Siege (As the World Dies #3)(60)

“Killing infected people,” Katie corrected.

“We don’t even know if it’s the real military,” Katarina pointed out. “What if it’s just a bunch of AWOL guys like the Reverend said?”

“And acting like gods,” Curtis chimed in.

Travis nodded solemnly as he leaned back against the desk. “That is my fear.”

“Or they could be men and women doing their job and rescuing civilians,” Nerit interjected.

“I can’t see how their fort could be better than this,” Katarina said defensively.

“Maybe it’s the Madison Rescue Center,” Peggy said finally. “They’ve been looping the same message since all this started to stay in our homes and they would eventually rescue us.”

Glancing toward Peggy, Katie pursed her lips. “Madison? Oh, yeah. I remember that. Jenni and I were told by some soldiers in a convoy to go to Madison.”

“Where is Madison?” Eric adjusted his glasses on his face. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a small city near here. ‘Bout seventy-five miles or more to the northeast.” Curtis was staring at his hands as he rotated a statue of Lincoln on the table next to him with his fingers.

“We don’t go in that direction because of the mass amounts of zombies in some of those towns, right?” Eric looked around the room. “So going that way is dangerous.”

“We never had no one calling in from that area, either.” Peggy shook her head. “It got ugly out that way according to what we heard on the radio. When we lost our phones, there was speculation it was because of that area going dark.”

“What was so special about Madison? Why did they send people there?” Katie had wondered on the first day of the rising why they were directed toward an area with a denser population. “Is there an army base there?”

“There’s no base there.” Curtis stopped fiddling with the small statue. “There ain’t nothing there that is that special.”

“Yeah, but there had to be some sort of rescue center if they sent us there,” Katie said.

“There is a convention center there. And a mall.” Katarina flinched. “Damn. A mall. Just like the movies.”

“There is a message on the emergency broadcast system. It repeats over and over again, but I figured they were all dead long ago,” Peggy admitted.

“I did, too. Overrun like the rest of the rescue centers,” Katie agreed. “We never thought about it twice after we decided not to go there.”

“But they may be still there. Still operational.” Eric looked thoughtful as he considered this prospect. “Perhaps they have established a safe haven just like we have.”

“And,” Nerit said, “that would make them close enough to have taken our people.”

“So what do we do?” Eric asked.

“Try to contact them?” Katie offered.

“We’ve been monitoring the airways. I never heard a thing,” Curtis said in a soft, angry voice.

“Military channels are not accessible to civilians,” Nerit pointed out. Her expression was stoic, but her eyes were fierce, bright, and thoughtful.

“Besides, the closest military anything around these parts is about two hundred miles away. That National Guard base.” Peggy shook her head. “Why should we even think about them? Once all the shit hit the fan and no one showed up, we took care of ourselves.”

“But a military presence is obviously out there,” Travis finally said. “And they have our people. So what do we do now?”

“Maybe we should start sending out a message of our own,” Katie suggested. “Requesting the return of our people. They must be monitoring us.”

“If that’s true,” Travis sighed. “I gotta ask why they didn’t come knocking before?”

“Too many questions, no answers.” Katie ran a hand over her hair.

“Back when the world had order and things worked properly, we may have found each other much more quickly. But if they are operating on channels that we are not and vice versa...” Nerit slightly shook her head. “We can’t apply normal world expectations to the situations we are experiencing now. This new presence in our lives is not a known quantity and we don’t know what it will hold for us.”

“They’re the United States military. Sworn to serve and protect. Why should we fear them?” Eric looked up and stared at Nerit. “They’re our people.”

“I think we should start asking for our people back,” Peggy said. “Maybe now that they know we’re here, they’ll be listening for us. Looking for us. And we can start talking like civilized people instead of freaking out.”

With an angry sound, Curtis rose to his feet. “If Lenore had not blown the plan at the hospital and opened fire--”

“That is a moot point now,” Travis snapped. “Jenni and whoever else survived are in the hands of the military and we cannot be going off second guessing what Lenore did!”

“We cannot afford f*ckups that cost us our people, Travis!” Curtis shouted.



“Everyone makes mistakes,” Katie said, stepping toward Curtis. “I love Jenni! And this is killing me, but Lenore did what I would have done in her place. I would have saved my best friend.” “Back down,” Katarina said in a low voice.