But the damage was done and the first zombie's body crumpled and more of the animated ones pushed forward, trampling the "dead" ones beneath their feet.
Travis grabbed another shovel and joined Juan in shoving them back as the gate managed to close another inch or two. The whine of the mechanism filled their ears. Jenni kept trying to shoot at the zombies through the narrow gap and not get in the men's way.
Katie stood at her watch post feeling helpless. Her arms were aching from holding her rifle up for so long, but she didn't dare look away or blink.
Butterflies were gnawing away at her stomach hungrily as she tried to think about how vulnerable both Travis and Jenni were.
Mike appeared beside her and climbed down as fast as he could.
Running to join the others, he grabbed a wood plank from a pile of lumber.
Avoiding the grasping hands of the dead, he let it fall against the zombies, who grabbed onto it, to either push it away or pull it away.
"Good idea," Juan said. And he put the tip of the shovel against the board on the top as Travis pushed on the bottom. Instead of soft bodies that gave way, the shovels pushed against the hard firm surface of the plank and it gave the men adequate leverage. Mike and Jenni joined them and using the board as a shield, they shoved the zombies back through the gap. The gate shuddered and leaped closed. The men barely got the shovels out of the way in time.
Katie sighed with relief and lowered the rifle. A few arms, hands and feet were sticking out from between the closed gates. Some were even moving.
Jenni picked up a shoved and began hacking at the limbs, severing them, blood flying, until Juan pulled her back. Jenni flung her arms around him and they both staggered backwards, then fell into a heap. Travis and Mike high-fived and Travis smiled up at Katie.
"See, Katie. Easy."
Katie laughed and ran a hand over her forehead, feeling the thick sweat slick on her fingers.
"You're fucking crazy, Loca," Juan teased Jenni as he helped her to her feet.
"I kept your ass alive!"
"Yeah, so, what, I owe you?"
"Yep!"
Juan pulled out his wallet and thumbed through some now obsolete bills. "How about a buck."
Jenni smacked him and they ended up in a shoving war.
It was then that Belinda made her appearance, climbing down the ladder, tears streaming down her face. Katie saw Jenni quickly back away from Juan and Juan looked up expectantly.
But Belinda ran to Mike, flung her arms around him, and they clung to each other. Travis even looked surprised. Juan's expression was beyond words.
Katie watched as Jenni walked up to Juan and put her hand lightly on his shoulder.
But there was no time to really understand what was going on, because the fort was victorious once more and cheers were going up. People came swarming over the bridge to climb down the ladders to great their heroes.
Travis accepted their hugs and handshakes, smacks on the back, and even a kiss on the cheek or two, but he finally managed to make it up to Katie on the wall.
Grabbing her close, he kissed her lips lightly. "I'm not giving up, okay?
I'm going to wait."
Katie was in tears and nodded and hugged him tightly back. "It may be a long time. Maybe not ever."
Travis laughed and smiled down at her. "I can wait…"
The image of Lydia flickered in her mind's eye and Katie closed her eyes and hugged Travis tight.
"I can wait, Katie," a voice said. And she wasn't sure if it was Lydia or Travis and she was afraid.
Chapter 19
1. Twists and Turns
Jenni followed Juan through the throng of celebrants and up out of the new entryway. Mike and a few other workers were busy hacking off the limbs of the zombies who had managed to push an arm or a leg through the gates as it closed. Juan wasn't talking and Jenni knew why.
Belinda rushing to Mike had startled everyone. She had briefly seen Travis and Katie embracing and in that moment had realized what Juan had told her was true. The tall, handsome man with the sad eyes was in love with her best friend.
It didn't bother her, though. Her crush on Travis had long faded. The more she hung out with him, the more she realized she just saw him as a guy friend. For awhile she had flirted with him outrageously and he had obviously enjoyed it, but he had never noticed or taken her cues that she was ready to be ravished. Now she was glad he had been oblivious. Being tangled up with Travis would have only complicated everything.
Of course it was complicated enough because Katie was gay. She felt pretty bad that Travis was setting himself up for a world of hurt.
Of course, Juan was feeling that hurt all too clearly right now.
"Juan?"
"Loca, I'm not in the mood," Juan answered briskly as he headed down into the fort.
"I was just going to say how sorry-"
Juan turned toward her, pointing at her with a fierce look on his face.
"Don't."
Jenni nodded. "Okay."
Juan turned on the very muddy, gory heels of his cowboy boots and headed straight for the city hall. Peggy was there talking to the two newcomers. Curtis was there as well. Things already looked strained and heated and Juan marched right up to the young man and punched him square in his greasy face.
"Whoa, Juan!"
Curtis grabbed Juan and Jenni quickly stepped forward just in case the spaced out looking girl did anything. But she only stood there; looking mildly bemused by it all, swaying back and forth.
The boy slowly rose up, fastened his eyes on Juan and just said, "That hurt."
"You went into the fucking clinic!"
"Hey, we were in need of…medicinal treatment," the boy answered.
His eyes were so red they looked as if the blood vessels had ruptured in them and his skin looked clammy. Jenni realized the reason for all the anger.
She was looking at two very strung out young people who had probably gone into the clinic looking for their next high.
"Meth is not medicine, fucker," Juan spat furiously, trying to squirm away from Curtis.
Peggy looked at Jenni and whispered, "You're looking at the local crystal meth dealer."
Jenni nodded and frowned a bit more. "I think we may need Bill, too."
Peggy looked at Curtis, who looked far too young and nervous. "You're right." She rushed off to find Bill.
"Where's the rest of your posse, huh? Where are they?" Juan's voice was close to fury.
"Dead, dude. It was bad. Real bad," the boy answered.
The girl began to giggle.
Curtis pushed Juan behind him. "Ritchie, you went to the clinic for drugs and you got your friends eaten, huh?"
Ritchie frowned and shook his head. "It's not like that, man. We needed medicine. Carrie got bit and we needed medicine."
Everyone immediately looked at the girl. She was busy staring at outdoor light bulb over Curtis' head.
"Those things kept trying to get into the 7-11 we were shacking up in. It got real crazy."
"Which 7-11?" Curtis raised an eyebrow.
"You know, the one over by the McGee place. There was a lot of those things there."
The girl giggled again, swaying on her feet, and covered her mouth with her hand. There was a distinct bite visible. It was swollen and puss filled.
Jenni put her hand on Juan's arm, trying to calm him. But Juan was nowhere near calm when he said, "Yeah, so how did you get out? Where is Sergio?"
Ritchie rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yeah, well. We drew straws and someone lost and that someone had to run out the side door and draw them away."
Juan looked ready to punch him again. "Was it Sergio? Did you make my cousin do it?"
Ritchie thought this over before answering. "No, no. It was…um…that Freddie guy."
Curtis was looking a bit more pissed off than Jenni had ever seen him.
"So you just made one of your guys run out there so you guys could escape?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Then we got to the clinic, walked in, and things were fucked up in there, too. That's where Sergio got it. That was fucking sick, dude. They just grabbed him and went at it!"
Jenni grabbed onto Juan's arm as his fist went sailing forward. The momentum sent her tumbling into Ritchie. Jenni was grossed out by the sheer reek of the boy and scrambled quickly away from him as he fell flat on his ass. Juan was already lunging toward him, shouting angrily in Spanish.
Jenni flung herself at him and he grabbed onto her to shove her aside.
"Loca, out of my way!"
"It's not worth it!"
"I'm gonna kill that sonnofabitch!"
Curtis motioned to the boy to stay on the ground to keep him away from Juan. "We need to calm down now, Juan."
"He killed my cousin! We all knew he was a good for nothing lowlife corrupting the kids of this town with his homemade shit! Now he has gone and gotten Sergio killed and you want me to fucking calm down?"
Jenni kept her hands pressed firmly to Juan's chest. "Juan, Juan, please."
"No, Jenni, he's a fucking murderer and we're letting him get away with it."
The girl took this moment to throw up all over Jenni. She staggered back and fell against the wall.
"Shit, that's gross," Ritchie decided.
Jenni was beyond grossed out and unbuttoned her blouse and threw it off her. "Oh, shit! Gawd! Gross! Ugh!"
Juan seemed to forget his anger and yanked off his T-shirt and started to wipe the muck off her hair and face. "Man, Loca…"
Curtis looked down at the girl who was now having convulsions on the ground. "Shit." He drew his gun slowly. "Shit."
Jenni turned around just as the girl's eyes rolled back into her head.
"Curtis!"
Ritchie was still on the ground, wasted, laughing, and not making much sense.
"If she bites him…" Curtis started.
"Fucking shoot her!"
The girl's pupils suddenly came back into view, but they were glassy and quite dead. She opened her mouth and let out a growl that sent chills down Jenni's back.
"Shoot her!"
Curtis hesitated.
Juan didn't. He took his good ol' boy shitkickers to the girl’s head, heel first and slammed her head sideways into the brick wall beside her and kept kicking until her head was mush.
Curtis looked stunned and Jenni just lifted an eyebrow.
Juan looked down at his bloodied boots and gore splattered jeans then at Jenni. "C'mon, Loca. We need a shower."
Curtis hesitated, then grabbed Ritchie. "I'm locking him up."
"Check him for bites, man," Juan said numbly. The anger had gone out of him. He reached out to Jenni and she took his hand.
Bill was walking toward them, looking very cop-ish. "I'll help out."
Juan nodded and walked quietly toward the city hall. Jenni followed, glancing back at the young man, who was really not much of a man at all, but mostly boy. The drug dealer was still giggling to himself with his now very dead girlfriend's body slumped beside him.
"If we had let her bite him, we wouldn't have to deal with him," Curtis said to Bill.
Bill just shrugged. "Not for us to decide, Curtis."
"Yeah,” Curtis reluctantly agreed. “Yeah. You’re right.”
Juan drew Jenni into the narrow hall that lead to the janitor's shower everyone in the fort used. It was in the back of the janitor's office and clipboard hung from a rusty nail with a sign in sheet and schedule attached to it. Billie Jo, one of the older women that had been rescued a few days before, was just emerging in a bright blue bathrobe. She blushed deeply and hurried past them. Another man, one Jenni didn't know, was waiting to go next, saw their condition and didn't complain as Juan pulled her into the janitor's office "I'm really sorry about your cousin," Jenni said softly.
Juan walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. "It doesn't matter now."
Jenni sighed. "Yeah, but he was your family."
"Yeah, and he's dead and that fucker Ritchie is still alive. There really isn't much justice in this world." He grabbed hold of her and shoved her, completely clothed under the water and got in with her.
Jenni tilted her head back to let the water flow over her and get all the disgusting vomit off her. Juan took off his hat and tossed it to the floor. He rested his hands on the ugly green tiled wall on either side of her and rested his forehead against hers.
"Loca, I'm losing it."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am. I can't do this."
"Do what?"
"Make it safe for all of us and keep my head together," Juan's voice was ragged, overwhelmed.
"You're doing a good job. The gate closed tonight when it needed to."
"But too slow. They almost got in. We can't afford fuckups. And all because of that fucker that got my cousin and his drugged out buddies killed."
Jenni's clothes were now quite soaked and the lukewarm water was going cold very fast. "We could throw him to the zombies."
"Don't tempt me. I might." Juan sighed and watched the blood and gore slowly rinsing off his very beat up boots. "Help me, Loca, okay?"
"Okay. But I'm not sure how."
"Let's get a bottle of tequila from storage and go up to the roof. I want to get fucking drunk and I trust you to watch my back."
"Okay." Jenni ran a hand over her hair and found it muck free. Grabbing the almost empty bottle of shampoo, she dumped some on her head and began to wash it. "But I need clean hair first."
Juan laughed and pushed her hands away. He lathered up her hair, making horns at one point, amusing himself.
Giggling, she let him and smiled up at him. It felt good to have him back after his puppy dog antics with Belinda. She was glad he hadn't mentioned that situation. Belinda had annoyed her from day one and Jenni was sure she wasn't good enough for Juan.
Rinsing off her hair, Juan made sure to cover up her face with it. "You look better this way, Loca."
"I'm so gonna kick your ass."
Juan laughed and stepped out of the shower, rinsed off and looking a little better. Jenni followed and looked down at herself. Her tank top was very wet and not much was left to the imagination. Suddenly she felt the sexual tension in the room explode. Looking up, she saw Juan staring at her and suddenly things felt very different between them. She had a good idea from the look in his eyes that she looked very tasty in that moment.
"Wanna fuck?" Jenni asked half-joking, looking him straight in the eye.
"Later. After the tequila," Juan answered softly, looking a little dazed.
"Okay. Meet you up there in twenty," Jenni answered with a smile and walked past him out of the room.
She felt Juan watching her, then heard the guy waiting for his turn in the shower say, "If I had been in there with her, I wouldn't be out already."
"Was she always that hot?" Juan asked, confused.
"Pretty sure she was," was the answer.
Jenni grinned to herself and ran up to her room.