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The day the first zombie rushed into the diner and latched onto a customer, it was Katarina who had picked up the cleaver and brought it down on its head. And when the customer rose up and lunged for her despite the huge gash in his throat, she had once more brought the cleaver down. Looking outside, she saw what was happening and ran out to her little car, blood splattered, and with the cleaver in one hand.

When she reached the quaint house she shared with her Mom, she found her mother lying on the sidewalk, struggling to get up as two neighbor kids tore at her. Katarina had coldly slammed the cleaver down on their little heads, and then looked down at her dying mother.

“Sorry, Mom,” she had said, and delivered her mother from the world.

Then, somehow, fate had led her to the fort.

With a sigh, she officially gave up on her hair and braided it back from her face. Resigned, she went down to the lobby to wait for Bill.

She was just about to enter the dining room when Ken was carried in, bruised and battered, Lenore trailing behind the stretcher. Linda and Dale followed carrying what looked like monitoring equipment from the hospital. They all looked frazzled.

“Where’s Bill?” Katarina asked as they passed her.

“Don’t know. We never saw the other team after we left the hospital with a horde of zombies on our trail,” Linda answered. Seeing Katarina’s expression, she quickly added, “But I’m sure they are okay. Bill and Jenni alone are enough to hold off a horde of those things. ”

“Yeah, yeah. They’re tough. I’m sure they’re fine. ”

Katarina forced a smile and moved on. She headed down the hallway that would lead out to the old newspaper building and the fort’s garage.

The Reverend was busy posting the bulletin for the next church service outside the doorway to the convention room where the church was located. He immediately noticed her tense expression.

“Are the teams back?”

“Only one. And Ken was hurt. I’m heading out to see what’s up. ”

“I’ll go check on Ken and the others,” the Reverend decided, tucking the rest of the announcements in his pocket.

Katarina could feel her heart beating harshly in her chest and she took very deep breaths to calm herself. It was too soon to think the worst quite yet. Things did go wrong on runs and sometimes teams were delayed.

She had been on plenty of outings where her team had to take another route home or had to fight its way to safety. Jenni, Bill, Felix and Roger were tough. She had to remember that and have faith in them.

Nerit, Travis and Ed were standing near the moving truck when she walked into the gated entry. They both looked toward her, their expressions grim.

“Where are the others?” Katarina asked as she joined them. “Have we heard?”

“We don’t know. We can’t raise them on the CB,” Nerit answered.

“The other team reported that a horde of zombies was in the hospital behind secured doors. They broke out and attacked the teams. ” Travis took a deep breath, obviously trying to steady his nerves. “Lenore said it got bad really fast. ”

Katarina hesitated, then said, “I’ll take a crew to go get them. They may be delayed out on the road and need backup. ”

“The airwaves are full of static. A norther is blowing in. We’ll wait until morning. ” Travis’ tone was forlorn and full of regret. “We can’t chance a bad storm and losing more people. ”

Katarina swallowed hard. “What if they need help? Need back up?”

Travis folded his arms over his chest, lowering his head slightly. He was obviously torn over the matter and finally shook his head. “We can’t risk it. ”

“Everyone heading out knew there was a chance they weren’t coming back,” Ed added grimly. “That’s why I didn’t volunteer. I got my boys to think about. I didn’t feel like a suicide run. The teams knew that they may not come back. No use risking other people to get them back when the conditions ain’t good. ”

“That’s pretty cold of you, Ed,” Katarina snapped.

The old man shrugged. “So what if it is?”

“Chances are, they are fine,” Nerit said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Katarina knew Nerit was only trying to calm her down and give her hope.

But Katarina didn’t feel calm or hopeful. “I’ll go alone. I know the roads around here well. I can handle it. ”