“Travis!” Katie screamed from above.
“Katie, run! Get help!”
The zombie’s gnarled, gray hand slashed out; its teeth snapped together as it growled. Circling around it quickly, Travis thanked God for its slowness. He shoved it over. It landed facedown and clawed at the ground.
He heard the sounds of a struggle from the top of the wall. He wanted desperately to look up but knew he had to kill the zombie first.
The creature started to clamber to its feet and Travis rushed forward, kicked it down again, and planted his foot squarely on its brittle neck. He felt the bones giving way under his weight as he rammed the knife into the zombie’s eye socket. Its teeth champed just inches away from his hand as he leaned all his weight into the knife and felt the blade push deeper. Working the knife back and forth, he finally felt the undead thing go limp.
Katie screamed and Travis spun around, staring up at last. His very pregnant wife was dangling from the railing. Curtis was trying to pry her hands loose.
“Curtis, stop!” Travis shouted.
Low moans from behind him made his scalp crawl. Slowly, he turned his head and saw at least a dozen zombies lumbering into the mouth of the alley.
He felt completely and utterly helpless.
* * *
With an eerie calm, Curtis worked to dislodge Katie from the rail. “Got some zombies down there ready for ya. I disabled the traps earlier just so they would have a chance to eat you.”
“You fucking asshole!” Katie screamed.
Smiling madly, Curtis kept saying, “It’s okay, really. It’s fine, let go.”
The moans of the zombies were louder. Travis was swearing at Curtis, his voice full of despair.
“You’re going to die, Katie, just like Jenni did. This is the end of your little Thelma and Louise story. No one can save you,” Curtis said in a disturbingly soothing tone.
“Hey, fuckface,” Jenni’s voice said sharply. She was standing behind Curtis, looking very real and solid to Katie. “Why don’t you try fucking with me, asshole?”
Curtis spun to face the black-haired woman. “You’re dead!” he said, sounding surprised.
“So?”
Just then Katie lost her grip and half slid, half fell down the outside of the wall.
As she dropped out of sight, Katie saw Jenni stare Curtis straight in the eye, grinning.
“Bang,” the dead woman said.
“Wha—?” was all he managed before a hole was punched neatly through his brow above his left eye.
Curtis fell slowly to the catwalk, crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut.
* * *
Juan reached the catwalk just in time to see Katie fall and Curtis die at Jenni’s feet. Startled, he could barely breathe as he stumbled toward the woman he loved.
“Loca,” he whispered.
“Hey, baby,” she answered with a wide smile. She looked down, yelled, “Shit!” then swung her legs over the rail and dropped out of sight.
* * *
Katie fell into Travis’s arms, sending them both sprawling. Travis scrambled up and hoisted her to her feet. There were now maybe twenty zombies in the alley, moving resolutely toward them.
* * *
Nerit shoved past Juan and stepped over Curtis’s body. It had taken her longer than she’d hoped to get her sniper rifle and rid the world of that bastard. Taking up position, she aimed at the zombies shambling toward her friends.
* * *
Katie and Travis shouted for help at the top of their lungs. They both flinched when a figure fell from above.
Jenni landed on her feet in front of them and flipped her hair back from her face.
“Hey, Travis,” she called.
He gaped at her.
With a grin, Jenni sauntered toward the zombies, her long hair flowing in the night wind and her laughter drifting into the night.
“What the hell?” Travis managed.
“She’s back … kinda,” Katie answered.
* * *
Jenni smiled at the undead. She understood them now in a way she could not in life. While they were dreadfully sad and terrible, they were also hunger personified, and her friends were their chosen meal.
That was simply not acceptable.
“Hey, fucktards, why don’t you stop right there and wait for the nice sniper lady to shoot your heads off?” she said, then stepped into the middle of the mob.
The zombies grabbed at her, their hands slipping through her arms, neck, and body. They growled in confusion and hunger.
“Good zombies. Now, bang.”
The first zombie’s head exploded.
* * *
Juan could barely believe what he was seeing, but his Jenni held the zombies at bay as Nerit shot them one by one.
The loading dock doors slid open and Kevin emerged with heavily armed soldiers at his side. With the way cleared for them by Nerit’s expert shooting, Katie and Travis rushed for cover. Kevin leaped down to help Travis lift Katie onto the dock as Nerit continued to fire; then everyone retreated to safety. The heavy doors clanged shut behind them.
Juan watched in awe as Jenni walked calmly past the downed monsters, pulling the remaining zombies along with her. Jenni shoved a few out of her way as she walked, but whenever they tried to touch her, they failed. They followed her relentlessly, moaning with aggravation.
Jenni squatted down, examining the ground. Finding the broken mechanism hidden in the dirt, Jenni smiled up at the zombies clustered around her, then triggered the trap.
A spring-loaded frame mounted with razor wire sprang upright, slashing through the crowd of undead, dismembering the zombies instantly.
Jenni rose, smiled again, and was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
1.
The Time of Choice
The lobby grew packed with people as word of what had happened with Curtis, Travis, and Katie spread. Katie and Travis huddled together on a couch.
“This is bullshit,” Ed declared. “Sorry, folks, but I don’t believe in ghosts. Jenni is dead—end of story. And protocol was broken when Kevin opened the loading dock.”
“Were we supposed to leave them out there to die?” Peggy asked angrily.
“I’m just saying that this place is going to shit fast,” Ed responded.
“I saw Jenni,” Juan said sharply.
“Ghosts are bullshit, and if this is how people are gonna act when the zombies come, breaking rules and throwing plans to the wind ’cause someone they really like is in danger, I’m out of here,” Ed groused.
“I see ghosts, too,” Katarina said from near the elevators. “I saw my mama until Bill and I got engaged.”
“How many here saw a ghost tonight?” Nerit’s voice broke through the murmuring.
Silence fell over the lobby. People were still stunned by her miraculous recovery. She appeared stronger than ever before. Her keen eyes swept over the faces, demanding an answer. Nearly a third of the people in the room raised their hands. Nerit nodded as if she’d received confirmation of something she’d suspected.
“I saw my dead husband,” she said. “He told me what Curtis was trying to do. I saw Jenni, too. Now, I may be an old woman, but that only means I’ve lived longer than most of you. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen things I cannot explain.” Nerit’s voice was strong. “The ghosts came to guide us. But they have all passed on now, and it’s up to us to deal with what happens next.”
“C’mon,” a voice said nearby. “That’s a bunch of bull. You’re sounding as crazed as those Baptists we threw out.”
“I saw Jenni, too,” Travis said. “Clear as day. She held off the zombies coming for me and Katie. We have the dead walking the earth, why are ghosts so hard to believe in?”
“Ghosts or no, that side door was opened,” Ed said, “and there were explicit orders to keep it closed.”
“That was my call,” Kevin said. “To save Travis and Katie.”
Gretchen, who had been
a librarian until the zombies rose—and had always been an outspoken woman—stepped up to stand next to Ed. “Ed’s right. We’ve been doing what you said, even when we disagreed, because we want this to work. But would that door have been opened for me?”
Angry murmurs grew loud until Nerit held up her hand. “Kevin did what he felt was right. You may not agree, but the choice was made.”
Travis stood up. “This isn’t the time to fall apart.”
Long-festering resentments were flowing to the surface. Friends and family members were arguing with one another. Everyone was on edge. Everyone was afraid.
“Maybe the Baptists had it right. Maybe it isn’t safe here,” Gretchen said at last. “Especially if we can’t trust our leadership to look out for all of us.”
“They’ve been excluding us a lot lately. They tossed Blanche out without a vote!” someone shouted.
Travis winced. “It seemed like the best choice at the time.”
“You cut us out of that decision,” Ed said sharply.
Kevin moved to Nerit’s side. “Everyone standing here knows how hard it has been on those in leadership roles. We’ve all suffered losses.”
“Maybe looking out for our own best interests is the way to go,” Ed said flatly.
“I don’t understand where this is coming from,” Travis protested.
“A lot of us are tired of feeling that we don’t have a choice about what goes on,” Gretchen said. “No offense, Travis, but it’s damn hard, in this world, to give our lives over to other people.”
Ed nodded slowly. “It’s nothing personal. I may be a mite angry, but I’m damn scared. What happens if something goes wrong out there and someone opens a gate or a door they shouldn’t? I don’t like feeling like I’m not in control of my own life. Gimme a truck and some ammo. I’m willing to take a chance out there on my own.”
“Let them go,” Eric said from near the front desk. “Let whoever wants to leave the fort take what they need and go.”
“We need them here. Everyone has a role to play in the upcoming battle,” Juan protested. “Everyone has assignments!”
“Some of us don’t want to be part of any battle,” a man near Juan snapped.
More voices rumbled through the vast room, both disagreeing and agreeing.
At last Travis stood. He said, “Very well. If you want to go, go. We’ve got some extra vehicles. But you’re on your own once you’re gone.”
Ed nodded. “That’s fair.”
Nerit observed the room thoughtfully. Katie noticed that Kevin’s hand was resting on her back in a gesture that seemed more for his comfort than for hers. “Those who are going must go tonight,” she said.
“Why?” Gretchen asked, with an edge in her voice that sounded more like frustration than anger.
“The zombie horde will arrive in the morning. At nine twenty, they will cross the first line.”
“How do you know that?” Art asked sharply.
“My husband told me. The battle is tomorrow. If you’re going to leave, it has to be now,” Nerit said firmly.
“Why are we supposed to believe her?” someone asked.
“Because she knows what she’s talking about.” A haggard-looking Otis Calhoun strode through the crowd, carrying a small tape recorder. “I’ve been monitoring the alien transmissions. Got this.” He held up the recorder and hit PLAY.
A woman’s voice came from the speaker. “If anyone can hear us, we’re trying to get to the fort, but ran into thousands of zombies near the junction of 16 and 1456. We got away and are heading back to the Baptist Encampment. Hello? Can anyone hear me? It’s Milo and Susan. We were trying to get home but they’re everywhere.”
Katie felt a chill. The junction they had named was close to town.
“I gotcha,” Calhoun’s voice said on the tape. “Head back to the crazy Baptists and stay low. Make sure their demon-possessed leader don’t do nothing stupid. We’ll fight off the zombie-clones and let you know when it’s clear.”
“Thanks, Calhoun,” the voice answered.
Calhoun hit STOP.
The lobby was completely silent for a long minute. Then Ed said, “We leave tonight.”
“Can I go with you?” a voice called out.
It was Belinda. Juan’s one-time crush and Mike’s widow. She pushed through the people to Ed’s side. “I want to go, too.”
“Okay. You can come. Let’s roll within the hour,” Ed said.
Arguments sprang up everywhere. People were shouting and crying. Katie watched, sad with the knowledge that there was nothing more she could do.
2.
Sweet Sorrow
Three Durangos and three other cars were quickly loaded with ammunition, MREs, and jugs of water—with Peggy setting the limits on what people could take. Families were being split apart as folks carried bags of clothes and personal effects to their vehicles. Some kept arguing; others were saying tearful farewells. Twenty-three people were leaving.
Ed strode through the throng with Belinda in his wake. Ed’s sons were already in the backseat of their truck, holding shotguns. It was no surprise that they were leaving with their father; they were a tight-knit family.
A young woman helped her six-year-old daughter into a car’s rear seat and buckled her in, then climbed in beside the child. Two men got into the front. The slamming doors seemed to sound a note of finality.
“They’re probably all going to die,” Juan said finally. He and Travis were leaning against a pallet of bricks, watching the departure preparations.
“Yeah, but it’s their choice.”
Having seen Belinda to the SUV, Ed walked over. His haggard face was worn and his eyes tired, but his jaw was set firmly. As he drew near, he thrust out his hand. “Boys, it’s been good,” he said.
Travis didn’t hesitate to take his hand and clasp it tightly. “We’ll miss you.”
“We did good here, but we gotta move on,” Ed said.
Juan stepped forward and he and Ed shook as well. “Take care, man.”
“I will. Hope you guys make it through tomorrow okay.”
“We will,” Travis said confidently.
Ed nodded, then headed for his truck. Other conversations broke up as people followed his lead and climbed into their vehicles.
Juan lifted a walkie-talkie to his lips. “Clear?”
“All clear,” was the response.
“Open the gates,” Juan ordered.
Travis exhaled slowly as the massive doors opened. In his peripheral vision, he saw Peggy sobbing. A few of the fort’s inhabitants called out to their loved ones, pleading with them to stay even as the vehicles rolled out of the fort.
“This sucks,” Juan finally grumbled.
“Can’t be helped,” Rune said from nearby.
“What do you mean?” Travis asked.
“Texans stick together as long as they have a common enemy, but when they feel someone is trying to put the hammer down on them, watch out. Things have mostly gone fine around here, but right now, people are feeling powerless and they’re gonna either fight or run. Those folks … God bless ’em … they’re running.” Rune grinned, showing all his teeth. “They’re scared, so they’re outta here. I say let ’em go.” He waved at the last Durango.
Travis reluctantly agreed.
“They’re just a bunch of ingrates,” Peggy said, joining them, her face red from crying.
Calhoun came up to them and said, “Okay, the pussies are gone and the real soldiers are left. So, I gotta know a few things real quick.”
“What is it, Calhoun?” Travis couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the old man, who was wearing some sort of weird hat with what looked like a miniature satellite dish on top.
“Is Nerit going to have the Amazons come help us tomorrow?”
Travis grinned, then shook his head. “No, they’re staying put on Paradise Island.”
Calhoun frowned. “They don’t live on Paradise Island.” With a scornful look, Calhoun stal
ked off, muttering about Amazons not helping out like decent women should.
“Oops.” Juan laughed.
Travis shook his head ruefully. The group turned to leave the paddock and Travis was surprised to see Manny Reyes, the former mayor of Ashley Oaks, walking slowly back toward the hotel. He was pale and short of breath. The poor man suffered from coronary disease, and his medicine stores had run out a few months before. It was clear to Travis that the mayor’s time was running out. He caught up to Manny and took his arm to give him support.
“I’m fine,” Manny said in a breathy voice. He did not pull away, though, and Travis made sure to match the sick man’s pace. “I came down to say good-bye to a few friends.”
“Guess they didn’t care for our style of leadership,” Travis said in a miffed tone.
“Let me tell you something,” Manny said. “It doesn’t matter if they were happy or not. In the end, you can only do your best. People will agree with you. People will disagree with you. For every person who hates you, there is someone who loves you.” Manny sat down on a box and rested his hands on his knees. Rune nodded in agreement as he stopped alongside the former mayor. Juan and Peggy also joined the little group.
“Well, we’re doing our best,” Travis said. “I guess we gotta be okay with that.”
“You do. And you and the council have done things I never could have.” Manny waved a hand around to indicate the high walls and the fort in general. “I know you guys did your best by us. Whether we make it through tomorrow or not, know that you have my support. You gave me one more year of life.”
Travis took Manny’s words to heart.
Juan averted his eyes and Travis knew he was trying to hide his emotions. “We’ll win this,” Juan said. “We gotta. We don’t have what we used to—a whole world to feel free in—but we got this fort and our families.”
The former mayor inclined his head. “Worth fighting for, isn’t it?”
“Damn straight,” Rune declared.
“Do you think we can win?” Peggy appealed to Travis, sniffling loudly.
“I think so. We’re gonna try.”
“I don’t want to get eaten by those things. I don’t want my boy to get eaten by those things. I want you to promise me that we’ll live through tomorrow!” Peggy exclaimed, jabbing her finger into Travis’s chest.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 94
