Siege (As the World Dies #3)(56)

Katie rolled over slowly, her green eyes scanning his face. Tears were glimmering along the edges of her lashes. “You think they’re dead, don’t you?” “No,” Travis answered slowly. “No I don’t. I don’t believe that. I think there is a good chance they’re out there and that they’re okay. We’ll find them.”



“I don’t want her to be gone,” Katie said in a low voice. “I keep thinking about her. How I found her that morning in that ugly pink nightgown and robe, nearly catatonic, and how she changed into someone that was amazing and fierce. That morning, when I saved her, she saved me, too. She gave me a reason to go on. To live.” “I know, honey.”



“I just don’t want her to not be a part of my life anymore. I don’t want her to be lost.” Katie sniffled loudly and rubbed her eyes. “I know we never would have been friends if not for all of this going down. We never would have met and if we had, we would have had nothing in common. Our lives were so different until that morning. And I keep thinking of her, sitting next to me in the truck, and how I knew she was important. That I had saved her for a reason.”

“Baby, don’t work yourself up. We don’t know anything yet. You can’t flip out.” Travis gently tucked her hair back from her face and kissed her brow.

“I should have been there with her. Helping her. We are always better as a team,” Katie declared.

“You got the baby to worry about. And like you told me along with everyone else, you have a job to do here.”

“And what’s that?”

“Keeping me sane,” Travis said and smiled wryly.

Despite her tears, Katie laughed. She rubbed her eyes again, wiping away her tears and vestiges of her makeup. “That’s a pretty rough job. Between you and Jenni, it’s amazing that I’m sane.”

Travis yawned and laughed at the same time, making an odd sound. “Didn’t sleep, did you? Are you just coming to bed?”



“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Travis pulled the covers over him, kicking off his boots as he did so. They hit the floor with a resounding thud.

Jack again gave him a disapproving look. “I had trouble sleeping anyway. Jason told Jack to stay with me. He figured you would be up half the night anyway.”



“I’m that predictable?” “Pretty much, yeah.”

“How is Juan?” Katie’s voice was hesitant, as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“Stable. For now. Charlotte is doing the best she can.”

“Thank God, he’s still alive.” Katie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly.

He sighed with weariness and contentment as she snuggled against his side. He could feel her rounded tummy pressing against him and the gentle movement of their baby inside her. “I felt wired, so I stayed up working on some ideas. Plus, Ed made me feel like a shit for not taking the situation about Blanche to the fort.”

“You mean dumping her at home?”

“Yeah. With a gun with one bullet.” He looked at her, expecting her to be angry, but she just frowned a little. “I was pissed. I was done with her. We had dead people and my best friend was dying. All over that damn Hummer. Nerit, Curtis, Katarina, Bill and I just decided to ditch her out there.”

“You decided on a death sentence,” Katie corrected him.

Travis moaned and covered his face with one hand. “I know. I was just...done.”

“Ed was upset?”



“He said we should have taken it to the fort.” “I agree. But it’s done now, isn’t it?”



“I should send someone out to check on her, shouldn’t I?”

Sighing softly, Katie shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t give a damn what happens to her, but if it adversely affects the fort...” “Maybe we should bring her back for justice at the hands of the fort people.” Travis sighed. “Just when I thought I would get some sleep.”

“You’re not going out there, are you?”

“Nah. I’ll send out some of the volunteers who were going to go with Nerit.” He glanced at the clock. “I’ll head downstairs and meet up with them. They should be going to breakfast soon.”

“Then you’ll come back up for at least a few hours of sleep?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Unless something else happens.” He kissed her soundly, then her belly, and gave the reproachful looking German Shepherd a pat on the head. “I’ll be back.”



Bone weary, Travis pulled on his boots and headed back out the door.





2. Walking Hamburgers and Helicopters

The morning was very cold and a light mist flowed over the ground. Occasionally a dark figure lingered in the wispy grasp of the haze, but mostly the world seemed strangely empty as the Hummer sped along the country back roads.

A herd of cows gathered around a pond huddled together for warmth. They looked relatively well fed considering how long they had been on their own.

Just since last year, the world had changed drastically. The few houses they passed were desolate looking creatures. Before winter had set in, nature had already begun the process of dismantling the man made buildings. Katarina drove the Hummer dressed in warm clothes with her hair braided tightly and slung over one shoulder. Beside her, Nerit stared out at the dead world with a thoughtful expression on her face. Curtis and Dale sat in the back, quiet and half-dozing. Despite hot coffee and donuts, it was too easy to want to fall back to sleep on a cold morning.