Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(97)

2. Four, Three

Nerit's eyes narrowed when the first report came in from Ken. He was part of the team at her old hunting store. The sound of his voice made her go cold inside as she tucked away all her emotions.

“Everything going as planned here at the gun store. But, you know, you can't help but feel the ghosts,” his voice said.

Katarina lifted an eyebrow.

“You know what to do,” Nerit said.

Katarina nodded and strode out of the communication hub.

Peggy chewed on her bottom lip, her hands trembling.





Thirty minutes later...

“We reached our target and all is quiet except for the undead. They're making some noise. We have two missing. Maybe carried off by the baddies. Two remaining, but lunch meat. We saw four zombies running on down the road. I swear one of them had a shopping bag,” Ed's voice said.

Curtis looked up. He was seated in the corner, listening to the reports coming in.

“Nerit?”

“The bandits got two of the people we were rescuing. We rescued two others and four of the bandits’ vehicles are heading toward Katie and Travis,” Nerit translated.

“Can we do this?”

“Of course,” Nerit answered.

There was a coldness in her voice that terrified Curtis. She could see it in his eyes. Sometimes, she wondered if he understood what it meant to protect the fort. Certain things had to be done that not everyone would agree with, but opinions did not matter. Safety did; the protection of the all. The individual be damned.

“Peggy, make sure everyone is in position,” Nerit said firmly.

“Nerit? Old Man Watson wants a gun. He says, and I quote, he fought in WW2 and that if he took out the Japs, he can take out some punks.” She sounded annoyed and amused at the same time.

“Give him one then. Put him on the third floor,” Nerit answered.

“Nerit, he's an old guy,” Curtis said in protest. “You can't expect him--”

“Why not?” Nerit looked at him intently. “I'm no spring chicken.”

Curtis broke down with a weary laugh. “Yeah, true, but--”

“Give him a gun and plenty of ammunition, Curtis. Make sure he understands to stay behind the curtains.”

Nerit gave him a look that silenced his protests and only reinforced his fear of her.

Good.

He needed to be afraid.

She briskly walked out of the room, ignoring her hip. The dull ache was bothersome, but she wouldn't let it slow her down. She could be extraordinarily strong when she had to be. It wasn't uncommon for her to ignore all her pain and push her body to get things done. Only later would she let her body hurt, once she was done and behind closed doors.

Calhoun emerged from the shadows, flipping on his video camera and aiming it at her face. The tiny red light blinked at her.

“The queen of the amazons is in full battle mode. There is a look of death in her eyes and she is...” he faltered as she stared into the camera.

Nerit tilted her head.

“...kinda hot.”

Nerit burst out laughing and patted Calhoun's shoulder as she passed him.

“...and she walks confidently to amass the defenders of this illegally built fort. The mayor has yet to explain himself and release an accurate accounting of how much of the taxpayer money was used in its construction. Meanwhile...”

Nerit turned and gave Calhoun a look. He stared, silenced by her look.

“Yes, your majesty?”

“It's time for you to turn off the camera and do what you're supposed to,” Nerit said.

Calhoun dramatically sighed, then tucked it away in his backpack. “You're a mean old bitch.”

“I haven't pitched you over the wall yet,” Nerit reminded him.

“Are you the one pitching people over the wall?”

“Would you be surprised?”

Calhoun considered this, rubbing his grizzled chin. “Nope.”

Nerit shrugged. “Just get to your position.”

“Wanna go on a date?'

“No.”

“Have sex?”

“Definitely not.”

“Lesbian, huh?”

Nerit smirked and walked away.

“Damn Amazons.”





***

Jenni hit the ground running. Already the humidity was filling her lungs, making her feel slow and sluggish. Behind her the bus was idling, waiting. Beyond the bus, about half a mile away, a large crowd of zombies was coming.

The high school was very small, very modern, and locked up tight as a drum. There had been no response when they had tried to contact the school by the CB. But they had seen someone alive standing on the roof watching their approach. Jenni was taking a chance it was their people. It was a small comfort that Bill, Ed and the others were covering her.

Running up the steep slope to the back of the school, she headed for a set of double doors. Reaching them, she banged hard on the doors.

“Open up! It's the rescue team from the fort!”

She kicked and pounded on the door relentlessly.

A woman's voice said from the other side, “We're not opening up unless we know you're not with the *s from earlier.”

“Look. I'm from the gawddamn fort and there is a crowd of your very dead townspeople on its way so get the f*ck out of there or we are leaving you!”