Siege (As the World Dies #3)(160)

“Which is?”

“The beginning of everything new,” Jenni said and winked. “Or the end of it all.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “That is not encouraging.”

“But every moment of happiness we had this year was that much sweeter because of every other horrible moment that we experienced. Admit it, Katie.”

Katie gripped the steering wheel more firmly as she thought of all the loss, the pain, the death, but then of all the good moments. Dancing with Jenni, kissing Travis, her swelling belly, playing with Jack, hugging Juan’s kids, learning how to two step….all of it. “Yeah. You’re right.”

“Totally worth it,” Jenni said firmly.

The light caught her again, blinding her, then she blinked to see she was back in the hotel. Travis walked toward her as the sunlight streamed through the window. He drew near her and slid his hand behind her neck and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. Closing her eyes, she relished the moment and felt its sweetness fill her.

“I love you,” Travis said softly.

“Yeah, well, good. I’m crazy about you, too,” she said.

Ruffling her hair, he winked. “We’ll be okay.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

Out of the throng of people eating breakfast Eric appeared, his brow furrowed. Close behind him was Stacey. She was crying. Pepe, their little dog, stared up at her sadly.

“What’s up, Eric?” Travis asked.

“We have a situation,” Eric answered. His expression was stricken and tears glimmered in his eyes. “Peggy’s gone.”



“What?” Their voices chorused. Travis and Katie glanced at each other briefly. “Took herself and her kid out last night,” Stacey sobbed.



“Define the whole took herself out part,” Travis said. “Out of the fort?”

“You could say that. She poisoned the little guy and slit her wrists,” Eric explained. “Oh, Jesus,” Katie murmured, raising her hand to her brow.



“Shit,” Travis said. “Shit!” He shook his head in disbelief. “I knew she was scared, but not that scared.”

“She’s not the only one. We have about four more. At least two jumped over the wall...headfirst. Old Harris took himself out by hanging. Shea took himself with a shot to the head through a pillow.” Eric sighed. “So a lower suicide count than we expected. I was really hoping there would be none.”

“Peggy was going to run communications,” Katie said softly.

“Gotta pull Yolanda to do it,” Travis decided.

“She’s not as experienced as Peggy,” Katie pointed out.

“Without Curtis and Ken, she’s the best we got,” Travis answered.

“I’ll find her,” Stacey said, vanishing into the crowd, Pepe skittering along behind her.

Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose with one finger, shoved his glasses in place, then shook his head. “I better take another swing around the wall. We don’t need fresh blood luring those things in.” He hurried off.

From the sound of the crowd, people were finding out about the deaths. There were looks of dismay and a few tears. Word traveled fast in the fort. As Peggy would joke, “There were no secrets in a small Texas town. If you farted, everyone knew what you had for dinner.”

“Oh, gawd, Peggy,” Katie whispered softly. “I’m sure she did what she thought was right for her and the kid.”

Katie pressed her hand to his cheek. “They need to know there is hope. That we can do this. You and the Reverend need to speak to the fort before those things get here. Everyone needs it.”



Travis started to protest, but already the Reverend was on his way to Travis through the crowd. As usual, Katie understood very well what was needed. “Travis,” the Reverend said drawing close. “The people are in despair. We need to rally them.”



“I agree. Let’s head down to communications,” Travis said, kissing her cheek.

Both men moved toward the elevators. With a sigh, Katie brushed her blond hair from her face and looked out over the desolate swath of land before the fort. In the distance were the edges of the ramshackle mounds that formed a wall around the fort. There was a massive opening right down the middle. It was the killing zone and huge fire traps were set to ignite in the gap.



Taking a deep breath, she thought of Jenni’s words. She knew they were true, but all she could feel was her fear and her fingers trembling against the warming glass of the window.





Chapter 34





1. Time to Die





“Move it, Calhoun. They’re coming and they’re hungry,” Rune said firmly. He seemed unfazed by the utter reek coming off the old crazy guy. He straddled his Harley and waited for Calhoun to slide on behind him.

Rune had ridden the makeshift elevator, which was a pallet lowered by a crane down to the ground outside the wall, holding his bike firmly to his side. Calhoun had ridden down behind him. The fire line was far from the wall and there was no way Rune was going to be caught without a quick getaway. He shifted the bag of grenades so it rested more firmly against his back. Today seemed like a good day to use them.