The First Days (As the World Dies 1)

"Kinda like a deadly Tinkerbell of death!"

Katie laughed and watched as Juan rigged up Jenni. Mike had also volunteered to take up a forward position on the front line. They would be positioned on the dirt trucks directly in front of the fort. Any zombies up in that area were not visible from the sentry positions. If Nerit had been at the fort, she probably could have taken them out from the top of city hall, but no one had sniper-like skills.

Jenni kissed Katie's cheek then swatted at Juan's hands. "Hey stop feeling me up!"

Juan gave her a look. "Aw, am I turning you on?"

"Um…ewww," Jenni responded.

She felt giddy and excited. It always felt good to be doing something.

Killing the enemy was something that she actually enjoyed. Each time she pulled the trigger, it was delicious revenge for her dead children.

Katie hugged her once more, then slipped away to join Travis. They were going to be on one of the platforms. Only people who had experience firing a gun had been recruited for this task. Mostly hunters and a few military men were manning the sentry posts now.

"Be careful, Mom," Jason said, and hugged her tight.

Holding him close, she closed her eyes and relished the feel of being a mother. "I will be. I promise.

Jack was giving her a doggy quizzical look, not sure what to make of the harness that had her hooked up to a pulley system that Juan had created in the first days of the zombie holocaust, as he called it. He probably thought it was a weird kind of leash for humans. She leaned down and kissed the top of his head and snuggled him up for a moment.

"I'll be okay. I promise. "

"Ready?" Juan asked.

Mike and Jenni nodded.

They were hoisted up into the air and suddenly the horde of zombies swam into view.

"Kinda wished they didn't smell so bad," Mike said stoically.

"Yeah," Jenni said, and wrinkled her nose.

They reached a good height and were slowly moved forward. She rather enjoyed being swung over toward the dirt truck. It was rather like flying, so she struck a superman pose that made Mike laugh. But it died away as the zombies grew more agitated and the enormity of what they were doing was made clear. Juan carefully lowered them onto the dirt truck and they both immediately knelt down as they were told to do. It limited how visible they were to the zombies below.

"You know," Mike said after a moment, "the black man always gets it in these scenarios. "

"Well, in the zombie movies, the black guy is usually the hero," Jenni said in an attempt to console him.

Mike laughed. "Yeah, and the cracker shot him at the end of the first movie. "

"Oh, yeah," Jenni said, and winced.

"Just keep steady and we'll both be okay. "

Jenni nodded and bit her lower lip lightly.

"We're all in position. Starting the count down," Travis' voice said over the walkie-talkie attached to Mike's belt.

Mike winked at Jenni. "Keep cool, girl. "

"Five, four, three, two, one…" Travis voice intoned.

The crack of rifles filled the early morning air.

Jenni rose up with Mike at her side and began to aim and fire. The first zombie was an old man and she split his head nicely in two. She barely moved the rifle, sighted the next zombie, a young woman with her face torn away, and fired.

Aim… fire…