm.

  It’s been one helluva ride .

  The muzzle flash of Katie’s rifle was bright and brilliant. It just didn’t flash. It exploded toward her, a blast of dazzling, pure white light that swept over her. Warm and beautiful, it filled her senses. The smell of death disappeared; the pain disappeared. All she felt was love.

  3.

  Beyond the Light

  Juan’s eyes flickered open and he took a deep breath. Something felt different. Cold gray morning light filled his bedroom in the fort’s makeshift clinic.

  “Hey,” Jenni said as she sat down next to his bed.

  “Jenni,” he whispered, tears unexpectedly filling his eyes.

  “Hey, baby.” Her long, dark hair was dripping with water.

  “Why are you so wet?” he asked as her hand closed around his. Her skin felt cold and damp.

  “You know me. A total klutz.” She grinned.

  Juan’s mind felt jumbled. He tried to focus on the woman he loved, but the morning light streaming around her made her appear blurry around the edges.

  “You were kidnapped,” Juan said unsurely.

  “It totally sucked. We were stuck in this awful mall and there was this bitch of a senator and it was just bad.” Jenni rolled her eyes. “A mall, can you believe it?”

  “But you’re here now,” Juan said with relief. “Oh, Jenni, I was so worried.”

  “Juan, you should know me by now. Nothing, not even death, could keep me from coming to see you,” she said with a laugh.

  Her kiss was soft and wonderful and he touched her wet hair tenderly.

  “Loca, I missed you.”

  “I missed you,” Jenni whispered.

  “You’re hurt,” he said with concern, looking at her bloody hand.

  “You know me. I do crazy shit sometimes.” She giggled, then tucked her hand out of sight.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, worried even though he knew they wouldn’t have let her into the fort if she were infected.

  “Yeah, I’m fine now. I promise.” She smiled lovingly.

  “But you’re so wet.” Something didn’t feel right.

  “You make me wet, baby,” she teased.

  “Loca, I’m shot and you’re beat up, and you’re thinking about sex,” Juan teased right back.

  “Uh-huh. Well, mostly thinking about how much I love you,” Jenni said, more somber now.

  Juan sighed. “I promised myself that I would ask you to marry me when you got back. I know this really isn’t romantic, but—”

  Jenni kissed him again, then gazed deeply into his eyes. “In my heart, we were always married.”

  Juan tried to focus on her, but his vision was dimming. “You’re getting me wet, Loca.”

  “I know. I have to go now anyway and you need to sleep.”

  “Loca,” Juan gasped, suddenly feeling very emotional. “Loca, I love you.”

  She stood up, still holding his hand. She felt so cold and wet. He was worried about her.

  “And I love you.”

  To his chagrin, he felt himself fading into slumber. “Jenni, stay with me.”

  “I’m here,” Jenni assured him in a soft voice.

  As his eyes closed, the light behind Jenni seemed to brighten.

  “Jenni,” he sobbed as he finally understood.

  Her fingers slipped from his hand.

  She was engulfed in the light as she whispered, “I love you.”

  And then he was asleep.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  1.

  Exodus

  Trembling, Katie lowered the rifle. Hot, angry tears flowed down her cheeks and she choked back sobs as she watched Jenni’s body tumble into the pool at the base of the waterfall. Jenni’s body drifted on the waves, her black hair fanning out around her face like a dark halo. Relief filled Katie as the zombies abandoned their pursuit of Jenni now that she was dead.

  Robbed of living flesh, the zombies’ attention was drawn to the people on the stairs. The runners fought the slower creatures, attempting to be the first to reach the escaping humans.

  “Katie, we need to go,” Travis said urgently.

  “Katie, she’s at peace,” Kevin said soothingly, reaching for his weapon.

  Feeling numb, Katie walked onto the roof and into mayhem. People were climbing down the fire escape and then racing toward waiting trucks, guided and guarded by surviving members of the military. Above, two of the helicopters attempted to lure the zombies away from one of the back gates. In the parking lot, sobs of despair and cries of desperation filled the air, mingling with the hungry moans of the zombies.

  Travis led Katie across the roof to the rickety fire escape. The climb down was frightening; the thin metal shook under her feet. Her body was trembling so hard, her teeth were chattering.

  As Katie and Travis ran across the parking lot, Katie glimpsed Bette lifting the children Jenni had saved into a truck. All around, people scrambled into trucks and buses. Kevin ran to the lead truck, and Arnold directed Katie and Travis to a different one.

  “We’re almost out of here,” Travis said. “We’re going to be okay.”

  The National Guardsman at the wheel shouted for them to get into the cab. Katie had trouble making the climb; the cab was far off the ground. Her pregnant body felt awkward and heavy. Travis boosted her up, then climbed in next to her.

  Black smoke billowed out of the mall. The helicopters continued to try to herd the zombies away from one of the gates, taking turns gliding over the undead as one brave soldier hung out the side, waving and yelling.

  Safely secured in the truck, Travis took Katie’s hand. Frowning, he said, “I’m sorry I hurt you. I was afraid I’d lose you in the crowd.”

  Bruises were already appearing where he had gripped it tightly during their escape. She understood his concern, but the physical pain was nothing compared to her broken heart. “It’s okay. I was afraid I would lose you, too.” She lapsed into silence, not wanting to remember the hor
rible moment when Jenni’s hand had slipped out of her fingers.

  Pressing a kiss to her brow, Travis held her in his comforting embrace.

  Slowly, the buses and trucks moved forward, making a huge loop around the parking lot, building speed.

  “We’re going to blow the gates, then set off charges to push back the zombies,” their driver informed them.

  Katie nodded mutely and braced herself for the explosion.

  The redheaded soldier who had been directing traffic dived into a big Ford truck just as the center rear gate blew open. Immediately, the secondary bombs went off.

  Katie gasped and Travis flinched beside her.

  Fire and smoke filled the street outside the mall as the first truck barreled out of the parking lot. Military and civilian trucks, plus several metro buses and a school bus, roared out of the parking lot into the town of Madison.

  Helicopters swooped overhead, attempting to distract the zombie throng. Behind the convoy, the doors of the mall shattered from the heat of the fire. Burning zombies staggered into the abandoned parking lot as the last bus rolled through the gate.

  Katie held on to the dash for dear life as the motorcade roared through Madison. Zombies rushed at them, but the drivers never faltered. They smashed into the zombies, crushing them or hurling them into nearby buildings. In minutes, the vehicles were past the city limits and heading into the countryside.

  As the sun broke completely free of the horizon, the unrelenting dead followed the convoy.

  2.

  Long Road Through Hell

  The country road swerved through the barren hills, the cracks in the asphalt already thick with gnarled weeds. Juniper and cedar trees stretched twisted limbs up toward the low, gray sky. Occasionally, the convoy passed a zombie, which immediately began struggling toward the vehicles.

  Staring out the window, Katie wondered if the trees were praying for the survivors of the mall’s destruction. She dimly remembered, from her Bible school days, a verse about trees praying when no one else had a voice. Katie closed her eyes, and fresh tears slipped silently down her cheeks.

  The convoy had taken a long, roundabout route to make sure that any zombies tailing them from Madison would end up wandering away from the fort. Now the trucks and buses were driving along back roads, past long-dead farmhouses and ranches, heading for Ashley Oaks at last.

  Fleeing the zombies in the mall, clutching Travis’s and Jenni’s hands, had been the most terrifying event of Katie’s life, worse even than the first day. She’d been overwhelmed by the sight of so many zombies. The moans and screams of the dead and living had formed a mind-shattering cacophony.

  As long as she lived, she would never forget the despair that had filled her when Jenni’s fingers slid from her grasp.

  “Fuck!” The driver swore as he wrenched the wheel to one side; the truck swerved, tossing Katie and Travis to the side of the big cab. Katie watched through the windshield as the truck in front of them also veered wildly. The tarp covering the rear of the truck swung open, revealing a young boy, his face covered in blood. Screaming, he reached toward them, before someone pulled him back inside.

  “They’re infected,” Katie gasped. Nervously, she glanced over her shoulder, wondering if any of the people in the back of their vehicle had been bitten.

  “We didn’t have a chance to check everyone before we left,” Travis said in anguish. “It all happened so fast.”

  As they watched in horror, the truck sped off the road, down an incline, and into some trees, shattering branches and slender trunks before colliding with the thick bole of an enormous oak. Katie saw the driver thrashing wildly in the cab and wondered if he was infected. People began to pour out of the back, bloodied and screaming. Horribly, it was impossible to tell if they were turned, infected, or still safe.

  The truck Katie and Travis were in sped up, closing the gap that had opened in the line of vehicles. Katie watched in the side mirror as soldiers riding farther back in the motorcade opened fire on the people rushing toward the road. Two of the soldiers hurled something into the back of the crashed truck; then there were two loud bangs.

  “Grenades,” their driver said solemnly. “All according to plan.”

  Travis sighed and pulled Katie back into his arms. Kissing her brow, he whispered, “We’ll get home soon.”

  Katie nodded mutely. She still wasn’t sure if her father or Bill were alive. She knew that Jenni was dead, and now so were all the people in that truck. All those poor people who thought they had been saved.

  * * *

  When the line of trucks and buses reached a stretch of road bordered on either side by large fields, Kevin used his walkie-talkie to order a stop. The open spaces would make it easy for his troops to see any zombies in the area. Sliding out of the lead truck, he felt bone weary and numb. In just thirty minutes, they had lost hundreds of lives, including that of his best friend, Valerie. He couldn’t bear to think about her right now. He had a job to do.

  Kevin stood solemnly, watching the convoy come to a halt. Bette emerged from a Dodge truck, her face pinched and tired beneath the close crop of her blond hair. Joining him, the lean woman with the dusky complexion said, “What’s up?”

  “We lost a truck back there. We need to search the rest of the vehicles for any infected,” Kevin said.

  “And if we find some?” Arnold asked, walking up to the first lieutenant along with several other soldiers.

  Kevin rubbed the back of his head with one hand. He studied the eight grim faces of those gathered around him. They had never had to kill infected civilians before, just people who were already zombies, and it made his heart ache to ask this of them. At last, he said, “We have no choice. Bette, check our people out first.”

  For several tense minutes, there was silence as the medic thoroughly searched each man and woman for bites. Cleared, they moved out, Kevin behind them. If he expected his people to do the shit jobs, then he better damn well be willing to do them himself.

  They began with his own truck, opening the flaps and explaining what was going on to the people inside. The passengers climbed out slowly and stood close together. One woman hesitated, then held out her arm, showing a clear bite. Those around her immediately withdrew.

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly, then sniffled. Her eyes welled up.

  Kevin said very gently, “It’s okay, ma’am. Just step over there.”

  “I’m really sorry,” she said again. “It doesn’t hurt. Maybe—” She broke into sobs.

  Bette carefully led the weeping woman to the side of the road.

  “Anyone else?” Kevin asked.

  No one volunteered, so the soldiers began inspecting all the passengers. To everyone’s relief, no one else had been bitten. Once they had been cleared, the men and women got back into their vehicle.

  The procedure was repeated with the next truck and the next. Each time, people were allowed to volunteer that they were infected before everyone was searched. No one protested.

  The next several vehicles were clear and Kevin felt a pang of hope. They had already lost so many people, he just didn’t feel he could deal with much more death.

  Behind him, he heard the infected woman still crying.

  The passengers from a metro bus were given the all clear. As they reboarded, many looked at him desperately, seeking some kind of reassurance. Kevin forced a smile he did not feel, and several hollow-eyed people looked relieved.

  Moving on to the next truck, he saw Travis drop to the ground then reach up to help Katie out of the cab. Bette and two other soldiers quickly examined them and the driver and cleared them. They moved on to the back of the truck and began unloading the passengers.

  Kevin strode up to the couple. “Good to see you’re safe and sound.”

  Travis glanced at the infected woman, who had collapsed to the pavement, sobbing. “I wish everyone was.”

  “Me, too. She probably won’t be the only one,” Kevin said with a sad shake of his he
ad.

  Travis gripped Kevin’s shoulder briefly. “I’m sorry about your friends back in the mall. They were brave.”

  “So was Jenni,” Kevin said with a slight smile. “Helluva a feisty one, wasn’t she?”

  “You have no idea,” Travis responded with a bittersweet chuckle. “No idea.”

  Katie smiled thinly at this comment. She looked exhausted and was holding tightly to Travis’s arm.

  “You really should kill her now,” Katie said in a tremulous voice, looking at the bitten woman. “She could turn at any second.”

  “What do you mean? She’s not dead yet,” Kevin said, startled at her words.

  “Sometimes infected people turn without dying,” Travis answered.

  “Are you serious?” Kevin asked incredulously. He rubbed his brow and looked back at the woman, who had fallen silent.

  The woman lurched to her feet and whirled on the guard. Without flinching, the soldier shot her point-blank in the head.

  The people in the parked vehicles cried out in horror.

  “You should kill them immediately,” Travis recommended.

  “I’d rather give them the dignity of a choice while they are still alive,” Kevin answered grimly. “I can’t ask my people to murder living beings.”

  “It’s what you have to do,” Katie said. “It’s what I did for Jenni.”

  Kevin stared into Katie’s tormented eyes, then turned away, shaking his head.

  “It’s what we do at the fort,” Travis said somberly.

  “We’re not at the fort yet,” Kevin answered grimly. Fuck. Could this get any worse?

  “Katie!”

  Kevin looked up to see Bruce Kiel being helped from a truck. His wrist was heavily bandaged. Kevin felt his heart sink.

  “Dad! No!” Katie rushed toward her father.

  Bruce held up a hand, motioning her back as he joined the line to be inspected. “It’s okay, baby. Stay right there, okay?”

  Katie obeyed him, stopping in her tracks. “Dad,” Katie said in a calmer, yet shaking voice, “did you get bitten?”

  “I’m not sure it’s a bite,” Bruce replied. “I punched a few of them while escaping, but I also climbed through a broken window to get out of a store.”