The First Days: As the World Dies (29 page)

2. Dead Man’s Party Ends

    

    And so the party ended and people finally crept back to their beds, some so drunk they barely found their way. At last, silence descended except for the ceaseless moaning of the zombies.

    A steady rain started at some point of the night and many of the guards rushed to get ponchos.

    During the brief chaos, a figure made its way to the roof of the city hall, lugging another form with it. Without pause, it shoved the other form over the edge of the roof. It tumbled over easily, its arms and legs flailing, then it landed with a painful thump without uttering a sound.

    It did not take long for the zombies to find it and soon a feast erupted in the street.

    When the guard returned to his place, he noticed a heavily ravaged body standing in the street, swaying back and forth, it's head turned upwards.

    Its mouth was taped shut.

    It was Ritchie.

    

    

1. Skin Against Skin

    

    Skin against skin…breath-consuming breath… limbs intertwined… soft moans… gentle whisperings…pleasure building steadily…

    Katie's hands slid over the broad shoulders of the man over her and tilted her head back, sighing softly, rapturously.

    "Travis…"

    His mouth slid over hers in a soft kiss and her fingers tangled in his hair.

    Suddenly, something gripped her leg painfully, angrily. She opened her eyes to see Lydia, mangled, bloodied, and dead leaning over them.

    "How could you," Lydia demanded in a raspy voice.

    Then she lunged forward, bloodied teeth desperate for flesh.

    Katie awoke and nearly fell off the bed in her haste to defend herself and Travis. Her heart was thundering in her chest and she pressed the flat of her hand against it to feel the harsh pulse beneath her fingers. Looking around, she realized the sun must be up for a yellowish light was seeping in around the mini-blinds.

    Travis was nowhere to be seen and she felt panic billowing up in her.

    Resting her booted feet against the floor, she leaned forward, taking deep breaths. Nothing had happened between her and Travis except for their goodnight kiss, but she still felt agonizing guilt. Rubbing her face with her hands, she tried to remove the vision of Lydia lunging forward to bite into Travis.

    Feeling like crying, she stood up shakily and grabbed the Reverend's jacket. She slid it on and ran her hands over her hair. It felt tangled and crazed and she pulled out the rubber band to let the curls fall around her face.

    Travis entered with his face grim and his gaze haunted. He saw her expression and moved toward her.

    "Katie," he said, concerned.

    She took a deep breath. "I had a nightmare."

    "Evidently. You look pale as a ghost." He touched her cheek softly.

    She had trouble looking at him in the eye and he gently turned her face toward him.

    When he saw the pain in her eyes, he gently lowered his hand. "Lydia?"

    Nodding mutely, she began to mess with her hair again.

    "Katie, I know what is going on is confusing," he started.

    Katie refused to look directly at him as she fussed with her hair. "You're not the one betraying your wife. Your entire life for years. You're not living with the knowledge that your wife is one of those things now!"

    Travis drew back and lowered his head, his expression tormented and sorrowful.

    "I lived my life for the last decade with an incredible woman who did nothing but love me unconditionally and believe in me. I loved-love her with all my heart and it kills me that she is gone."

    Travis looked up with her, a stricken expression on his face. "I understand."

    Katie tried hard not to cry and shook her head. "No, you don't. You don't know what it is like to live your life with someone you love more than life itself and have people treat you like shit because of it. How you don't hold hands or kiss in public out of fear. Or the way it feels when you do finally come out fully to a world that swings back and forth between wanting to see you fuck your wife or drive you out of the neighborhood. You don't understand."

    Travis took hold of her wrist and drew her near. His voice was very raw with emotion. "Don't tell me that I don't know what it is like to love someone.

    If you haven't figured it out, I do love you. And I will continue to do so as you deal with the ghost of Lydia in your life. Maybe I'm a fool to believe you could love me back, but your kiss gave me hope. Lydia may have been your life and hope before, but now she is your tormentor and your curse."

    "Fuck you!"

    "Katie, our world is dead. Everything that we were is dead. This is the new world. What we make of it. It's been a few weeks, but it feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it? Who you are now is not who you were on that first day."

    She sobbed and nodded mutely. It did seem like an eternity ago. Time seemed odd and cruel. Everyone seemed to be living at an accelerated pace.

    "I feel lost without her here. I miss her! Every day I miss her and the only way I can deal with it is to not think about her!" She gasped at her own words and covered her mouth with her fingers.

    Travis' gaze warmed and he reached out toward her. "Katie, you're not doing anything wrong. She loved you and you loved her. But you can't let that stop you from living now."

    She blinked the tears from her lashes and took a slow, stuttering breath.

    Katie drew back from him, covering her face with her hands. She trembled at the impact of his words and he slipped his arms around her and held her gently. Laying her hands on his chest, she looked up at him and sighed.

    "I can't forget her."

    "And you shouldn't," he assured her. He kissed her forehead and drew away.

    She rubbed her face and then ran her hands over her T-shirt to smooth it out as she tried to regain her composure. Right now, she couldn't fully examine his words or try to deal with them, but they had hit a harsh chord within her.

    "You didn't come in here to calm me down from a nightmare," she said after a beat.

    "Yeah, we have a situation. It's not going to be pleasant. Someone threw Ritchie over the wall, bound and gagged."

    Katie dropped her hands. "What?"

    Travis looked at her sadly. "He's out there, in the street, staring up at the city hall. He's not moving, just staring. He's pretty much eaten away, but you can tell it was him."

    "Oh, gawd, that's awful," Katie gasped.

    "Yeah. And I have to go find Juan. He's suspect number one, followed by Curtis."

    Katie shook her head. "No, no, I don't believe either one of them would do that."

    "Yeah, but Bill is investigating so we need to find Juan," Travis answered grimly.

    "He's with Jenni," Katie said.

    "Yeah, so I thought you should come with me."

    "Okay, let’s go."

    Their walk across the construction site was uneventful. It was early morning and many people were up at breakfast or still asleep. The sun was barely up and a thick mist, two feet deep, drifted over the ground. As they walked, Katie glanced toward Travis and saw absolute devastation written on his features. He was taking a lot of hard knocks and she knew she was part of it.

    She was struggling hard against her internal turmoil. Never had she felt so conflicted. Well, actually, she had, back in high school when she had come out as a staunch lesbian and had endured much vilification at the hands of her former friends. Cheerleaders were not gay. And then in her senior year, she and her girlfriend had broken up and Katie had unexpectedly fallen in love with her first boyfriend. It had been a huge relief to her parents and her friends, but it had thrown her a little. But she had been young and embraced her boyfriend with all the love and passion she had embraced her girlfriend.

    When he had started pushing her to have sex with another girl with him watching, that had ended their relationship. He had been pleasant enough, but she despised him for trying to use her sexuality just for his pleasure.

    But with her first boyfriend and girlfriend behind her, she had felt secure in the knowledge that she could love a person for who they were. A series of girlfriends and boyfriends had followed. This had thrown her family and made her mother especially upset. But Katie had been fine with it. It hadn't been easy though. Some of the lesbian community thought she was a lesbian in denial or just confused. The straight community often just wanted to portray her as promiscuous. More than one guy she had dated had expressed delight at the thought of threesomes only to have her apartment door shut on him for good. There had been the good, solid boyfriends who had just not worked out. There had been the good solid girlfriends who had not worked out.

    Then there had been Lydia.

    She was jarred out of her thoughts by Travis suddenly jolting to one side as someone passed them. He looked shaken and took a breath.

    "Waking nightmare?"

    Travis noticed. "Yeah. I wish they would go away. I'm afraid one day I'm going to shoot someone thinking they are one of those things or not shoot one of those things thinking I'm imagining it."

    Katie rested her hand on his shoulder. "We're both pretty screwed up, huh?"

    Travis laughed bitterly. "Who isn't?"

    Entering the building, they made their way up to the floor where Katie and Jenni roomed with Jason. The door was closed and Katie tapped lightly on it.

    "Uh…"

    "Jenni, it’s me."

    "Okay, come in."

    Katie opened the door to find Jenni sitting on her cot in a red tank top and shorts. Juan was in his jeans, lying down with his hands behind his neck.

    Jenni was eating a small fruit cup and looked flushed and rather happy.

    "Um, hi," Jenni said with a giggle.

    Juan noticed Travis expression and sat up quickly. "What's wrong?"

    "Someone bound and gagged Ritchie and tossed him over the wall."

    "Who?"

    "No one knows, but you're a suspect. So is Curtis."

    "I was with Jenni," Juan said.

    "Obviously," Katie said with a slight smile.

    Jenni frowned as she chewed her fruit. "He was. All night. We barely slept."

    Travis looked down and blushed slightly. "Okay, so he has an alibi, but Bill will want to talk to you both about it."

    Jenni stood up and waved her plastic spoon at Travis. "How could anyone think that Juan would do something like that?"

    "Because he sort of tried his best to take Ritchie out last night," Travis answered.

    Jenni sighed. "Yeah, true."

    Juan pulled on his boots and reached for his shirt. "Fine, I'll go defend myself. But this is bullshit. What is Bill going to do to whoever got rid of that piece of shit?"

    Travis ran his hands over his hair. "I have no clue. Hell, how do we handle a murder? Or any crime?"

    Juan tugged on his shirt as Jenni scrambled to slide into her jeans, pulling them on over her shorts. "Travis, you know me. I would not do this."

    "I know that. I know. I know you were here with Jenni. I don't think anything will come of it."

    "Yeah, well you try to be a Hispanic male in a white society and see if you feel comfortable with that answer," Juan answered. He pushed past Travis and Katie, his face set, his eyes blazing, and headed into the hall.

    "Where is Bill?"

    "On the roof," Travis answered.

    Jenni grabbed Katie's hand as they moved up the stairs and leaned toward her. "Are you okay?"

    Katie smiled at her slightly. "Nightmares."

    "Lydia?"

    Katie nodded.

    Jenni sighed and rubbed Katie's back with one hand as they walked. "I really didn't sleep."

    "Yeah, I figured that out," Katie said with a smile.

    Jenni giggled then her expression grew serious as Curtis' voice sounded from above.

    "…I said to put him out of his misery then chuck him over," Curtis was shouting at Bill.

    Bill nodded. "I understand, but you were heard saying very clearly you wanted Ritchie dead."

    "Because he's a threat, Bill. Or he was." Curtis looked fiercely upset.

    Nearby, Fred, one of the construction workers, was keeping watch on the street below. He said, "I was gone for maybe ten minutes. I got the kids down into the council room and grabbed a poncho and headed back up here.

    Whoever it was moved fast."

    "The door to Ritchie's cell is easily unlocked from outside. It's just a deadbolt. Anyone could have done it," Juan said as he joined Bill and Curtis.

    "He was sleeping with me last night," Jenni said quickly, her hand grabbing Juan's. "All night. And not really sleeping."

    Bill blinked and looked back and forth between them.

    "I have an alibi," Juan said, his dark green eyes stormy.

    "Okay, but I need to question you, too."

    Katie walked over to look down at the lone figure standing in the street below. It was just staring up at the roof of the building. The duct tape had survived the feeding as had part of the boy's T-shirt. He was almost stripped to the bone, but most of his long ponytail with the skull and crossbones clasp remained. His arms hung at his side, free of their bonds. But one of his ankles trailed a long bit of duck tape with a good chunk of flesh attached to the end.

    It moaned when it saw Katie and reached its hand out to her, staggering forward slightly.

    The questions continued behind her as she watched what was left of Ritchie. She wondered why he stood there, alone, while the others banged away on the gate. But there he stood, staring, reaching out, and moaning.

    With a squeal of tires, the big red Ram 1500 4x4 that Katie had driven to rescue Jason came roaring around the corner and slammed into Ritchie. His head splattered against the grill and his body flew across the street as the truck came to a screeching stop. There was a moment of hesitation, then the truck charged forward.

    "Ralph and Nerit are here!" Katie turned toward Travis who ran forward to see.

    They both watched as the truck sped down the street slammed into another wandering, slow zombie. The truck swerved around and came to a stop as the driver seemed to try to figure out where to go next.

    Fred lifted his binoculars and peered through them. "I only see a woman and she looks pissed."

    "Nerit," Katie whispered.