Juan gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Hey, Manny.” The man had not been seen often as he grew weaker and weaker. Charlotte believed he had severely blocked arteries. He was often pale and short of breath. He was taking aspirin, but it was hard on him without a proper diet for his heart or any way to remove the blockage that was slowly taking his life.
“I’m fine,” Manny said in a breathy voice. “I came down to say goodbye to a few friends.”
“Yeah,” Travis said slowly. “Guess they didn’t care for our leadership.” He looked up at Manny cautiously, not sure if Manny took his removal from the mayor’s office personally or not. The man had become ill nearly immediately after Travis and the council rose to power.
“Let me tell you something. It doesn’t matter if they were happy or not. In the end, you can only do your best. People will agree with you. People will disagree with you. For every person who hates you, there is someone who loves you.” Manny sat down on a box and rested his hands on his knees.
Rune nodded his head in agreement.
“Well, we’re doing our best,” Travis said after a beat. “I guess we gotta be okay with that.”
“You do. And, the council has gotten things done I never could have. I never could have done all this or even thought of it.” He waved a hand indicating the high walls and the fort in general, smiling slightly. “I know you guys did your best by us. Whether we make it through tomorrow or not, know that you have my support. You guys gave me one more good year of life.” Travis smiled at the man and took his words to heart. “I think we all got one more year of good life. Those things out there, they didn’t get what we got. A chance to be happy despite it all going to hell.”
Juan looked away emotionally. “We’ll win this. We gotta. We don’t have what we used to...a whole world to feel free in, but we got this fort and our families.”
The old mayor inclined his head. “Worth fighting for, isn’t it?” “Damn straight,” Rune declared.
“Do you think we can win?” Peggy looked at Travis, sniffling loudly.
“I think so. We’re gonna try.”
“But we don’t know for sure, do we?”
“Peggy, I promise you, we will do our very best for everyone in this fort.”
“I don’t want to get eaten by those things. I don’t want my boy to get eaten by those things. I want you to promise me we’ll live through tomorrow,” Peggy exclaimed, jabbing her finger into Travis’ chest.
He gripped her arms firmly and looked down at her with compassion. “I promise you we will do our very best.”
With an agonized cry, Peggy pulled away and ran off. Manny gazed after her solemnly. “She’s a good woman, but she’s endured a lot. I hate to see her cry.”
Juan crossed his arms and looked over the fort slowly. “We’re ready as we can be. But I can’t make no promises.” “None of us can, Juan,” Travis decided. “None of us can.”
“There’s only one solution to it, man.”
“What’s that, Rune?”
“Kill the zombies,” Rune answered, grinning.
*
That night, when Travis laid down to sleep for as many hours as he could, he wrapped his wife up in his arms, and held her tight. Katie, feeling his arms, rolled over and pressed her head to his chest to hear his heart beat. Between them was the swollen lump of her belly that housed their unborn child. After a few sweet kisses, they nestled down to try to sleep, content in each others arms.
In Juan’s little abode, he stretched out on the sofa, his thoughts on Jenni and the kids and all that had happened since the first day. He gnawed on his scarred thumbnail, the nervous habit somehow soothing. Jack padded out of Jason’s bedroom to flop tiredly next to the sofa. Reaching down, Juan began to stroke the dog’s head thoughtfully.
Nerit caught a few hours of sleep, then rose early to sit with Kevin on the city hall roof, sipping soda and looking over the defense plans. At one point, he reached over and took her hand and she squeezed it tight. They gazed at each other, not saying a word, then went back to the plans.
Calhoun and Jason worked deep into the night on the last minute wiring to some of the defenses. Katarina fell asleep alone in her bed, clutching her rifle and wearing Bill’s shirt.
Peggy silently watched her little boy, Cody, drink his chocolate milk laced with poison, then tucked him into his bed and kissed him one last time. She waited until he was gone, then with tears streaming down her face, rose and entered the bathroom. It was there she found her own personal peace at the end of a razor blade and faded from the world knowing that she and her child would never know the horror of the zombie armies against the walls or the agony of being eaten alive.
And then the sun rose...
Chapter 33
1. Final Exit of the Wickedest Woman in Texas
Politics was a fickle lover.
One moment you were the hero, the next the villain. But if you were clever, you could be the hero once again. The salvation to the masses. The public was immensely short-sighted with no memory to speak of. Even Nixon had been immortalized for his virtues when he had died.
The Senator tucked her hair up from her face with her hand. It had taken some hard work, but her bouffant was firmly in place. Studying her image in the mirror she felt a surge of pride. Her appearance was dignified and feminine but with a touch of strength. She had discarded her darker suits for a soft pink one with rose satin lapels. Her shoes were sensible and her jewelry was just the right level of gold and quartz to be perfectly understated yet elegant. Fixing her cuffs, she nodded to herself.
This would be an excellent morning.
Her long days and nights alone in the house had given her time to think. She realized now her own failings. She had taken too strong of an approach back at the mall. People still could not appreciate a woman’s strength. Instead of taking the strong, stately role she had worn at the mall, she should have taken the motherly approach. People were sheep, but they were stupid sheep stuck in stereotypes.