Travis nodded. "I'll get right on it. "
The Mayor slowly turned and once more checked on his computer. The CNN homepage was up on the screen. "Still the same page as yesterday. No updates. "
Travis motioned to the women and they followed him into a side room.
Curtis, the cop, sat beside a ramshackle set up of communication equipment.
He looked pale beneath his tan and his thin blond hair was matted with sweat.
"Hey, Curtis!"
The cop looked up and said, "It's getting quieter out there. "
Travis nodded, walked over and laid a hand on the cop's shoulder. He squeezed it lightly. "What about that man, Ralph?"
"He asked about the women. I told him they arrived safely. "
"Good. Think you could get him back on the line?"
"Yeah. Give me a sec. "
Jenni stood close to Katie, watching, taking it all in. It felt good to be here. Safer somehow. But she still felt thrown off balance. Katie looked at her, smiled, and tenderly swept some loose locks of Jenni's black hair back from her face.
"You okay?"
Jenni smiled immediately under the attention. "Yeah. Just nervous. "
Katie kissed her cheek lightly and slid her arm around Jenni's waist.
"Yeah. Me, too. "
And then, outside, the moans and screeches of the dead rose to mingle with shouts of alarm.
The zombies had arrived at the perimeter.
Chapter 9
1. The Night of the Dead
Travis rushed over to a window, pulled back the curtains and swore under his breath.
"You two stay here," he said, and rushed out the door.
Curtis looked at the two women, then lowered his head solemnly. He seemed worn down, tired, and overwhelmed. Katie remembered that Travis said that the police force had been wiped out. She had a feeling Travis had asked him to oversee the communications center they had set up to keep him from the action. Curtis looked no older than twenty-one and Katie bet he hadn't been on the job long.
Jenni grabbed her hand. "If we go upstairs we could probably see out the window. "
Katie nodded. "Let's go see. "
Together, they ran out of the room and up the stairs.
A small crowd of people clustered around the windows to watch.
Managing to worm their way into a good position to watch out of one of the windows, Katie and Jenni looked down at the men taking position to fight the zombies. Ladders had been used to scale the wall and get up onto the trucks.
The harness lines glinted in the light from the huge lights set up around the perimeter. The men had only shovels and strange spears with what looked like trowels attached to the ends. Since the windows were looking out at the street over the top of the wrought iron fence, it was easy to see the zombies desperate to reach the men. Moaning loudly, some of them screeching, thirty or so zombies clustered under the men, beating the sides of the trucks, demanding the flesh of those above them.
Katie's heart jumped a little, as she caught sight of Travis running up one of the ladders, still fastening his harness, his spear under his arm. Of course he would be part