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"Thank you, thank you," the man whispered

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

"Bitch!"

She was tackled froround The man above her didn’t hesitate to punch her so hard across the face that her vision swaain and her vision began to darken Di

"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 ed to roll onto her knees and pal behind her and she heard the iainst flesh There were ainst it, drew herself slowly up Her body was shaking and she felt like vo The world swa the gun

Swinging around, she aile hold and two other et him off of Travis The zombies were almost all dead Just two o," she whispered

The o!"

The er 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 s," he hissed in her face "You killed ed to say as his weight slowly pressed the air out of her lungs Her finger tightened on the trigger

Froive a fuck about the gun He put his hands on her throat and started to squeeze So 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, s, "It’s okay"

Travis pulled Jenni away and knocked the now unconscious attacker off of Katie He leaned over her and took the gun froled for breath as her hand grasped his ar to caled 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 platfor from the harness is real loca, Loca," Juan informed Jenni

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

"Uht"

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

"I think I’ 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

"…ould have had to shoot hiled to push up through the thick membrane of the darkness and strained to speak

"Don’t be an idiot," a woy, 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 y and Curtis included

"I’m an elected official!"