Part 48 (2/2)
”Yeah, well, we have been building pretty d.a.m.n fast. We haven't been sitting down and estimating how much stress those walls could take. Up until now we only had to hold off a couple hundred of those things.”
Looking calm, thoughtful, but a tiny bit pale, Eric nodded. Dressed in a white s.h.i.+rt and navy trousers, he looked as casual as it got for him. ”We haven't done any stress tests at this point” he started.
”Well we better hurry the h.e.l.l up and figure it out,” Curtis wailed, flinging out his hand dramatically. ”Cause they're f.u.c.king coming.”
”The outer wall is new,” Travis said. ”That would be our major concern. I have more faith in the older walls inside,.”
”We could always fall back to the inner areas,” Kevin suggested.
”Less to protect,” Nerit agreed. ”And the walls are thicker around the hotel and entry lock.”
”We're talking like we're going to get overrun,” was the soft comment from Bill.
The stress in the room was growing more and more palpable. Katie's fingers found Travis hand and she held him.
”It has always been a possibility,” Eric answered calmly.
”Why are you such a gawdd.a.m.n Vulcan about this?” Curtis nearly screamed. He backed away from the table and the photos, his eyes wide, terrified, the drops of sweat on his face rolling down to his chin.
”Curtis, calm down,” Bill said softly, holding out one hand. ”Just calm down.”
Running his hand over his hair, Curtis backed all the way into the corner of the room, shaking his head. ”We're going to get overrun, I knew it, I knew this bulls.h.i.+t would happen when we brought in all those people from the mall.”
”This has nothing to do with the mall,” Nerit said sharply. ”The direction these zombies are coming from indicate they came most likely from the National Guard base or from Fort Worth or Dallas.”
”And it doesn't do any good to panic,” Eric pointed out.
”But people are gonna panic,” Peggy's quivering voice said from the corner. She was smoking a cigarette and her hand was trembling. ”f.u.c.k, I'm panicking. That's a d.a.m.n lot of zombies. More than we've ever seen out in these here parts. And if I'm panicking you know everyone else out there is going to panic, too.”
”Then we have a plan in place to deal with all of this before we take it to the general population,” Travis said, his voice raw, but firm.
”I agree. We have been working hard to get fire traps up, the catapults and all sorts of other defensive weapons rigged. We can take a good chunk down before they ever hit the wall,” Kevin added.
”We plan carefully, then tell the people,” Nerit agreed.
”Yeah, well how f.u.c.king long do we have, Nerit? How long before they are at our f.u.c.king wall moaning and screaming for our guts? Huh? How gawd.a.m.n f.u.c.king long,” Curtis screamed.
”Eight days,” Greta said. ”At the least, eight days.”
”How do you know that?”
The hysterical note in Curtis' voice was sharp and desperate and Bill reached out to calm his fellow officer. Curtis avoided him and glared intently at Greta.
”Number of miles divided by their walking speed. Rough estimate,” Greta said regarding him coolly.
”So we plan. Today. All day if we have to, how we are going to deal with this,” Travis said.
Eric nodded solemnly. ”Agreed. Before we terrify the rest of the people.”
”They're going to be terrified anyway,” Peggy scoffed.
”Let's try to give them less to be terrified of then,” Kevin said with a small smile in her direction.
Juan shook his head, his curls bouncing. ”This is not going to be easy.
Getting rid of that many of the dead. We're talking a total siege.”
”We'll deal with it,” Nerit said firmly. ”We have no other choice.”
Katie's fingers were trembling in Travis' grip and he leaned over and kissed her cheek gently.
Juan rubbed his brow and whispered, ”We got kids and kids on the way.
We gotta do this. We can't afford to lose all we f.u.c.king gained.”
”Then we do this,” Nerit said again. ”We deal with it.”
Kevin sat down at the table, his expression pensive but determined. ”Then let's do it.”
With that declaration, Eric rolled out the schematic of the fort and they began to plan. All except one. Curtis slipped out and ran down the hall. He did not stop until he reached the roof of city hall and it was there that he sobbed until he collapsed.
No one came to soothe him.
Chapter 27.
1. Judgment Day Travis had never been so scared in his life. He had faced many terrifying events in the last year, but this had to be the worst.
The entire dining room was crammed with the residents of the fort. They were crowded around tables, lined up against the walls, filling up the aisles, their voices a loud rumble in the large room. No one knew, except a small handful, what the meeting was about and the room was filled with old and young and a small herd of dogs sitting around Calhoun.
The Reverend had brought in the PA system from his brand new church on Main Street and Travis tapped the microphone lightly. The thick booming sound that filled the room made everyone look up sharply.
He swallowed hard and glanced at Katie. She graced him with a slight, but encouraging smile. The tension in her face made him want to hug her, but he had a job to do. As Mayor he had ended up the spokesman for the council and now he stood before an anxious group of people staring up at him intently.
”Okay, let's get started,” he said, his amplified voice startling him. He cleared his throat again, then took a deep breath. ”Well, as you know, we've been working to make this a safe place for all of us. I want to thank everyone for their hard work out in the gardens, the fields, the ranch and on construction. And, oh yeah, the grub patrol. Last nights biscuits were awesome.”
There was a smattering of applause and Rosie smiled at him from where she sat with Juan, his children and her mother, Guadalupe.
”But, that's not why we're here. We're here for another reason and not a good one.” He flinched as people began to look frightened. Katie's hand rested on his arm and she gave it an encouraging squeeze.
”What's going on, Travis?” someone yelled from the back of the room.
Other voices chimed as the faces in the crowd grew grave with concern.
”I'm going to be straight with you. Things have taken a turn for the worse,” Travis said.
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