The convoy had taken a long roundabout way to make sure that any zombies trying to follow from Madison would end up wandering in a direction opposite of the fort. Now the convoy was maneuvering through back roads that led them past long dead farmhouses and ranches.
Occasionally, a zombie struggled toward the convoy from one of the long abandoned structures. They seemed pitiful in their slowness. In the first days they had been so fast but now they were so slow Katie was sure that they could be easily circ.u.mvented as long as there weren"t that many.
Of course, the mall had flooded with them.
She closed her eyes and fresh tears slipped down her cheeks.
Travis tenderly wiped a tear away and stroked her hair.
There had been so many zombies it had been overwhelming. Running with Travis" and Jenni"s hands clutched in her own had been the most terrifying event of her life. The moans and screams of the dead and living had been a mind shattering cacophony. Then the most horrible moment had come. Jenni"s hand had slipped from her own.
As long as she lived, she would never forget the despair that filled her when Jenni"s fingers slid so easily from her grip.
Of course, she would never forget what followed either.
Katie remembered looking down from the stairs and seeing the sea of dead looking up at Jenni. For a crazed second, she thought Jenni could maybe jump into the water and somehow make it to the stairs. But then that fast zombie had barreled up the stairs that led up the side of the waterfall, pushing aside the slower ones. Katie remembered that horrible moment when she had watched Jenni swing the gun at the zombie and it had been empty. She hadn"t breathed as she watched Jenni bash the zombie"s brains out with her gun then fling its brains across the crowd below. Foolishly, Katie had thought Jenni was safe. But as she watched Jenni wash her hands, dread had overwhelmed her. Then Jenni had raised her hand and shown the b.l.o.o.d.y gash on her hand and Katie had known the terrible truth: Jenni was dead.
All that followed...taking the gun from Kevin...sighting Jenni through the scope...pulling the trigger...was just a ritual for the dead. As Jenni stood there, her hand over her head, smiling, triumphant over the undead growling and moaning below her, Katie had understood as well as Jenni that it was over.
And then she had pulled the trigger... Thankfully, Jenni"s body had fallen where the zombies would never reach her.
Katie wiped another tear away.
Lydia had been right. She had been at the mall for more than just a confrontation with the Senator. She had gone there to lay Jenni to rest.
Katie had thought her destiny was something totally other than what it had turned out to be. Yes, she had stood up against the Senator, but in the end, she had freed Jenni from Lydia"s fate. She had also laid her to rest in a way she never could do for Lydia.
"f.u.c.k!" The driver swore, breaking her out of her dark thoughts.
The driver of their enormous truck pulled hard on the heavy steering wheel, tossing them to the side in the big cab. Katie looked up to see the truck in front of them swerving wildly. Reaching out with her hand, she tried to brace herself as their truck shimmied, then caught the road. It began to pa.s.s the truck in distress.
The tarp covering the back of the truck opened and a young boy appeared.
His face covered in blood, his mouth open in a scream, he reached toward them. Then someone inside pulled him back inside.
"They"re infected," Katie gasped. She wasn"t sure if the boy was already turned or a victim, but her pulse was beating rapidly.
"We didn"t have a chance to check everyone before we left," Travis said bitterly.
The road was winding around a hill and a sharp incline led down into the tree line. As they watched in horror, the truck swerved off the road into the trees, shattering branches and slender trees before hitting the thick trunk of an enormous oak. People began to pour out of the back, bloodied and screaming. Horribly, it was hard to tell if they were turned or infected.
The truck Katie and Travis was in kept moving.
The sound of gunfire erupted. Katie looked into the side mirror to see the soldiers in a Ford Truck riding behind them opening fire on the people rushing up toward the road.
"They"re taking care of it," the truck driver a.s.sured her.
Katie looked at his grim expression then returned her gaze to the tiny mirror reflecting the horror behind them. She saw two of the soldiers hurtling something into the back of the crashed truck, then there were two loud bangs.
"Grenades," the driver said softly.
Travis sighed and pulled Katie back into his arms. Kissing her brow, he whispered, "We"ll get home soon and put this day far behind us."
Katie nodded mutely. She still wasn"t sure her father or Bill was alive. She knew Jenni was dead and now so were all the people in that truck. All those poor people who thought they were saved were now dead.
Travis gently stroked her stomach and her hand intertwined with his.
They stared into each others eyes, then kissed, holding each other close.
* * * * * Kevin slid out of the truck and landed hard on his feet. He felt bone weary and numb. Motioning to a Dodge Ram full of soldiers, he stood in the road watching the convoy come to a slow stop. The road was straddled between two wide fields, so it would be easy to see if any of the zombies came their way.
Bette was the first one to him, her face pinched and tired. "What"s up?"
"We lost a truck back there. We need to search the rest of the vehicles for infected. We need to go vehicle to vehicle," Kevin instructed.
"And if they"re infected?" Arnold asked.
Kevin sighed, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. He looked over the faces of the eight soldiers gathered around him. "We have no choice.
Bette, check our people out first."
For several tense minutes, there was silence as each man and woman was thoroughly searched for any bites by Bette. Cleared, they moved out.
Kevin hesitated, swore, then followed. If he expected his people to do the s.h.i.t job, then he better d.a.m.n well be willing to do it himself.
The first truck was his own. People were helped down and it was laid out simply to them. One woman hesitated then held out her arm, showing a clear bite. Those around her immediately drew back and the woman began to cry.
"I"m sorry," she whispered. "I"m sorry."
Startled that someone in his own truck was infected, Kevin took a deep breath. "It"s okay, ma"am. Just step over there."
"I"m really sorry," she said again. "I wanted to say something, but it doesn"t really hurt. Maybe..." She stopped then broke into sobs.
Bette carefully led her over to the side of the road and the woman sat down on the ground crying.
"Anyone else?" Kevin asked.
No one volunteered, so the soldiers slowly began their inspections. To everyone"s relief, no one else was infected.
Moving on to the next truck, it was the same story. People were allowed to volunteer information then were searched. No one protested. Everyone gave in with sad smiles and hollow eyes. They were all tired and hungry and terrified. To everyone"s relief, no one was infected.
Several trucks and buses were empty of infected and Kevin began to hope.
They had already lost so many people he just didn"t feel he could deal with too much more death. He was so tired and weary he just wanted to sleep for a very long time. Well, after a hot shower and a good meal that was.
Behind him, he could hear the infected woman still crying. One of his men walked over to stand behind her. It was a hard sight to look at, so he avoided it.
The people from a bus were given the all clear and piled back in. Many looked at him with desperate eyes, looking for some sort of rea.s.surance.
He forced a smile he did not feel and several looked relieved.
Moving on to the next truck, he saw Travis drop to the ground then reach up to help his wife down out of the cab. Bette and two other soldiers quickly examined them and the driver and gave the clear sign to Kevin.
They moved to the back of the truck to unload the pa.s.sengers. Kevin strode up to the couple and sighed.
"Good to see you"re safe and sound," Kevin said in a low voice.
Travis looked over at the crying infected woman, then back at Kevin. "I wish everyone was."
"Yeah. But she probably won"t be the only one," Kevin answered with a sad sigh.
Travis agreed silently with a grim look on his face.
"We have to do this. We can"t risk the fort."
"Doesn"t make it any easier, does it?" Travis reached out and patted Kevin"s shoulder. "I"m sorry about your friends back in the mall. They were brave."
"So was your friend," Kevin said with a slight smile. "One h.e.l.luva a feisty one, wasn"t she?"
"You have no idea," Travis answered with a bittersweet laugh. "No idea."
Katie was holding onto Travis tightly and she even smiled at this comment. She looked exhausted. On impulse, Kevin reached out and tucked her hair back from her face.
"You did the right thing," he said, slightly embarra.s.sed.
"That doesn"t make it any easier."
"I understand," Kevin a.s.sured her.
"Katie!"
Kevin looked up to see Bruce Kiel heading toward them. His wrist was heavily bandaged. Kevin felt his heart sink.
"Dad! No! Dad!" Katie was instantly on the edge of hysterics and rushed toward her father.
"Katie!" Travis dove after her, catching her about the waist. "Katie, no!"
"It"s okay, baby," Bruce called out to her, his expression agonized. "It"s okay. Please don"t cry."
"Oh, Dad, no. Please, G.o.d, no."
"Oh, s.h.i.t," Kevin groaned. He rubbed his brow and looked back at the woman who was now silent. Either she was accepting her inevitable death or The woman lurched to her feet and whirled around on the guard. He was ready and shot her point blank in the head.
The people in the parked vehicles cried out in horror as Kevin closed his eyes.
f.u.c.k. Could this get any worse?
"Dad," Katie exclaimed. "Please, not you!"
"I"m not sure it"s a bite," Bruce said, his voice shaking. "I punched a few of them while escaping, but I also had to climb through a broken window to get out of a store."
"Let"s see it," Bette ordered.
Bruce began to unwind what looked like bandages made of a shirtsleeve.
Slowly, the b.l.o.o.d.y cloth fell away to reveal a bad wound. Bette took his hand and leaned down to look at the gash.
Katie was sobbing, clinging to Travis, her body shaking. Travis looked pale as he tried to calm her.
Bette sighed then wrapped up the wound. "There is gla.s.s in the wound, but there are clear teeth indentations."
With shivering breath, Bruce closed his eyes and tersely nodded. "I understand."
"This can"t be happening!" Katie"s legs buckled, but Travis managed to hold her up.
Kevin lowered his head, feeling sick of it all.
A soldier stepped up beside Bruce and pushed him gently toward the side of the road.
Opening his eyes, he looked at his daughter and gave her a smile. "It"s okay, Katie-girl. It is. I promise. I got to see you again," he said, walking past her.
Katie reached out toward him, but her father shook his head.
"Bruce, I"m sorry." Travis" tone was full of grief.
"I"m not. I got to see you and my daughter. I got to feel my grandchild moving in my daughter"s belly. I got to say goodbye." Bruce had tears in his eyes. "I love you Katie-girl. I love you and I"m proud of you. I"m d.a.m.n happy you"re going to be a mother and you"re going to have a good life."
"Dad, I love you. I love you so much," Katie said pa.s.sionately. Her nose was running and her eyes were nearly swollen shut.
Bruce blew his daughter a kiss, then stood on the side of the road with his head down. Katie held onto her husband, weeping, unable to go to her father.
"This day can"t get much worse," Kevin whispered to Bette.
But it did. By the time every truck and bus was searched, seven people stood next to the side of the road. Four men from ages sixteen to maybe sixty stood in the cold wind, shivering from either the cold or the infection spreading through their bodies. Three were women. One was around eighteen the other two in their forties. The eighteen-year-old was having spasms by the time the search was done. Kevin was sure she was on the verge of turning.
"I"m sorry," he said as he walked down the line of infected. "You"re infected. You have two choices. We leave you here and you turn. Or, we can put you out of your misery and save you from the fate of the rest of the world. I know it doesn"t seem fair and it"s not, but in the end none of us have any choice."
"I"ll do it myself," the girl said through chattering teeth.
Kevin looked at her, then at the soldier standing behind the her. The soldier nodded. Sadly, Kevin handed the girl his revolver.
People in the buses and trucks behind him were watching. The soldiers had tried to make the people look away, but he knew there was something innately human in not being able tear their eyes away from the drama.
The girl"s breathing was getting shallow, her eyes milky. Kevin could tell it would be any minute now. He took a step back and looked at the soldier behind the girl. Slowly, he saw the rifle being raised as the soldier stepped to one side to avoid the coming gunshot.
The girl looked at Kevin and whispered in a voice that was barely human, "Take my Mom to the fort." Then she shoved the gun in her mouth and, without hesitation, pulled the trigger.
The spray of blood splattered the others. One infected man screamed and ran into the pasture.