"Thank you, thank you," the man whispered.

Katie said softly, "No problem" and shot him square between the eyes.

"Bitch!"

She was tackled from the side and knocked to the ground. The man above her didn't hesitate to punch her so hard across the face that her vision swam.

"Stupid fuckin' lesbo bitch!"

He hit her again and her vision began to darken. Dimly, she heard Jenni screaming.

"Get off her! Get off her!"

Someone tackled the man and pushed him off her.

Katie tried to roll over and tasted blood in her mouth. She spit it out and managed to roll onto her knees and palms. Men's voices were shouting and arguing behind her and she heard the impact of a fist against flesh. There were more screams. She crawled to the wall and resting her hand against it, drew herself slowly up. Her body was shaking and she felt like vomiting. The world swam around her. Slowly, she realized she was still clutching the gun.

Swinging around, she aimed at the man who had punched her. He had Travis in a strangle hold and two other men were trying to get him off of Travis. The zombies were almost all dead. Just two more rattled the fence and screeched.

"Let him go," she whispered.

The men continued to fight.

"Let him go!"

The man looked at her, his green eyes bright with fierce anger. He let go of Travis abruptly and lunged at her again. The gun slid up his slick skin to his neck as he tackled her to the ground once more.

"I'm going to feed you to those things," he hissed in her face. "You killed my brother, you bitch."

"He was already dead," Katie managed to say as his weight slowly pressed the air out of her lungs. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

From the gleam in his eye, Katie realized he didn't give a fuck about the gun. He put his hands on her throat and started to squeeze. Something fell on him from above, smashing into the back of his head and Katie gasped as the weight of it knocked all the air out of her. Gasping, she tried to hold onto the gun, her vision darkening still. Her assailant's eyes rolled up into his head as he slid into unconsciousness. Then Jenni was over her, smoothing back her hair and whispering, "It's okay."

Travis pulled Jenni away and knocked the now unconscious attacker off of Katie. He leaned over her and took the gun from her hand. "Katie, try to breathe, okay?"

She struggled for breath as her hand grasped his arm. Jenni stroked her hair gently, trying to calm her.

Finally, she managed to say, "sonofabitch," and that made both Travis and Jenni smile with relief.

Travis lifted her up into his arms and carried her back toward the ladder. She could see that the no man's land between the truck barrier and the fence was nothing but dead bodies.

"We…did…it," she whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah," Travis assured her and hoisted her up.

Juan and Mike lifted her up over the wall and laid her down on the platform.

"Dropping from the harness is real loca, Loca," Juan informed Jenni.

"What if you had missed and hit the spikes?"

"Um, you would miss me?"

Juan snorted. "Yeah, right."

Travis leaned down and gingerly touched the side of her face. It was throbbing and hurt like hell. "Katie, Katie…"

"I think I'm going away," Katie whispered.

She passed out cold.

Beyond her, past the wall, past the fence, past the trucks, the corral was seeped in blood and gore and nothing moved.

They had won.

Chapter 16

1. Voices

Katie swam to the surface of consciousness slowly. The darkness was deep and stifling. She clawed at it, trying to rise, trying to break free.

"…defending all of us…"

Travis' voice.

"…shot a man in cold blood…"

That was the Mayor's voice.

"…there is no cure for a bite…"

Juan sounded pissed.

"…we would have had to shoot him anyway…"

Curtis was defending her. Wow.

She struggled to push up through the thick membrane of the darkness and strained to speak.

"Don't be an idiot," a woman's voice said.

Peggy, the city secretary.

"Yeah, this world has all new rules. Katie did that guy a favor."

Jenni, safe and sound.

"Who is in charge around here?"

The Mayor again, sounding shrill.

"Well, I would say Travis," Juan said.

There were murmurs of agreement, Peggy and Curtis included.

"I'm an elected official!"

"Well, the new elections were just held and you lost," Juan answered.

"Take the handcuffs off," Travis ordered.

Handcuffs?

Katie realized the cold brace around her wrists was metal. She tried to open her eyes and failed. Something cold and wet was resting on her forehead and eye. An ice pack.

"Curtis, I am your boss!"

"Not anymore," Curtis answered.

"Give me the keys," Travis said.

Again, she tried to open her eyes.

"Hey, you awake?" Travis' voice, warm and strong. So much like her father.

Her eyes fluttered and light broke the darkness.

She felt him fumbling with the handcuffs.

"Kinky," she moaned.

Travis laughed and his features swam before her eyes and slowly solidified.

More figures pushed into her vision and she saw Jenni's large eyes.

"Not dead…" she managed.

"And not arrested," Juan assured her.

"You can't let her go," the Mayor protested.

"Watch us," Travis answered, and leaned down and gathered her up in his arms.

The ice pack tumbled off her head and onto the cot.

Wrapping her arms loosely around his neck, she whispered,

"…need…to…stop…playing…romantic hero…"

"Yeah, I keep telling you that, but you just don't listen," Travis chided her playfully.

"She's bullheaded that way," Jenni agreed, following him as he carried Katie out of the room.

Katie slumped against Travis. "Head hurts," she said.

Then she slipped away again.

2. Movement

Jenni pushed her way into the city council meeting room and elbowed her way past the many people gathered there: townspeople, construction workers, city workers, other stragglers who had found their way here.

Everyone was pressed into the room.

At the council table sat Katie, Travis, Juan, the Mayor, Peggy and Curtis.

The room was already in an uproar.

"…we should have a say…"

"…who says what we should do…"

Jenni was relieved to see that Katie looked very alert despite her swollen face and blackened eye. Her lip was still swollen and cracked, but it didn't take away from the fierce look on her face.

Jason was seated toward the front and motioned Jenni over. She slipped into the seat he was saving for her and Jack rested his chin on her knee so he could have scratches behind his ears. He gave her a doggy grin of satisfaction as she commenced her scratching.

Curtis stood up slowly. "Okay, okay, let’s be civil about this. A lot has happened since yesterday. We need to stay calm."

The room quieted down a bit.

Curtis sat down and Travis stood up. "I'm not real good at leadership stuff, but we need to do something to make sure that what happened yesterday doesn't happen again. Now, my strong point is building and I can design new fortifications for this…uh…fort. Juan also has a lot of ideas and we are working together to expand our fort and also make it safer. Safer to live in. Safer to get in and out of. We're going to need a lot of volunteers.

Now, the Mayor here, he can run a city and he will be dealing with the logistics of that. Food distribution, water consumption, living quarters, all that."

The Mayor slowly raised his head and Jenni could tell he was a defeated man who had grabbed onto whatever was left of his power base.

"What about the lesbo?"

The voice came from the back of the room.

Travis' face darkened, but he kept his temper. "Katie, Bill, and Curtis have experience in law enforcement-"

"She killed Patrick in cold blood!"

"Patrick was bitten," Travis said softly. "A bite is deadly in this new world. He was dead already. And yeah, you get bit, you are going to be delivered out of this life fast and quick to keep the rest of us safe."

"That's murder!"

Jenni strained to see who was talking.

"No, it's being humane. Now, Katie, Bill, and Curtis are going to work together to make sure that everyone understands the new rules around here."

"Who gave you the right?" An older man now.

"No one. But it's what we are good at. We'll need everyone to work hard to keep this place safe." Travis looked grim. "We need to work together, or we will all die."

Katie said in a low voice, "Tell them the plans."

Travis nodded. "First off, we cleared out the zombies to the point that none have been seen since yesterday. Tomorrow, we'll dispose of all the bodies after removing the corral and clearing the area…"