New Title 1 (20 page)

“
You’re up.” She marked her place in the book and closed it.
The Lord’s Lusty Wench
, the gold letters of the title read. She held up the book. “Found this in the receptionist’s desk drawer. You should check it out. It’s hot.”

I sat up and looked around. My cell door was open. Maureen’s wasn’t. I pushed my tangled hair back from my face and yawned. “What time is it?”

“
About ten. Jake went to get us something to eat.”

“
Do you know where Brian is?”

“
Arguing with that Myers woman from what I heard. Evidently she thinks he’s gone rogue, calling a town meeting without consulting her. The queen is not pleased. Jake’s kept me up to date on the gossip.”

“
All this before ten o’clock in the morning? Jeez, sleep in a little and you miss everything. How do they call a town meeting anyway?”

“
They sound the tornado siren. One long wail means a zombie attack. Three short bursts summons everybody to the meeting hall. I can’t believe you slept through the siren.”

“
How are you feeling today?” I asked. “Still no symptoms?”

“
None.” Maureen put the book down and walked over to the bars. “You don’t think I’m suddenly going to drop dead and turn, do you?”

“
No. Of course not”

“
I want to go to this meeting. It sounds like Brian’s going to announce some kind of plan. I want to help not just be stuck in here. That’s why we came back. To help.”

“
You will and you’ll be fine, Maureen.” I went over and reached through the bars to take her hand. After a few moments, I let go and left to find a restroom. I felt bad leaving her alone, but Jake should be back soon.

I washed up in a restroom near the receptionist’s desk. Praise Generator, God of Running Water. When I came back out into the foyer, there was a flurry of activity. People hurried past on their way outside, council members and a few other townies I recognized including my buddy, Mike Fessenden. Brian was talking to him.

I spotted Carl and Daylon and caught up with them. “What’s up?”

“
Going to a town meeting. You want to come.”

“
Can they let Maureen out? She wants to go.”

“
I’m not gonna fight that battle right now. Things are happening. There are decisions to make. I’ll push for Maureen’s release later. You can tell her that.”

I nodded and pushed my way through the group by the door to catch up to Brian. I was kind of annoyed that he’d been going to leave without coming to get me. But when he caught sight of me and a big grin lit up his face like Christmas morning, I forgave him.

He pulled me to him and gave me a quick kiss right in front of everybody. “Did you get enough sleep?”

“
Yeah. Did you get any?”

“
Not really. I’ve been working on a plan using my big brain. Come and hear what I came up with and tell me if it sucks.”

“
I’ll catch up. I’m going to talk to Maureen first and grab a bite. I didn’t eat at all yesterday.”

Immediately Brian looked all concerned and so cute I couldn’t stand it. “I didn’t offer you any food last night. I’m sorry.”

“
That’s okay. I was too tired to eat then, but I could gobble up just about
anything
now.” I gave him a suggestive wink, a little promise for later, then a fingertip wave goodbye. Before I left, I also glared at good old Fes, the fucker.

Back to the holding cells, Jake had returned with big bowls of oatmeal with plenty of raisins. I told him and Maureen that Daylon would work on getting Maureen free as soon as he could. She wasn’t too disappointed and said she’d finish her
Lusty Wench
book while she was waiting.

By the time Jake and I got to the meeting hall, the place was packed and comments were flying fast and furious. The people had been informed that a honking big herd of zombies was headed this way and that Topeka might have fallen. One group was very vocal about getting the hell out of Dodge, while others were ready to fight for their homes rather than take a chance on finding anyplace safer in the toxic new world.

When Brian stood up at the front of the room and raised his hands, everybody fell silent and listened. He had an aura about him that made people trust that he had something worth saying.

“
I think we all agree there’s no perfect choice, no guarantee of safety. Those of you who feel strongly about leaving should go. But first I hope you’ll listen to a plan I have to try to eliminate a bunch of the undead. We learned setting them on fire is pretty effective, incapacitating them enough to make them easy targets. We need to intercept this new wave, divert them away from town and finish them off.”

“
How?” someone asked, and a questioning murmur rippled through the crowd. People could be so dumb. They’d rather bitch or listen to their own voices than pay attention to the answer to their question.

Brian waited a few seconds for the talking to die down before resuming his explanation. “Some of you have already met the visitors who arrived this past week. Daylon, Carl, Tanesha, Jake and Ashleigh will you stand so people can see you?”

My cheeks burned as dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward me. I hadn’t been this embarrassed dancing half-naked on a stage. I sat down quickly.

“
These people returned here to tell us what they’d seen on the road and brought us a tanker full of fuel which is parked outside the gates. We should all thank them for their generosity.”

A polite spatter of applause picked up steam and became an ovation that made me blush even more. I gave a princess wave and a sheepish grin.

When the applause faded, Brian continued. “The tank contains diesel oil not gasoline, so we can’t use it for our vehicles but can power some of the generators. I propose we take some of the oil and create a slick in the Grove reservoir, attract the undead there with human bait, then slaughter cattle to lure them into the water. We’ll pick up the people, leaving the zombies to go for the fresh kill. After we get a good number into the reservoir, we’ll light the oil and let them burn. There’s a steep drop off and no easy way out. We’ll kill any that make it out and if this works, we’ll repeat the process as needed.”

There was complete silence as everyone searched for flaws then people began to throw darts. “What if they won’t jump into the water? What if they aren’t attracted by the dead cows? Who’s going to act as bait and how close will they have to let the zombies get? What if a bunch of them attack the town instead? Who’s going to be here to defend it?”

“
People, let’s have some order,” Janice Myers’s voice cut through the noise with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Immediately the voices died down. She’s mastered crowd control. I could imagine the hundreds of teenagers she’d cowed over the years as she stalked the halls of the high school. I knew I was being unfair. She brought a sense of calm and stability to these people that they needed. But I still didn’t like her.

Myers had patiently heard out Brian’s idea, but now she took control of the room. “You all have doubts and concerns to air, but let’s take them one by one. Mr. Pasman’s idea has some merit. I’ve asked him to think outside the box and come up with possible solutions to our problem. We’re a town under siege and likely to be more so in the coming days. We must consider all ideas no matter how preposterous they sound.”

She managed to applaud Brian and condemn his idea in the space of two short sentences.

“
These strangers have brought us fuel which could be the difference between our surviving the winter or not. I’m not sure using the oil in the way Mr. Pasman suggests would serve our best interests. It’s my opinion we should fortify our position and wait out this siege. At some point government aid
will
reach us.”

“
You should stop counting on that,” Daylon said. “No one’s coming to the rescue. If you plan to stay here, you’re going to have to fend for yourselves, take the fight to the undead and stop sitting back trying to outlast them.”

“
We don’t need much oil,” Brian added. “There should be more than enough for our needs for a long time to come. We can’t use it for many purposes other than running generators anyway—or maybe trading with other towns. I know things could go wrong with this plan. There’s no guaranteeing the undead will be lured into the water, but I believe it might work. Our wall can’t be reinforced enough to hold up against hundreds of bodies trying to push through it. We either try this, or evacuate before they get here.”

I wanted to applaud. Brian managed to sound even cooler and more reasonable than Myers. People couldn’t help but believe in him. He wasn’t hot-tempered like Daylon or arrogant like Myers. He was a sincere leader and a voice to be trusted.

“
How long do we have to prepare?” someone asked.

“
The group we saw was a day’s drive away. If they keep walking steadily, I’m thinking a good twenty-four hours,” Daylon answered. “It’s possible they’ll shift direction and never reach here, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“
I say we get started then,” the man said. “Could be some cows at the Schroeder place. I’ll check it out if someone wants to come with me.”

Fes raised his hand. “I will.”

Janice called an end to the meeting but people weren’t really listening to her as they discussed what they were going to do. Some were organizing a caravan to hightail it out of town, while others broke into committees to follow Brian’s plan. Myers looked pissed as hell about being ignored and that made me smile.

I sat and listened to the talk around me. Thought I’d wait until the dust settled and see how I could be the most useful. I overheard some dude trying to sway others to leave with his group. I could see the manpower we needed for the town’s defense trickling away and decided the best thing I could do for Brian would be to stop that trickle from becoming a river.

I joined the group. “You’re right to be scared of what’s coming, but I can tell you it’s tough being on the road, not knowing what you’ll face every day. There are zombies, but other kinds of danger too, thugs who’ll attack you for your stuff, accidents, injuries, sickness from the decomposing bodies. It’s hard to find water, food and gas. You don’t know how lucky you guys have it here. Your town’s like heaven and definitely worth fighting for.”

I didn’t add anything more. I was the last person to lecture anybody about leaving when things got tough. If they wanted to go, they’d go. But as I walked away from the group of townies, I hoped I’d planted some seeds.

After that, I set about making myself useful. I didn’t know squat about building but I could fetch and carry supplies for the workers who did. I helped remove the legs someone’s kitchen table and haul the heavy wooden slab to one of the construction sites. I was sent to the hardware store for screws and nails and carried back a message from the store owner that his stock was almost gone so they’d better re-use what they could. After that, I was sent to bring food to the workers up and down the line.

In the kitchen of one of the local restaurants, several older ladies cooked vats of stews and soups. The restaurant owner, Becky, baked loaves of bread from scratch. I helped another woman load food into the back of a van and delivered it at various spots around town. When we returned with empty pots and dishes, we got the honor of washing them.

Halfway through the afternoon, Maureen found me in the kitchen scrubbing one of the oversized pots. “Hey, girl. How’re you doing?”

“
Busy.”
But surprisingly content.
I dried off my hands and gave her a hug. “I see Daylon got you sprung. Now what?”

She gave me a sad little smile. “Jake and I are heading out. We’re going south along with a group from town. I know we promised to help, but I’ve got to try to get someplace where there’s vaccine and we need to travel with a group. You understand.”

I absolutely did. It would be terrifying to carry the possibility of turning zombie in your blood. I gave Maureen another hug and breathed in the vanilla scent she always wore even when we were filthy, hungry and homeless. That homey smell would always make me think of her. “I’ll miss you.”

“
I’ll miss you too. Maybe we’ll run into each other again someday when we all get to Dallas.”

“
Maybe.” Dallas was starting to sound like El Dorado, a made-up place no one would ever really reach.

“
I got something for you.” She reached into her bag and handed me the romance novel she’d been reading that morning. “The best stuff’s on page two-hundred and three. I marked the corner for you.”