“I'll take it!” Travis gathered her close and kissed her.
Happiness and fear were jumbled up inside of her mind, but Katie embraced those feelings. In a world full of death, life was something to embrace.
She kissed Travis and felt the first of her tears on her cheeks.
Joyously, Travis clutched her tightly. And together they laughed with delight.
4. Time of the Dead
Katarina watched the zombies beating against the wall with cold eyes. She knew there were plans in the morning to destroy them and clear the area around the fort. She would be sleeping at that time. She was fine with that. She had done enough killing to last her for awhile.
The deadlands beyond the fort were dark and full of mystery. She had no idea what lurked out there and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. There was enough weirdness in her world as it was. Zombies and the ghost of her mother were enough to make her on edge.
She wasn't too sure what to think of the ghost. It didn't speak to her, just stared at her with disapproval. At first she thought she was dreaming, but she was seeing her mother's stern angry face more and more often. She had overhead other people talking about dreaming of dead ones or thinking they saw them in darkened corners of their room. Maybe it was just paranoia. Or maybe there were ghosts.
The dead now outnumbered the living. How did that affect the world beyond the obvious? Maybe the dead weren't just walking and hunting the living, but haunting them.
Katarina rubbed her eyes and looked over her shoulder. Her mother stood in the shadows, near the doorway.
“You're not really here,” Katarina said.
The ghost remained.
Shaking her head, Katarina looked back toward the street and the zombies.
“So, if hell is full and the dead are walking the earth, Mr. Romero, where are their souls?” Maybe she should ask the Reverend.
In silence, Katarina watched the moaning dead and ignored the ghost of her mother lingering over her shoulder.
She had too much work to do to bother with the dead anymore than she had to.
“Fuck the dead,” she whispered. “This is our world. ”
Chapter 20
1. The Seasons
Fall lived up to its reputation as a time of harvest as the occupants of the fort loaded up on as much supplies as possible. With the area around the fort pretty much clear of zombies, they worked as hard as they could preparing their winter stores. The hunters brought back venison, fowl and beef to fill the hotel freezer. Every bit of food was carefully cataloged and menus were prepared well in advance of the cold weather.
Halloween came and went. Despite the obvious reality of monsters in the world, the handful of kids in the fort had fun dressing up and trick or treating through the hotel. Everyone stuffed themselves on candy and a pumpkin patch that Ed knew about allowed Jack-o'lanterns to be placed on the fort walls. These seemed to disturb the few zombies that did appear during the holiday. The teenagers had fun pelting the dead with them.
Thanksgiving was surprisingly joyful. Wild turkeys ended up on the menu and pumpkin pie was a wonderful delicacy that everyone enjoyed. As December approached, the world seemed remarkably peaceful, despite the occasional zombie.
It began to feel like the fort was truly secure, that a true victory had been won over the dead.
2. The Good Things in Life
Jack, the German Shepherd, wanted a cookie.
Lying on the floor, watching Jason on the phone, he wondered if the boy could see the sheer hunger that loomed in his eyes, hunger for a cookie.
Jason was talking and talking and talking…
Jack yawned, his sharp teeth flashing in the early morning light. He couldn't understand why his boy was always talking on that stupid phone with Shelley. Shelley lived just a few doors down. In fact, Jack could hear her voice quite well from her room without the phone.
Girls were loud.
Jack whimpered a little and was rewarded, not with a cookie, but a pat on the head.