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Rashmi lightly touched her arm, clearly meaning to comfort her, but Katarina pulled away.

Understanding that a line had been crossed, the three guards moved away from the two women. Emma remained at Katarina’s side offering silent emotional support, but not making any moves to soothe her. Everyone mourned differently. It was best to respect their boundaries.

A loud beeping noise drew her attention to the north side of the road. Over the tops of the buildings, a crane was visible, moving slowly into position.

Swallowing hard, Katarina composed herself. “The wall stretches down one more block. That’s a new section where we keep all the construction equipment. We built it before the horde arrived.”

“You have a lot of territory to protect,” Emma noted.

“Yeah, but we can abandon some of these sections if we need to retreat to the hotel.”

“It really is a fort.”

“Exactly.” Yanking her walkie-talkie off her belt, Katarina turned it on. “I need to call in to the dispatcher.”

Emma nodded, focusing on the road and its many traps.

“Julie, this is Katarina. We’re in position.”

“How is your situation?”

“There’s no sign of zombies on this side.”

“The runners are hunting on the north side. One of our teams had to get on the roof of that old gas station to avoid them. They reported at least a dozen runners.”

There was a burst of static, then Nerit said, “I’m in the paddock waiting for Juan to report he’s in position.”

“I can see the crane now. It’s almost there,” Katarina said.

“You’ll be happy to know that I’m not alone. Kevin is with me.”

In the background, a man said, “Damn straight I’m with you.”

Though Emma didn’t know the owner of the voice, she was glad someone was accompanying Nerit. Like everyone else, she was uncomfortable with Nerit’s attempt to handle the situation on her own. Apparently, she had been ill for a while. There was a certain aura about Nerit that was intimidating, but also charismatic. It made sense that she wanted to maintain her image as a badass in the eyes of the people who fought alongside her. Maybe like Emma, she wanted to prove herself to the others. Emma understood that sentiment.

“I’m getting in reports of runner activity near one of our teams in the alley near Ash Street, Nerit,” Julie said.

“We’ll handle them.”

Katarina dropped the hand holding the walkie-talkie to her side. The voices of the others on the frequency occasionally updated each other. After an explosive sigh, she said, “I’m so sick of zombies.”

“Me too.”

“I don’t doubt it since according to Rune you killed a whole town of them on your own.”

Emma laughed. “He appears to be spreading my legend far and wide.”

“He knows we all need a good story to lift our spirits.”

Nearby, the crane came to a halt and Juan’s voice over the airwaves saying he was in position.

“I cleared a town, but you defeated an enormous horde of zombies. I would think that would be enough to lift everyone’s spirits.”

Katarina leaned one hip against the wood rail and shrugged. “Well, yeah, but we lost people. So it’s a mixed bag.”

The walkie-talkie sprung to life. It was Nerit.

“We’ve got runners following us. Get ready.”