Juan ran toward the opening, a shovel in one hand.
Meanwhile, the two newcomers were trying to climb up a single ladder, jostling each other in their haste. Katie ignored them and moved along the top of the wall to a better position to fire at anything coming through the gate. Jenni almost slid down the empty ladder in her desperation to help Juan.
Juan used the shovel to force the corpse out from between the gates. The desperate hands of the zombies blocked by the dead body tried to grab him. Katie watched in horror as Jenni ran straight up to Juan.
“Loca, what are you doing here?”
“Saving your ass,” Jenni answered. She stood right next to Juan and started firing through the narrow gap in the gates.
“Jenni is fucking nuts,” Travis said from beside Katie, then started down the ladder.
Juan was slowly losing his battle with the zombies. The corpse was slowly being pushed forward, and soon the “living” zombies would be able to try to squeeze through into the “lock.” Travis hit the ground and ran to help. Katie stood ready to fire, Behind her, she could hear the shots of those trying to thin out the zombies at the back at the pack.
The dead zombie body shuddered and to Katie’s horror, a hand burst through his rib cage. A grotesquely gnawed face shoved itself past the other zombie’s ruined head. It was literally ripping apart the corpse to get to the living.
“Fuck you,” Jenni said, and blew its head off.
But the damage was done. 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 shooting at the zombies through the narrow gap, trying not to get in the men’s way and not to hit them accidentally.
Katie felt helpless. She didn’t dare look away or blink. Butterflies were gnawing at her stomach as she tried not to think about how vulnerable Travis and Jenni were.
Mike appeared beside her and climbed down into the lock 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 shoved the board against the zombies, who grabbed it, probably to push it away.
“Good idea,” Juan said. He and Travis put the tips of their shovels against the wood. Instead of soft bodies that gave way, the plank gave the men adequate leverage for their pushing. Mike and Jenni joined them, and using the board as a shield, they shoved the zombies back through the gap. The gate shuddered and closed, leaving a small gap where the zombie limbs were caught. The men barely got their shovels out of the way in time.
Katie sighed with relief and lowered her rifle. A few arms, hands, and feet were sticking out from between the closed gates. Some were even moving.
Jenni picked up a shovel 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 before 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 the now obsolete bills. “How about a buck?”
“I’m so worth more than that!”
“Two dollars?”
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 greet their heroes. Travis accepted their hugs and handshakes, smacks on the back, and even a kiss on the cheek or two, before managing 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 as she nodded. “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. She wasn’t sure if it was Lydia’s voice or Travis’s but she knew she was afraid.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
1.
Twists and Turns
Jenni tailed Juan through the throng of celebrants and up, out of the new entryway. Mike and a few other workers were busy finishing the job Jenni had begun, hacking off the limbs of the zombies who had managed to push an arm or a leg through the gate as it closed. Juan wasn’t talking and Jenni knew why: Belinda. The unhappy expression on his face and his tightly clenched fists said it all. Jenni felt terrible that his heart was broken. Early in her marriage, she had come to love Lloyd. When she realized he was not her true love, it had devastated her. Losing the dream of love everlasting had been one of the worst experiences of her life.
“Juan?” She wasn’t certain why she wanted to console him. Maybe it was because it seemed odd for him not to be jovial or making sarcastic comments.
“Loca, I’m not in the mood,” Juan answered briskly.
“I was just going to say how sorry—”
Juan turned and pointed at her with a fierce look on his face. “Don’t.”
Jenni lowered her gaze. “Okay.”
“Ed, did you see where the punk-ass kids went?” Juan inquired as the grizzled old farmer passed him.
Ed pointed over toward city hall. “Curtis has them over there.”
“Thanks, man.” Juan turned on the muddy, gory heels of his cowboy boots and headed straight for city hall.
“What are you going to do?” Jenni hurried after him, worried about his state of mind. He seemed so hurt and furious.
“Deal with business,” Juan responded tersely.
Peggy and Curtis were near the back of city hall, talking to the two newcomers. Things already looked strained and heated when Juan marched right up to the young man and punched him square in his greasy face, knocking him down.
“Whoa, Juan!” Curtis grabbed Juan as Jenni quickly stepped forward, just in case the spaced-out-looking girl did anything. But she just stood there, looking mildly bemused, swaying back and forth.
The boy slowly rose up, glaring at Juan, and shouted, “That hurt!”
“You went into the fucking clinic!”
“Hey, we were in need of … medical treatment,” the teenager said in a defiant tone. His eyes were so red, they looked as if their blood vessels had ruptured, and his skin looked clammy. Jenni grasped that she was looking at two very strung out young people who had probably gone to the clinic looking for their next high.
“Meth is not medicine, fucker,” Juan spat furiously, trying to break Curtis’s hold on him.
Peggy observed as she explained to Jenni, “You’re looking at the local crystal meth dealer.”
Jenni recognized that the situation was tense and that Curtis did not have it completely under control. “I think we need Bill, too.”
Peggy assessed the scene unfolding before her, the flesh between her eyebrows puckering as she scowled. Curtis was nervous and close to his breaking point. “You’re right,” she said, and rushed off to find the older officer.
“Where’s the rest of your pos
se, huh? Where are they?” Juan’s voice was close to fury.
“Dead, dude. It was bad. Real bad,” the boy answered.
The girl giggled.
Curtis pushed Juan behind him. “Ritchie, you went to the clinic for drugs, and your friends got eaten, huh?”
Ritchie shrugged. “Nah. It’s not like that, man. We needed medicine. Carrie got bit and we needed medicine.”
Everyone looked at the girl. She was staring at the outdoor lightbulb hanging over Curtis’s head.
“Those things kept trying to get into the 7-Eleven we were shacking up in. It got real crazy.”
“Which 7-Eleven?” 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 fingers. Jenni saw the distinct bite visible on the girl’s hand. It was swollen and pus-filled.
Jenni put her hand on Juan’s arm, trying to calm him. “I think that girl is Carrie. We have a situation.”
Juan shrugged free from her and was practically snarling when he said, “So, Ritchie, how did you get out? Where’s Sergio?”
Ritchie rolled his eyes, laughing. “Well, we drew straws and someone lost and that someone had to run out the side door to draw them away. Luckily, it wasn’t me being bait.”
Juan looked ready to punch him again. “Was it Sergio? Did you make my cousin do it?”
Jenni kept an eye on the girl, her fingers stroking the butt of the revolver tucked into her belt even though she was out of bullets. She wondered if she could get to the ammo stores before the girl went zombie on them.
Ritchie squinted his eyes and appeared confused before answering, “No, no. It was … um … that Freddie guy.”
Curtis was looking more pissed off than Jenni had ever seen him. “So you made one of your guys run out there so the rest of you could escape?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Then we got to the clinic, walked in, and things were fucked up there, too. That’s where Sergio got it. That was fucking sick, dude. They just grabbed him and went at it!”
Jenni seized Juan’s arm as his fist went sailing forward. The momentum of the thrust sent her tumbling into Ritchie. Jenni was grossed out by the sheer reek of the boy and scrambled quickly away as he fell flat on his ass. Juan lunged toward him, shouting angrily in Spanish. Jenni flung herself at Juan and he clutched her, probably so he could shove her aside.
“Loca, out of my way!” Juan yelled.
“It’s not worth it!” Jenni shouted back.
“I’m gonna kill that sonofabitch!”
Curtis motioned to the boy to stay on the ground and away from Juan. “You need to calm down now, Juan,” he said, not sounding all that calm himself.
“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’s 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 threw up all over Jenni, then staggered back and fell against the wall.
Jenni cried out in disgust.
“Shit, that’s gross,” Ritchie decided.
Jenni was beyond grossed out. She yanked her blouse off and threw it away before it soaked through to her tank top. “Oh, shit! Gawd! Gross! Ugh!”
Juan’s anger seemed to vanish in that instant. He 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 convulsing on the ground. “Shit.” He drew his gun slowly. “Shit.”
Jenni turned around just as the girl’s eyes rolled back into her head. “I tried to tell you!”
Ritchie was on the ground, too, wasted and laughing. He reached out for his girlfriend.
“If she bites him…,” Curtis started.
“Fucking shoot her!” Jenni screamed at Curtis.
The girl’s pupils abruptly came back into view, now glassy and dead. She opened her mouth and let out a growl that sent chills down Jenni’s back.
“Shoot her!” she repeated.
Curtis hesitated.
Juan didn’t. He took his good ol’ boy shitkickers to the girl’s head, heel first, and slammed her skull into the brick wall beside her. He kept kicking until her head was mush.
Curtis looked stunned. Jenni just lifted an eyebrow. Juan looked down at his bloodied boots and gore-splattered jeans before returning his gaze to Jenni. “C’mon, Loca. We need a shower.”
Curtis finally moved and grabbed Ritchie. “I’m locking him up.”
“Check him for bites, man,” Juan said. He reached for Jenni and she took his hand.
Bill walked toward them, looking very cop-ish. “I’ll help.”
“I’m so sick of this shit,” Juan grumbled.
Jenni walked after Juan, casting a look back at the two officers trying to deal with the stoned moron. The drug dealer was still giggling, his now very dead girlfriend 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 through the doorway into the narrow hall that led to the janitor’s shower everyone in the fort used. It was in the back of the janitor’s office. A clipboard hung from a rusty nail with a sign-in sheet attached to it. Billie Jo, an older woman who had been rescued a few days before, was just exiting, wearing a bright blue bathrobe. Seeing them, she blushed deeply and hurried past. Waiting to go next was a man Jenni didn’t know, but he saw their condition and didn’t complain when Juan pushed past him and pulled Jenni into the janitor’s office.
“I’m really sorry about your cousin,” she said in a gentle, sympathetic tone.
Juan walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“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 shoved her, completely clothed, under the water and got in with her.
Jenni tilted her head back to let the lukewarm water flow over her and rinse off all the disgusting vomit. The smell was making her eyes water and she just wanted to be clean. Juan took off his hat and tossed it to the floor. He leaned forward until his hands rested on the ugly green-tiled wall on either side of her and their foreheads touched.
“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 fuck-ups. And all because of that fucker that got my cousin and his drugged-out buddies killed.”
Jenni’s clothes were soaked and the water was going cold. “We could throw him to the zombies.”
“Don’t tempt me. I might.” Juan watched the blood and gore 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. You were looking out for me out there, and I trust you to watch my back.”
“Okay.” Jenni ran a hand over her hair and found it to be muck free. She grabbed the almost empty bottle of shampoo, dumped some on her head, and scrubbed. “But I need clean hair first.”
Juan pushed her hands away and lathered up her hair, making horns at one point, amusing himself.
Pleased, she smiled up at him. It felt good to have
him back after his puppy-dog antics with Belinda. The librarian had annoyed her from day one, and Jenni was sure she wasn’t good enough for Juan.
Rinsing off her hair, Juan covered her face with it. “You look better this way, Loca.”
“I’m so gonna kick your ass.”
Juan stepped out of the shower, rinsed off and looking a little better. The well-defined muscles beneath his undershirt rippled as he dried off his curly hair with a clean towel from a stack near the sink. Jenni swallowed hard as she finally embraced the truth about her feelings for him. Her hand shook at her side as she resisted the urge to reach out and touch his well-toned back. Glancing down at herself, she saw that her tank top was very wet, and not much was left to the imagination. She felt the sexual tension in the room explode, and nervously averted her gaze from Juan’s admirable physique. Pushing her hair back from her face, she dared to look him in the face. He was staring at her.
Just like that, everything was very different between them. She could see it in his eyes as he slowly lowered the towel. He appeared as stunned as she felt. Crossing her arms over her breasts to hide her erect nipples, Jenni struggled to think of what to do or say. Licking her lips, she angled her hip to one side and took a deep breath.
“Wanna fuck?” Jenni asked flippantly, looking him straight in the eye.
“Later. After the tequila.” Juan’s gaze was appreciative, but he looked dazed.
“Okay. Meet you up there in twenty.” Jenni flashed a smile, brushed past him, and escaped out of the room. She felt Juan watching her leave. Her body was singing with arousal and she took a deep breath, feeling something wonderful filling her. She hurried down the hall, casting an awkward look at the guy waiting for the shower.
As she walked, she heard him say to Juan, “If I had been in there with her, we wouldn’t be out already.”
“Was she always that hot?” Juan asked, bewildered.
“Pretty sure she was,” was the answer.
Jenni grinned and ran up to her room.
CHAPTER TWENTY
1.
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 28