Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(76)

“He doesn't have to,” Katie assured her. “Stay here tonight. He called me. He knew you would come here.”

“I'm that predictable, huh?” Jenni laughed.

“He knows we're tight. He knows that if you're not with him, you're gonna be here with me. We're kinda like Thelma and Louise.”

“Meets the zombies,” Jenni added with a soggy grin.

Katie laughed. “Yeah.”

“I'm not driving off a cliff with you though,” Jenni said firmly.

Katie embraced the morbid humor that kept them from falling into the darkest of emotions. “But we can run over zombies together.”

“Totally,” Jenni agreed. She fell over on her side and tucked her head on a pillow. She stared at Katie thoughtfully, her tears finally abating. “I'm not crazy. It really is Lloyd's ghost trying to kill me.”

Katie lay down and tucked one hand under the pillow Travis' usually slept on. His scent comforted her. “As long as you don't give into him, you'll be fine.”

Jenni rubbed her reddened nose. “Sometimes the first day feels like a hundred years ago. Today it feels like...today.”

Katie gently smoothed Jenni's hair back from her face. “I know.”

Rolling over, Jenni hid her swollen eyes and tear-stained face as she fought to recover herself. Katie draped one arm over her waist. They lay in silence for a few minutes. It was not a strained silence, but a comforting one as Jenni regained her composure and her shoulders relaxed.

Katie reached over her and switched off the lamp. Jenni sighed in a way that was reassuring. Katie could feel her friend letting go and sinking into the drained weakness that came after an emotional storm. Katie snuggled down behind Jenni again, holding her close.

“You're the best friend in the world. The best I've ever had,” Jenni whispered.

“I love you, Jenni. You're my best friend. I'll always be here for you.”

Closing their eyes, the two friends held each other until, at last, sleep carried them away.





Chapter 14





1. The Dead in the Night





“We have a problem. Let's go!”

Travis and Eric looked up to see Curtis rushing toward them. They were standing in the lobby, studying a map of the town. It was an antique and kept under glass, but it was surprisingly accurate. The town had not changed much in seventy years.

“We have to go! We have to go!” Curtis' young face was flushed under his blond hair. He was agitated and motioning with both hands.

“What's going on?” Travis lifted an eyebrow.

“The Hackleburg survivors are under attack!”

“Shit! Get Nerit!” Travis headed toward the communication center.

“What does that mean? Is that zombies? Bandits? What?” Eric was flustered as he rushed after Travis. He shoved his glasses up on his nose and looked as alarmed as Travis felt.

“In this crazy world, who knows?”

They burst into the center at the same time. Bill was perched over an array of radios.

“Repeat! Repeat! I can't make out what you're saying!” Bill looked up, his expression one of despair.

“...got through...we are fight-...please hur...” The sounds of gunshots peppered the woman's voice. She sounded terrified and static kept overwhelming her voice. “...please hurry! Please hurry! They're...repeat...got in!”

“Zombies?” Travis asked in a soft voice.

“I don't know. I can't make it all out,” Bill said in a surprisingly composed voice.

Travis was always impressed by Bill's ability to handle stressful situations in a calm manner.

Eric cocked his head, listening to the frantic woman's garbled message. “Are we really going out there?”

Bill looked at Travis.

“Hey, I'm not the mayor.”

“Not yet,” Bill answered.

Nerit entered the room, her yellowed silver hair in a braid over one shoulder and her bathrobe tied tightly at her waist. “What is the situation?”

“Hackleburg is under attack. I can't make out if its zombies or bandits. Sue just keeps screaming into the microphone that someone got in.” Bill rubbed his broad forehead. “It don't sound good.”

Peggy rushed in with Curtis behind her. She was in her pajamas and her son clung to her like a monkey. “Hackleburg? Shit! They have kids in there! That's the one where they are in the church community center. They had enough food to make it through another week!” She tried to dislodge Cody, but he wouldn't let go. She ended up snatching up her map and heaving him onto one hip.

“Show me,” Nerit said to her.

“They're here. On the outside of town. They holed up in a church community center. Twenty-two people are in there. Mostly old folks, women, and kids. All, but four of the men went back into town to fight the zombies. They didn't come back alive. Anyway, they didn't have any vehicles to escape in and they ended up with zombies banging on their doors. They've held them off by barricading the doors and windows. They even managed to thin them out a little by dropping things down on the zombie's heads from the roof. They were saving the ammo just in case the zombies got in.”