The First Days (As the World Dies #1)(81)

"We got locked in when Mr. Marsters showed up with a bad bite. He said someone bit him as he was stopped at a stoplight. We tried to help him, but he died," Belinda explained.

"We had heard about them coming back and we took no chances and were carrying him out when he did come back," Gretchen added.

"We almost didn't get away from him. He tripped and fell and that is when we managed to lock the door," Belinda finished.

Jenni studied her a bit longer. She was fairly sure that librarians were not supposed to be attractive or sexy.

Juan quickly explained about the fort, the situation, and all they had endured. Gretchen kept clasping her hands and saying, "Dear sweet Jesus."

The teenager just seemed dazed. Belinda kept hugging Juan, which really annoyed Jenni.

Jenni wasn't sure she liked any of them.

"So there are no doctors or nurses in the fort?" Gretchen asked in horror after Juan was done with his story.

"Nope. Clinic got wiped out right away. That's why we need books," Juan answered.

Belinda clasped her hands over her mouth and tears welled in her eyes.

She shook it off and said, "Okay. Give us the list."

Juan rummaged around in the pocket of his worn jeans and pulled it out.

Belinda took it and immediately scanned it.

"Okay, we'll divide it up, load up the book carts, and get out of here,"

Belinda said.

Jenni tried not to frown at her. Who had put her in charge anyway?

But being the good sport she was, Jenni trudged along behind Gretchen, pushing a book cart while it got loaded up with what looked like a bunch of really boring books. Juan went with Belinda and the teenager collected all the remaining candy from the vending machine.

Jenni was almost disappointed when they got out to the truck and there were no zombies in sight. She was feeling edgy and irritable and wanted to shoot something.

They all squeezed into the truck. Belinda sat next to Juan with the teenager on her lap. Gretchen squeezed in next and Jenni ended up crammed in last, almost on top of Gretchen.

The trip back was even more boring than the trip out. Again she saw some zombies trapped in houses, beating on windows, but none broke out.

She thought of Mikey, sighed, and felt even more like shooting stuff.

Back at the fort, the ladies were helped up over their defenses and into the construction site while Juan loaded up the old pallet Travis had built with the books while Jenni and others stood watch.

Finally, she went over the wall, Juan behind her.

"Well, Loca, we're safe and sound."

"Big f*cking deal."

Juan looked at her and frowned. "What?"

Jenni just wrinkled her nose at him.

"What?"

"I didn't get to kill anything on the way back. At all!"

Juan started to laugh. "Yeah, but you're back and okay. So you can go flirt with Travis."

Jenni considered this for a moment, but it didn't seem quite as alluring as before. "Oh, yeah. I guess I could."

"Time to come out of the straight closet, chica." Juan mussed up her hair with one hand and strode off to join Belinda.

Jenni just scowled after him. She stomped her foot once and stormed off to pout.





Chapter 17





1. The Terrible World





Jenni walked out of the new gate cautiously, her rifle in her hands, safety off, ready to fire. Bill walked with her, also sweeping his gaze over the abandoned street. Curtis was right behind them, looking very nervous. This was his first time out of the fort and he was already sweating profusely.

Jenni had been asked to accompany the former cops on a search and rescue expedition. Either Juan had talked up her skills and craziness to grandiose proportions or her actions in the fort had made her seem crazy, yet competent. Or maybe it was a combination of both. But it did amuse her that they wanted her to tag along, because they knew she had no issue about killing the zombies. Unfortunately, there were those who did seem to have issues with killing their former townspeople. Already on one rescue mission, someone's aversion to killing their zombified grandmother had resulted in one death.

The construction workers attempted to shut the gate behind them, but there were a lot of teeth jarring screeches and a lot of swearing. Juan had told Jenni that there had been some issues with the gate and obviously this was true. Hopefully, they would have it fixed by the time they got back.

Despite her efforts to not be annoyed, Jenni was having trouble dealing with Juan. It was all about Belinda and she hated it bothered her so much. It became clear that Juan's real reason for the library excursion was to hopefully save Belinda. And since she was one of the town's librarians, everyone knew her, which annoyed Jenni to no end. Since Belinda had arrived, they dynamics had changed again. Juan was constantly acting like a total idiot around Belinda, trying to act all smooth and sophisticated and if Jenni even tried to pop a joke in his direction, he'd get annoyed. Though she was utterly loath to admit it, she missed their banter.

She strode quickly toward the mini-bus they had begun to use during the rescue missions. The fort population was slowly growing and the number of men and women was slowly evening out. There were at least a dozen children now and Peggy's son had plenty of other kids to play with. At times Jenni felt annoyed with their presence. It was hard to see other children alive and well when hers had died so quickly.