Jenni was sitting at a table with several of the townspeople. He was proud of her. He knew how hard it was for her to socialize with more than one or two people at a time. But she seemed to be changing, getting bolder. Hell, that dance on the balcony had proved that.
His dad had been a shithead. Pure and simple. It had taken years for Jason to realize that. His mom told him horror stories of her marriage to his dad, but he hadn’t believed her. Even when numerous family members told him that the reason his mom had custody of him was because his dad sent her to the hospital too many times for the judge to ignore, he hadn’t believed it. When his dad had come for his supervised visits, he was always charming and kind and brought Jason the coolest new gadgets for a kid his age. There was no way his dad was an abuser.
It wasn’t until his mother died that he was finally been able to meet his half brothers, Benji and Mikey. For a long time, he had refused to meet them or his stepmother out of loyalty to his mother. He was all his mother had, after all. Then, when she died, he had been packed up and shipped off to his dad’s house, a state away. Jenni sent him a very sweet e-mail asking about his likes and dislikes, and he had hated her for it. When he arrived at the house, he had been shocked to see how much Jenni looked like his mom. More shocked when he had been shown his new bedroom and everything he had told Jenni he liked (some of it bullshit) was in the room. She had decorated it in his favorite colors with his favorite band posters on the walls. He hated her more for that. He went down to dinner to find his favorite dish on the table. He had fiercely hated her.
And then that fateful day came. His perfect father became irate at something Jason had done, and his face had contorted with a terrifying rage. He had lifted his hand to strike Jason, but Jenni threw herself in front of him and took the blow. Jason had watched in horror as his dad beat her without mercy for interrupting his “discipline of my son.”
Mikey, who everyone said was growing up to be a football player, had launched himself across the room and onto his father. And then all hell had broken loose upon their household.
When Jenni came into his room several hours later to put a glass of water on his bed stand, her lips puffy and cracked, one eye swollen shut, limping slightly, Jason had flung his arms around her bruised body and wept uncontrollably. It was then that he realized that all those years, his mother had been telling the truth. He wept tears of guilt over his doubt.
After that, he didn’t hate Jenni at all. He had come to love her very much. And he had loved his siblings. In some weird way, he even loved his dad, but their home had been violent. He and Jenni had worn bruises. Sometimes, even Mikey. There were times all of them, even Benji, were in the brawl. That their home life had ended in violence was not surprising.
In city hall, Jason saw several older people carefully cataloging all the remaining food. It had been moved into one room for storage. Up the stairs, he headed for the dining room. Tobias stood near the windows overlooking the street. Curtains covered the windows to keep the zombies from seeing the humans, but they still knew that living flesh was just out of their reach.
“When he looks up at me, I know he knows who I am,” Tobias said in a tormented voice.
“What?” Jason stopped in midstride, not sure if the man was speaking to him.
“My son.” Tobias drew back the curtain and pointed.
It was hard for Jason to determine which zombie he was indicating. The hot Texas sun was slow-cooking all the zombies, and their skin had crisped to a dark color and was splitting. It was hard to tell anyone’s ethnicity.
“He looks up at me and I know, I know, he wants me to help him and the children,” Tobias said softly. His voice sounded very distant.
“Look, dude, I think maybe we should go find your wife.”
“I don’t want to speak to her. She’s given up on them. But I won’t. I can’t.” Tobias looked at Jason, but Jason wasn’t sure the man was actually seeing him. “How can I?”
Jack whined a little and Jason moved to close the curtains. “You shouldn’t let them see us.”
“How can I give up?” Tobias persisted.
“You can because they’re dead,” Jason answered. As he closed the curtain, he said, “My brothers, my dad, my friends are all dead. And now they’re just like that. Undead. You have to let them go or else they will kill you and make you what they are.”
“But this isn’t how the world works. They have to be sick. In need of medical care, but we slaughter them.” Tears slipped from Tobias’s eyes.
Jason shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “Look, dude, I think we should find someone to talk to you.”
Tobias shook his head adamantly. “There is no talking. They need us and we deny them. We need to go out there and tend their wounds. I don’t believe these lies about those poor, sick people eating us. It’s a lie.”
“No, I swear, it is not. I’ve seen it!”
Tobias glared at him, then turned abruptly and started down the hall.
Jack whined. Jason took a breath and ran a hand over his hair before following Tobias. This was definitely not going to be a good situation. He could feel it.
There were construction workers coming into the building, and Jason had to push through a bit of a crowd to get down the stairs and outside. He looked around for the older man. The site was messy, considering all the work they were doing, and he couldn’t see Tobias right away. Easing his way past large piles of equipment and living areas set up under tarps, Jason finally saw Tobias standing on the sentry platform above the zombies. Juan had told everyone to stay off it until they could put up a screen to shield the guards from the zombies’ view. Tobias was waving at the crowd beyond the truck perimeter.
“Hey, dude, get down from there!” Jason started to jog toward the older man. Jack immediately fell in beside him, excited by all the commotion.
Tobias hesitated at the sound of Jason’s voice but then pushed one of the longer ladders over the wall, over the fence, and toward the top of the trucks. The ladder seemed precariously balanced by the wall, but the older man didn’t test its sturdiness. When it formed a wobbly bridge to the trucks, he started to crawl over it.
Jason reached the platform and fell to his knees to grip the end of the ladder to hold it in place. The crowd of zombies was going nuts. The sight made Jason feel sick.
“Come back, dude! Come back!”
When the ladder seesawed, Tobias stopped for a second, and then continued heading for the zombies.
“Mom!” Jason shouted. “Mom! Somebody! Anybody! Help!”
Jenni looked up from her far corner, saw him holding the ladder, and came running.
Tobias reached the fence and crept over the line of spikes between the fence and the trucks.
Nearby, a woman cried out; Jason was sure it was Tobias’s wife.
Jenni reached the steps just as Juan did. They jostled each other as they moved up the stairs and reached the platform at the same time. Jason noticed that his mom was holding her gun.
“What the hell is he doing?” Juan took off his cowboy hat and slapped it against his thigh. “Dammit!”
“He was talking about his family. About how they needed help. He said he didn’t believe the stories about them eating people!” Jason answered breathlessly. His hands were aching from trying to keep the ladder secure.
Jack started barking crazily at the zombies, and Jenni gave him a stern look and ordered him down the stairs. Jack responded with a mournful look but obeyed.
Tobias reached the top of the truck and got to his feet. He maneuvered over the dirt trucks, the cargo trucks, and the heavy sandbags, his arms held out to keep his balance.
“Tobias, come back!” A woman had joined them, and her expression was desperate.
Tobias hesitated and glanced back at them. “I will not abandon our family. I will not give in to superstition.” He walked on until he reached the edge of the truck perimeter. Kneeling, he held out his hand toward the throng below. He started calling names,
and Jason could see the crowd getting more and more riled.
“Come back!” the woman kept screaming.
Jason looked at his mom just as Jenni showed Juan her gun. Juan nodded, and Jason looked back toward Tobias in disbelief.
The older man was now lying on his stomach. He reached down over the crowd, probably toward one particular zombie, but it was hard to tell. And then it happened: One of the taller zombies managed to snag his arm and started to pull Tobias down into the crowd. Since the man’s back was to them, Jason did not know if Tobias had finally realized the error of his ways or not. Jenni’s gun let out a sharp bark and Tobias’s head split open. Limp, he was dragged down into the crowd.
Jenni turned away, but Jason couldn’t help but watch as gouts of blood exploded over the heads of the zombies and a battle for flesh began among them.
“Don’t look,” she said in a sad voice.
“You killed him!”
“I saved him,” Jenni replied defensively.
Jason looked at her finally, horrified at what she had done. “But you killed him.” She was so sweet, so kind, so nice, he couldn’t fathom it.
“I saved him. He won’t have to know what it feels like to be torn apart. He won’t have to know what it is to be living dead. I saved him.”
Jason looked down the stairs to where Jack was waiting for him. Pressing his lips together, he gave her a curt nod. “I get it. But, Mom, you’re a mom. You’re nice. You shouldn’t kill.”
Jenni put her arm around him and they descended the stairs, Juan at their backs, guiding Tobias’s sobbing widow. “In this world, Jason, we all have to kill.”
They reached the bottom, and Jenni turned to the other woman. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, thank you,” the widow said softly. “You did the right thing. He just couldn’t accept what is happening.”
Peggy came and led the woman away. Juan followed, shaking his head.
Jason studied Jenni’s face, then said, “I’m glad you’re my mom.”
She kissed his cheek, then made a face and stuck out her tongue. “Ewwww … go take a shower!”
Jason gave her his best sullen look. “Fine. You’re so bossy.” He trudged away, glancing back at her a few times. She stared down at the gun, running her other hand over it gently, her expression distant.
“This is one fucked-up world,” Jason told Jack.
The dog woofed in agreement and they walked on.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
1.
A Taste of Hell
Katie sat at the kitchen table taking a long sip of very hot, slightly bitter coffee. It almost scalded her tongue, but it felt deliciously good going down. Nearby, Nerit was finishing up the breakfast dishes. Katie had offered to help her, but Nerit gently rebuffed her. It was fairly obvious that Nerit had enjoyed nursing Katie back to health these last few days, fussing and fretting after her and making sure she rested.
She was still weak. Dizziness, nausea, and the occasional fever had haunted her up to thirty-six hours ago. Now, at last, she felt stronger, felt that the sickness was finally behind her.
The old hunting dog strolled in, slow and steady on his stiff legs, and went up to his water bowl to get a drink. Katie let her fingers brush over his back as he passed her by and wondered how Jack was doing. She had talked to Jenni for twenty minutes the night before, but she couldn’t remember if Jenni had mentioned the dog. Jenni had mostly talked about how they had corralled the zombies and how someone had been stupid enough to try to “save” his family from the mass of living dead. She also told Katie how they had fixed up the fort, roping off some sections as “living” areas, while others were security or construction related.
Katie had seen Travis making all sorts of drawings and writing down odd equations. She knew that he and Juan spoke a lot late at night.
Once Katie was standing up, holding her cup tightly in her slim fingers, she strolled over to the counter and leaned her hip against it. “Nerit?”
“Yes, Katie?”
“Why won’t you and Ralph come to the fort?”
Nerit finished drying a plate before she looked at Katie. “This is our home.”
“But once we leave, you’ll be here alone.”
Nerit slowly put the plate in the cupboard, her expression thoughtful. Picking up a glass, she started to dry it. “Katie, Ralph has three sons. I have two sons. We have grandchildren. We do not know where they are. If they are safe, alive, on the run, or … They will come here if they can. At least, Ralph’s sons will. Mine are in Israel. I have very little hope of hearing from them.”
Katie looked down as her vision blurred a bit from tears. “I see.”
“This is all we have left now. If we leave, we leave behind all of it. We are old, and all we have is this shop. This little town. The hope that our children may still be alive with their children somewhere out there.”
Katie pressed her lips together. She couldn’t blame Nerit. If she could have holed up somewhere with Lydia, safe and secure, and ridden this out, she would have. “I understand.”
“Besides, we have our truck back and if we have to flee, we will.”
“That’s an awesome truck. I creamed a lot of zombies with it,” Katie said, grinning.
“That old white truck is pretty bloodstained, too,” Nerit pointed out with a wink.
“It’s kinda nice to have the old truck back. It did get me and Jenni to safety.”
“And it will get you back to your fort safe and sound, I’m sure.”
Travis leaned in the doorway. “Katie, how are you feeling?”
“Good. Good.”
“I could use your help,” he said. “If Nerit doesn’t mind you abandoning her.”
Nerit laughed and shooed them away. “Go, go, do what you need to.”
Katie walked out into the hall and scrutinized Travis. He appeared surprisingly sheepish.
“Okay, Ralph and I have packed up all the guns, ammo, and clothes from the shop that we think the fort needs. Now we’re heading over to the grocery store.” Travis blushed deeply. “Uh, there are … um … things.” He was looking everywhere but at her face. “Uh … women things.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Oh, my god, Travis. Didn’t you ever buy tampons for a girlfriend?”
Travis winced. “I try to block that memory.”
Katie brushed past him, laughing, and headed down the stairs. Bill and Ralph were in the store, both dressed in hunting outfits, rifles slung casually over their arms. Katie looked out the window at her old white truck. She felt a pang of sorrow for the old man who had died saving her, but also a flash of nostalgia when she remembered being on the road with Jenni. Travis had constructed a sturdy pallet on the truck bed to carry their haul back to the fort, and Katie was grateful for his resourcefulness.
“I hear we’re going shopping?” Katie said to Ralph.
“Yep, next door. Put on a jacket and grab a gun,” Ralph answered.
“I thought you cleared out the town?”
“Can’t take a chance,” Ralph reminded her.
“There are probably more out there wandering around,” Bill added. He pulled on a cowboy hat. “There are lots of farms and trailer parks out in those hills. We can’t let down our guard.”
“Makes sense,” Katie admitted.
Travis handed her a hunting jacket and she shrugged it on.
Picking up a gun, she looked over her shoulder at the men. “So, basically, I’m risking my life because you pansies don’t want to pick up tampons,” she said, arching her eyebrow critically.
All three nodded.
“Yep.”
“Pretty much.”
“Uh-huh.”
Katie shook her head as she looked out the front door at the grocery store across the way. It was very small and old fashioned. The road was clear except for the truck. When she’d first awakened and noticed the lack of the smell of decay, she’d asked about the corpses. Ralph and Bill had piled the bodies into the back o
f a truck and driven a ways out of town before dumping them into a ditch. This was not a time for proper burial.
Ralph and Bill were first out the door, followed by Katie, then Travis. Travis walked stiffly, the gun in his hands obviously making him uncomfortable, but he’d told Katie that Ralph had been working with him.
“There aren’t any zombies left in there?” Katie wondered.
“Once they got the door rotating, they all came spilling out,” Ralph answered. “Nerit and I cleared out the two left crawling around inside. None left now.”
Ralph swept his gaze over the few buildings that made up his town and motioned to the others that the coast was clear. One by one, they passed into the small grocery store through the revolving door. Inside, it was in shambles. Dark brown blood was smeared everywhere. Bits of flesh were rotting on the floor.
The stench made Katie cough and she covered her mouth with one hand. Travis pulled a bandanna from a nearby stand and tied it around her head, making sure it covered her mouth and nose. He did the same for himself. Bill and Ralph just seemed to deal with the smell. With the impromptu mask in place, Katie found that the scent of rotting flesh was blunted by the fresh, starchy smell of brand-new cloth.
Grabbing a cart, she started to walk down one of the store’s four narrow aisles. There were lots of cans and boxes on the floor, but there was still plenty of stuff crammed onto the shelves. She found the health section and started to load up. Vitamins, cold and flu remedies, allergy medicine, pain relievers, and cough medication all went into her cart. The men busied themselves sorting through the food items.
It was cold in the store; the air conditioner was still whirring away. How long the power would stay on was anyone’s guess. Katie started shoving shampoo, deodorant, and all sorts of hygiene items into the cart. It filled up pretty quickly. She returned to the front of the door, trying not to look at a small gray hand not attached to a body tucked under the edge of the front counter. She took another cart and went back to work filling it.
About ten minutes later, she heard a noise coming from the back office. She fearfully gestured to Travis and he crept up beside her. She pointed at the door and took a stance that showed she was ready to shoot. Ralph had said the store was clear, but they couldn’t take a chance.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 19