Fighting to Survive (66 page)

“
Couldn't
be much weirder than last year,
”
Travis decided.

“
No,
probably not.
”

Had it only been
nine months since the first day? It didn't seem possible. It felt
like a lifetime ago. At times, her serene life with Lydia in their
beautiful home felt like a dream. She still missed Lydia terribly,
but the truth was that time was now gone. It was lost like the rest
of the world. This was her new reality, her new life, her new world.

She tilted her head
to look up at Travis. The stress was showing between his eyes. She
reached up with her cold red fingers to brush them over the grooves.
He relaxed and smiled at her.

“
It'll
be the best year we can make it,
”
Katie decided.
“
We
have the baby coming and so much to do with the fort.
”

“
I
just want to make things safe for you and the baby and everyone
else.
”

Katie pulled him
down and kissed him as she snuggled against his chest.

The snowball caught
them smack dab in the middle of their kiss. Sputtering, they both
looked down over the old wall to see Jenni and Juan wrestling in the
snow, shoving handfuls of the white stuff down each other's clothes.

Then
they saw who the guilty party was. Nerit was fashioning another
snowball with a grin on her face. With unequaled accuracy, she nailed
Jenni.

Calhoun
ran past, whirling around as he went, laughing hysterically.

Jenni
snagged up a hand full of snow and tossed it at Nerit, who couldn't
duck fast enough.

Meanwhile,
Jack ran around barking as Jason hurled snowballs at his girlfriend,
Shelley.

“
Let's
get down there, Katie.
”

Scooping
up the snow off the rail next to her, Katie tossed it at Travis'
face, then ducked around him shouting,
“
Beat
you down there!
”

Beyond the walls, a
lone zombie stood staring at the twinkling Christmas tree in the
distance, fixated and confused, just staring...and staring...as the
snow fell all around it.

The man with the
binoculars watched the snow fight from beneath a tree. Clad in Army
fatigues, he shivered in the cold and wiped snow from his face.
Behind him was another solider, a woman, was sitting in the jeep that
would carry them back to the waiting helicopter.

“
What
do you think?
”

Lieutenant
Kevin Reynolds lowered the binoculars and turned toward his
companion.
“
It's
perfect. It's exactly what we need,
”
he answered.

He slid into the
passenger seat and settled in as the private drove the jeep back
toward the edge of town.

From
the darkened sky above, the snow continued to fall.

The new year had
arrived in the dead world as the fort celebrated. The terrors of the
new year were yet to be discovered and for one night there was peace
among the living.

Rhiannon Frater
works and lives in Austin, Texas. She became an Independent Author
at the urging of her husband.

She
loves reading, movies, gaming, and hanging out with friends and
family when she
’
s
not tapping away at her computer on her latest story. She also loves
hearing from her fans and tries to respond to everyone who emails
her.

To contact the
author directly, email her at:

[email protected].

Other Books By
Rhiannon Frater

As The World
Dies: The First Days

A Zombie
Trilogy

Two
very different women flee into the Texas Hill Country on the first
day of the zombie rising. Together they struggle to rescue loved
ones, find other survivors, and avoid the hungry undead.

Pretty When
She Dies:

A Vampire Novel.

In
East Texas, a young woman awakens buried under the forest floor.
After struggling out of her grave, she not only faces her terrible
new existence but her sadistic creator, The Summoner. Abandoning her
old life, she travels across Texas hoping to find answers to her new
nature and find a way to defeat the most powerful Necromancer of all
time.

As The World
Dies: Siege

will be released
in 2009.

All
novels are available in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com.

eBook versions are
available at smashwords.com

For more information
on the author, her upcoming appearances, and her writing projects,
check out her blog at:

http://rhiannonfrater.blogspot.com/