Fighting to Survive (51 page)

Jenni rolled her
eyes and squinted. Catching a glimpse of something suspicious, she
froze, swinging the rifle back along the line of trees she'd been
scanning. She caught sight of a figure standing under the shade of
some trees, watching the fort through a pair of binoculars.

“
What
are the chances of a zombie knowing how to use binoculars?
”

“
Those
shit for brains?
”
Juan realized it wasn't a joking question and leaped to his feet.
“
Damn!
Where?
”

“
Two
blocks down, near the front porch of the blue house. Under the
trees.
”

Juan
lifted his binoculars.
“
Can
’
t
see-shit! Yeah…that
’
s
someone alive.
”

Jenni tried hard not
to blink as she tried to adjust the scope and make out the person. It
looked like it was probably a man. As she watched, the person lifted
what looked like a walkie-talkie.

“
Bandits?
”

“
Maybe,
Loca. Or someone trying to figure out if we
’
re
alive in here.
”

“
Well,
obviously we are,
”
Jenni said.
“
I
mean listen to the sound of the machinery working on the new
extension.
”

“
True,
”
Juan said.
“
So
bandits it is. Shit. Anyone else would come up and knock.
”

Jenni
snatched up her walkie-talkie.
“
Nerit,
we have a situation. I
’
ve
spotted what appears to be a man observing us with binoculars.
”

There
was a pause, then,
“
I'm
on my way.
”

Within
minutes, Nerit was on the roof with Travis right behind her.
“
Where?
”

Jenni
pointed.

Nerit
grabbed the binoculars and peered through them.
“
Near
the blue house?
”

“
Yep.
”

Nerit
’
s
lips pressed tightly together.

Beside
her, Travis squinted, trying to see through Jenni
’
s
rifle scope.

“
See
them, Travis?
”

“
Them?
I see one.
”

“
I
have three. Three men. And a van with fresh mud on the tires. We
’
re
definitely being studied.
”
Nerit quickly pointed to the other two locations.
‘
How
many teams do we have out, Travis?
”

“
One.
They
’
re
picking up that Reverend and a family out in Summerville,
”
Travis answered.

“
Pull
them back in. Tell them to waste no time,
”
Nerit said sharply.
“
That
contingency plan we drew up is now activated.
”

“
Shit,
”
Travis muttered, and ran for the stairs.

Jenni
took a deep breath.
“
Think
it
’
s
the bandits?
”

Nerit
handed the binoculars to Jenni.
“
Possibly.
Keep an eye on them and keep me informed. Juan, we'll need you down
below. I'll send someone else up to help Jenni.
”

Jenni
looked at Juan worriedly as Nerit strode away. He kissed her cheek.
“
It
’
s
gonna be okay, Loca. I gotta get down to the gate.
”

She
kissed him firmly on the lips.
“
Love
you.
”

“
Love
you, Loca.
”

He
hurried away and she couldn't help but admire his taunt ass. To
steady her nerves, she took a deep breath.

“
Kids,
Roger, stop doing that. We have a situation,
”
Jenni called out.
“
You
better get back inside.
”

Down
below her, she heard Travis on the bullhorn calling a Code Red. Her
palms sweating, she raised the rifle and looked through the scope at
the man down the street.

“
Who
the hell are you?
”

2. Code Red

“
Bring
‘
em
in,
”
Travis said firmly to Curtis as he entered their communication hub.

Peggy
was at a small computer station on the Internet per the usual.
Curtis was perched in front of all the radio equipment.

“
Are
we really Code Red?
”
Peggy asked worriedly.

“
Yeah.
Unidentifieds in the neighborhood. And they
’
re
the living kind,
”
Travis responded as he listened to Curtis calling the team that was
out rescuing survivors.

Peggy
frowned.
“
This
worries me. Another survivor group didn
’
t
contact us today.
”

Travis
rubbed his chin.
“
I
had heard that.
”

“
Not
a good thing to hear,
”
Peggy exclaimed, throwing up her hands.
“
When
they have lasted this long and then one day nothing…”

“
Could
be zombies,
”
Travis reminded her.

Curtis
snorted.
“
Fuck,
we
’
re
worse than them half the time. Humans are shits when it comes to
survival of the fittest.
”

“
Gee,
Curtis, bitter?
”
Peggy asked.

“
They
killed Nerit
’
s
husband,
”
Curtis said.

Katie
walked into the hub just then. Her hair was up in a ponytail and her
face was reddened from being outdoors. She had been helping build a
new wall.
“
I
hear there's trouble.
”

“
Yeah.
We
’
re
calling a Code Red,
”
Travis answered solemnly. He reached out and touched her warm skin.

Katie
swallowed a little.
“
Okay.
That doesn't sound good.
”

“
We
knew it was a matter of time.
”
Travis lightly rubbed her shoulder.

“
It's
been almost a month. A girl can hope they dropped dead or got eaten
or something.
”
She forced a smile.

Travis
kissed her.
“
We
ain't that lucky.
”

She
sighed.
“
Yeah.
I
’
ll
see you up at the post then.
”

“
Give
me a few minutes and I
’
ll
be there,
”
he answered.

Peggy
sighed as Katie left.
“
You
two…I swear…” She slid into Curtis chair as he
stood up. Sliding on the headphones, she looked down at Curtis
’
notes.

Travis
blushed a little, then looked toward Curtis.
“
How
far out are they?
”

“
Twenty
minutes. Bill
’
s
flooring it.
”

“
Okay,
let us know when he gets in, Peggy. I
’
ll
be in position over the gate with Katie and Juan.
”

Peggy gave him the
thumbs up. Travis and Curtis hurried out.

3. Nowhere is
Safe

In the van, Katarina
scrambled between the front seats. She scooted past the family and
minister filling the back seats and made her way to the back window.
She held her rifle tightly in one hand as she peered out at the
receding road.

“
Anything?
”
Bill's voice was terse.

“
Nothing.
”
Katarina glanced toward him.
“
Are
you sure you saw a truck?
”

“
Positive.
Out of the corner of my eye as we passed that billboard back there.
”
Bill was frowning at the road ahead of them. He glanced warily
toward the steadily setting sun. They had maybe thirty minutes before
sunset. His palms were sweating and he knew in his gut things were
going bad fast. A cop's instinct never faded.

The family, haggard,
thin, and smelly, huddled together in the seats behind him. They were
an intact family: young father and wife with three small children, a
rarity in these terrible days.

The Reverend sat in
the very last seat. He was a very poised older black gentleman with
sad amber eyes.

It
had taken almost two hours to get the family out of their home. The
Reverend had to talk them into leaving. The older man had been holed
up alone in the church, living off of the donated canned goods and
the water in the baptismal. He had kept in contact with the fort
during the last few months via his ham radio. It was the Reverend,
just a month before, who spotted one of the young kids squatting over
the edge of the roof of their family home to defecate. He had thought
he was the sole survivor of his town up to that point. It was the
Reverend who had directed Katarina and Bill to the family
’
s
boarded-up home.

The
rescue had not been easy. It had taken nearly two hours to lure the
zombies away from the church and down a back road by driving the van
very slowly. Finally, Bill had floored it and double backed to
rescue the survivors.

“
Are
you sure this is safe?
”
the father asked for the millionth time.
“
This
fort you are taking us to. Is it safe? Yer looking mighty afraid
right now.
”

“
It's
safe. Getting there is another story,
”
Katarina answered.