Page 121

“Okay, the guards are neutralized. We got two trucks pulled from the side parking lot. I don’t think we were spotted. ”

“Good,” the Senator said with a smile. “Well done. ”

“We should pull the guards in,” the soldier continued. “So they won’t get killed. ”

“Excellent point. Pull them inside,” the Senator responded with a big smile.

Raleigh was fidgeting, staring down the darkened mall corridor toward the silent stores where the people slept. “If we blow the front gate…”

“The zombies can’t get in. And besides, the two sides are blocked off. It’ll be fine,” the Senator assured him.

The mall parking lot was a trapezoid with the main entrance at the narrowest end. This gate had never been a major concern since the gate was solid metal and locked securely. The three gates in the parking lot behind the mall were more of a concern because they were wrought iron and had to be fortified with vehicles and heavily barricaded. The two narrow side parking lots had been blocked off as a preventative measure in case of a breach. It was thought they should try to keep the zombies contained on one side of the mall and escape through the other.

Transports had been parked along the side of the mall in the front. Buses and transports and regular cars were on the other. All the gates

were wired with explosives. Additional explosives had been tossed out on a line and their triggers were next to the interior of the gate. The idea was to blow the gate then the explosives out in the crowd of zombie to clear a path.

“I would really hate for these people to end up dead,” Raleigh said after a beat.

“I didn’t know you were such a bleeding heart,” the Senator teased him lightly. She watched as her men dragged in the unconscious guards from the main gate and laid them on the floor.

“Just none of this feels right,” Raleigh decided. He shook his head, gazing at the guards.

“They made their choice,” the Senator said, her eyes hard. “In one month we would have been out of food and the water is contaminated. Without the fort there is no point in us staying here. ”

“There should have been another way. This seems too risky. ”

“Do you want to go to Central or not? Or do you want to go to the fort and be led by the hicks?”

Raleigh frowned, then shook his head. “I just want us out of here. ”

“We’ll get control of the fort. At some point they’ll be begging Central for help and we’ll have to go and save them. ”

“Yeah. Yeah. You’re right. ” He looked around nervously, his hands shaking slightly.

She always thought he was way too skittish. He was good at the campaign, but he liked to be apart from the process, ensconced in his privileged world. He hated dealing with the people that were behind his carefully monitored statistics and polls. The Senator didn’t care much for the people either. She was in politics for two reasons: power and the knowledge that the peons really didn’t know how the hell to take care of themselves. Without the government, she knew they would fall into chaos.

Mistakes had been made here. That was true. But she learned from her mistakes and she would move on. Once at Central, she would make sure the President understood her giving nature and her determination to stand with him and rebuild America.

“Ma’am, you ready?”

She flashed her perfect beautiful smile at the soldier in front of her. “Yes, sir. I am. ”

He opened the door for her and she walked out to the waiting truck.

* * * * * “You’re here for a reason,” Lydia’s voice whispered.

Katie forced her eyes open.

Her dead wife sat on the floor next to the air bed she was sharing with Travis.

“Lydia?” Katie sat up, the mattress rippling like a wave under her.

“Hello, darling. ”

“Lydia!” Katie stumbled to her knees and flung her arms around her wife.

She could feel the softness of Lydia’s curves beneath the long black jersey dress and her long dangling earrings tickled Katie’s cheek. “I’m so sorry!