“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but…”
“What’s wrong? Amanda? Rita?” Tara asked.
“I’m here,” Amanda said, stepping forward. Behind her huddled a group of children, crying softly.
“Me too,” a one-armed Rita said, her other hand wielding a machete.
Dylan pointed at the figure of a woman splayed on the ground. Her eyes were sightless, and a gaping hole in her throat leaked blood in a steady stream.
Tara gasped. “Brenda.” Not far from Brenda lay another familiar figure, and Tara shook her head as numbness set in. “Ethan.”
So much loss.
Daniel stormed in, followed by a trio of soldiers. “We’ve secured the perimeter. The zombies have been neutralized.”
“Thank you,” Tara whispered. For a moment, she wanted to do nothing more than collapse to the ground, but there was much to do.
Several of the survivors, including Amanda, sported bite wounds. As for the dead, they would soon rise as zombies if they weren’t taken care of.
“Dylan, can you please gather all the survivors and take them to the ward that was set up for infections and bites?” Tara asked. “We need to start treatment straight away.”
“Yes, of course,” Dylan said, managing a weary salute. “Thank you for coming when we needed you. I thought we were done for.”
Tara grabbed Dylan and gave her an impromptu hug. “What are friends for?”
As Dylan and the rest filed away, Tara turned to Daniel. “We need to make sure the dead don’t rise. Can you take care of that?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Daniel said, barking out orders.
While they set about their grizzly task, Tara wandered to the exit. Outside, silence had fallen. Thick and heavy.
Greta guarded the door, and she turned to Tara. “It’s over.”
“Over?”
“The dead are gone. We won,” Greta said, pushing open the door.
“We did?” Tara repeated, stepping outside.
A scene of death and destruction awaited. Smoke curled from smoldering craters, and corpses littered the ground. Soldiers yelled to one another as they picked through the rubble and debris. Injured fighters cried out for help while others looked for friends and loved ones.
“Tara?” a disbelieving voice called. It was Saul, his clothes bloodied and torn. “What are you doing here? You should be inside the lab.”
Tara ignored him and flung herself into his waiting arms. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re still alive.”
Saul crushed her to his chest, expelling the breath from her lungs. “We won, sweetheart. We won.”
“I know, but we lost so many,” Tara murmured.
“Yes, but now we can rebuild, my love. We can start again,” Saul replied.
“The wounded. You need to get them inside, and the dead will turn if you don’t stop it from happening,” Tara said, pulling back.
“I know,” Saul said.
“And everyone has to be checked for the virus. We can’t let it run wild and spread throughout the base,” Tara said.
“I know, love,” Saul said.
“And what about Nick? Alex?” Tara asked.
“They’re alive, last I saw,” Saul said.
“The community center? Amy? Jenny?”
“Safe. They’re all safe,” Saul said, grabbing her arms. “Tara, you can relax. It’s over, and we’ll take care of everything. We planned for this, I promise.”
“You did?” Tara asked.
“Of course. You warned us about all of this, remember?” Saul said, pointing to a team of soldiers loading injured people onto stretchers. Others walked around, stabbing the dead in the head with spears while more shored up the defenses.
“I did,” Tara said, still feeling numb.
“You’re in shock, love. I think you need to sit down,” Saul said, taking her by the elbow.
As he prepared to lead her back inside, a woman ran toward them. “Tara, wait!”
“Selene, what is it?” Tara asked.
“The rats. They’re still normal. They didn’t turn,” Selene cried, her eyes wild with excitement.
“They didn’t?”
“No, they fought it off. They didn’t succumb to the Vita virus,” Selene said, grabbing Tara’s hands.
As Selene’s words broke through the fog of apathy that surrounded her brain, joy set in. With a loud whoop, she jumped up and down with Selene, not caring if they looked like silly schoolgirls.
“What does that mean?” Saul asked with a frown.
Tara whirled toward him with shining eyes. “It means the vaccine worked. We’ve still got a long way to go, of course. Testing, and more testing, but if it worked on the rats, it could work on us.”
“I can’t believe it. You did it,” Saul said. “I always thought you would, but it’s finally happened.”
As Tara looked around, the death and destruction no longer seemed so final. Yes, it was awful, and many had died. Still, the scene was now colored in hope.
Hope and possibility.
She reached out for Saul’s hand. “Come on, my love. We have much to do.”
Chapter 24 - Jenny
Jenny clung to Amy’s hand as they walked out of the community center. She was scared even though Rufus told her not to be. All day long, she’d heard the most terrible noises. Booms and crashes that shook the earth until she thought they would all die.
Not even George could make her feel better. He, too, grew frightened at the sounds and huddled close to her side. Whenever he whined, she wanted to cry.
At least, she did until Amy told her to be a big girl. Now she was trying her hardest to be brave and walk out into the sunshine without whimpering.
“Where are all the zombies?” she asked.
“They’re all gone, sweetie,” Amy said.
“Really?”
“I promise.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the school, sweetie. They’ve set up a special class for all the children. It’s going to be so much fun.”
“Can George come too?”
“Of course, he can,” Amy said with a reassuring smile.
“Okay, then,” Jenny said, her fears suddenly forgotten. Being brave wasn’t so hard, after all.
***
Maria Guadalupe Espinoza used to be a beautiful woman before the Vita virus took control of her brain and body. Now, after migrating thousands of miles to the north, little remained of her once-famous looks.
One ankle was broken, and the bones ground together as she walked. It was a mercy that she couldn’t feel anything—nothing but the hunger that is.
Maria shuffled past the giant yellow school bus in search of
