The First Days (As the World Dies 1)

"Raymond Gutierrez is actually Navajo Indian. " Rosie gave him a wide smile. "Now, where do we put the dog? Do we add him as other, because he is another species or as white, since he's German. " She sighed slightly.

"Though the demographic between men and women is really off. Women only make up thirty percent of those here. "

"Guess I won't be dating any time soon," he said with a grin.

"It's just sad that we were so ill prepared. The city can only plan for things that seem plausible. " She waved a hand. "Zombies have never been a part of city planning. "

"You were city secretary way too long, Mom," Juan decided. Her head was always full of facts and figures on the town population. "This isn't your fault. No one could have planned for this. "

The present city secretary strolled in just then. Peggy was her name and Juan liked her. She was a late in life mother and her small six-year-old pressed against one leg as she moved. He couldn't blame the kid for clinging to his mom. Lord knows he had wanted to cling to Rosie a few times.

Behind Peggy came Tobias, the city manager, and a tall black man in his late fifties. The Mayor, real name Manny Reyes, filed in last. He looked tired and worn around the edges. He moved over to his desk and sat down. All his Spanish blood made him fair and very "gringo", but he loved Tequila as much as Juan did. But whereas Juan knew what the hell was up, the Mayor did not.

Manny was way too centered on being logical and finding exact answers.

Juan knew that what was going on was not that easy to fit into a neat little box Manny could understand.

Tobias sat down in a chair, his brow furrowed, his gaze distant. His wife was in the fort. Juan had seen her name on the list, but Tobias’ children and grandchildren lived in the town. They were not on the list.

Curtis, looking pale and very tired, walked in and took a seat near the door. Juan felt bad for him. The rookie on the force was the last man standing. It couldn't be easy on him.

The Mayor leaned back in his chair and his fingers picked up a pen from his desktop. He studied it and looked up. "Well, I called all of you in here to talk about the present situation. Peggy, are you sure you want Cody in here for this?”

Peggy gently tried to pry her child off her and he only grabbed on tighter. "He won't budge. "

The Mayor nodded. "Okay. Anyway, Travis says Katie still has a fierce fever. He told me in no uncertain terms he plans to stay until she's better or if she is infected to make sure she is at peace. "

"He has it bad for her. Too bad she's gay," Juan said grumpily. Travis was his best friend, but had this bad tendency to fall for unattainable women.

His mother smacked him upside the head and he knew he deserved it.

The Mayor blinked. "Oh, then Jenni…" He sat still for a moment, his fingers twisting the pen. "Oh, th

at makes sense now. How's she acting? " He shrugged. "Anyway, we need to prepare for their return. "

Tobias slapped the palms of his hands against his knees and leaned forward. "How do we do that? The infected are filling that street. Most of our townspeople are out there. What we need to do is get ahold of the army and get them out here to treat those people!"

"They're dead. You can't treat them," Juan said. He couldn't believe they were still having this conversation after all this time. Some people took denial way too far.

"That is a ridiculous statement. The dead do not just get up, become rabid and attack people. It has to be a virus like the CDC said in the beginning of all of this," Tobias said firmly.

"They can't be alive," Curtis said softly from near the door.

"And why do you say that?" Tobias settled a fierce look on him.

Curtis shrank under it, but answered, "Because some of them are dragging their innards on the road. "

"Adrenaline does strange things to people. If they have large amounts coursing their system like the CDC said in the-"

"CDC took it back and called them reanimated dead," the Mayor pointed out.

"Which is a fancy term for zombies. We are dealing with zombies. You know the living dead. They want to eat us. I thought we all knew that by now. " Juan shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. People were so stupid.

"I do not believe we should give into hysteria and superstition," Tobias responded.

The city secretary's kid started to cry, loud and desperate and she tried to shush him.

"Daddy tried to eat us! He kept banging on the window!" The boy was near hysteria. "His guts were hanging out!"