"Ashley Oaks, we're coming in from the east on FM 1905. We're running low on fuel and have company taking up the rear. They are probably a few miles back but they don't seem to get tired."
"We understand. Keep on your course and when you reach the wall, get out of your truck and we'll lift you over."
"Wall?" Jenni and Jason said at the same time.
"I don't think we understand," Katie said with some confusion.
"You will. Just be ready." The woman's voice cut out.
The truck continued to barrel down the road and Katie felt the truck give a little shudder. The needle on the gas gauge now sat below the line.
"This is going to be close," Jenni whispered.
"As usual," Katie answered.
The tall red buildings, very retro, very 1930s began to loom larger. The rest of the town began to filter by. A smattering of rundown houses, buildings from the 1970s boarded up and closed, empty car lots, and abandoned gas stations. Katie estimated that the center of town was maybe four blocks away now. It loomed large and a little intimidating. They could now see that three of the tall buildings hovered over what looked like a construction site. Several large trucks appeared to ring it and an enormous yellow machine with a long mechanical arm with a large scoop at the end was perched on an enormous truck loaded up with dirt.
"Where are the zombies?" Jason asked worriedly. "This town has to have some."
The truck sputtered once and died.
They were a block from their destination.
Katie immediately grabbed the CB transceiver, but before she could speak, it cackled and a voice said, "We have a distraction going. Run for the corner where we are signaling."
"Corner? Corner?" Jenni looked scattered and afraid.
"Calm! Stay calm, Jenni!" Katie grabbed her shotgun, her backpack, and the bag of ammo and leaped out of the truck at the ready. She spotted a man standing next to the big yellow machine waving a Texas flag at her. "There!
Follow me!"
Jenni followed, struggling to get her backpack on. Jason hopped out, backpack on, and the dog leaped out behind him.
"Run," Katie said ordered.
They ran.
Katie was in good shape, but not used to running with so much weight.
She felt slow and vulnerable, but the shotgun in her hand was a comfort.
They raced past empty stores, long boarded up, "for lease" signs faded on their ruined doors. They raced past blood splatters on the sidewalk. They ran past empty cars, frightening with their open doors and windows. They ran across an old, red brick street and aimed for the large yellow arm of the construction beast extending down toward them.
Katie wondered what the hell it was called.
"Get in, get in," a man's voice was yelling.
Katie was finding it harder to run. Her legs felt rubbery from all the time in the truck. Jenni and Jason were huffing behind her.
"Hurry!"
Her lungs hurt, her back hurt, her body hurt, but she ran.
The large scoop of the machine reached the road, encrusted with dirt, its jagged teeth somehow welcoming. They ran for it and heard the screeches of the undead.
"Run!" A man's voice boomed out. "Get into it!"
Katie reached it and whirled around in the direction of the moans and screams of the undead. The zombies were heading around the far corner.
Jenni lost her footing and tumbled forward, but managed to fall into the clawed scoop. Jason jumped in after her. Katie heaved the dog in and Jason and Jenni grabbed him.
The large scoop was pretty much filled and already lifting.
The zombies were close and Katie considered firing, but realized it would waste time. The mechanical arm was lifting with a steady whine of its machinery and she half fell, half jumped into it. She was barely in it, lying on top of everyone else.
Their view was shifted as they were lifted and Katie felt sickeningly vulnerable. She was trembling so violently she was sure she was going to vomit. The moans of the dead surrounded them and a hand, grisly and bloodied, grabbed onto one of the dirt encrusted teeth of the yellow construction beast. The arm was being swept up over the crowd, barely a few feet over the heads of the crazed zombies The hand of the zombie who had grabbed on was trying to get a better hold. Another hand, its other hand, fumbled at her foot. Katie was terrified to move for fear of rolling off Jason, Jenni and poor Jack and into the crowd below. She could only stare at the scrabbling hand in fear.
Jack solved the problem. He grabbed the hand of the zombie, shook his head violently, and it lost its grip and fell. The machinery's arm lifted faster, higher and swung about. Katie felt herself slipping and Jason and Jenni grabbed onto her tighter. And the world tilted and they were being lowered.
Katie lost her balance, slid, and painfully went over the teeth of the contraption. Instead of a plunge into the undead, she landed on soft soil. A man's hand came down and took hers gently and heaved her to her feet.
She stood on the edges of a large construction site. Two enormous buildings flanked its backside and one side. A small, elegant town hall fit into another corner. Only two edges of the site were open to the rest of the town and those were cut off with a hurricane fence. Beyond the fence was a ring of construction trucks that had dirt and bags of cement tucked underneath them and between the cabs and loads, making a secondary wall. But there was a third wall already being constructed within the hurricane fence.
Already it was connecting one building to the city hall. A high wrought iron fence surrounded the city hall and its windows were covered in fancy ironwork.
Katie was staggered by what she saw. The portable office buildings for the site were now residences, that was plain to see, and a lunch wagon was parked in a corner. Construction workers were moving fast to create a small fort the size of a city block for those taking refuge in the site. There were people clustered about to see the newcomers.
"It's not a mall," Jenni sighed with relief as she staggered out of the crane's scoop. She was a bit dirty and rumpled but alive. Jason and Jack followed her, both looking very relieved.
The man holding Katie's hand finally came into view as she stopped looking around. He was taller than she was, sturdy in his build, with curly brown hair and the warmest hazel eyes she'd ever seen. He radiated warmth, power, and kindness and his height and build spoke of a man used to hard work.
"You, okay?" he finally asked.
"Yeah," she nodded and looked at his hand. It was dirty, caked with dirt and bits of cement. "That was scary."
"Only way to get people in right now," he answered in a voice that would lead men into battle, not because they feared him, but loved him. "I'm Travis."
"Katie," she answered and slowly drew her hand away. He was like her father. One of those quietly strong men who inspired people to great things.
Instinctively, she knew Travis was behind the rapid building of this fortress.
Jenni stood next to her staring at the handsome man. "Hi, I'm Jenni and this is my son, Jason."
Travis greeted them both with a gentle hello and a warm handshake. He kneeled down to greet Jack. "I saw what you did. You're a good pup defending your Mama."
Jack grinned in response and licked his hand.
Travis stood up again, tall and imposing, yet his presence was amazingly comforting.
Kate realized, much to her surprise, that she felt safe.
Travis smiled at them and said, "Give me a moment and I'll show you around." He turned to talk to the man who had manned the machine that had brought them over and a few other men who ran over to check in.
"He's not black," Katie joked under her breath to Jenni.
"But I'll kiss him anyway," Jenni said dreamily.
Katie lifted an eyebrow at her.
"Well, you won't!"
Kate just gave her a sly smile and shook her head slightly.
Travis glanced over at them and Kate had to look away. She felt unnerved by his gaze and she had trouble understanding why. Something had happened when she had first looked at him. A knowledge had sprung strong and sure into her mind. This was now home. And Travis, somehow, was going to play a very important role in her life. That knowledge was almost too much to comprehend or sift through. She didn't even want to pick it apart and examine it.
She looked back toward him and again she saw him looking at her.
He knows, too, she thought.
The wheels of destiny had turned and a new reality was already being spun into existence.
She looked at Jenni to see that she was in crush city.
Katie smiled at that.
Jason, meanwhile, was playing with Jack, looking relieved, looking like he, too, felt safe.
"We're secure," someone said through a bullhorn and those in the "fort" cheered.
Travis smiled at Kate and she smiled back.
War buddies, her father's voice whispered through her mind.
We're going to fight this war together, Kate thought. You and me, Travis.
We're important and now that we're both here things are going to happen. Do you feel it?
It didn't surprise her when Travis looked her way again and something strong and invisible passed between them. Not a jolt of sexual attraction between sexes, but the knowledge that someone profound had entered their life.
And in his gaze, she knew, he felt it, too.
Chapter 8
1. The New World
Travis motioned to an older man standing on the back steps of the quaint little city hall. The older, balding man with the rotund belly nodded and headed back into the building.
Jenni let her backpack fall to the ground with a thunk and shook out her hair to get all the caked mud out of it. But there was a flare to the movement, a bit of feminine guile tingeing her movement.
Katie smiled even bigger. Jenni was trying to get Travis' attention.
He walked toward them, dirty, tired, but smiling.
"Okay, sorry, things are a little crazy right now. Your arrival really surprised us. We had a truck driver arrive a few hours ago. Honestly, at this point, we weren't sure anyone was left out there that was alive." Travis set his hands on his hips and shook his head. "We were listening to the Emergency Broadcast but nothing made sense. They don't' seem to have a clue in hell what is going on."
"Zombies," Jenni said with a smile.
He looked at her, grinned, and nodded. "Yeah, zombies."
"When did you figure out what was going on? This had to have gone up immediately," Katie said motioning all around her.
"Well, yesterday we were supposed to break ground. We were going to rebuild a historical building that burned down a few years ago. This whole area is about to undergo a serious-or was going to undergo- a serious reconstruction. A developer was keen on turning it into a tourist attraction complete with the rebuilt vaudeville theater and the hotel," he pointed to one of the tall redbrick buildings "being the focal points. Anyway, I was on my way here to work when the reports started coming in."
"The race riot story," Katie said.
Travis nodded. "Sounded weird to me. I couldn't figure out why there would be race riots breaking out all over the country. Anyway, got here and already we were hearing horror stories out of the cities on the CB. Truckers were reporting all sorts of crazy stuff. We were all on edge, not sure what to think. It sounded like an April Fool's joke, but of course, this is March, not April. Juan over there kept saying over and over again it was zombies, but we all just blew it off." Travis shook his head and looked at Katie in the eyes. "I mean, it sounds crazy."
Katie sighed and ran a hand over her blond hair. "Yeah, it does.
Completely."
"Anyway, the Mayor decided that the best thing to do until we were sure of the threat was get everyone in town out to the new high school. He told us we could go ahead and start to break ground, but he wanted the civvies safe."
Travis leaned toward Katie. "The Mayor is in the back pocket of the developer, you see."
"Ohhhhhh," Katie said.
"So we went to work, but kept getting distracted by all the stories pouring in on the CB and on the radio. So, anyway, Curtis over there, that cop, comes by and tells me that there was an attack at a service station down the road and the officer on the scene had to put down the attacker he was so violent. They took the lady this freak attacked down to the clinic. He was real jittery and I didn't blame him. It all felt wrong, you know?"
Jenni's head was bobbing up and down furiously.
Travis shook his head and looked past the wall into the distance. "Just fucked up. Anyway, we start to finally get down to moving the equipment into position to start digging when we hear a big commotion down the block.
Those cars out there just crash. Out of towner cars. And all hell is breaking loose in those cars. And we can see them rocking and hear screaming and what sounds like growling, then suddenly there are these…things…crawling out of the cars and they start running down the street toward us. Now, it's not normal for a man to have his intestines tripping his feet and he still keeps running."
Katie winced at the thought and vividly remembered the first zombie to attack her. The grievous wounds on the man who had nearly dragged her out of her car had been a clear indicator that things weren't right.
"Four of them ran straight for us and Juan, he's a crazy son of a bitch, just sweeps them right off the road into that building over there with the arm on the excavator. The whole time he's yelling about zombies and honestly, at that point, we believed him. Two of those things didn't get up. Their heads were bashed in. But the other two, despite having arms and legs that were clearly broken, were staggering toward us. So we grabbed up some shovels and dented their heads in. About that time Curtis is back and tells me that some shit was going down at the clinic and that the dead were walking again.
The Mayor was out in front of city hall freaking out because he saw us take out the four zombies from the cars. Now, we know the town is up at the high school, so we go over and tell the Mayor that anyone bit needs to be tossed out on their ass." Travis shook his head. "Because in zombie movies…"
"The bite is what makes them zombies," Jenni said helpfully.
"Yeah. And so far…well..damn…so far it was clear to me and I think everyone else that ever watched those movies that they got a lot right." Travis fastened his gaze steadily on Katie. "But despite seeing it, I found it hard to believe it. But I couldn't afford not to believe."
Katie agreed silently, her gaze steadily matching his. "Yes, because you have to survive."
"Exactly. So we convince the Mayor to call the school and tell them to toss out anyone that has been bitten. Curtis can't get any of the other officers from the town on the horn. Well, there are only four cops for the whole town, but none of them answer his calls. Anyway, things are looking bad. The former Mayor of the town is now the principal over at the high school and tells the present Mayor to go fuck himself four different ways and upside down. Finally, he admits that they have bitten people in the high school and that the school nurse is taking care of them."
Katie winced and shook her head. "We went through Emorton. The school was completely filled with zombies."
"In fact, some of them are following us here. They'll probably be here in a little while," Jenni added.
Travis blinked. "Shit."
"We didn't mean for them to follow," Jenni said quickly.
"Yeah, it kinda just happened," Jason said helpfully from where he sat on the ground holding the dog.
Trying to look as calm and pleasant as possible while delivering bad news, Katie said, "Probably around twenty."
Travis just ran his hand slowly through his hair and nodded. "Okay.
We'll deal. The wall should keep them out. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Within 15 minutes we lost all communication with the school. That is when we knew we were in for a shitload of trouble. So we quickly drove all the trucks around to block off any vulnerable areas and packed sandbags and cement bags around them. This hurricane fence here could probably hold back a good number, but if the whole town decided to come visit…"
"It wouldn't be pleasant," Katie agreed. She looked at the newly constructed cement and brick wall. "So you did start right away."
"About one o'clock yesterday," Travis said. "Been building ever since. We should have the rest up soon."
Katie's gaze swept over the three buildings, her back to the road they had driven in on. Directly in front of her was an old building with advertising painted on its wall barely visible due to time and the elements. To her right was an immense building that reached skyward and looked like it was topped by maybe a penthouse, ballroom and some sort of gazebo. Looking over her shoulder to her right was the city hall with its heavy fence. Two portable buildings that were originally offices were now dorms it looked like.
Construction workers, city workers, and a few children and women were busy helping build the new wall. There were maybe thirty people in all in the complex.
"I lost a lot of my crew due to them taking off for home. Can't blame them really. With all the badness going down people want to get to their families," Travis said softly.
Katie shivered as she remembered Lydia.
Travis took hold of her arm gently and rubbed it lightly. "You okay?"
She knew her eyes were glistening. "Just…"
"Yeah, me, too. I'm divorced so…but my parents…"
"Jenni lost everyone but her stepson. I lost…" she faltered.
Travis' eyes were so warm, so compassionate. "You lost your husband."
Katie hesitated, but felt that something was fast developing between her and Travis. A bond…an understanding…something different. It was best to be honest.
"My wife."
Travis' gaze dropped for a moment, but his hand did not. He rubbed her arm tenderly, then said, "I'm sorry. She had to be real special to be with you."
His words unleashed something deep within her and she covered her mouth, tears springing from her eyes. She felt tears on her face. Their gaze met, strong, understanding and he put his other hand on her other arm.
"But she'd want you to survive," he added.
Jenni wrapped one arm around Katie's waist and leaned against her, trying to comfort and maybe also trying to edge in on what she saw developing before her eyes. She looked confused and Katie understood why.
Things between men and women were black and white with Jenni. Travis and Katie just clicking on some subliminal level had to be throwing her.
Katie nodded and looked down at her feet to regain her composure.
Finally, she looked up at him once more. "So you're the leader…"
Travis withdrew his hands slowly. "Nah. The Mayor is. I just advise him."
Katie slightly laughed and wiped a tear away. "Uh huh."
Travis leaned toward her and put one finger to his lips. "Shhhh…"
"That maid is at it again," a tall Hispanic man said from behind them.
He pointed upwards and drew their attention to a window high above them.
"That's the old hotel. They were going to open it in a few days," Travis explained.
Katie noted that the first three floors had no windows that opened up onto the construction site. But further up, windows caught the rays of the setting sun lighting them up with a purple and pink glare. Near the top floor the outline of a woman continuously battered herself against the window.
"She busts out the window, she's coming straight down," the Hispanic man decided in a thick West Texas accent.
"Maybe she'll land on her damn head, Juan" Travis said.
Katie narrowed her eyes and looked back at Travis. "The window is cracked."
"She's been working on it for awhile. Since sometime last night. Bet she went to hide up there after being bit and… Well…" He shrugged.
Jenni stepped closer to Travis. "What if there are more up there?"
Katie glanced at the back of the building with the faded advertising for Coca Cola on the back of it. No windows at all on its back end. Just what looked like a back entrance and that was heavily barricaded.
"It'll be raining zombies," Juan said with a laugh.
Then it was raining one zombie. The maid finally broke the tempered glass and shoved her hand through. She worked and worked at it until she pushed herself all the way through and fell. It was a long, graceful sort of fall.
Her blond hair streaming behind her. Her pink and blood colored dress hitching up over her head and shoulders. She landed feet first on the hard packed soil. Every bone in her legs shattered and she crumpled to the ground.
Unable to get up, she began to systematically crawl toward the nearest person.
By now a group of people were standing and watching, mesmerized.
Juan sighed and started to walk toward her with a shovel in one hand.
Katie cocked her shotgun.
"No. No guns. The sound will bring them here if they are out of the school," Travis said.
"Good point."
Katie tried to look away, but couldn't. Juan casually drove the shovel through the head of the zombified maid and the drama was over.
"We need to build a catapult and just toss them over," Juan muttered as he motioned to another man to help him dispose of the body.
Travis laughed. "We just may."
Katie turned and looked at him and slightly smiled. "So…"
"So?"
Jenni hovered near Katie's side, Jason right behind her. Jack looked at Katie curiously.
"Got anything to eat around here?"
"As a matter of fact, there was supposed to be a fund raiser for the local volunteer fire department. There is so much food up in the community dining hall on the second floor of city hall, you're gonna feel like you're in heaven."
Thank God," Jenni said with relief.
"So we're staying," Jason said.
Katie looked at him and then at Jenni. Jenni smiled at her, her gaze flicking to Travis then back to Katie.
"Yeah, we're staying."
"Good. Because we need you here. I feel it," Travis said and he put his arms around both Jenni and Jason. "Now, let's get you food, introduce you to the Mayor and hear your stories."
Katie didn't think Jenni could get any redder or anymore giddy. She followed the little group as they moved toward the city hall not even glancing back once to see Juan and another guy loading the dead zombie onto the arm of the excavator to dump her back among her own kind.
"Besides," Katie mused. "How the hell would we get out of here?"
2. Through a Door Softly
Jenni felt rather special walking with Travis' arm around her shoulders.