"You give me way too much credit," Katie said swiftly.
"You rode into town with a kid, a dog, and a woman who doesn't have all her marbles and you were all alive and not bitten. That is an amazing feat all unto itself. When Jenni told me all you've done…" He shook his head. "To have lost you would have cost all of us."
Katie frowned at him and said, "Stop it. I'm going to cry. And I don't cry!"
Travis laughed and his eyes sparkled with tears. "Well, I'm much more butch than you and I cry."
Katie rolled her eyes, than laughed and ran a hand over her hair. "Ugh, my hair!" She staggered to her feet and went to the mirror on the wall. "I need a bath. Fast."
"I would insist on you laying back down, but I don't think that will work."
"Absolutely not." Katie fussed with her greasy, matted hair and threw up her hands. "Ugh!"
"Okay, you can take a shower, but I'm staying right here and you're leaving that door open. If you fall I need to be able to go in immediately."
"Fine…fine…"
She stumbled about a bit and he considered helping her, but figured she wouldn't appreciate it. Grabbing up a fresh pair of jeans and a white tank top, she managed to get herself into the bathroom.
There was a gentle knock on the door and Travis opened it. Nerit stood there with her yellowish hair falling over one shoulder and one hand holding her flannel robe shut.
"How is she?" Her voice was anxious, then she saw the empty bed and heard the shower. "She's up?"
"And lucid. And feisty. Weak as hell, but she's okay."
Nerit clasped her hands together and smiled. "Oh, thank goodness! I woke up fearing the worst!"
"Honestly, I almost put one between her eyes. But, luckily, she spoke. I was so convinced she was gone."
Nerit hugged Travis and looked toward the open bathroom door. "I must tell Ralph!"
She scurried off and Travis hesitantly walked toward the door.
Maybe I'm dreaming and she died and I shot her and I'm dreaming, he thought for a moment.
And then he saw her outline behind the shower curtain and the tension between his shoulders lessened.
Again, for a moment, he saw a flash of Katie sitting up, eyes dead, screaming, and trushing toward him…
But that hadn't happened.
He stood with his back to the bathroom and hands in his pockets as he waited. He was still afraid. Afraid of what had nearly happened and he was shaken.
Katie finally emerged with her wet hair up on top of her head. Damp little curls spilled over her brow and her shoulders poking out of the tank top were a little bonier than before. The men's jeans she was wearing slung a little low on her hips and showed that she had lost a little weight. But despite her delicate appearance, Travis knew she was going to be okay.
"I need to talk to Jenni," she said, ignoring his obvious examination of her appearance.
Feeling a little embarrassed and awkward, he nodded.
Taking her arm, he helped her down the hall. He knew she was feeling weak because she did not protest. They entered a small room where the CB radio was set up and a man in his forties with a wide, pleasant face looked up.
"Hey, you made it!" He gave her an enormous grin that lit up his rather plain face.
Katie nodded and said, "You're Bill, right?""Yep, that's me. I take it you want to call your friends?"
"Please," Katie sat down heavily in a chair and Travis steadied her with one hand. "Then I want to eat something really bad."
"Sure thing, give me a moment." Bill messed with the dials and started talking.
Katie looked up at Travis and laid her hand over his. "Thank you. For watching over me. For making sure I was okay."
Travis felt a little flushed and nodded. "No problem. Really?"
"…she's up and talking," Bill said into the microphone.
It sounded like there was a brief struggle of some kind on the other end then a voice said, "Katie! Katie! It's me!"
Bill laughed and handed the Mic over to Katie. Travis couldn't help but laugh a little, imagining Jenni virtually climbing over Curtis to get to the microphone.
"And it's me, Jenni. I'm okay. It was just the flu."
"Oh, thank God!" And Jenni broke down crying and her sobs were loud over the speakers. "I was so scared! So scared! But we're going to find a way to get you back in and you'll be safe here!"
Katie smiled and winked at Travis. "I know, Jenni. I know. And I know you were looking after me in your own way. I felt it. We'll come home. I promise. Soon."
Travis could see tears in Katie's eyes and turned away. He felt emotional and unsteady on his feet. Nerit and Ralph were in the doorway now and Katie reached out to them and they both grabbed her hand.
The most radiant smile he had ever seen on any woman's face lit up Katie's features and he felt almost as if he was basking in it.
For the first time since the world had slid sideways into hell, he felt a moment of happiness, and it felt delicious.
Chapter 12
1. Dancing for the Dead
Two days later, the excitement in the fort was a tangible, electric force sweeping through all the survivors. It seemed as if everyone was drawn outside, into the morning sunlight, to watch what had been dubbed "Operation Little Doggy".
Even Old Man Watson came out and sat in a plastic chair in the sun to watch. He was their oldest survivor at ninety-three and he had ended up at city hall only because he had come in to pay his water bill when the zombies had arrived. His arms were covered in tattoos from his Navy days and he mostly sat around and just smiled at everyone. It took Jenni a while to realize he couldn't hear hardly at all. She went out of her way to talk very loudly to him and explain the plan to him.
He had patted her on the head and said, "You give em hell, kid."
Jenni had been the first person to sign up on the volunteer sheet for Operation Little Doggy. Jason was second. They were both determined to help in the project that would bring Katie and Travis home safely with their load of guns and supplies. Everyone else in the Fort was more concerned about Travis returning with the guns than they were about Katie. It annoyed Jenni, but she understood these people didn't know Katie like she did. Also, the more she listened to the townsfolk talk about Travis, the more evident it was that when he had moved to the town to help with the reconstruction of the downtown area, he had caused an immediate stir.
"Movie star looks, nice as can be, volunteering down at the senior center," Peggy had said to Jenni as they had washed dishes the night before.
Everyone had to do his or her part and Jenni didn't mind. "Caused an immediate stir. All the ladies, old and young, had mad crushes on him. And honestly, I don't think he noticed. He's nursing a broken heart. He told me his fiancee left him when he gave up his high paying job as a architect and went back to construction."
Jenni had absorbed that, considered it, and tucked it away for later. She had seen Travis' subtle charisma in action and she had been very much affected by it. Weirdly, she thought Katie was, too. But she had seen something in his eyes when he gazed at her and she felt pretty confident in it.
Time would tell all things, of course.
Now she stood next to Jason, clad in the same outfit she had left Ralph's in. It had been washed numerous times and now had a softness to it that she found comforting. Jason had told Jack to stay with Old Man Watson so he could help with his volunteer crew and now the German Shepherd sat faithfully next to the old man getting his ears scratched.
"Okay, the cement is mixed on the other side," Juan said, approaching the groups of volunteers. "Just do what we told you and make it quick. We don't want to give these zombies any ideas. Try to keep low and out of view."
Jenni and Jason quickly scaled the ladder over the cement wall and down the other side. The Hurricane fence was easy to scale and she dropped over the other side easily. Jason dropped down second. The other members of their team, six in all, started the process of handing over long wicked spikes over the wall and fence using a conveyor belt system. Another man, Mike, a tall black man, also dropped over the fence.
The day before a crew of the construction workers had worked long and hard with sledgehammers creating deep gouges in the sidewalk that divided the fence from the line of trucks. Now, Mike helped lower a large spike into the ground and Jenni and Jason held it into position. Freshly made cement was then poured into the deep hole around the bottom of the spike.
It seemed easy enough at first, but as the morning wore on, Jenni grew tired. The spikes were bits of the old wrought iron fence the construction crew had torn down. They were heavy and, after awhile, her muscles began to ache. But the spikes had been something Juan had insisted upon. If the zombies became "climbing" zombies, Juan wanted something waiting for them they tried to drop down. The spikes were staggered in such a way that you had duck low and around them to get safely through. Anyone jumping down from on top the trucks would be impaled. Her little team moved quickly, but it was still exhausting and she was covered with sweat. What made it harder was the sheer, nasty stench of the dead just on the other side of the ring of trucks. Their moans and screeches indicated they were stirred up, sensing warm flesh nearby.