She ran her fingers over his. “Did you know that today is the first day of August?”

Travis laughed and shook his head. “No. No, I didn't. Hell, we missed the Fourth of July, didn't we?”

“Uh huh.” Katie looked toward the Texas flag in the distance, most likely over the library. There was a huge one that flew over city hall.

“We can't miss out on other holidays. That's not right,” Travis decided. He held her hand as he lifted his beer with his other.

“Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. Once we handle the bandits, maybe we can start looking forward to those.”

“We should have enough food to get through the winter and beyond. The hunters are bringing in plenty of venison and beef right now. We got that garden planted. Things should be okay. The well is good, got generators the ready for back up, firewood in case of power outages-”

“Travis.”

“Huh?”

“Stop.”

He blinked.

“Stop. It's okay. Just let it go. Just relax.” She motioned toward the hills and the approaching night. “Enjoy the view, enjoy the moment, the here and now. You've done all you can for today.”

Travis nodded. He tried to shove it all away. It took about a minute for his pulse rate to drop and for his tense body to relax. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw the first stars appearing. It was beautiful.

“What would I do without you?”

“Let's not find out,” Katie answered.

She slid out of her chair and snuggled onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and relaxed even more as she stretched her legs over his and got comfortable. Travis kissed her brow and relished the feel of her in his arms. All he wanted to do was protect her and their home, but he had to remember that he needed to just relax and enjoy the fact that she was safe.

I'm going to marry you, he thought, and pressed his lips against her cheek. When the time was right, he was going to marry her. And it would be the happiest moment of his life.

All they had to do was get through the next few days, defeat the bandits, and buckle down for the coming fall and winter.

“Stop thinking about work,” she chided.

“What?”

“You got all tense again.” Katie laughed.

“Dammit,” Travis muttered.

“Okay. There is only one thing that will get your mind off work.

I'm going to have to get naked,” Katie said, and slid off his lap.

Travis grinned. “Can I come along?”

“You better.” Katie slipped into their bedroom.

Travis scrambled after her.

Chapter 17

1. The Countdown Begins

The morning of the big day arrived. They were done waiting for the bandits to come to them. They were going to lure them out.

Nerit was standing with Peggy when Travis and Katie walked through the lobby together. They were dressed and ready to go.

Holding hands, they looked pensive, but ready.

“We're heading out to the shop, Nerit,” Travis said.

Nerit nodded tersely. “And you have the vault combination?”

Travis bobbed his head and said, “Yeah. I have it.” He looked at Nerit with compassion, but seemed reluctant to say much.

Peggy marveled at Nerit's way of dealing with things. With her husband dead of a gunshot, Nerit had collected all the ammunition and stuffed it into an old bank vault in the shop. Next, she had stacked the better firepower in as well until she could fit no more, then shoved the door shut and twirled the combination lock. What she had left in the cases were.22's with no ammunition. Peggy would have just run, terrified of the bandits. Nerit's straight thinking in the midst of her personal tragedy had made things a little safer for them all.

Nerit looked down for a long moment, then finally said, “Please, don't disturb him.”

“We won't,” Katie responded, and kissed Nerit's cheek.

Nerit gave her a small smile, then it slipped away as she looked determined once more. “Thank you,” she said.

“We'll see you when we get back,” Travis said to both of them.

Katie gave a little wave, then they walked off, hand in hand.

Peggy sighed wistfully and Nerit raised an eyebrow.

“I can't help it. Young love!” Peggy blushed and pretended to scrutinize her map.

“And soon a baby,” Nerit sighed.

“She's pregnant?” Peggy blinked rapidly with surprise.

“I don't think she knows yet,” Nerit answered. She leaned over the map and studied it.

“Really?” Peggy thought about how long it took her to realize her own pregnancy. Cody had sneaked up on her. “She has the glow, huh?”

Nerit gave a curt nod.

“But she shouldn't be going out if-”

“We all take risks. All of us,” Nerit answered coolly. “Even living here is a risk. We never know what tomorrow may bring or the next hour or minute.”

Peggy started to protest, then looked at the bricked-up windows and doors. Nerit was right. Nothing was really safe. It was all just varying degrees of it.

In the beginning of all of it, she had really thought the army would come and save everyone, that big trucks would drive up and everyone would get on board, that they would go off to some top secret underground fortress. But it had never happened. She remembered how silly she had thought their truck perimeter was in the beginning and how she had rolled her eyes at the wall. The army will come soon, she had thought over and over again. Now she realized the wisdom of them defending themselves and making it safe for everyone taking refuge in the construction site.

“Contact the survivor groups and let them know we are coming today,” Nerit ordered.

Peggy chewed on her bottom lip, her nervousness growing. Behind Nerit, there were children, squealing with delight and running around with the little Jack Russell terrier named Pepe. It was hard when their people traveled out into the deadlands. It was too horrible when you had to wait and see if they all made it back and if not, who hadn't made it. Dylan wasn't their only loss in the last few months. The children running around were who they were doing this for.

Nerit slid the paper across the counter to Peggy.

Looking over it, Peggy scratched behind one ear. “Okay, I'm on it.

I'll start contacting the groups.”

Nerit gave her a nod then walked off slowly, slightly favoring one leg. If she knew Peggy noticed, she'd probably be annoyed.

Peggy sighed and hurried to the communication center.

2. The Countdown Begins

Katie watched the gates glide open, her stomach knotting. The gates to the inner courtyard were already closed behind the two vehicles leaving the fort. Katie and Travis were in the Hummer. Four others were in the souped up mini-van behind them.

In the distance, two zombies moved toward the opening gates, but the fort snipers took them down with eerie efficiency. Nerit had meticulously trained the most gifted of the fort's people in her art and Katie heard that Katarina had risen to be her star pupil.

Katie pushed down the accelerator and started down the road.

Glancing into the review mirror, she saw the mini-van following closely. Felix was driving with a new guy, Bob, sitting beside him. She was hoped the new people would be able to handle the stress of entering the deadlands.

“This is pretty nice,” Travis decided, looking around the interior.

“Should be, for how much it costs,” Katie answered.

“I hear it's actually Blanche's. She used it to go shopping.” Travis looked amused.

Katie shook her head. “Amazing, isn't it? And I felt guilt over the convertible Lydia gave me.”

“You would look cute in a convertible,” Travis decided.

“Yeah, but I think I have a fetish for big 4x4 trucks now.” Katie winked. “They smash up zombies better.”

“Oh, you better watch yourself. You’re starting to sound like a redneck and not a big bad prosecuting attorney,” Travis teased.

“Oh, I am still the big bad prosecuting attorney,” Katie assured him, and gave him her coldest courtroom glare.

“Damn,” he laughed. “I hope I never get that look for real.”

“Just watch yourself and you'll be okay. Otherwise, you're screwed.” She turned her gaze fully to the road as the Hummer sped out of town.

“Ruthless, huh?”

“And I still am.”

A zombie staggered out into the road, clawing at the air in their direction. Katie didn’t flinch. The truck hit it straight on, flinging it off the road. The van behind them swerved to avoid its flying body.

“Ummmm…I noticed,” Travis said with a wry smile, settling back into his seat.

Katie was comfortably settled into the leather seat. There were less and less zombies in town as the snipers picked them off from afar. The idea of systematically clearing the town had been considered, but without a sufficient way to keep the zombies out, it was a waste of man and firepower. It had finally been determined they would aim to slowly take over the entire downtown area with a wall encircling them, then concentrate on keeping that area secure. Even controlled burning of the rest of the town had been discussed. What would happen to the parts of town that they would no longer use was still up for debate, but Katie had seen Travis' plans for what could become of their little fortress. She knew that he had definitive ideas that could work very well and keep them safe.