The others echoed her declaration as they finished checking their areas.
Travis pulled back one last curtain and sighed with relief. “Nothing here either.”
“Let’s check the patio,” Nerit said. She opened the doors to the patio and stepped out slowly.
On the patio, a beautiful Roman gazebo stood beside a pool of dank water. A waist-high stone railing surrounded the entire roof of the hotel. Travis walked over to the rail and looked down. He spotted a maintenance walkway a few feet below, tucked down out of view with a safety net extending outward around five feet.
To stop suicides, he thought.
Katie leaned over the rail to peer down, then toward the diminishing storm. “It’s really beautiful up here.”
Travis smiled. “I was thinking the same thing.” He loved the way the sun was glinting off her curls. He wanted to touch them, but refrained.
“Keep alert,” Nerit barked.
He frowned. Katie poked him. “She’s just good at her job.” “Yeah,” he said, almost resentfully.
They spread out and looked around, but there really were no hiding places on the patio, not even in the gazebo.
“How about up there?” Travis asked, pointing at the roof of the ballroom.
Nerit lifted her gaze. “Good point.”
They all started to search for a way up. Travis walked around the patio, alongside the ballroom. He was more in the shadows on this side. The wind was quite fierce. Katie and Jenni followed him.
“That smell …”
A terrible stench was carried on the gusts. Travis immediately looked around for zombie. He saw nothing and felt panic rising within him.
Katie glanced up and uttered, “Oh, shit.”
Travis followed her gaze and saw a zombie struggling to her feet at the very edge of the roof. Travis recognized her as Brenda, a waitress from the diner near the construction site. She had always smiled at him when he came in for breakfast. She must have taken a second job at the hotel. Heartbreakingly, she seemed almost intact except for two bites on her hand. Her face was stained with dry tears.
“Oh, God!” Katie said. “She must have crawled up there and died.”
The zombie snarled in frustration and finally managed to stand. She lurched forward and made a desperate leap at the living below her. Travis and the two women ducked, and the zombie sailed over their heads and the railing. Looking down, Travis saw her struggling on the safety net.
Katie started to aim, but Travis pushed her arm down. “I need to do this.”
Seeing his expression, Katie lowered her weapon. “Okay.”
Travis felt the sting of possible tears, but fought them back. He raised his weapon and forced himself not to flinch. He had to do this. He had to be able to kill zombies to protect those he loved, even if they were people he had once loved. “Sorry, Brenda,” he said, aiming for the back of her head. For a moment, he saw her in his mind as she had been, a pretty blond girl with a big smile and rosy cheeks. Then he fired, and the thing she had become fell silent and still.
Katie touched his arm but didn’t say a word.
“That sucked,” Jenni said.
Travis felt shame and pride struggling inside him for dominance. He finally pushed both away and fully accepted that what he had just done was now part of his reality.
“Did you know her?” Katie asked.
“Yeah. I thought about asking her out when I first moved here. An opportunity lost,” he sadly answered. Turning his gaze toward Katie, he knew he could not let another chance slip away.
“It’s all clear up here,” Nerit said from above. She was standing on the roof. “There is a ladder on the far side,” she said in answer to his unspoken question.
Curtis appeared beside Nerit. “Damn pretty up here. Almost looks like nothing bad is happening.”
Travis wondered if Curtis even saw the girl lying dead on the net.
Jenni hobbled past Travis, heading for an entrance. “Almost done.”
“The basement is left,” Curtis said.
“I hate basements,” Jimmy grumbled.
“Monsters are always in the basement,” Roger added. He had been quiet for a while now. Travis had a feeling that the seriousness of the situation had finally sunk home for Roger somewhere around the sixth floor.
“We’ll hold position here. It’s up to the crew downstairs to take care of the rest,” Nerit said.
Travis gazed at the beauty of the hills. “It almost looks normal.”
“Almost,” Katie agreed, staring at Brenda’s dead body.
The others drifted away, looking for places to sit down and relax, now that they had completed their primary objective.
Travis and Katie stayed where they were, staring out over the hills. Katie rubbed her wounded arm, looking very tired, but to him, she was beautiful, inside and out. She was strong and smart. He adored her. He made a decision.
He leaned over toward her, and she tilted her head questioningly. “Tonight,” he said.
He knew she would understand what he meant, and from the look in her eyes, she did. She raised one hand to touch his cheek, then nodded.
Turning his head, he kissed her palm, then held her hand against his face. Exhausted, they walked back to the ballroom to join the others.
7.
All Clear
“I fucking hate basements,” Juan said for the fifth time. He had insisted on coming downstairs with Katarina’s group as they cleared the basement. He wanted to get the power on and had no patience anymore.
The flashlight beams slit the darkness and illuminated the monstrous machinery that was the internal organs of the hotel. Huge industrial laundry machines stood silent along one wall, and Juan looked at them warily. In horror movies, washing machines always had bad things in them.
Eight armed people systematically worked their way through the basement, while Juan headed for the fuse box. Katarina walked with him, her weapon in her hand.
“I hate basements,” he said again.
Standing before the biggest fuse box he had ever seen in his life, he set to work. With a flashlight in one hand, he checked all the fuses.
There was the sharp bark of a gun. Someone said, “Clear.”
“I hate zombies,” Katarina sighed.
Juan looked around nervously, then nodded. “Yes, me, too. Basements with zombies … much worse.”
Flashing the light around, he spotted a door labeled SUPPLY ROOM and pointed. “I need fuses.”
Katarina frowned a little. “Great. Another closed door.”
Juan walked over and knocked on the door.
“What are you doing?” Katarina asked with a little fear in her voice.
“If there is one in there, it should flip out and start banging back, right?”
Katarina raised an eyebrow. “You got a point.”
Juan knocked again and waited. There was no response.
“I guess it’s clear,” he said, and opened the door. Immediately, a zombie lying on the floor inside leaned forward and bit the pointed toe of one of his shitkickers.
Juan jerked back with a startled yelp and Katarina shot the woman in the head. She pointed at the zombie’s lack of arms. “Couldn’t knock back.
“Well, there goes that theory,” Juan said with a frown. “And she scuffed my boot. Damnit.”
“Good thing it’s not like in the zombie movies where they can bite through anything,” Katarina smirked. “In the movies, she would have bitten your toes off.”
Juan rolled his eyes. “It would take a zombie a damn long time to chew through a leather boot.” He shone the light all around the small supply room. It was clear. He stepped in, shoving the zombie to one side with the same foot she’d tried to eat, and located the fuses.
Returning to the fuse box, he began replacing the burnt-out fuses, working quickly, safely, and efficiently. “That power surge the first day really fucked things up. I wonder what caused it.”
Katarina continued to watc
h the darkness, her flashlight making long sweeps and occasionally revealing the other people in the basement. People kept calling out their status as they moved methodically through the basement.
“I got it!” Juan said triumphantly.
Suddenly, the basement filled with fluorescent light. Machinery growled to life. Everyone let out a gasp.
“Clear,” someone called out. “All clear.”
In the lobby, Monica started as the lights came to life, brightening the rich dark wood and fancy furniture.
“Wow,” she said in awe.
The elevator on the right side of the lobby chimed and the doors opened. A little girl staggered out, looked around, and rushed toward the nearest person, growling.
“Freaky zombie kid!” Ken shouted.
Panic swept the room as people realized all the armed guards were in the basement. Monica picked up a brick and hurled it at the girl, hitting her in the chin. The zombie child staggered backwards. Monica smiled as her softball years paid off.
Another brick went careening toward the zombie and spun her around.
There was a flurry of excitement as people continued to pelt the girl with bricks until she fell to the floor. Monica ran over and stared down at the growling face of what had once been a living child, then slammed the brick in her hands down on the creature’s head, shattering it into bloody chunks.
Travis, Nerit, and the others had assembled in the foyer to the ballroom when the electricity came back on. Nerit had pushed the buttons to summon the elevators. The first one had been empty. Now they were waiting for the last one. Travis stood ready, his gun aimed at the elevator’s doors. Nerit stood beside him, her rifle steady.
A bell chimed and the doors opened. Inside the car was a body, a truly dead body.
Nerit looked closely at the emaciated form and said, “It’s the hotel manager.” It was evident from the state of the body and the condition of the elevator that he had died of either dehydration or starvation. He was curled into a ball, clutching his wallet. Pictures of his family spilled from between his fingers.
Travis said, “I guess we’re done.”
Nerit nodded.
And just like that, the day from hell was over.
Jason wished the crying would stop. As the mayor learned the identities of those who had died, he spoke with their loved ones as promised. People were consoling the bereaved throughout the store, and all the grief was nerve racking. Jason just wanted to see his mom and to know everything was okay.
Jack panted beside him, occasionally licking his hand. The teenager was certain his dog understood that Jason needed to be comforted. The warmth of the animal’s furry body and the smell of his kibble breath were strangely soothing. Jason rubbed Jack’s back and was rewarded with a slurp across his face.
“They’re done! They’re done!” someone shouted.
Looking up, Jason saw his mother and Katie through the glass windows at the front of the Dollar Store. Jason scrambled to his feet and pushed through the crowd of people gathering near the front. The bell over the door rang as it opened. There was light applause from a few folks, but it died down as people shouted out questions.
Travis appeared above the crowd as he stepped onto a chair. He signaled for silence.
“Jason!”
He barely caught sight of his mom before she was gathering him up in her arms. She held him close, kissing his cheek. She reeked of blood, body odor, and something truly rank, but she was alive and he hugged her tight. Jack leaped up excitedly, trying to lick both of them.
From above, Travis said, “I want to thank you for your patience and prayers. It’s been a long, long morning.” He looked at his watch. “I can’t believe it’s only one fifteen.” He shook his head. “But the hotel is clear—”
The cheers were raucous and the applause deafening.
Raising his hands, Travis again called for silence. “But we lost people. Good people who volunteered to lay their lives on the line. Let’s all remember Mark, Wallace, Mike, Ashley, Ned, Chuck, and Davey. They will be missed.”
“Mom, all those people died! You could have been killed.” Her bruised face terrified him.
Jenni smiled and kissed his forehead. “I’m alive and so are you. That’s what matters right now, honey.”
Travis stepped down and Ed appeared, apparently standing on the same chair Travis had used. “Okay, cleanup crews, front and center. It’s our turn now. Let’s get it done!”
“That’s us,” Eric said beside Jason, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand.
Jenni smoothed Jason’s bangs back from his forehead. “I’m starving. Think you could hook your mom up with some lunch?”
Jason grinned. “I have connections.” Wrapping his arm around her waist, he pulled her toward Rosie and her stash of sandwiches.
CHAPTER NINE
1.
Beginnings …
There seemed to be very little time to rest and enjoy their victory. Almost immediately, cleanup crews came in and began the messy job of preparing their new home for occupancy. Wearing kerchiefs over their noses and mouths as masks, the hardiest of the volunteers set about wrapping the dead bodies in thick plastic sheets taken from the construction supplies. The corpses were then piled onto a pallet jack and removed through the hotel loading dock into a waiting truck.
Nerit and a few others who had proved to be deadly shots covered the disposal of the bodies from windows and balconies above. They took out any zombie trying to get too close. So far, there hadn’t been any major incidents. A few zombies made runs at the truck, only to be taken down by the snipers.
Teams cut the carpeting in the dining room into long swaths that were then rolled up, put into plastic trash bags, then dumped in the same truck that would haul away the bodies of the dead. Some of the volunteers, who were not as physically fit, were given gloves and large buckets of water mixed with bleach and asked to clean up the blood splatter. Anything that had been contaminated by the blood or innards of the zombies was removed or scrubbed ferociously.
A sense of relief permeated the atmosphere. With so many people working, things were taken care of rather quickly. All the entrances to the hotel were double-checked to make sure they were secure. Several groups would be working deep into the night to brick them all up. The loading dock would be left operational, but only because the doors were thick metal and could be securely locked.
As the sun set, the hotel came alive with lights. The smell of bleach had wiped out the reek of death, and the upstairs windows were letting in cool, fresh evening air.
It was time to check in.
Peggy flipped through her list one more time. Standing behind the reservation desk, she shifted on her feet, feeling slightly uncomfortable. Despite being told repeatedly that the hotel was clear of zombies, she was still nervous. Cody was under the desk, playing with his toys. Every time she took a slight step away from him, he’d grab the hem of her jeans and her heart would break.
On Peggy’s left, the mayor studied a copy of the map they were giving out to all the fort occupants along with their room assignments.
“So I just mark on the map where their room is and hand it to them with the key, right?” Manny asked.
“Yep,” Peggy answered, trying not to sound irritated. “That’s how it works.” Though she was grateful he had volunteered to help her, she was annoyed at the same time. Like most city secretaries in rural Texas, it was Peggy who had truly run the town. Of course, the mayor always got the credit. He was a political creature, and she suspected he had offered to help now so that he would look good in the eyes of his constituents.
“This shouldn’t be too hard,” Manny said.
Yolanda and Rosie slid behind the desk and took up their positions. Peggy was glad she had accepted Yolanda’s offer of help. Peggy was already feeling a lot less pressured.
“We got all the older folks settled in on the first floor,” Rosie informed Peggy.
“It went easy as pie,” Yolanda adde
d.
“Juan is putting out the word for everyone to grab their stuff and head over for room assignments, so we’re about to get swamped,” Rosie said, pushing her silver-streaked dark hair back from her face. “It feels so good to be in here at last.”
“You can say that again,” Yolanda said with a grin.
Peggy wished she could agree. Her stomach was a mess of knots and she kept jumping at small sounds. Even footsteps made her shiver, and she clutched her pen tightly before looking up to see not zombies but her fellow fort inhabitants approaching the desk. People were smiling and laughing as they got into line at the desk.
“Checking in,” Felix said, stepping up and setting his duffel bag on the counter.
“I need a credit card and your driver’s license,” Peggy drawled.
“Huh?”
His confused expression made Peggy laugh and loosened the ugly knots in her soul. “Gotcha,” she teased, then gave him his room assignment as he shook his head with amusement. Beside her, Yolanda and Rosie were similarly quick and efficient, while Manny took his time.
“Hi, Katie,” Peggy said with a smile, handing over her key and a map.
The blond woman was pretty banged up and looked exhausted, but she returned the smile. “Thanks, Peggy. You have no idea how desperately I want a bath.”
“You better hurry up, then. I have a feeling everyone is going to be rushing for the bathtubs. Who knows if the hot water will last?”
“Good point,” Katie said, then picked up her box of possessions and disappeared into the crowd.
Rosie handed her son a set of keys. “You have a suite, hijo, since you have Jenni and Jason with you.”
“Don’t forget the dog,” Juan said with a wink. He took the keys, then threaded his way through the gathering to where his new family was waiting for him near the elevators.
“I think I’m going to cry,” Rosie confessed, sniffling. “I never thought I would see the day my boy would finally find the right girl.”
“If only I could find the right guy,” Peggy grumbled playfully. It was good to see everyone looking relaxed and happy. The good moods were infectious and her fear was lessening. Peering down at Cody, she said, “Honey, don’t be afraid. I promise you. The zombies don’t live in the hotel no more. We do. And it’s all good.”
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 44