"What do you want to do?"

"We have enough bullets to…” She covered her face and sobbed.

Pepe whined and scooted closer to her.

"I don't want to die," Eric said to her in a soft, firm voice and reached out to lay his hand on her shoulder.

Stacey drew in a deep breath and looked toward him. "Either we do it ourselves or we risk running for it. Go down there, shoot them, kill them anyway we can and run for the Fort."

Eric looked at the remains of their supplies. His small machete was there and the luggage. He could possibly make another weapon out of the metal from the frame of one of the suitcases. Maybe.

"Before we're too starved to move or do anything,” Stacey added.

Eric felt tears pricking his eyes and looked down at Pepe. The little dog looked fragile and his energy was low. He couldn't bear the thought of his dog starving to death. He couldn't bear the thought of raising his gun and shooting him.

"Okay," he said finally. "Okay. Let's plan. We'll go tomorrow morning."

Stacey let out an agonized sob and nodded her head.

The rest of the day Eric worked on a makeshift hatchet using the remains of the cans and a metal rod he got out of a rolling suitcase. Stacey practiced swinging the machete as hard as she could and kept double-checking their bags for anything else they could use against the zombies. Pepe watched them with sad eyes, but didn't move much.

That night, they ate an entire can of chicken soup and put the last can aside for breakfast. They fed Pepe the chicken bits out of the soup and savored the broth. Finally, they lay down and Stacey reached out to interlace her fingers with Eric's.

I'm going to kiss her tomorrow, Eric thought and surprised himself with the notion. But it seemed natural. They had bonded to each other and she was one of the sweetest, strongest people he had ever met. She was only twenty-two years old but was more stable and confident than the older Brandy had ever been. In the last few weeks he had grown to admire her and consider her a friend. And now, he wanted to give her just one kiss, to show her how much he cared for her. How much she meant to him.

A first and last kiss. It seemed silly and romantic, yet reassuring.

He wasn't a fool. He knew the reality of the situation. They were going to die tomorrow and he had finally accepted it. But they would go down fighting.

As Eric closed his eyes, he listened to Pepe’s breathing and sighed.

Strange, he thought. I finally found some sort of happiness in this world. And now it’s over.

Chapter Twenty-One

How It Ends

Eric woke up that last day on the water tower from a hazy dream about Brandy talking to him on the phone being angry at him for hanging out with Pepe and some girl while she needed a manicure. She kept screaming at him, "Are you even there? Can you hear me?"

He blinked at the sunlight streaming in from the opening in the tent and felt confused as he heard a voice call out.

"Hello? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

It was a woman's voice and Eric sat up swiftly. Shoving aside the flap of the makeshift tent, he stumbled out onto the walkway and looked over the railing. The zombies screeched and reached up toward him.

A short bus was idling on the street beyond the trees and the thick bushes that lined the area around the water tower. A woman was sitting on top of the roof waving at him.

The morning was crisp and he shivered as the cold sank into his skin.

"Stacey, someone is here!"

He began to wave at the woman on the bus. "We're here! We're alive!" Then he mumbled, "I hope I'm not dreaming."

Stacey crawled out of the tent clutching Pepe. She blinked her eyes and stared at him drowsily. "What?'

"How many are with you?" The woman's voice was loud, but the zombies were still more interested in Eric and Stacey.

Maybe they had to see the person to hone in on them, Eric thought.

The bus was barely visible through the trees and Stacey stared at it incredulously. "Am I dreaming?"

"No, I don't think so. Or we both dreaming," Eric said with a grin.

Stacey squealed and flung her arm around his waist. "We're saved!"

The woman dressed in jeans, a red sweater, and a hunting jacket stood up and waved to them. "We're coming to get you! Hang tight. We can't hit them through the tree branches, so we're gonna rush them!"

Eric would never forget the sight that followed. Three men and the woman exited the bus and fearlessly charged into the clearing. The woman, dark hair braided and pinned to the top of her head, came first. She shot a zombie point blank in the face and immediately turned to fire at the next one charging at her.

Meanwhile, a big teddy bear of a man with a round face dressed in what looked kind of like a sheriff’s uniform, opened fire with a shotgun blasting the nearby zombies clear off their feet.

A young black man wearing a loud red and yellow tracksuit had two revolvers in his hands. With one of the toughest looks on his face Eric had ever seen, he systematically fired at the zombies near the bottom of the ladder.

"I do not appreciate your behavior," the tracksuit guy said in quite precise tones and shot the head off one of the female zombies.

The last guy, a wizened old guy in a hunting jacket, stood at the edge of the clearing and fired at the zombies rushing at him.

"Jenni," the black guy called out. "Behind you!"

The woman jerked around as a zombie rushed her out of the trees. She was in the middle of reloading. "Shit!" She dropped to her knees just as the zombie slammed into her and it flipped over her into the mud. Jumping up, she pulled out a machete and slammed it down hard into its head splitting it open.

"Felix, to your left," the bigger guy shouted.

Felix turned smoothly and nailed a child zombie moving toward him. "Got it, Bill!"

Eric watched in amazement as Jenni rushed after the zombie stuck in the ladder and began hacking away at it with her machete. Bill and Felix and the unnamed man continued to fire. It was more infested than Eric had imagined as zombies continued to come out of the trees.

Jenni finished hacking the zombie to pieces and looked up at them. "Climb down now! Hurry!"

Immediately, Eric and Stacey obeyed her, not bothering to grab anything other than Pepe, the revolver, and the shotgun.

"Ed, cover the east side," Jenni ordered and ran back to grab her gun. She quickly reloaded it then fired two shots into the head of a zombie crawling toward her.

The wizened old hunter nodded and reloaded smoothly before continuing to fire.

Felix and Bill covered the north and west side as Jenni watched the south. The group had obviously worked together before and moved seamlessly as a team.

Eric couldn't climb down fast enough and he felt Pepe trembling against his chest in excitement. The little dog even managed to get out a few weak barks. The gunshots continued below and Jenni motioned for them to hurry. Jenni shoved and kicked at the dead zombie and chopped away at its hand until it dropped off the ladder.

"Gawddamn, fucking, no good, stupid shit eating…” she swore as she kicked it away from her.

"Jenni don't like zombies, Bill. Did you know that?" Felix grinned and reloaded one of his guns quickly.

"You know. I heard that," Bill answered. "Rumor is she may even hate them."

"Fuck you both," Jenni said with a grin and kicked the zombie's hand away.

There were fewer zombies rushing into the clearing now, but in the distance, they could hear the screech of more coming.

"Hurry up! We haven't cleared this part of town!" Jenni stepped around the ladder and blew the head off a legless zombie trying to untangle itself from a bush.

Eric finally reached the bottom rungs and leaped down the last few feet. Stacey dropped down beside of him and clutched his hand.

Their four rescuers surrounded them quickly. It was easier to pick off the zombies now that they had some distance between them and the undead. Eric held Stacey's hand tightly and cuddled Pepe close.

"Move toward the bus, keep close, don't panic," Jenni ordered.

"Never fear! Super Jenni is here,” Felix assured Eric.

"Felix, I'm gonna kick your ass," Jenni promised him.

"Bring it!"

"My money's on Jenni," Bill decided.

Ed scowled. "Let's get focused and get out of here, kids."

"Gonna get my ass kicked Jennikillingzombiekungfu-style," Felix singsonged playfully.

"I am so not going to give into your sick fantasy," Jenni assured him, but she was grinning.

"I'm gonna tell Juan," Bill teased.

"He knows she's his loca. None of us has a chance with the zombie killing machine anymore," Felix decided with a dramatic sigh.

"Like you ever did," Jenni laughed. "Besides, I just rescued your ass last week."

"Enough joking!" Ed looked terse. "Get in the damn bus!"

Eric actually liked the joking. It showed him that the group was confident and sure of what they were doing. The guns continued to fire around them: zombies of all sizes, shapes falling. Their rescuers reached the bus and the doors opened. Eric pushed Stacey in first then followed her.