The pride he felt in him was overwhelming and he fought for control.

Leaning over, Jason kissed the sleeping old woman that was his adopted great-grandmother, then strode away.

"He's a good boy," Rosie whispered.

"So am I!" Troy leaped into her arms to hug her.

Rosie laughed and hugged the little boy tightly. "Yes you are. Now kiss your Daddy One."

Juan could feel his control slipping, but he managed to not cry as the three kids kissed him and hugged him tight.

"Go kill the zombies," Margie ordered.

"I will," Juan promised.

"Shoot dem in da head," Holly instructed.

"I will," Juan answered.

"In da head," Troy repeated.

"In the head," Juan a.s.sured him.

Then he was walking away, his heart in his throat and his head spinning.

There was just no way about it. His children would not die today. They would not. There was simply no other choice but to win.

* * * * * Kevin and Nerit stepped into the elevator and the doors closed behind them.

"Here," Kevin said softly, pressing a tiny metal box into her hand.

"The detonator?"

"I have one, too."

"We won't use them," Nerit a.s.sured him. "We'll win."

"But just in case."

"Of course."

Kevin shifted on his feet and looked at her steadily. "I want to say something. It's something I wanted to say since you woke up."

"I already know. You don't have to say it," Nerit responded quickly.

"Arnold once called you the s.e.xiest old woman around, you know." Kevin said bashfully.

Nerit rolled her eyes, but looked amused.

"I think he was right." Kevin drew closer to her. "Nerit..."

"You deserve the right to find a new family. To rebuild just like everyone else once this is over. I can't give you that."

"But you feel it, too. If we were closer in age and met-"

"Yes," Nerit said simply. "But that is not the case, is it?"

Kevin nodded sadly, his green eyes staring deeply into hers. "I wish it was."

Nerit looked away and stared at the elevator door. "Me, too."

Just before the elevator reached their floor, Kevin pressed a firm, hard kiss to her cheek. To his delight, Nerit blushed.

The doors dinged then opened. Kevin stepped out onto this floor, waving at her.

Nodding once, she tucked the detonator into her jacket pocket and took a breath as the doors closed.

3. And The Clock Winds Down...

It was an odd moment. One of many, considering the last year. As Katie was staring out the window over the fort's defenses in front of the hotel, the ascending sun caught the gla.s.s. A flash of light blinded her instantly.

When her eyes cleared, she was driving the old white truck. Jenni sat next to her in jeans, a tank top and a cowboy hat with a good pair of knock off Fendi sungla.s.ses perched on her nose. Jack sat between them, the hot wind ruffling his fur as it poured through the open windows. Beyond her was the desert, hot and fierce. Waves of heat rippled over the endless stretch of highway.

"Jenni," Katie whispered, confused, her fingers gripping the steering wheel.

"This could have been it. You know. Our future." Jenni grinned at her and turned her face into the scalding wind. "The desert."

The heat was amazing and the sun was unrelenting. Jack woofed beside them and licked at his paw.

"I thought about it," Katie confessed. "Before we found Nerit and Ralph."

"Me, too. Even after we found the fort. I thought about us and Jason just going away."

"You would still be alive if we had," Katie said after a beat. Tears were in her eyes again.

"Maybe," Jenni agreed. She leaned over the dog and kissed Katie's cheek and hugged her tight. "You miss me!"

"Well, yeah, you b.i.t.c.h. You went and died on me!"

Jenni laughed. "Yeah, but it was one kick a.s.s exit."

"Oh, f.u.c.k you," Katie snapped, but couldn't help but smile.

"It was worth it! Everything was worth it!" Jenni grinned at her. Reaching out, she gripped Katie's wrist tightly and leaned toward her. "You know it, Katie. You know. Every moment was worth it. Every little tiny bit of it...all building up to this."

"Which is?"

"The beginning of everything new," Jenni said and winked. "Or the end of it all."

Katie rolled her eyes. "That is not encouraging."

"But every moment of happiness we had this year was that much sweeter because of every other horrible moment that we experienced. Admit it, Katie."

Katie gripped the steering wheel more firmly as she thought of all the loss, the pain, the death, but then of all the good moments. Dancing with Jenni, kissing Travis, her swelling belly, playing with Jack, hugging Juan's kids, learning how to two step....all of it. "Yeah. You're right."

"Totally worth it," Jenni said firmly.

The light caught her again, blinding her, then she blinked to see she was back in the hotel. Travis walked toward her as the sunlight streamed through the window. He drew near her and slid his hand behind her neck and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. Closing her eyes, she relished the moment and felt its sweetness fill her.

"I love you," Travis said softly.

"Yeah, well, good. I'm crazy about you, too," she said.

Ruffling her hair, he winked. "We'll be okay."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

Out of the throng of people eating breakfast Eric appeared, his brow furrowed. Close behind him was Stacey. She was crying. Pepe, their little dog, stared up at her sadly.

"What's up, Eric?" Travis asked.

"We have a situation," Eric answered. His expression was stricken and tears glimmered in his eyes. "Peggy's gone."

"What?" Their voices chorused. Travis and Katie glanced at each other briefly.

"Took herself and her kid out last night," Stacey sobbed.

"Define the whole took herself out part," Travis said. "Out of the fort?"

"You could say that. She poisoned the little guy and slit her wrists," Eric explained.

"Oh, Jesus," Katie murmured, raising her hand to her brow.

"s.h.i.t," Travis said. "s.h.i.t!" He shook his head in disbelief. "I knew she was scared, but not that scared."

"She's not the only one. We have about four more. At least two jumped over the wall...headfirst. Old Harris took himself out by hanging. Shea took himself with a shot to the head through a pillow." Eric sighed. "So a lower suicide count than we expected. I was really hoping there would be none."

"Peggy was going to run communications," Katie said softly.

"Gotta pull Yolanda to do it," Travis decided.

"She's not as experienced as Peggy," Katie pointed out.

"Without Curtis and Ken, she's the best we got," Travis answered.

"I'll find her," Stacey said, vanishing into the crowd, Pepe skittering along behind her.

Eric rubbed the bridge of his nose with one finger, shoved his gla.s.ses in place, then shook his head. "I better take another swing around the wall.

We don't need fresh blood luring those things in." He hurried off.

From the sound of the crowd, people were finding out about the deaths.

There were looks of dismay and a few tears. Word traveled fast in the fort.

As Peggy would joke, "There were no secrets in a small Texas town. If you farted, everyone knew what you had for dinner."

"Oh, gawd, Peggy," Katie whispered softly.

"I'm sure she did what she thought was right for her and the kid."

Katie pressed her hand to his cheek. "They need to know there is hope.

That we can do this. You and the Reverend need to speak to the fort before those things get here. Everyone needs it."

Travis started to protest, but already the Reverend was on his way to Travis through the crowd. As usual, Katie understood very well what was needed.

"Travis," the Reverend said drawing close. "The people are in despair. We need to rally them."

"I agree. Let's head down to communications," Travis said, kissing her cheek.

Both men moved toward the elevators.

With a sigh, Katie brushed her blond hair from her face and looked out over the desolate swath of land before the fort. In the distance were the edges of the ramshackle mounds that formed a wall around the fort. There was a ma.s.sive opening right down the middle. It was the killing zone and huge fire traps were set to ignite in the gap.

Taking a deep breath, she thought of Jenni's words. She knew they were true, but all she could feel was her fear and her fingers trembling against the warming gla.s.s of the window.

Chapter 34.

1. Time to Die "Move it, Calhoun. They're coming and they're hungry," Rune said firmly.

He seemed unfazed by the utter reek coming off the old crazy guy. He straddled his Harley and waited for Calhoun to slide on behind him.

Rune had ridden the makeshift elevator, which was a pallet lowered by a crane down to the ground outside the wall, holding his bike firmly to his side. Calhoun had ridden down behind him. The fire line was far from the wall and there was no way Rune was going to be caught without a quick getaway. He shifted the bag of grenades so it rested more firmly against his back. Today seemed like a good day to use them.

"I ain't as young as you, you long haired hippie," Calhoun muttered, managing to swing his old leg over the bike.

"I ain't a hippie, Cal. I'm a biker," Rune answered.

Calhoun's response was cut off with a shout as the bike lurched forward and roared over the rough terrain toward the fire line.

"d.a.m.n smart a.s.s city folk. They should have started bulldozing those mounds in the middle and worked themselves out. Now we got a huge a.s.s "v" with a big ol hole right where we should have our best defenses," Rune shouted into the wind.