"Whoa, Juan!"
Curtis grabbed Juan and Jenni quickly stepped forward just in case the spaced out looking girl did anything. But she only stood there; looking mildly bemused by it all, swaying back and forth.
The boy slowly rose up, fastened his eyes on Juan and just said, "That hurt."
"You went into the fucking clinic!"
"Hey, we were in need of…medicinal treatment," the boy answered.
His eyes were so red they looked as if the blood vessels had ruptured in them and his skin looked clammy. Jenni realized the reason for all the anger.
She was looking at two very strung out young people who had probably gone into the clinic looking for their next high.
"Meth is not medicine, fucker," Juan spat furiously, trying to squirm away from Curtis.
Peggy looked at Jenni and whispered, "You're looking at the local crystal meth dealer."
Jenni nodded and frowned a bit more. "I think we may need Bill, too."
Peggy looked at Curtis, who looked far too young and nervous. "You're right." She rushed off to find Bill.
"Where's the rest of your posse, huh? Where are they?" Juan's voice was close to fury.
"Dead, dude. It was bad. Real bad," the boy answered.
The girl began to giggle.
Curtis pushed Juan behind him. "Ritchie, you went to the clinic for drugs and you got your friends eaten, huh?"
Ritchie frowned and shook his head. "It's not like that, man. We needed medicine. Carrie got bit and we needed medicine."
Everyone immediately looked at the girl. She was busy staring at outdoor light bulb over Curtis' head.
"Those things kept trying to get into the 7-11 we were shacking up in. It got real crazy."
"Which 7-11?" Curtis raised an eyebrow.
"You know, the one over by the McGee place. There was a lot of those things there."
The girl giggled again, swaying on her feet, and covered her mouth with her hand. There was a distinct bite visible. It was swollen and puss filled.
Jenni put her hand on Juan's arm, trying to calm him. But Juan was nowhere near calm when he said, "Yeah, so how did you get out? Where is Sergio?"
Ritchie rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yeah, well. We drew straws and someone lost and that someone had to run out the side door and draw them away."
Juan looked ready to punch him again. "Was it Sergio? Did you make my cousin do it?"
Ritchie thought this over before answering. "No, no. It was…um…that Freddie guy."
Curtis was looking a bit more pissed off than Jenni had ever seen him.
"So you just made one of your guys run out there so you guys could escape?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Then we got to the clinic, walked in, and things were fucked up in there, too. That's where Sergio got it. That was fucking sick, dude. They just grabbed him and went at it!"
Jenni grabbed onto Juan's arm as his fist went sailing forward. The momentum sent her tumbling into Ritchie. Jenni was grossed out by the sheer reek of the boy and scrambled quickly away from him as he fell flat on his ass. Juan was already lunging toward him, shouting angrily in Spanish.
Jenni flung herself at him and he grabbed onto her to shove her aside.
"Loca, out of my way!"
"It's not worth it!"
"I'm gonna kill that sonnofabitch!"
Curtis motioned to the boy to stay on the ground to keep him away from Juan. "We need to calm down now, Juan."
"He killed my cousin! We all knew he was a good for nothing lowlife corrupting the kids of this town with his homemade shit! Now he has gone and gotten Sergio killed and you want me to fucking calm down?"
Jenni kept her hands pressed firmly to Juan's chest. "Juan, Juan, please."
"No, Jenni, he's a fucking murderer and we're letting him get away with it."
The girl took this moment to throw up all over Jenni. She staggered back and fell against the wall.
"Shit, that's gross," Ritchie decided.
Jenni was beyond grossed out and unbuttoned her blouse and threw it off her. "Oh, shit! Gawd! Gross! Ugh!"
Juan seemed to forget his anger and yanked off his T-shirt and started to wipe the muck off her hair and face. "Man, Loca…"
Curtis looked down at the girl who was now having convulsions on the ground. "Shit." He drew his gun slowly. "Shit."
Jenni turned around just as the girl's eyes rolled back into her head.
"Curtis!"
Ritchie was still on the ground, wasted, laughing, and not making much sense.
"If she bites him…" Curtis started.
"Fucking shoot her!"
The girl's pupils suddenly came back into view, but they were glassy and quite dead. She opened her mouth and let out a growl that sent chills down Jenni's back.
"Shoot her!"
Curtis hesitated.
Juan didn't. He took his good ol' boy shitkickers to the girl’s head, heel first and slammed her head sideways into the brick wall beside her and kept kicking until her head was mush.
Curtis looked stunned and Jenni just lifted an eyebrow.
Juan looked down at his bloodied boots and gore splattered jeans then at Jenni. "C'mon, Loca. We need a shower."
Curtis hesitated, then grabbed Ritchie. "I'm locking him up."
"Check him for bites, man," Juan said numbly. The anger had gone out of him. He reached out to Jenni and she took his hand.
Bill was walking toward them, looking very cop-ish. "I'll help out."
Juan nodded and walked quietly toward the city hall. Jenni followed, glancing back at the young man, who was really not much of a man at all, but mostly boy. The drug dealer was still giggling to himself with his now very dead girlfriend's body slumped beside him.
"If we had let her bite him, we wouldn't have to deal with him," Curtis said to Bill.
Bill just shrugged. "Not for us to decide, Curtis."
"Yeah,” Curtis reluctantly agreed. “Yeah. You’re right.”
Juan drew Jenni into the narrow hall that lead to the janitor's shower everyone in the fort used. It was in the back of the janitor's office and clipboard hung from a rusty nail with a sign in sheet and schedule attached to it. Billie Jo, one of the older women that had been rescued a few days before, was just emerging in a bright blue bathrobe. She blushed deeply and hurried past them. Another man, one Jenni didn't know, was waiting to go next, saw their condition and didn't complain as Juan pulled her into the janitor's office "I'm really sorry about your cousin," Jenni said softly.
Juan walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. "It doesn't matter now."
Jenni sighed. "Yeah, but he was your family."
"Yeah, and he's dead and that fucker Ritchie is still alive. There really isn't much justice in this world." He grabbed hold of her and shoved her, completely clothed under the water and got in with her.
Jenni tilted her head back to let the water flow over her and get all the disgusting vomit off her. Juan took off his hat and tossed it to the floor. He rested his hands on the ugly green tiled wall on either side of her and rested his forehead against hers.
"Loca, I'm losing it."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am. I can't do this."
"Do what?"
"Make it safe for all of us and keep my head together," Juan's voice was ragged, overwhelmed.
"You're doing a good job. The gate closed tonight when it needed to."
"But too slow. They almost got in. We can't afford fuckups. And all because of that fucker that got my cousin and his drugged out buddies killed."
Jenni's clothes were now quite soaked and the lukewarm water was going cold very fast. "We could throw him to the zombies."
"Don't tempt me. I might." Juan sighed and watched the blood and gore slowly rinsing off his very beat up boots. "Help me, Loca, okay?"
"Okay. But I'm not sure how."
"Let's get a bottle of tequila from storage and go up to the roof. I want to get fucking drunk and I trust you to watch my back."
"Okay." Jenni ran a hand over her hair and found it muck free. Grabbing the almost empty bottle of shampoo, she dumped some on her head and began to wash it. "But I need clean hair first."
Juan laughed and pushed her hands away. He lathered up her hair, making horns at one point, amusing himself.
Giggling, she let him and smiled up at him. It felt good to have him back after his puppy dog antics with Belinda. She was glad he hadn't mentioned that situation. Belinda had annoyed her from day one and Jenni was sure she wasn't good enough for Juan.
Rinsing off her hair, Juan made sure to cover up her face with it. "You look better this way, Loca."
"I'm so gonna kick your ass."
Juan laughed and stepped out of the shower, rinsed off and looking a little better. Jenni followed and looked down at herself. Her tank top was very wet and not much was left to the imagination. Suddenly she felt the sexual tension in the room explode. Looking up, she saw Juan staring at her and suddenly things felt very different between them. She had a good idea from the look in his eyes that she looked very tasty in that moment.