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Katie nodded and said, "You’re Bill, right?"

"Yep, that’s me I take it you want to call your friends?"

"Please," Katie sat down heavily in a chair and Travis steadied her with one hand "Then I want to eat soive

Katie looked up at Travis and laid her hand over his "Thank you For watching oversure I was okay"

Travis felt a little flushed and nodded "No proble," Bill said into the le of some kind on the other end then a voice said, "Katie! Katie! It’s hed and handed the Mic over to Katie Travis couldn’t help but laugh a little, iet to the microphone

"And it’s me, Jenni I’m okay It was just the flu"

"Oh, thank God!" And Jenni broke down crying and her sobs were loud over the speakers "I was so scared! So scared! But we’re going to find a way to get you back in and you’ll be safe here!"

Katie smiled and winked at Travis "I know, Jenni I know And I know you were looking after me in your oay I felt it We’ll come home I promise Soon"

Travis could see tears in Katie’s eyes and turned away He felt emotional and unsteady on his feet Nerit and Ralph were in the doorway now and Katie reached out to therabbed her hand

The most radiant smile he had ever seen on any woman’s face lit up Katie’s features and he felt al in it

For the first time since the world had slid sideways into hell, he felt a moment of happiness, and it felt delicious

Chapter 12

1 Dancing for the Dead

Two days later, the excite through all the survivors It seeht, to watch what had been dubbed "Operation Little Doggy"

Even Old Man Watson came out and sat in a plastic chair in the sun to watch He was their oldest survivor at ninety-three and he had ended up at city hall only because he had come in to pay his water bill when the zombies had arrived His arms were covered in tattoos from his Navy days and he mostly sat around and just smiled at everyone It took Jenni a while to realize he couldn’t hear hardly at all She went out of her way to talk very loudly to him and explain the plan to hiive en up on the volunteer sheet for Operation Little Doggy Jason was second They were both deter Katie and Travis houns and supplies Everyone else in the Fort was uns than they were about Katie It annoyed Jenni, but she understood these people didn’t know Katie like she did Also, the more she listened to the townsfolk talk about Travis, the more evident it was that when he had moved to the town to help with the reconstruction of the don area, he had caused an immediate stir

"Movie star looks, nice as can be, volunteering down at the senior center," Peggy had said to Jenni as they had washed dishes the night before

Everyone had to do his or her part and Jenni didn’t , had mad crushes on him And honestly, I don’t think he noticed He’s nursing a broken heart He toldjob as a architect and went back to construction"

Jenni had absorbed that, considered it, and tucked it away for later She had seen Travis’ subtle charisma in action and she had been very ht Katie was, too But she had seen soazed at her and she felt pretty confident in it

Tis, of course

Now she stood next to Jason, clad in the same outfit she had left Ralph’s in It had been washed numerous ti Jason had told Jack to stay with Old Man Watson so he could help with his volunteer crew and now the Ger his ears scratched

"Okay, the ceroups of volunteers "Just do e told you and ive these zombies any ideas Try to keep low and out of view"

Jenni and Jason quickly scaled the ladder over the cement wall and down the other side The Hurricane fence was easy to scale and she dropped over the other side easily Jason dropped down second The other members of their tea wicked spikes over the wall and fence using a conveyor belt system Another man, Mike, a tall black man, also dropped over the fence

The day before a crew of the construction workers had worked long and hard with sledgehaes in the sidewalk that divided the fence froe spike into the ground and Jenni and Jason held it into position Freshly made cement was then poured into the deep hole around the bottoh at first, but as the rew tired The spikes were bits of the old wrought iron fence the construction crew had torn down They were heavy and, after awhile, herJuan had insisted upon If the zo for theered in such a way that you had duck low and around the down from on top the trucks would be impaled Her little tea and she was covered with sweat What made it harder was the sheer, nasty stench of the dead just on the other side of the ring of trucks Theirwarle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>