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Nerit surveyed the map of the battlefield as she waited for the word. Eric stood near her, his face covered in a silk handkerchief. His hands were bloody from loading the catapult near her position. Stacey was sitting on the wall, wiping her face with her shirt. They were sweaty, dirty, and afraid to hope for the best.

“Think they’re scared off? Think we did it?” Eric asked.

An eerie silence filled the morning. The sound of the catapults, explosions, and other weaponry had faded away. There was only a dull hum that Nerit realized was the moans of the dead in the distance.

“Possibly,” she answered, but slowly smiled. Her map spoke of victory.

But if there was another wave coming. . .

There was a burst of static over the walkie-talkie.

“That’s it,” Greta’s voice cackled through the static. “Holy God in Heaven, that’s it. We got two columns heading to the east and west and the ones that hit us straight on…. boys and girls. . what you see in front of you is it!”

Travis heard the news and snatched up his walkie-talkie. “Yolanda, make an announcement!”

“I’ll try, but I’m crying!” she hollered back at him through walkie-talkie.

Within seconds, Yolanda’s voice boomed through the fort speakers, announcing victory.

“Holy shit,” Bette whispered, then was wrapped up in Linda’s arms and they both began to scream with joy.

Rune sat on the wall, dangling his feet over the edge. Looking down past his knees, he saw a cluster of body parts. “Well, it was a good day to die, but oh well,” he said and lit up a cigarette. Then he grinned as he realized his bike stood unscathed. “Well, hot damn,” he said.

Katarina stood up slowly and began to cry.

Lenore sat back in the chair next to her crossbow and sighed softly.

Nodding to herself, she pulled out a soda and popped the top. “Damn zombies shouldn’t have touched my best friend,” she muttered. Toasting the massacred zombies, she said, “For Felix and Ken. Rest in peace, my brothers. ”

Katie ran up to Travis and launched herself into his arms. He grabbed her tightly as they both laughed with delight and he swung her around. Juan joined them, tears streaming down his face, and they drew him into their embrace. Juan kissed both of them, whooping with joy. Nerit tackled all of them, laughing with joy. They wrapped her up in their enormous hug as Kevin joined in. Laughing and kissing each other, they were all crying and talking at the same time.

Jack pushed his way into the middle of them, barking with excitement and Jason wormed his way under his Dad’s arm. Katie kissed the teenager’s cheek and made him blush as Juan ruffled the boy’s hair lovingly.

“We did it!” Travis shouted it to the heavens and the helicopter circling over head.

“I knew we would,” Nerit said with a big grin. “I knew it!”

“It was almost too easy,” Kevin exclaimed.

“You call that easy?” Nerit smacked Kevin’s arm.

“Planning man! We planned it out and we did it!” Juan whooped. “We were a little late on the ‘organize before they rise’ part of the Zombie Survival Guide, but we were ready when they fucking got here. ”

“Thanks to Jason here,” Katie said, squeezing the boy tighter.

Katarina dove into the middle of them. Nerit caught her up in a tight hug and Kevin high-fived her. “Bill would have loved this!” She burst into tears again, but she was smiling.

Others began to join them and hugs were tight and happy. They looked over the battlefield at the destroyed bodies of the dead and slowly it dawned on them that they had not lost one person in the battle. More tears came as relief set in.

Travis hooked his arm around Katie’s shoulder and kissed her firmly just as Eric and Stacey showed up. Lenore and Rune came to join them and everyone started hugging and kissing each other again.

“We did it,” Nerit said over the din of voices. “Look out there. Look at it.

We all did this. We survived. And this is life. Our life. The fort stood. ”

Slowly, they fell into silence as the enormity of it all gripped the defenders of the small town. Gathered in groups all over the fort, they stared through windows, or from the rooftops, or from the wall itself, and they saw the dead littered across the ground. Since the first day of the rising, they had never had such a sweet victory.

“What a mess,” Katie finally said. But in her heart, she knew that every second of every day from the first day had been worth it to feel this moment of victory. Jenni had been right. It had been worth it. She snuggled into Travis’ side more firmly and smiled as Juan kissed her cheek. Wrapping her arms around Jason, she felt secure in the family she and Jenni had created. Jack yawned at her feet and looked up at her with his “I want a cookie” look.