“Besides, maybe it’s not the army at all. Just rogues. Deserters,” the Reverend added.
Things were becoming very agitated now. Voices swelled as arguments broke out. Some people seemed almost desperate to believe this was good news while others looked dubious.
Katie was one of the doubters. She couldn’t see how someone taking Jenni could possibly be a good thing.
Nerit held up a hand and things quieted somewhat. “The truth is, we do not know the situation. We do not know why Jenni and the others were taken. We just know for sure that they were and that it was most likely a faction of the military.”
“We shouldn’t get overly excited yet,” Travis added. “We’re not sure what this means for the fort.”
“But they’ll rescue us,” someone said persistently. It was Janice, a local. Her face was flushed and anxious. “They kept saying on the radio they would save us!”
“Save us how?” Travis asked her point blank.
“Take us to where it’s safe,” Janice answered.
“But it’s safe here,” Katarina said, stepping out of the crowd. “It’s safe where we are.”
“But they’ll have real weapons. Real ways of defending us,” another voice said from the back.
Katie noticed it was the newer people who clung to this idea of a rescue more tightly than the townsfolk. Also, the people from larger towns or cities seemed to immediately embrace the idea of the army coming to the rescue. “What is true is that we don’t know what is happening yet,” Travis said in a loud voice. “And that is where it stands.”
Pulling Katie with him, he moved into the manager’s office, Nerit following. “I don’t like how this feels,” Travis said grimly, leaning his hands on his desk.
“Until we know what is going on, we need to keep people calm,” Nerit said.
Picking up the phone, Travis dialed Peggy’s line. “Gather the council, please.”
“They’re going to go ape shit,” Katie decided. “The idea of being rescued is going to have people completely nuts.” She leaned against Travis, comforted by the gentle touch of his fingers through her hair and down her neck.
Peggy slipped in the door followed by Curtis. Katarina entered, standing in for Bill. Eric arrived last, wearing his usual khakis and a sweater. He ran a hand over his dark hair as he sat in a chair.
There was a moment of tense silence as they realized how many of the council was missing. Jenni, Juan, Bill...Katie even missed Calhoun whipping out his camcorder.
“Rumor is that the army is coming to rescue us,” Eric said, starting the conversation.
“We’re really not sure what the military wants,” Nerit answered, and quickly filled him in on the details.
Curtis looked tense, sitting near Katarina. “Can we trust them? Right before it all went to hell they were killing people left and right in the streets.”
“Killing infected people,” Katie corrected.
“We don’t even know if it’s the real military,” Katarina pointed out. “What if it’s just a bunch of AWOL guys like the Reverend said?”
“And acting like gods,” Curtis chimed in.
Travis nodded solemnly as he leaned back against the desk. “That is my fear.”
“Or they could be men and women doing their job and rescuing civilians,” Nerit interjected.
“I can’t see how their fort could be better than this,” Katarina said defensively.
“Maybe it’s the Madison Rescue Center,” Peggy said finally. “They’ve been looping the same message since all this started to stay in our homes and they would eventually rescue us.”
Glancing toward Peggy, Katie pursed her lips. “Madison? Oh, yeah. I remember that. Jenni and I were told by some soldiers in a convoy to go to Madison.”
“Where is Madison?” Eric adjusted his glasses on his face. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It’s a small city near here. ‘Bout seventy-five miles or more to the northeast.” Curtis was staring at his hands as he rotated a statue of Lincoln on the table next to him with his fingers.
“We don’t go in that direction because of the mass amounts of zombies in some of those towns, right?” Eric looked around the room. “So going that way is dangerous.”
“We never had no one calling in from that area, either.” Peggy shook her head. “It got ugly out that way according to what we heard on the radio. When we lost our phones, there was speculation it was because of that area going dark.”
“What was so special about Madison? Why did they send people there?” Katie had wondered on the first day of the rising why they were directed toward an area with a denser population. “Is there an army base there?”
“There’s no base there.” Curtis stopped fiddling with the small statue. “There ain’t nothing there that is that special.”
“Yeah, but there had to be some sort of rescue center if they sent us there,” Katie said.
“There is a convention center there. And a mall.” Katarina flinched. “Damn. A mall. Just like the movies.”
“There is a message on the emergency broadcast system. It repeats over and over again, but I figured they were all dead long ago,” Peggy admitted.
“I did, too. Overrun like the rest of the rescue centers,” Katie agreed. “We never thought about it twice after we decided not to go there.”
“But they may be still there. Still operational.” Eric looked thoughtful as he considered this prospect. “Perhaps they have established a safe haven just like we have.”
“And,” Nerit said, “that would make them close enough to have taken our people.”
“So what do we do?” Eric asked.
“Try to contact them?” Katie offered.
“We’ve been monitoring the airways. I never heard a thing,” Curtis said in a soft, angry voice.
“Military channels are not accessible to civilians,” Nerit pointed out. Her expression was stoic, but her eyes were fierce, bright, and thoughtful.
“Besides, the closest military anything around these parts is about two hundred miles away. That National Guard base.” Peggy shook her head. “Why should we even think about them? Once all the shit hit the fan and no one showed up, we took care of ourselves.”
“But a military presence is obviously out there,” Travis finally said. “And they have our people. So what do we do now?”
“Maybe we should start sending out a message of our own,” Katie suggested. “Requesting the return of our people. They must be monitoring us.”
“If that’s true,” Travis sighed. “I gotta ask why they didn’t come knocking before?”
“Too many questions, no answers.” Katie ran a hand over her hair.
“Back when the world had order and things worked properly, we may have found each other much more quickly. But if they are operating on channels that we are not and vice versa...” Nerit slightly shook her head. “We can’t apply normal world expectations to the situations we are experiencing now. This new presence in our lives is not a known quantity and we don’t know what it will hold for us.”