Siege (15 page)

Travis could feel all the eyes in the room on him. “Jenni, if you go and something happens…”

Jenni whirled on him, her tear-filled eyes flashing with anger. “I can’t just sit there and wait! I can’t! I fucking can’t be helpless this time! Okay?”

“She’s made her choice.” Dale spoke up for the first time. “Everyone has got a right to make a choice.”

“We could use her,” Linda finally ventured. “Juan is my cousin and I love him. Yeah, I’m scared knowing the risks, but he has always treated me like his little sister. I gotta do what I can to save him. Let her go, Travis.”

Lenore and Ken were seated side by side and by their lowered heads and averted gazes, it was obvious they did not want to get involved. Felix just sighed deeply and looked away. Charlotte fussed with the printouts she had used for her debriefing, obviously refusing to say a word about the situation.

Travis reached out slowly to Jenni, and she flung herself into his arms. He held her close, feeling her trembling. “Jenni, can you keep it together out there?”

She nodded vigorously. “I can out there better than I can here.”

Katie slid her hand over Jenni’s long hair slowly. She looked agonized, but said in a quivering voice, “She’ll do fine out there.”

Travis held Jenni tightly, laying his head on the top of her head. He could feel her anguish pouring out of her, filling the room. What would he do if Katie lay dying? The answer was obvious. Even he wanted to go to help his friend, but was held back by his position. But Jenni should have the choice, despite his personal misgivings.

“Okay, go, Jenni. I don’t think we could stop you if we tried,” Travis finally said.

Katie wiped away tears and Jenni turned and wrapped her arms around her. Holding each other tightly, the two women wept.

“I gotta go,”Jenni whispered.

“I know,” Katie answered, looking at Travis. “I know.”

Travis reached out and touched her cheek lovingly. “Be careful out there, Jenni.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Then it’s settled. Jenni, get over here so I can catch you up, then we gotta go,” Bill said firmly.

Jenni pulled away from Travis, wiping away her tears. Walking toward Bill and Charlotte, she threw a smile back his way that was both grateful and terribly sad.

Travis slightly smiled back. Turning, he saw his wife staring after Jenni. She had huge tears rolling down her cheeks, and it broke his heart to see her in pain.

“She’ll be okay. She’s more of a badass than I’ll ever be.”

“True, but I can’t help but worry.” Katie turned away, moving toward the hall. “I hate today. I hate everything about it.”

Travis hurried after her, his hand gripping her elbow lightly. “Honey, go lie down for a bit. Okay?”

“How can I? With Jenni going out and Juan in there...” Her voice caught and she covered her mouth.

“Have you eaten yet?”

Shaking her head, she looked quite guilty.

“Okay, I want you to eat something, then go lay down. You have to think about the baby.”

“I can’t until they leave, okay?”

Travis nodded, frowning slightly. “Okay, but after they go-”

“I promise.” Katie blinked the tears from her lashes and let out a soft moan of despair. “God, Travis...”

Taking her in his arms, he held her tight, kissing her face and hair. “We’ll make it through. I promise. We’ll make it.”

1. Bless Me Father

Jenni leaned over and gently kissed Juan’s dry lips. Her fingers played over his curls and she took in a deep shuddering breath. Resting her hand lightly on his chest, she could feel the faint thudding of his heart.

“Keep strong, baby. I love you.”

With one last kiss, she straightened and stepped back from the bed. Rosie reached out to touch her hand. Jenni clasped the older woman’s and squeezed it. They shared a quiet moment, then Jenni kissed her cheek and left the room.

Her long black hair fell freely around her shoulders as she walked toward the chapel. People looked toward her, but no one spoke. She was wearing the red sweater that Juan liked to see her in and her lucky jeans. Her stomach was rolling with nerves, but she didn’t care anymore. She was going to save Juan.

Ken stood near the open door to the chapel and smiled slightly as she approached. “Bill says we got ten minutes.”

“Okay. That should be enough time. I just don’t want to go out there without having God at my back.”

Walking inside, she found the Reverend waiting for her with a Communion of saltines and red Kool-Aid. She had specifically asked for Communion and he had quickly agreed. She was surprised to see some of the other members of the teams gathered as well. Taking a seat, she pulled out her rosary and threaded it between her fingers.

The Reverend did his best to improvise a Catholic Communion, and she adored him for it. She knew he struggled to be all things to all the different denominations in the fort and she thought he did an amazing job. He was even wearing a white robe made from a tablecloth. It touched her.

When it came time to partake of the Communion, she felt her hands shaking. Despite her need to go out into the deadlands and bring back the things that would save her love, she was terrified. Juan’s injury made her feel vulnerable. She hated that feeling.

Taking the piece of stale saltine on her tongue, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the Risen Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The KoolAid was a bit tart, but she downed it. Crossing herself, she whispered fervent prayers to the Holy Trinity and the Queen of Heaven.

“Just let him live,”she whispered.

Rising to her feet, she turned to see Roger, Linda and Bill taking Communion as well.

Walking on leaden legs, Jenni strode out of the chapel.

* * * * *

Katie’s expression when she saw Jenni enter the staging area broke Jenni’s heart. Jenni walked straight up to her and hugged Katie hard. She could feel Katie trembling and she buried her face in Katie’s soft curls.

“If you don’t come back, I’ll be really pissed,” Katie said finally, a catch in her voice.

“I know. But I gotta go.”

“I know.” Katie pressed a string of fierce kisses to Jenni’s cheek. “You love him. I would do the same for Travis. And for you.”

With tears in her eyes, Jenni drew back. “I would do the same for you, too.”

Katie wiped her tears away and shook her head. “I just can’t believe all of this.”

“It’ll be okay,” Jenni said, her voice firm. “Juan will live.”

With a small smile, Katie said, “Of course he will. He’s tough.”

Jenni pushed her hair back out of her face and lifted her chin. “I’ll be back. One way or the other.”

“I know. I can’t help but worry. You’re my best friend.”

Jenni flung her arms around Katie again and snuggled her. She kissed Katie’s forehead firmly. “And you’re mine.”

Travis walked up, looking a bit awkward, trying not to interrupt. Jenni slung her arm around his neck and kissed his cheek, too. “I’ll be back.”

“You better be. Juan needs you,” Travis said.

“Yes, he does. He’s lost without me,” Jenni declared with false joviality. Her son staggered up to her and flung his arms around her, holding her tightly. “Mom,” he whispered in her ear. “Mom, don’t go.” She squeezed him so tight it hurt both of them.

“I have to go,” Jenni whispered. “I have to do something to save him. I couldn’t save your...brothers. I have to try to save him.”

Jason backed away, ducking his head, trying to hide his tears beneath his bangs. From the agonized look on his face, she knew he understood. “Be careful, Mom.”

“I will be,” she promised. She grabbed him close again and kissed him firmly on the forehead. “I love you.”

Jack pawed at her knee. She leaned down and kissed his furry head. “I love you, too.”

With a fake grin and trying not to look scared shitless, she walked toward Roger and Bill as they waited for her by the truck. Pivoting on her heel, she turned and waved to her small family: her best friend, her stepson, and a dog named Jack.

She tried not to think of Juan lying in that bed looking so vulnerable. Climbing into Ralph and Nerit’s red truck, she nodded at Bill. “Let’s do this.”

“Just like old times,” he answered her, gunning the engine. Jenni sighed. It felt nothing like old times and it scared her to death. But she would come back.

She had to.

2. Beer and Strawberries

Bill drove in silence. Jenni sat in the back of the truck’s cab, staring out the window at nothing. He doubted she was seeing anything other than Juan’s face in her mind’s eye. Felix was passed out asleep beside her, slightly snoring, while Roger was deep into a Star Trek novel. The drive was over an hour, so maybe it was good to be silent. They were heading into a highly dangerous situation. They all knew that hospitals were death traps and had been from day one. Bill was eternally grateful his wife had passed on by the time the dead rose. If she hadn’t, he knew she would have been one of the first to rise. That would have destroyed his will to live. It was hard watching her die of cancer, but seeing her as a member of the revived living dead….

No, he couldn’t think about that now.

Despite the fact this hospital was very small, it didn’t take away from the fact it was probably a deathtrap. They had two, four-member crews going in. The odds weren’t with them, that was for damn sure.

Bill gripped the steering wheel harder and concentrated on the road. In the first hours of the infestation, he hadn’t even been sure he wanted to survive it. The first zombie he had seen had freaked him out so thoroughly, he could barely move. Luckily, he had been in his patrol car. It had banged on the window for a good ten minutes before he got the nerve to do something about it.

A six-year old zombie just wasn’t right.

He could still remember how it thrashed under his foot after he had knocked it flat on its back and pinned it so he could get a good shot at its head. It was one of the worst moments of his life.

With a weary sigh, Bill concentrated on the road. He could see a few zombies moving through the dried brush. They seemed disoriented and sluggish. Charlotte was right. They were slowing down as the elements got to them. That didn’t keep them from being fiercely terrifying if they got close to you.

Glancing in the rear view mirror, he could see Jenni leaning her head against the window, staring blankly.

He felt for her. All too clearly, he understood her distress and why she had to be part of the rescue group. It was just something she had to do. He would have done the same for his wife.

Once more, he had to admit to himself that just living had been hard when his wife had passed. He was just back to work and on patrol when that dead little boy banged on his patrol car window. He had almost given in and let the zombie take him, but then he had started to worry about Ralph and Nerit and that had been the end of that. Those two had been friends through thick and thin with his wife’s illness, and he had to make sure they were okay.

Now he was glad he had made his way to them. He had found some incredible friends in the fort. They made this life worth living. Behind him Felix let out a snort in his sleep and Bill smiled to himself.

“Check that out,” Roger said.

Bill glanced over to see a commercial plane rammed into the side of a barn. There was no sign of life or unlife.

“Bet they’re trapped in there,” Roger went on. “What a way to go.”

“I’m sure jets went down all over the world. I heard, right before the TV

went black, that the planes over DFW were going down into neighborhoods. Just dropping right out of the sky,” Bill said.

“So many ways to die,” Jenni said with a sigh.

“Yeah,” Bill answered, and they all fell silent again.

They passed an overturned car. Inside a figure was flailing around. They drove on.

A figure darted out in front of the moving truck behind them and it was immediately flattened.

How easy it was to kill them now. So very easy.

Katarina again came to mind. He had seen her right before they had left. She had been walking into the hotel as he exited.

“Good luck,”she had said.

“Thanks,” he had answered grimly.

“Come back, okay?”

“Try to,” he said, then hesitated. He wasn’t sure where he had gotten his nerve, but he had actually said, “Hey, Katarina, want to have a drink with me when I get back?”

She had smiled and said, “Yes, that sounds nice.”

Then she had walked on and so had he.

He kept thinking of that moment. He wanted to survive, go back to the fort and have a drink with her. He was ashamed to admit it, but he wondered what her hair smelled like. He hoped he would find out. Maybe someday, if she could ignore his plain looks and beer belly. He turned the wheel and the truck slowed down as they hit the outskirts of their destination. Closed restaurants, gas stations, and a truck company lined this road. Then, up ahead, the two story modern hospital that served this town and several others loomed over an old laundromat. It was small, but that didn’t mean shit in this world.

The truck came to a stop.

Jenni leaned forward. “Looks like fun.”

Just inside the glass doors, two zombies in wheelchairs clawed at the glass.

Bill sighed.

He bet Katarina’s hair smelled like strawberries.

3. Possibilities

Lenore and Ken were jostled around as the moving truck made its way down the country road following the first team’s red truck. They sat on a long bench secured to the interior wall, holding onto straps someone had drilled into the side.

“So why did you come?” Lenore fussed with her hair, wishing her new weave wasn’t already getting smashed under a hat. It had been a relief to get some beautiful lush hair after months of dealing with her own short hair without any decent products or styling tools.

Ken crossed his legs and gave her his most annoyingly cute look. “Guess.”

“Dale.”

“That was easy!”

Lenore scowled at him. “You do realize, twinkle toes, that we are going into a highly dangerous situation where we will most likely get our asses eaten.”