The bus was even more tricked out than before. Now it had heavy mesh over all the windows and a heavy deer guard in the front. Jenni thought it was almost like being in a prison bus.
They were bringing the last of the survivors in their area today. It was a big moment for the fort. After today their population would basically be complete.
Running her hand over her rifle, she sighed. She was very hot and the air conditioner was barely working. Outside the windows, the world was brown and dead. Occasionally, they would see a zombie staggering down the road or through a field. It didn't take much imagination to know that the cities were probably crammed with the creatures, but out here, they were seemingly sparse these days. She had a feeling they should never get too comfortable with that thought.
Jenni had come a long way in these stressful long months since that first day. It was as if her life before that morning was just a dim memory of another world. The days on the road seemed stark and vivid in her mind. The crazed sense of liberation, the fear, the adrenaline, the passionate desire to live; she had felt stripped of all her boundaries and free to be herself, whatever that was, at last.
Despite all that she had lost, she was happy, happy to have Katie and Jason as her family, happy to love and be loved by Juan, happy with her role as the psycho zombie killer. She felt free to speak Spanish to Juan and not fear someone's disapproving gaze. That was an enormous relief.
She still had nightmares about her children. It hurt to think of Benji and Mikey. She missed them horribly. At times, she would weep uncontrollably when no one else was around. It hurt to think of them out there, decaying slowly as they prowled for flesh. Those tiny fingers still reached for her in her nightmares. Lloyd's damn ghost lingered on the corners of her life. She ignored his taunts and tried not to listen to him. His words only stirred her guilt at surviving. He reminded her of that other time, that other life, that other home.
The fort was far away from her old house and old life. She loved it, but she was terribly afraid that they could lose it all.
If Nerit was right, this would be a decisive day for all of them. It would be a day none of them would forget one way or the other.
Today would decide if they all lived and died if Nerit was right.
Jenni lowered her head and sighed.
Those tiny fingers seemed oddly closer today…
3. Ten, Nine, Eight
When the Hummer drew up to the old hunting store, it was immediately obvious the bandits had not only returned, but had broken into the store. Decaying bodies littered the street. A van with its tires blown out and all the windows shattered listed to one side of the street.
“Nerit’s handiwork,” Travis decided.
The bars of one of the windows were twisted to one side. Katie stared at the damage and could only imagine that the bandits had pulled the bars loose by using a chain and a truck.
“Move with extreme caution,” Travis said into the CB.
“Understood,” came the answer over a cackle of static.
Katie drew up to the front of the store and looked around. The bandits had gone nuts in this small town. All the windows of the main street were shattered and merchandise from the store littered the street.
The body of a woman was tied to the lamppost nearby.
Correction.
A zombie woman was tied to the lamppost. She was mostly eaten, but her eyes were moving, watching them, her mouth opening and closing on slender sinews.
“I really hate these guys,” Katie whispered.
“Yeah,” Travis agreed grimly.
Turning off the Hummer, Katie drew her rifle onto her lap.
“Ready?”
Travis gave her a quick nod. He drew Nerit’s keys from his pocket and moved toward the front door. The people from the min-van also slid out into the street and followed, guns drawn, looking alert.
As Travis moved past the gaping hole that was once a window, a face appeared snarling and growling. Its hands reached desperately through the hole toward him.
“Wait! Don't kill it yet!”
Katie moved toward the opening and stared intently at the zombie’s face. The long scraggly hair and beard fit the description both Bill and Nerit had given of the bandits. “One of their own, I think. ” She drew her revolver and shot it point blank in the face.
“You’re scary sometimes,” Travis said with surprise, but also with admiration. He peered into the store, his gun raised to cover the interior. “Hello! Hey zombies! Hey, come here!”