Fighting to Survive (60 page)

“
Let
them know, Ed,
”
Bill said.

“
Taking
care of it,
”
Ed answered, turning the bus around and heading back down the road.

Jenni held tight to
the pole near the front door and took a deep breath.

It was time.

2. Four, Three

Nerit's eyes
narrowed when the first report came in from Ken. He was part of the
team at her old hunting store. The sound of his voice made her go
cold inside as she tucked away all her emotions.

“
Everything
going as planned here at the gun store. But, you know, you can't help
but feel the ghosts,
”
his voice said.

Katarina
lifted an eyebrow.

“
You
know what to do,
”
Nerit said.

Katarina
nodded and strode out of the communication hub.

Peggy chewed on her
bottom lip, her hands trembling.

Thirty minutes
later...

“
We
reached our target and all is quiet except for the undead. They're
making some noise. We have two missing. Maybe carried off by the
baddies. Two remaining, but lunch meat. We saw four zombies running
on down the road. I swear one of them had a shopping bag,
”
Ed's voice said.

Curtis
looked up. He was seated in the corner, listening to the reports
coming in.

“
Nerit?
”

“
The
bandits got two of the people we were rescuing. We rescued two others
and four of the bandits
’
vehicles are heading toward Katie and Travis,
”
Nerit translated.

“
Can
we do this?
”

“
Of
course,
”
Nerit answered.

There was a coldness
in her voice that terrified Curtis. She could see it in his eyes.
Sometimes, she wondered if he understood what it meant to protect the
fort. Certain things had to be done that not everyone would agree
with, but opinions did not matter. Safety did; the protection of the
all. The individual be damned.

“
Peggy,
make sure everyone is in position,
”
Nerit said firmly.

“
Nerit?
Old Man Watson wants a gun. He says, and I quote, he fought in WW2
and that if he took out the Japs, he can take out some punks.
”
She sounded annoyed and amused at the same time.

“
Give
him one then. Put him on the third floor,
”
Nerit answered.

“
Nerit,
he's an old guy,
”
Curtis said in protest.
“
You
can't expect him--
”

“
Why
not?
”
Nerit looked at him intently.
“
I'm
no spring chicken.
”

Curtis
broke down with a weary laugh.
“
Yeah,
true, but--
”

“
Give
him a gun and plenty of ammunition, Curtis. Make sure he understands
to stay behind the curtains.
”

Nerit
gave him a look that silenced his protests and only reinforced his
fear of her.

Good.

He
needed to be afraid.

She
briskly walked out of the room, ignoring her hip. The dull ache was
bothersome, but she wouldn't let it slow her down. She could be
extraordinarily strong when she had to be. It wasn't uncommon for her
to ignore all her pain and push her body to get things done. Only
later would she let her body hurt, once she was done and behind
closed doors.

Calhoun
emerged from the shadows, flipping on his video camera and aiming it
at her face. The tiny red light blinked at her.

“
The
queen of the amazons is in full battle mode. There is a look of death
in her eyes and she is...
”
he faltered as she stared into the camera.

Nerit
tilted her head.

“
...kinda
hot.
”

Nerit
burst out laughing and patted Calhoun's shoulder as she passed him.

“
...and
she walks confidently to amass the defenders of this illegally built
fort. The mayor has yet to explain himself and release an accurate
accounting of how much of the taxpayer money was used in its
construction. Meanwhile...
”

Nerit
turned and gave Calhoun a look. He stared, silenced by her look.

“
Yes,
your majesty?
”

“
It's
time for you to turn off the camera and do what you're supposed to,
”
Nerit said.

Calhoun
dramatically sighed, then tucked it away in his backpack.
“
You're
a mean old bitch.
”

“
I
haven't pitched you over the wall yet,
”
Nerit reminded him.

“
Are
you the one pitching people over the wall?
”

“
Would
you be surprised?
”

Calhoun
considered this, rubbing his grizzled chin.
“
Nope.
”

Nerit
shrugged.
“
Just
get to your position.
”

“
Wanna
go on a date?'

“
No.
”

“
Have
sex?
”

“
Definitely
not.
”

“
Lesbian,
huh?
”

Nerit smirked and
walked away.

“
Damn
Amazons.
”

***

Jenni hit the ground
running. Already the humidity was filling her lungs, making her feel
slow and sluggish. Behind her the bus was idling, waiting. Beyond the
bus, about half a mile away, a large crowd of zombies was coming.

The high school was
very small, very modern, and locked up tight as a drum. There had
been no response when they had tried to contact the school by the CB.
But they had seen someone alive standing on the roof watching their
approach. Jenni was taking a chance it was their people. It was a
small comfort that Bill, Ed and the others were covering her.

Running
up the steep slope to the back of the school, she headed for a set of
double doors. Reaching them, she banged hard on the doors.

“
Open
up! It's the rescue team from the fort!
”

She
kicked and pounded on the door relentlessly.

A
woman's voice said from the other side,
“
We're
not opening up unless we know you're not with the assholes from
earlier.
”

“
Look.
I'm from the gawddamn fort and there is a crowd of your very dead
townspeople on its way so get the fuck out of there or we are leaving
you!
”

The
door opened slightly, a thick chain still keeping it partially
locked. A large woman with mousy brown hair looked at her for a long
second.

“
There
were these guys--
”

“
No
freaking time. We're gonna leave now,
”
Jenni said firmly.

“
...and
said they were going to rape us.
”

“
Bye.
”

Jenni turned and ran
down the hill, her lungs burning, her eyes on the swiftly-approaching
undead. To her relief, she heard the door open behind her and
footsteps.

“
But
we need to get our--
”
someone started to protest.

“
No
time!
”
Jenni waved at the zombies.

There were no more
protests.

She clambered onto
the bus. The nurse, her kids, and the surviving students and teachers
climbed on as well. They were amazingly clean and looked well fed.
For a moment, they stared in shock at the two scraggly, skinny
survivors the team had rescued from the tree.

“
Sit
down,
”
Jenni ordered.

They
obeyed.

Ed shifted gears.
The bus lurched forward.

“
Where
were you?
”
Jenni asked, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation.

“
Oh,
yeah, so on the third day, the lady walks by the parrot in the
doorway to the pet shop and it says again,
‘
Hey
Lady!
’
And she says,
‘
What?
’
all angry, because she knows what is coming.
”
Ed drove swiftly down the drive as the zombies rounded the corner
behind them.
“
And
the bird says,
‘
You're
damn ugly.
’
And the woman marches into the shop and says to the owner,
‘
I'm
going to kill your bird and sue your pants off. Your parrot tells me
that I'm damn ugly every day.
’
And the owner says,
‘
Lady,
I'll take care of the parrot. You don't have to do anything crazy.
’
So she leaves and the bird just laughs.
”
Ed swung the bus around the front of the building and creamed a
zombie loitering in the road.
“
Fourth
day comes along. The lady passes the parrot and it says,
‘
Hey,
Lady!
’
And she is righteously pissed off and says,
‘
What?
’
And it says.,
‘
You
know.
’”
Ed grinned at Jenni.

“
You're
so lame, Ed.
”
Jenni rolled her eyes.

Ed shrugged and the
mini-bus lurched back onto the country road, the zombies in hot
pursuit.

***

Travis
pressed the button on the mouthpiece,
“
Is
it just me or are the shadows longer in the summer?
”

Peggy's
voice cackled back.
“
I
hate the damn bad weather.
”

“
It's
putting us in a bad mood, too,
”
Travis sighed as he understood her code.

More
trouble was coming.

“
Still
pacing us,
”
Lenore said from the backseat.
“
I
keep seeing flashes of light off the windshield.
”