Fighting to Survive (27 page)

Travis
shook his head.
“
Juan,
we need to drop this.
”

“
I'm
not going to, Travis,
”
Juan answered firmly.
“
What
if it had been Katie left alone in a room with three zombies? Huh?
”

Travis
looked toward Katie and his look said it all.

“
Exactly,
”
Juan answered, and stood up.
“
You
know what? I'm going to deal with this man to man. Fuck diplomacy.
”

“
Juan,
”
Travis said softly.

“
No,
fuck it.
”
Juan walked out, and slammed the door behind him.

“
He's
having anger issues,
”
Jenni said.

“
Obviously,
”
Travis responded. He stood and grabbed his new denim jacket.
“
I
better go after him.
”

Katie moved to his
side. They shared a sweet little kiss that had Jenni grinning. It was
good to see Katie and Travis together. She felt a little less guilty
about moving on now that Katie had, too. She knew it had been much
harder for Katie.

“
See
you later,
”
Travis said.

“
Okay,
”
Katie answered, and walked him to the door.

Another soft kiss,
then Travis was gone.

Jenni lifted her
eyebrows at Katie as her friend shut the door.

“
What?
”
Katie asked, then broke into a huge grin. Jenni tackled her.

Like
schoolgirls, they hugged each other and jumped around laughing until
they collapsed into a heap on the bed.

“
You
have FFG!
”

“
Do
not!
”

“
Uh
huh! Freshly fucked glow!
”
Jenni howled with laugher, pointing at Katie
’
s
flushed countenance.

Katie
covered her face and laughed.
“
Oh,
gawd...I do!
”

For the first time,
laughter filled their time together.

***

After missing Juan
at the elevator, Travis headed down to the lobby and found him
nowhere in sight. Confused, he walked toward the front desk and found
Peggy printing out what looked like a map of their area.

“
Peggy,
have you seen Juan?
”

“
Uh-mm...no.
Not recently.
”

Travis
leaned against the counter and thought for a second.
“
Can
I see the duty roster?
”

“
Sure,
”
Peggy answered, and handed it to him. She began to use a highlighter
to draw circles around areas on the map.

“
So
Juan didn't just come down to see the roster?
”

“
No,
no.
”

Travis sighed with
relief. Maybe Juan wasn't trying to track down Jimmy.

“
Something
wrong?
”
Peggy
’
s
big eyes regarded him curiously.
“
I
saw him stalking around earlier this morning before everyone got up
bitchin
’
about Jimmy. He looked at the roster then.
”

“
Shit,
”
Travis exclaimed, and quickly found where Jimmy was supposed to be.
Juan
’
s
temper was building up to an explosion.

“
What's
wrong?
”

“
Nothing,
”
Travis lied, heading back to the elevators.

As he listened to
the whir of the elevator rising, he stood in quiet frustration.
Couldn't they have just a nice little period of no major drama?
Couldn't they just fucking enjoy the hotel without all of this? Hell,
he couldn't even enjoy being with Katie this morning. He was already
in work mode.

The doors slid open
and he strode out swiftly. Ahead of him, a door was propped open and
the early morning rays were filtering into the long hallway in a
stream of light. Juan walked out into the hall and stood there,
looking angry.

“
Juan,
you didn't do anything--
”

“
He's
not fucking at his post,
”
Juan answered.
“
I
told you he was a pussy.
”

Travis
lifted an eyebrow.
“
What
do you mean?
”

“
Not
there. We have no coverage in the front of the hotel. The fucker is
off picking his ass.
”

Travis
walked into the hotel room and looked around. There was a chair near
the window, which was open, and the curtains were pulled back. A
table was strewn with soda cans and an ashtray.

Moving toward the
window, he looked out. The street had a few of the shambling-type of
zombies wandering around.

“
I
told you he is a fucking pussy that doesn't give a shit about anyone
or anything,
”
Juan ranted behind him.

Travis
looked directly downward and froze.
“
Shit,
Juan. What did you do?
”

“
Huh?
”

Below
him, in a bush, was what remained of Jimmy struggling to get up.

Juan
leaned out next to him.
“
Oh,
man.
”

“
Juan,
”
Travis said again, very softly,
“
What
did you do?
”

“
Nothing!
I swear. I got in here and he was not at his post!
”

Travis rubbed his
brow.

“
I
did not throw him out of the gawddamn window, Travis!
”

“
Then
who did?
”
Travis asked.
“
Then
who did?
”

3. Judgment is
Drawn

Travis
stood in the corner with his arms folded across his chest. His face
was solemn and his gaze intense. The Mayor, Peggy, Curtis, and Juan
all sat around the Hotel Manager
’
s
office in an uncomfortable silence. Jenni and Katie stood near the
door, both of them looking very pensive.

Nerit
strode in, her rifle over one shoulder, and looked at Travis.
“
It
’
s
taken care of.
”

Bill
followed her in holding a notepad and looking very official.
“
Okay,
we hooked the body after Nerit put him down and dragged it up to a
balcony. I examined it and even though there was extreme damage to
the corpse, I was able to conclude that there was no sign of trauma
other than some abrasions on his knees and hands. I think he was
pushed out the window fully conscious. There was no sign of head
injury other than his eyes and parts of his face missing.
”

Manny
fidgeted, then said,
“
Could
he have fallen?
”

“
I
might have considered that a possibility if not for the fact that we
already had one murder,
”
Bill answered.

“
I
didn
’
t
do it,
”
Juan said softly.

“
I
hate to say it, but you are the most likely suspect right now, Juan.
Both Ritchie and Jimmy were people you had a beef with,
”
Bill said.

“
We
all had issues with Ritchie to some extent and Jimmy did piss off a
lot of people yesterday,
”
Travis pointed out.

“
It
could have been me,
”
Jenni said defiantly.

“
True.
We could have two different murderers on our hands, but the fact
remains that two people were pushed out of the safety of our fort and
left to die at the hands of the zombies,
”
Bill said in a very serious tone.

“
I
can deal with this if you want, Manny
”
Curtis said to the Mayor.

“
No
offense, Curtis, but I think Bill should deal with this. He has a
lot more experience than you and he is an outsider so he isn
’
t
biased,
”
the Mayor answered.

“
No
one is an outsider anymore,
”
Katie spoke up.
“
We
’
re
all intertwined in each others lives. There could be many more people
with a beef against both of the victims. We can
’
t
just go after the first convenient suspect. You need a solid case
before any action is taken to make sure we
’
re
not just on a witch hunt. You need a solid case.
”

“
Spoken
like a true prosecutor,
”
Bill said with amusement.

“
I
don
’
t
want this getting out,
”
the Mayor said after a beat.
“
A
party is planned for tonight and we need it for morale.
”

“
People
are already talking about Jimmy,
”
Nerit cut in.
“
It
is hard to keep things quiet in such a small community.
”

“
She
’
s
got a legitimate point. Besides, hiding something from the general
population only ends up blowing up,
”
Katie remarked.

“
You
have to wonder if the government knew what was going on when this
whole zombie thing started,
”
Jenni added.
“
I
mean…hell...where did all the zombie movies come from? There
had to be something going on that inspired them.
”

Travis
chuckled softly.
“
I
always thought Romero was just sick in the head.
”

Jenni
gave him a dark look, but then shrugged dismissively.
“
Well,
I still think they knew something.
”