Up the stairs, down a hall, he moved toward the dining room. Tobias stood near the windows overlooking the street. Curtains covered the windows to keep the zombies from seeing the humans. But they still knew that living flesh was just out of their reach.

"He looks up at me and I know he knows who I am," Tobias said softly.

"What?" Jason stopped.

"My son." Tobias drew back the curtain and pointed.

It was hard for Jason to determine the zombie he was pointing to. The hot Texas sun was slow cooking the zombies and their skin was crisped to a dark color and splitting. It was hard to tell the race of anyone.

"He looks up at me and I know, I know, he wants me to help him and the children," Tobias said softly. His voice was very unreal, disconnected.

"Look, dude, I think maybe we should go find your wife."

"I don't want to speak to her. She's given up on them. But I won't. I can't." Tobias looked at Jason. "How can I?"

Jack whined a little and Jason moved to close the window. "You shouldn't let them see us."

"How can I give up?" Tobias persisted.

"You can because they're dead," Jason answered. As he closed the curtain, he said, "My brothers, my dad, my friends, are all dead. They're just like that. Undead. And you have to let them go or else they will kill you and make you what they are."

"But this isn't reality. This isn't how the world works. They have to be sick. In need of medical care, but we slaughter them." Tears slipped from Tobias’ eyes.

Jason shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Look, dude, I think we should find someone to talk to you."

Tobias shook his head. "There is no talking. They need us and we deny them. We need to go out there and tend their wounds. I don't believe these lies about those poor people eating people. It's a lie."

Jason shook his head. "No, I swear, it is not."

Tobias just stared at him, turned and started down the hall.

Jack whined after him, then looked up at Jason. Jason took a breath, ran a hand over his hair before following after Tobias. There were construction workers coming into the building to get something to drink and maybe a snack. Jason had to push through a bit of a crowd to get down the stairs and out of the building.

When he got outside, he looked around for the older man. The site was a bit of mess considering all the work they were doing and he wandered around. Threading his way past living areas set up under tarps and past large piles of equipment, he finally saw Tobias standing on the platform that Juan had told everyone to stay off of. The plan was to put up a screen to shield the sentries from the zombie's view. Tobias stood on the platform waving at the crowd beyond the truck perimeter.

"Hey, dude, get down from there!" Jason started to jog toward the older man.

Tobias hesitated at the sound of his voice then began to push one of the longer ladders from the platform, over the wall, over the fence and toward the top of the trucks. The wall and fence held up its weight and it's length barely reached the trucks. The older man didn't even test its sturdiness, but began to crawl over it.

Jason reached the platform and fell to his knees to grip the end of the ladder to hold it in place. The crowd of zombies began to go nuts. Though he was far away from the zombies, the sight made Jason feel sick.

"Come back, dude! Come back!"

When the ladder see-sawed,Tobias stopped for a moment, and then continued on.

"Mom!" Jason shouted. "Mom!"

Jenni looked up from her far corner, saw him holding the ladder, and came running.

Tobias reached the fence and began to crawl over the spikes.

Nearby, a woman gave out a cry and Jason was sure it was Tobias' wife.

Jenni reached the steps just as Juan did. They jostled each other as the moved up the stairs and reached the platform at the same time. Jason noticed Jenni's gun was already in her hand.

"What the hell is he doing?" Juan took off his cowboy hat and ran a hand over his hair.

"He was talking about his family. About how they needed help. He said he didn't believe the stories about them eating people."

Jack started barking crazily at the zombies and Jenni gave him a stern look and ordered him back down the stairs. Jack gave her a plaintive look, but obeyed.

Tobias reached the top of the trucks and started to walk over them, maneuvering over the dirt trucks, the cargo trucks, the heavy sandbags, his arms held out to keep his balance.

"Tobias, come back!" A woman had joined them and her expression was desperate.

Tobias hesitated and looked back at them. "I will not abandon our family. I will not give in to superstition." He walked on until he reached the edge of the truck perimeter. Kneeling, he held out his hand toward the throng below. He started calling out names and Jason could see the crowd getting more and more riled.

"Come back," the woman kept screaming.

Jenni looked at Juan and showed him the gun. Juan nodded and Jason looked back toward Tobias sadly.

The older man had now slid down onto his stomach and reached down over the crowd to one particular zombie most likely, but it was too hard to tell. And then it happened. One of the taller zombies managed to snag his arm and began to pull him down into the crowd. Since his back was to them, Jason did not know if Tobias had finally realized the error of his ways or not.

But there was no more time to Tobias to consider if his idea to go to his family was faulty. Jenni's gun let out a sharp bark and Tobias head split open.

Limp, he was dragged down into the crowd.

Jenni turned away and looked at Jason. He couldn't help but watch as gouts of blood exploded over the heads of the zombies and a battle for flesh began among them.

"Don't look," she said softly.

"You killed him."

"I saved him," Jenni said firmly.

Jason looked at her finally, horrified at what she had done. "But you killed him." She was so sweet, so kind, so nice, he couldn't fathom it.

"I saved him. He won't have to know what it feels like to be torn apart.

He won't have to know what it is to be living dead. I saved him."

Jason looked down the stairs toward Jack who was waiting for him.

Pressing his lips together, he nodded. "I get it. But, Jenni, you're a Mom.

You're sweet. You shouldn't kill."

Jenni put her arm around him and they descended the stairs, Juan at their backs, guiding Tobias’ sobbing widow.

"In this world, Jason, we all have to kill."

He sighed softly and put an arm around her.

They reached the bottom and Jenni turned to the widow. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, thank you," the woman said softly. "You did the right thing. He just couldn't accept what is happening."

Peggy came and led the widow away.

Jason looked at Jenni for a long moment, studying her, then said, "I'm glad you're my Mom."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. She then made a face and stuck out her tongue. "Ewwww…go take a shower!"

Jason gave her his best sullen look. "Fine. You're so bossy." He trudged away, glancing back at her a few times. She stared down at the gun, running her other hand over it gently, her expression distant.

"This is one fucked up world," Jason told Jack.

The dog woofed in agreement and they walked on.

Chapter 13

1. A Taste of Hell

Katie sat at the kitchen table taking a long sip of her very hot, slightly bitter coffee. It almost scalded her tongue, but it felt deliciously good going down. Nearby, Nerit was finishing up the breakfast dishes. Katie had offered to help her, but Nerit had gently rebuffed her. The last few days, it was fairly obvious that Nerit had enjoyed nursing Katie back to health, fussing and fretting after her, and making sure she rested.

Despite her abrupt return to the realm of consciousness, she had still remained weakened. Dizziness, nausea and the occasional fever had haunted her up to thirty-six hours ago. Now, at last, she felt stronger and the sickness was finally behind her.

The old hunting dog strolled in, slow and steady on his stiff legs, and up to his water bowl to get a drink. Katie let her fingers brush over his back as he passed her by and wondered how Jack was doing. She had been able to talk to Jenni for twenty minutes the night before and she couldn't remember if Jenni had mentioned the dog. Jenni had mostly talked about how they had corralled the zombies and how someone had been stupid enough to try to "save" his family from the mass of zombies. That, of course, had not ended well. Jenni also talked of how they had fixed up the fort, roping off areas as "living" areas, while others were strictly security or construction related.

Katie had seen Travis making all sorts of drawings and writing down odd equations. She knew that he and Juan spoke a lot late at night. Though he hadn't said as much, she had a feeling Travis had plans to make their new home even more secure.

Standing up, holding her cup tightly in her slim fingers, she strolled over to the counter and leaned her hip against it.

"Nerit?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Why won't you and Ralph come to the fort?"