“I’m desperate. If you think you can do it, I’m all for it,” Katie said with excitement and quickly began to look for sewing supplies.

Nerit laid the dress down on the floor and began to turn it this way and that, thinking hard, ideas flicking in and out of her mind, trying to figure out what she could do.

“I am glad that you are moving on,” Nerit said thoughtfully.

“Letting go is always hard.”

“I wasn’t sure I could,” Katie confessed as she found some small sewing kits in a basket. “Honestly, I still suffer some guilt over moving on from Lydia.”

“I had three husbands. I understand very well,” Nerit assured her.

She was very happy for Katie and confident that she and Travis being together was a good thing, but she also knew that Lydia would always be a part of Katie and never truly fade away “I’m doing better than I was,” Katie decided. “Accepting it more.”

“It’s a journey,” Nerit agreed. “Just take one step at a time.

Katie walked back to Nerit and knelt beside her with the sewing kits. Nerit looked up into the younger woman’s face and could see an unspoken question in her eyes. “Yes?”

”Can you make it a sexy dress?”

Nerit smirked and nodded. “Oh, yes. I can.”

4. The Stage Is Set

Travis stood up and stretched. His eyes were growing weary and he could no longer concentrate on the plans he was working on for walling in Main Street. It had reached the point where he needed to take a break and not think about it anymore. He stretched again and felt the pleasant burn of scratches on his back. It had been a long time since he had worn any. It felt good.

Pushing the office door open, he moved down the hall, running his hand over his hair. It wasn’t until Katie had left that he had realized they had made a major mistake. It had been awhile since he had been with any woman and when he had been, it had been in a monogamous relationship where she had been on the Pill. Since Katie had spent the last decade with a woman…

Of course, it wasn’t really an excuse. Their first time together they had both had condoms ready to go.

Stepping into the hot afternoon air, he had to wonder if maybe they hadn’t done it subconsciously. His thoughts were definitely in the realm of forever. He was done looking. Katie was it. And maybe in some sort of Darwinian way, he was trying to secure that relationship with a child.

“Peggy, I am here to protest my treatment as a citizen of this city and the shoddy way that I have been treated since I arrived here in this fort that I did not vote on building. I was kept in that garage for over an hour being checked for bites. No, I do not allow anyone to bite me.

I told this vampire once…”

Travis turned to see Crazy Calhoun being escorted to City Hall.

Peggy was waiting for the town freak looking weary already. The crazy coot was carrying a video camera at his side and looked ready for an argument.

“Life just keeps getting more interesting,” Travis muttered.

Shane moved toward him. “Hey, Travis, keep the lesbos from making out on the job. Seriously, they could have gotten us killed.

They were so busy making out with each other they didn’t even see us getting ready to leave a while back.”

Travis lifted an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“Now, I know you’re into the blond and I’m sure you have all sorts of wild fantasies about her. Who doesn’t? If that Jewish old hag is going to be running the guards, she better make sure her lesbos don’t spend that time making out.” Shane was obviously furious and ready for a fight.

“Okay, I’ll let her know,” Travis said in a calm tone.

“Oh, you better, because I’m not going to get my ass eaten because that blond lesbo chick can’t keep her hands off her girlfriend,” Shane spat, then stormed off followed, by his buddy, Philip.

Bewildered, Travis walked into the hotel. Some of the older people were gathered in the lobby, playing board games. He smiled and waved at them. Old Man Watson waved and smiled at him happily.

Travis felt good about the decision to take the hotel. It definitely had created a real home for the survivors.

Behind him, Calhoun and Peggy entered the hotel.

“…and when did the city take over a privately owned building?

This is socialism or communism. I can't remember which. I don’t agree with you pushing your Amazonian agenda on the people of this fine town…”

Peggy sighed as she led Calhoun over to the front desk.

Calhoun glanced over and saw Travis. “Now, that young man came here to build the old theater and now he’s breaking and entering into hotels. Why hasn’t he been arrested? If what people are telling me is true, he is the dangerous ringleader of this new cult…”

Travis winked at a beleaguered Peggy, stepped into the elevator and thankfully watched the doors slide shut.

Reaching Katie’s room a few minutes later, he knocked and waited for her to answer. When the door opened just a crack, he saw only Katie’s eye staring out at him.

“Hi, uh, can we talk?” he asked.

“Um,” Katie hesitated and looked behind her. “Now is really not a good time.”

Travis was a little surprised by this. “Oh, I just thought…I guess I’ll catch you later.”

Katie opened the door a little wider. He caught site of her bare arm and shoulder. Keeping behind the door, she reached out and pulled him close and kissed him. “Later will be perfect.”

“Don’t move so much,” Nerit’s voice said from the room.

Travis raised an eyebrow. Katie only gave him an enormous grin.

“It’s a secret,” she said.

Jenni came down the hall holding a plastic bag. Seeing Travis, she shoved it into her jacket and tried to look innocent.

“Hi, Travis,” she said, an impish expression on her face.

“Hey, Jenni,” he answered.

As soon as Jenni was close enough, Katie opened the door enough to let her squeeze through, then immediately closed it to a slim crack again.

“Okay, obviously you guys are up to something,” he said uneasily.

“Pretty much yeah,” Katie answered. “I’ll let you know what later.”

Frowning just a tad, he backed away from the door. “Okay, then.”

As the door closed, he turned and wandered down the hall feeling a little uneasy, but not really sure what was bothering him. He definitely did not give credence to Shane’s words. With Nerit there, he was sure nothing that Shane had accused the girls of was happening, but he hated how for a moment, he had felt a twinge of suspicion.

Striding down the hall, he shoved his hands into his jean pockets, his brow furrowed. The elevator doors opened. Shane stood in there with Philip.

“Turned you away, huh?” Shane smirked.

Travis didn’t answer and stepped into the elevator. He could literally feel Shane’s anger boiling behind his back.

“Things have got to change around here,” Shane said to Travis. “Or it’s all going to go to hell.”

The door opened on Travis’ floor and he stepped out. He looked back at Shane. “It already has,” he answered.

The elevator doors shut and Travis walked on.

Chapter 11

1. The Characters Enter

The ballroom was alive with music, people, and the rich smell of food. The elderly had arrived first and were settled happily at a table in one corner, their weary bodies nestled into the plush velvet chairs.

Rosie’s dinner crew had laid out a fabulous buffet of chicken, wild rice, and assorted vegetables with big flaky biscuits and two different kinds of dessert. Someone had gone around collecting CDs. Music now played softly in the background.

Jason and Shelley made their way outside to meet up with the other teenagers and preteens. Gathering in the gazebo, they had hooked up a stereo to play music they wanted to hear and had lugged a cooler of soda out. One of the youngest of the group, Ricky, Shelley’s younger brother, was hunched down sipping cola and looking at an old magazine. Jason sat down on a pillow and Shelley sat down beside him.

All together, there were a dozen kids in the fort. They had learned to stick together amidst all the adults. It wasn’t easy at times. The adults were always so worried and scared they forgot the kids were just as anxious. They often tried to shield the kids from what was really going on, so the youngest of the survivors often had to find ways to glean information about what was going on.

Melanie, the oldest at eighteen, and Dylan, seventeen, were already smoking the pot they had found on the body of one of the waiters the day before. It had been the big news yesterday amongst the “shorties,” as they called themselves. At first, it had just been cool that Melanie, Dylan, Shelley and Jason were allowed to work with the adults, but when there was a discovery of contraband, it had been pretty exciting.

“What’s up?” Dylan asked as Jason reached out for the joint.

“Just a bunch of old people listening to country music so far. The food looked good,” Jason answered.

“We grabbed munchies,” Melanie said, sweeping her red hair out of her face. Handing over a bag of chips to Shelley, she added, “We were thinking about setting off fireworks later. Dylan bought some off that asshole Shane yesterday.”