The First Days (As the World Dies 1)

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

"Big fucking 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.

Fate had been cruel to so many, but spared others.

"Keep it short and sweet,” Bill said.

"We're going to stir up the captive natives again," Curtis sighed.

"Let them bust out. We'll shoot them and not have to deal with them later," Jenni said with a grin.

Bill shook his head. "Such a blood-thirsty woman. You PMSing again, Jenni?"

Pushing the door open to the mini-bus, Jenni turned to the two men.

"Yeah. Be afraid, be very afraid. "

Curtis legitimately looked a little afraid, but Bill just laughed and lugged his girth up the stairs and into the driver's seat.

Warily, Curtis slid past Jenni and sat in the front seat. "Juan tells stories about you. "

Jenni shut the doors and smiled back at Curtis. "Ah, really? I didn't know he still talked about me since his girlfriend showed up. "

Curtis shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "Uh…well. . ,he calls you Loca. "

Jenni wagged an eyebrow and held on, staying on the steps of the bus as it rolled forward.