Jason heaved his large backpack up onto a chair and began to unpack it onto a cleared desk. He looked nervous and hesitated a few times before laying down what looked like carefully organized notes.
Each small stack was fastened with a paper clip and had notes on yellow notepad paper attached on top. What looked like pages torn out of books and a few printouts from the Internet made up the rest of the stacks along with what looked like drawings with crayons.
Travis sat down and picked up the first one.
“That’s for a concussion grenade. It would rip off the zombies’ legs, maybe their arms. If we get lucky, their heads. No fire, since fire would maybe end up burning us down,” Jason said in a rush of words.
“I have the main ingredients written out, but I’d need help finding the stuff to put them together. ”
Travis reviewed the list and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think these are doable. We may not have everything on the site, but maybe we can figure it out. ”
Jason pointed to another stack. “This is for a catapult that would toss over really heavy shit. I got that from Lord of the Rings. You know, stuff we don’t use to flatten them. We’d have to make sure it was long range so they couldn’t crawl up on the stuff and try to get over the wall. ”
Again, Travis had to admit it was a decent idea.
Soon Jason was talking in a torrent of words, pointing things out to Travis, getting more and more articulate as he went on. Travis found himself smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm and impressed with his ideas.
In many ways, the adults had been obsessed with just surviving and basic needs. The kids, obviously, had killing on their minds and had come up with some very good ideas.
“Jason, I think I’m going to hook you up with Roger. He used to teach science in junior high before he ended up working construction…if memory serves me. ”
“Okay, cool. The other kids have ideas, too. They could definitely help out. ”
“Sounds like a plan,” Travis decided.
“Cool!” Jason gathered up his stuff and started stuffing it back into the backpack. He hesitated, then looked at Travis. “Katie’s not gay.
She’s bi. You should go for it. ”
Travis was surprised and a little taken aback. “What?”
“She told me not to tell anyone. I think cause she thought you’d hook it up with my Mom. But she’s with Juan and life is short and stuff so you should go for it. ”
Travis rubbed his brow, bemused, then nodded. “Okay. I will. ”
Jason heaved his backpack over his shoulder and headed out the door. “So you’ll let Roger know?”
“Definitely. And once we are in the newspaper building, I’ll let you kids clear out some space for your projects. You’ll have to have Roger with you whenever you are working with chemicals. ”
“Cool. I can deal,” Jason opened the door and stepped out, Jack immediately at his side.
Travis leaned forward, resting his hands on his head and sighed.
Why had he been foolish enough to think that once they were in the hotel everything would be fine?
4. Enter the Empress
Katie added more water to the instant mashed potatoes she was making and stirred as vigorously as she could. The kitchen was a bustle of activity with the lunch crew working diligently to make a decent meal for those inside the fort from their supplies of boxed and canned food.
After a rigorous run on the treadmill in the very modern gym on the second floor, Katie had enjoyed a long shower before reporting to the kitchen. Rosie, Juan’s mother, ran the kitchen with the efficiency of a woman who had overlooked the high school cafeteria staff for over twenty years. Today’s lunch menu was chipped beef with mashed potatoes and green beans. Since Katie could barely make a sandwich without a recipe, she was handed the box of potato flakes and put to work.
Rosie’s great joy had been the discovery that the grocery store’s cold storage had remained cold and that some of the frozen meat could be salvaged. The delicious smell of beef cooking in rich gravy filled the kitchen and big, flaky buttermilk biscuits were being drawn out of the ovens to cool on the counters.
Gretchen, the librarian, had volunteered to make dessert. Big pans of peach cobbler were making Katie’s stomach growl with hunger.
Frowning into the bowl, Katie felt pretty sure the potatoes weren’t supposed to look so stiff and hard. She added more hot water and really began to put her muscles into stirring.
“Well, Jimmy was a klutz, but I just can’t see him falling out of the window,” Gretchen said to Stacey.