Katie felt like screaming.
Travis raised his gun higher. “I’ll do it. ”
“Fuck no,” Jenni choked out.
Katie hit Travis' arm and the gun went off, the bullet hitting the chandelier over the bed and sending it swinging.
“Gawddamn. ” Jenni spit blood out of her mouth.
Katie moved slowly toward her.
“I thought-” Travis started.
“Are you bit?” Katie had tears burning her eyes. Jenni looked bad.
She could feel chills sliding up and down her spine and her stomach getting tighter.
“No,” Jenni spat again. “I busted my lip jumping to the balcony.
Twisted my ankle climbing over. ” She shoved her hair back from her face and licked her lips with a bloodied tongue. “Bit my tongue, too.
Juan is so not going to like that. ”
Katie couldn’t help but laugh. She lowered her gun slowly.
“Shit, girl. We thought you were dead,” Felix exclaimed from the doorway.
“I'm not that easy to kill. ” Jenni grinned, then got down on the floor and climbed under a chair to retrieve her gun.
“You’re fucking lucky she’s still alive,” Curtis hissed at Jimmy.
“Look, my bullet bounced off the fucker’s metal plate,” Jimmy protested.
Katie walked onto the balcony and looked around. Slowly, it dawned on her what Jenni had done. Looking down she saw a zombie impaled on a street lamp and another crawling slowly up the stairs to the front doors of the hotel.
“Travis,” she said.
He walked out next to her and looked down. “Shit. ” Lifting his walkie-talkie, he pressed the button. “Juan, get a crew inside the hotel and secure the front door and windows. We’ve got a crowd gathering. ”
“Gotcha,” Juan said. There was a pause, then, “How is it going?”
“We lost Davey. Almost lost Jenni. She’s fine now. We’re going continue on. ”
Jenni appeared in the shattered doorway and looked out at them.
“There are some in the room next to us, too. ”
“How do you know?”
“I was over there, Katie,” Jenni answered, pointing to the other balcony, “and they started banging on the door,” Jenni pushed her hair back from her face. “Damn, when did I lose my hat?”
Katie reached out and touched Jenni’s cheek lightly. “I’m glad you’re okay. ”
Jenni sighed. “Well, I just don’t think I’d make a good zombie. I’d try to hump Juan, not eat him. ”
Katie laughed and Travis chortled.
“You are crazy,” Travis said to her.