Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(46)

“I don’t want this getting out,” the Mayor said after a beat. “A party is planned for tonight and we need it for morale.”

“People are already talking about Jimmy,” Nerit cut in. “It is hard to keep things quiet in such a small community.”

“She’s got a legitimate point. Besides, hiding something from the general population only ends up blowing up,” Katie remarked.

“You have to wonder if the government knew what was going on when this whole zombie thing started,” Jenni added. “I mean…hell...where did all the zombie movies come from? There had to be something going on that inspired them.”

Travis chuckled softly. “I always thought Romero was just sick in the head.”

Jenni gave him a dark look, but then shrugged dismissively. “Well, I still think they knew something.”

“It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Curtis said darkly. “The government ain’t here anymore as far as we know. But we are.”

“I’ll handle the investigation and keep it on the low down or as low as I can,” Bill said. “And I’ll start by questioning Juan.”

Juan let out an explosive sigh and threw up his hands. “Fine. It’s not like I have work to do to make us all safe.”

Jenni sat down next to him and took his hand. “I’m staying with him.”

Bill nodded. “That’s fine, but the rest of you should go.”

Manny said, “Okay, but let me know what you find out.”

Peggy stood up and headed out the door, Katie following. Travis hesitated then followed them out as Curtis and the Mayor also left with grim expressions on their faces.

The Mayor drew Curtis aside, whispering, “We need damage control, Curtis. We can’t let this get out.”

Travis sighed and walked on, hands in his pockets. Some things never changed he supposed; once a politician always a politician.

His face brightened when he saw Katie hanging back in the hallway that led from the hotel’s offices to the lobby. The fact she was now with him still made him grin and feel a little overwhelmed. Reaching her, he laid his hand on her cheek and leaned down to give her a kiss. Her lips were soft and sweet against his. She slid her arms around his waist and rested against him.

Apart from everyone else, they shared a quiet moment of kisses. “I need to get to work.”

“I know. I have to report for lunch duty,” Katie murmured against his chest. “I'll see you tonight at the party though.”

“Are we going?”

Katie pressed herself up against him and gave him a look he found hard to resist. “I figured we could go and make an appearance, then sneak away.”

“How about just sneaking away?” Travis asked with a grin.

“After an appearance at the party,” Katie said firmly, but with a wicked gleam in her eye.

“Okay, okay,” Travis conceded. “Anything you want.”

“Good,” she answered, and pressed her lips against his.

Travis slid regretfully out of her grasp and headed out into the construction site. He gave her one last smile, then slipped out through the old janitor’s room turned entryway.

With the “civvies” now out of the way and tucked into the hotel, the construction site was being re-organized. The plan now was to set up the third “lock” in the new vehicle entry to add more protection against the undead, then they were going to bust through the wall in the back of the old newspaper building and begin to use it for projects.

Jason was hanging out near Travis’ office with Jack. He looked nervous and unsure, his bangs hanging heavily in his face.

“Hey Jason, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if I could talk to you about some ideas,” Jason answered.

“What kind of ideas?”

Travis opened the doors to the portable office relieved that the civilians were now moved out and that they could once more reclaim it as office space.

“Stuff to kill zombies other than just guns and bows and arrows. No one is really good with the bows and arrows anyway,” Jason answered. “Well, except Lenore.”

Travis raised an eyebrow. “True. What do you have for me?”

Jason heaved his large backpack up onto a chair and began to unpack it onto a cleared desk. He looked nervous and hesitated a few times before laying down what looked like carefully organized notes. Each small stack was fastened with a paper clip and had notes on yellow notepad paper attached on top. What looked like pages torn out of books and a few printouts from the Internet made up the rest of the stacks along with what looked like drawings with crayons.

Travis sat down and picked up the first one.

“That’s for a concussion grenade. It would rip off the zombies’ legs, maybe their arms. If we get lucky, their heads. No fire, since fire would maybe end up burning us down,” Jason said in a rush of words. “I have the main ingredients written out, but I’d need help finding the stuff to put them together.”

Travis reviewed the list and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think these are doable. We may not have everything on the site, but maybe we can figure it out.”

Jason pointed to another stack. “This is for a catapult that would toss over really heavy shit. I got that from Lord of the Rings. You know, stuff we don’t use to flatten them. We’d have to make sure it was long range so they couldn’t crawl up on the stuff and try to get over the wall.”