“Gawd, the reek of them,” Katie murmured.
“Looks mostly like farmworkers,” Bill observed. “Clothes are pretty screwed up, but looks like farmworkers.”
“Could be from anywhere.” Curtis leaned his elbows on the wall and studied the faces of the dead. “Nobody familiar down there at all.”
Nerit pointed to one of the male zombies. “That one’s wearing a Walmart uniform. Where is the nearest Walmart?”
“Lemme think. About an hour south of here.” Curtis glanced over his shoulder at Nerit. “Think they’re migrating like Travis said?”
“Maybe someone corralled them, pushed them toward us.” Nerit puffed on her cigarette as she scrutinized the situation.
“When Jenni and I were coming here the first time, a crowd of zombies chased us and just kept following the road after we turned off,” Katie said. “Someone would just have to give them a little shove in the right direction.”
“In our direction,” Curtis snorted. “Great.”
“Think the bandits are that smart?” Travis tuned his attention to Nerit. She looked coldly detached from the growing tension around them.
Bill hooked his thumbs over his belt and frowned. “Who knows? There are different breeds out in this area. It’s remote. Country mentality is strong outside the towns. A lot of hardheaded, old-time mind-sets around here.”
“Women as property?” Katie was thinking of the girls who had been taken from the community center in Hackleburg. She was glad Lily was taking care of the two little girls they had rescued, along with her own son.
“You can beat your wife as long as it’s on the county courthouse steps with a stick no thicker than her thumb.” Curtis shrugged his shoulders. “Old county law that never got erased from the books.”
Bill nodded. “Assholes live everywhere. Just in the country, they got more privacy and more leeway. Makes a lot of stuff easier.”
“We still have some pockets of survivors to pick up, right?” Katie put her hands on her hips and tilted her head toward Travis.
“We’ve been picking them up in order of proximity or if their supplies are low. And now we’re sending double teams as much as possible. One group does the rescue, the other gets supplies from any reachable stores. Winter is months away, but we have to be ready.” Travis stared down at the rabid crowd below. “We’ve been putting off some groups because they got bad infestations around them.”
“I think we need to bring everyone in as soon as we can.” Nerit extinguished her cigarette, grinding it into the top of the wall. “And each time out, we should change tactics. They’re watching us, so let’s keep them confused.”
“I hate to be the devil’s advocate, but maybe we should sit tight,” Curtis said sullenly. “We got our own to take care of.”
Nerit gave him a long look. “Those survivors out there are ‘our own. ’”
Curtis shrugged. “I just feel like we should be trying to stay safe inside and not going out there.”
Travis shook his head. “Part of staying safe is having good, solid people to help build the new world. Some of those people have skills we need. One is an RN; another is an electrician. We definitely need an electrician, since so many of the construction guys left back on the first day.”
“We have to get them.” Katie couldn’t even fathom leaving anyone out in the deadlands.
Curtis was staring at Travis intently. “What if people die going out there?”
“We are all taking risks,” Bill answered for Travis. “Got to do what is right.”
There was an uncomfortable silence.
Nerit waved to the zombies rabidly growling and jostling each other below. “Target practice for Jason and his crew,” she said. “Don’t they have some new weapons to try out?”
Katie said, with a brief laugh, “It was nice of the bandits to send us cannon fodder.”
Nerit gave Katie a sly smile. “Oh, yes. It gives me a little more insight into their leader’s mind.” She headed for the stairs, summoning Jason on her walkie-talkie as she went.
“Okay, is it just me, or is she one scary old woman?” Bill blinked his eyes rapidly, his hands on his hips.
“The scariest,” Curtis said somberly.
“Glad she’s on our side,” Katie added.
Travis looked at the zombies thoughtfully. “Yeah, me, too.”
2.
It Begins Again
Peggy studied her little map with all its highlighted spots she had spread out on the front desk in the lobby. With Nerit and Travis watching, the city secretary sighed and drew an X through one of the bright yellow circles. After three days of no contact, she had finally given up hope that the survivors there were still alive. It could be the zombies, or it could be the bandits. There was no way of truly knowing.
Looking up, she saw the newest refugees, three little kids running around with her son, playing what looked like a superhero game. When they’d first arrived, the Gilbreaths had been absolutely terrified, half-starved, and reeking to high heaven. When Mrs. Gilbreath had seen their suite in the hotel, she burst into tears. At their first meal, the children stuffed themselves until the youngest had thrown up. It had broken Peggy’s heart to think what they had witnessed, what they had survived.
Nerit glanced over at the children, then back down at the map. “Four locations. Which is the most desperate?”
Travis was staring at the map. He was certain to be the new mayor, despite Steven Mann’s dirty politicking. Manny was a fading leader as he struggled with health problems. Most people deferred to Travis now. The looming vote was the last step in making him the official fort leader.
“Sadler Farm. The Sadlers and a few workers have been hiding in the main house since the second day of the outbreak. They felt safe in the old stone house with its storm windows and heavy shutters and doors. Originally, they declined joining us. They felt they had it under control. They told me that they’d been going from the house to the garden and chicken coops with no problems. Considering how far out they are, you would think they would be safe, but a wave of the dead arrived on their doorstep about ten days ago. During the initial onslaught, they lost two men. Now they’re just about out of ammo and food.”
Nerit tapped the map with one finger. “And where is the nurse?”
“Bowie Elementary School in Raymond,” Peggy answered. “There are two teachers and four kids with her. Two of the kids are hers. They are almost out of food and have no weapons. She was giving flu shots at the school on the first day. When the school was evacuated to the National Guard base, they chose to remain behind.”
“Why?” Nerit’s voice revealed her curiosity.
Peggy chuckled. “The nurse loves horror movies and when she saw one of the walking dead, she was pretty sure it was a zombie. Then she noticed bites on some of the people being evacuated. So she and the others hid and waited until everyone else had been shipped off to a rescue center, then barricaded themselves inside the school. It’s a very small school, so it wasn’t too hard.”
Nerit smiled wryly. “Horror movies … odd how they became a guideline for survival.”
Katie joined them, dressed in hunting gear. She leaned into Travis and he slung an arm around her shoulders. A tender kiss followed.
Peggy grinned. She loved seeing Travis and Katie together. Her own marriage, to a long-haul trucker, had been rocky and never very romantic. She felt bad that she couldn’t mourn Zack, though Cody often cried for him late at night. She had fallen out of love with him long ago and knew that he had countless affairs while on the road. Maybe they would have gotten divorced if he’d been around more. Zack had died the first day of the zombie rising and Cody had seen him, undead, just before he was rescued by Curtis. Peggy hadn’t even cried when she heard that Zack was dead. She probably never would.
Yet she was still a sucker for country love songs and soap operas. She knew love when she saw it, and she saw it in Travis and Katie. She was happy for them even though she sometimes
felt a little jealous. She wished that one day it would happen to her. Of course, in this dead world, what were the chances of that?
“So these are the last two groups?” Travis indicated the circled locations on the map.
“Actually, one more.” Peggy sighed as she crossed out a group. “I forgot. They’ve gone silent, too. That leaves this one right here. It’s a family trapped in a trailer up in the hills above Emorton, which is badly infested. They were also holdouts, but they have not been doing so well. They’re just bullheaded country folk. They refused all offers of help. Now they need us to rescue them.”
Nerit was deep in thought, her finger tracing the roads on the map.
“Who is out there right now?” Looking at Peggy, Travis leaned against the counter.
Peggy really appreciated that he always gave her his full attention and valued her opinion. It wasn’t like that with Manny; they’d butted heads constantly.
“Ed is out with a group, harvesting the peach groves on his farm,” Peggy answered. “He took Lenore with him.”
“Lenore?” Travis blinked.
“I felt she was ready,” Nerit muttered as she studied the map.
“Jenni is out on a scavenging run with Curtis, Katarina, Felix, and Dylan,” Katie added. “They’re due back soon.”
“Dylan? We sent Dylan out? Isn’t he a bit young?” Travis looked incredulous.
“He just turned eighteen. He could have joined the military at that age,” Nerit pointed out.
“And no one out in the field is reporting anything odd? No bandits?” Travis lifted his eyebrows.
“No, just those waves of zombies showing up. Kinda like they do here. I think the bandits are sending them somehow,” Peggy answered.
“I agree.” Nerit made notes on a pad of paper.
“You don’t think they’ve decided we’re too big to take on?” Katie asked.
“I think they’re trying to figure out what to do with us.” Travis wished he could believe the bandits would leave them alone, but he knew in his gut the bandits were not about to give up yet.
“Agreed.” Nerit nodded, then leaned over the map and studied it. “Waiting for a time to strike.”
Ken rushed down the hall from the communication center, ran behind the counter, and hugged Peggy, startling her. “Oh, my god! You will not believe my news!”
The corners of Travis’s mouth quirked up. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah! Ed called in from where they are getting all those delicious peaches!”
“So the good news is we’re having peach cobbler?” Katie said teasingly.
Ken gave her a dark look. “I’m building this up. You’re cramping my style! Shush, you!”
“Spill it, Ken.” Peggy was about to smack him upside the head.
“My girl, Lenore, my bestest girl, is safe and on her way back with mission numero uno under her belt. That’s the first part. Second part, Ed’s boys were there!”
“No shit?” Peggy was stunned. Ed rarely spoke of his three sons out somewhere in the deadlands. The boys were all the family Ed had after the death of his wife. All three had been away at school on the first day. Peggy knew Ed had hopes they were still alive, but this was amazing news. “Seriously. The boys were all alive?”
“Yep! They fought their way back to Ed’s farm! They thought their daddy was dead until they saw him in the peach orchard!” Ken danced around, then added with a grin. “Lenore is trying to find out if any of them are gay.”
“I swear to God, all you think about is finding a boyfriend,” Peggy groused.
“Like you don’t?”
“Hey, my sex life, or lack thereof, ain’t your business.” Peggy shook her pen in his face.
“Hard up, aren’t you?”
“I’m gonna kick your ass, Ken.”
Katie smirked. “My money is on Peggy if they throw down.” Travis grinned at the sudden lightheartedness around him. “I dunno. Ken looks kinda vicious.”
Ken playfully snarled at him. “Okay, good news time is over! Back to the communication center!” He bounced back down the hall.
“I’m gonna choke him. I swear to God, I will,” Peggy muttered. After talking about all the people out there in horrible situations, it was a relief to hear some good news. “Back to business …”
Nerit looked up from her map, seemingly impervious to Ken’s exploits. “I think they’re after resources: food, guns, drugs, and women. We need to lure them out and I think I know how.” She tapped the map with one finger. “We need to start here.”
Peggy looked at where she was pointing. “Your gun store?”
Travis shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “You said the weapons are in the safe. The bandits can’t get to them.”
“No, they can’t. But we need those weapons and the ammunition. We’ve put off going back there long enough.” Nerit looked very pale, but calm. “We should have gone before.” She pulled out her keys and handed them to Travis. “You need the round gold key and silver square one to get into the store. I will give you the safe combination.”
An excursion to the gun store to reclaim the last of the gun stock and ammunition had long been on the list of things to do, but they had found other stockpiles to keep them well armed.
Peggy shifted on her feet, feeling uncomfortable with where this was going.
Travis slid the keys into his pocket. “We didn’t really need to go until now, you know.”
“We didn’t go because of Ralph,” Nerit said simply. “And we have no time for such sentimentality anymore.”
Travis reached out and rubbed her shoulder gently. “We’ll be respectful.”
“I know,” Nerit answered.
Katie slipped an arm around the older woman’s waist. Peggy was surprised when Nerit leaned against the younger woman, obviously drawing comfort from her embrace.
“If we make a production of going to the store, that will draw the bandits’ attention. It will be a good diversion while we get the last of the survivors in,” Nerit said in a slightly quavering voice. “We need to pull them out. Get them to confront us.”
“So we’re going to get into a fight with the bandits?” Peggy looked at her incredulously.
“No, so we’re going to show them they can’t beat us.” Nerit’s face was grim and frightening.
Travis eyed Nerit long and hard. “I get where you are going with this.”
“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Care to enlighten me?” Peggy asked.
Jenni burst through archway into the lobby. Fury was vivid in her eyes, and her skin was flushed. “Where the hell is Bill?”
“Communication center,” Peggy said, and pointed down the hall. “He’s training Ken.”
“What’s going on?” Katie stepped toward Jenni.
“This fucktard got Dylan killed,” she said, pointing behind her and trembling with rage.
Curtis came into view, his head down, looking pale. “Jenni, I didn’t mean to—”
“Oh, shut up!”
Katarina and Felix appeared behind Curtis. Katarina laid a gentle hand on the younger man’s shoulder.
“Let it go, Jenni,” she said in a soft, firm voice.
“No! I won’t! He told Dylan to go into that storeroom, and there was a fuckin’ zombie inside! He did it on purpose ’cause he was mad at Dylan for smoking weed!”
Curtis was trembling with emotion and tears streamed down his face. “I thought it was clear!”
“You liar!”
“Get Bill and Juan,” Travis told Katie.
Katie hurried down the hall.
Travis moved around the counter and walked slowly toward Jenni. “Jenni, things go wrong out there. You know it.”
Jenni whirled around, toward Travis. “Dylan was a boy! Just a boy! Curtis got him killed.”
“I thought it was clear!” Curtis’s face was red, his hands clenched at his side.
Katarina held on to Curtis’s shoulder, partially to comfort him, partially to keep
him back from Jenni.
“It was not an easy ride back with these two going at it,” Felix grumbled.
“I want him locked up!” Jenni stomped her foot.
“Jenni, calm down. We need to take care of this in a calm manner.”
Peggy slowly walked up behind Travis, glad for his gentle demeanor. At that moment, she wanted to slap Jenni and shake Curtis, but she also felt sick at the thought of someone so young dying so horribly. Poor Dylan.
Bill appeared with Katie, hoisting up his belt and looking slightly annoyed. “What’s going on?”
Jenni and Curtis started talking at the same time. Katarina and Felix kept trying to interject, and Peggy felt like screaming at them to shut up as the lobby filled with noise. Mrs. Gilbreath quickly ushered the children out of the lobby and out of sight.
Bill raised a hand. Everyone fell silent.
“Curtis, talk to me. What happened?” Bill looked at the younger man with the fatherly compassion that Peggy so admired.
“We were in the Walgreens. We made a sweep through. I checked the storeroom and didn’t see nothing. Told Dylan to go in and start organizing what we needed to take. I went to get a dolly. I heard him screaming and ran in. I guess the zombie came off a shelf or something. I don’t know. I shot both of them.” Tears were still streaming down Curtis’s face. He rubbed at his flushed cheeks furiously.
Bill looked at Katarina and Felix. “Is that what you saw?”
“I didn’t see anything, but I heard Curtis telling Dylan to take care of things in the storeroom,” Katarina answered.
“I didn’t check the storeroom myself, but I heard Curtis call it as clear.” Felix shrugged.
“He sent him in there to die!” Jenni couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “He did it on purpose!”
Juan came running into view and skidded to a stop near Jenni. “Babe?”
“Curtis did it on purpose!” Jenni shouted again, tears streaming down her face. “He did it on purpose. He’s the fuckin’ Vigilante! It could have been Jason! He could have killed my son!”
As The World Dies Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 59