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  After Siege

  As the World Dies - Book 4

  Rhiannon Frater

  After Siege

  As the World Dies, Book 4

  By Rhiannon Frater

  Copyright © 2020. All Rights reserved.

  * * *

  Cover art by Corey Hollins

  Edited by Felicia A. Sullivan

  Formatted by Kody Boye Publishing Services

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronically, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the proper written permission of the copyright owners, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Paperwork of the Dead

  2. Welcome to Badassery

  3. Time to Kill Zombies

  4. This Was a Bad Plan

  5. All Clear on the Zombie Front

  6. Tours & News

  7. Starlight & Dog Farts

  8. Tamale Interrogation

  9. The Newcomer

  10. The Inside Man

  11. Hiding Places

  12. Time to Move On

  13. The Haunted & Hunted

  14. Sunset Woes

  15. Asshole Ghosts

  16. Dawn of the Possible Dead

  17. All Signs Point to Bad

  18. Keep Calm

  19. Are Traitors Worth It?

  20. People Are Assholes

  21. People are Stupid

  22. Not Part of the Plan

  23. On The Edge

  24. The Escape

  25. This Is Not A Love Story

  26. The Legend Known As Katie

  27. The Risks

  Also by Rhiannon Frater

  About the Author

  Dedicated with much love to my husband

  * * *

  For all the readers who encouraged me to return to the Fort

  Prologue

  There was once a princess who lived in a metal castle with her little boy, a prince with magical light up shoes and a naughty smile. She loved him very much and they were very happy, even though the metal castle was old and starting to fall apart and the princess didn’t have much money left in the castle’s treasure room.

  Although the prince’s father was the court jester, he did not live in the metal castle. He lived somewhere else with a new wife and baby. The princess didn’t like him much. The jester could be funny and nice, but he could also be cruel. He’d broken her heart once and she vowed to never let him do it again.

  One day, the jester came and claimed the little prince for a fun weekend across the village at his house. The princess always missed the little prince when he had to visit the jester, but she knew his father loved him very much. So she waved goodbye as the jester carried him away in a big fancy carriage.

  What she didn’t know was that it was her final goodbye.

  The monsters came that day. Monsters that were terrible and cruel. They turned the good people of the village into monsters before the princess even knew what was happening. By the time she understood that evil had taken over her land, it was too late. The little prince and the jester were lost.

  The princess made a solemn vow to find the little prince in his new monster form and free him from the evil spell. She learned how to become a hunter and killed the monsters one by one.

  Finally, one day, the princess found the jester and the prince. They were monsters now too. Her heart broke all over again when she saw the little prince’s magical light up shoes. She freed their souls with an arrow of love and sat down and cried until she had no more tears to shed.

  In the night, she dreamed of an angel who told her to travel to a fortress on a hill. The angel told her that she would find good people there who would help her fight the monsters. So the next morning the princess packed up all her possessions and left her metal castle.

  As she traveled, she started to worry she’d imagined the angel. That maybe she was foolish to follow the dream. And then she saw it. The fortress on a hill. And she knew the angel had told the truth.

  The princess was met by a mighty knight who helped her onto his horse and carried her through the gates into the fortress. Once inside, she saw all the good people who were valiantly fighting the monsters and knew that she had found a sanctuary.

  The princess - who would now be a monster hunter - had found a place to call home.

  1

  Paperwork of the Dead

  “Zombies might rule the Earth, but there’s still paperwork to be done.”

  “I guess things aren’t as different as I thought,” Emma answered while watching the middle-aged black woman shuffle folders around on the big desk. “Can I help?”

  “No, no. Give me a second. Everything is a mess since I’m just moving in.” Dressed all in black from a long skirt to the scarf draped over her shoulders, the other woman looked far different from the dirty and sweaty jeans-and-t-shirt-wearing crews outside. Though her eyes were a little bloodshot and there were dark circles under her eyes, the woman had taken care to apply a tiny bit of eyeliner on her eyelids and a touch of dark lipstick on her lips. Her thick salt-and-pepper curls were pulled up into a poufy bun with a few tendrils clinging to her forehead. Emma couldn’t help but stare at her. It had been so long since she’d seen another woman that wasn’t a zombie.

  The old building smelled of mildew, fresh coffee, the woman’s flowery perfume, and a whiff of stale body odor lingering from days past. Light poured through the tall windows into the large office that was filled with banker boxes loaded with more files. The walls were bare except for two maps - one of Texas and another of the town of Ashley Oaks - a portrait of an older black man, and a very old Texas flag in a frame. Picking up a name placard, the woman set it down at the edge of the desk for Emma to see. A fresh label was taped over the previous name. It read: Yolanda Williams, City Secretary.

  Emma rocked on her heels, her leather cowboy boots creaking. The fan in the corner did little to cool the room and beads of perspiration ran down her spine, soaking the bottom of her red t-shirt. A little nervous in her new environment, she braided her chestnut-brown hair with trembling fingers just to give her something to do while waiting.

  After living an entire year on her own, Emma was overwhelmed by this new world she’d discovered. While the high walls surrounding several blocks of downtown Ashley Oaks were impressive enough, the carefully-controlled chaos happening within them was even more so. In the shadow of the ten-story hotel, people bustled about doing various chores while sentries walked the high walls. The place was called The Fort, and Emma could definitely see why. She hadn’t been this safe in over a year. It was hard to imagine the zombies breaching these walls.

  “Found it!” Yolanda held up a ledger with a faded green cover. It looked like a relic of another era. “Peggy had everything set up on the computer, but I have my paper backups. If we ever lose power, we’ll need them.”

  “How do you have power?” Emma asked, her eyes flicking up to the sputtering fluorescent lights overhead.

  “Hydro-electric plant. Some military personnel are up there with engineers keeping it going. We have a ton of generators outside in case we do lose power. Travis, Juan and Eric have got all the bases covered.”

  “I met Juan coming in.”

  The tall, green-eyed cowboy with the thick West Texas accent had ridden in on a horse to save her from a zombie as she’d approached the wall. His entrance had been impressive. Handsome, kind, and somehow fragile, she had to admit she found him more than a little attractive. The fact he’d adopted orphaned children impressed her even
more. She’d met his son, Troy, when she’d arrived. The sweet child had reminded her painfully of her own lost boy.

  “Juan is the head of construction. He’s the one who got people to start building walls on the first day. Travis is our mayor. Nice city guy who is doing an okay job. Eric is an engineer from Austin. Sweet as pie, that one. The three of them have The Fort feeling almost like the old world except for the phones. Apparently some poles went down the first day. But we have a ham radio, CBs, and walkie-talkies. That’s something.” Yolanda settled behind her desk and flipped the ledger open. Picking up a pen, she appeared even more flustered than Emma. “Move that box and take a seat. I should have told you that before. I’m just a little rattled after yesterday and so damn tired. We’re all running on hardly any sleep around here. I’m sure you know how it is.”

  “Absolutely.”

  Emma heaved the box onto the floor and perched on the edge of an old metal and vinyl chair. It looked like the type of chair that inhabited every government building in existence. It made her strangely nostalgic.

  “I’m sorry we’re so disorganized right now. That zombie horde coming through gave us a fright and we’re still cleaning up.”

  “I heard it. Felt it. It went right by my Airstream,” Emma answered.

  “You’re so blessed they didn’t know you were in there. There were thousands. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

  “I was drunk when they passed by. I had no idea there were so many.” After putting down the zombified body of her little boy, she’d drunk herself into a stupor and passed out. The zombie herd had knocked aside her Airstream on their way through the area.

  “Well, God was looking out for you. Now, let me get you registered. What is your name?”

  “I’m Emma Valdez,” she answered, opting for her maiden name instead of her ex-husband’s last name of Russell.

  “Oh, are you Hispanic like Juan? Do you speak Spanish?”

  “A quarter Lipan-Apache, actually. That’s where I get my name. My grandfather’s people are from on the border with Mexico. The rest of me is German stock from the Texas Hill Country with a big dose of basic redneck. I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish, but I’m not fluent.”

  “Ah, okay. We have some former migrant workers who don’t speak a lot of English. I try to find them work partners that can communicate with them.”

  “Juan said that everyone has assigned jobs.”

  “That’s right. Everyone contributes.”

  “I can hunt,” Emma offered. “My grandfather taught me how. I’m a good shot.”

  “Oh, that’s good! We lost several of our good hunters recently.” Yolanda hesitated, a shadow of pain flitting over her face.

  “You lost a lot of people to the horde?”

  “No, no. They left before the horde got here. There was a… disagreement.”

  Emma lifted her eyebrows, curious, but not comfortable with pushing to find out the details.

  “Have you had a lot of interaction with the zombies, Emma? Know how to kill them?”

  Emma couldn’t help but give her a sad smile that was tinged with bittersweet pride. “I killed an entire town of zombies.”

  Yolanda’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, so you might be good on a rescue squad.”

  “Rescue squad?”

  “We go out and help people get here. There’s less now, sadly, but we sometimes get calls for help.” Yolanda bent over the ledger, making notations.

  The scratch of the pen against paper reminded Emma of her days taking online courses after she had decided to improve her lot in life. She’d spent hours on coursework, writing everything by hand before transferring it to her laptop. After being derailed by pregnancy, her life had been dictated by Billy’s needs. Finally, she’d decided to take charge of her life. She’d only finished part of a semester when the dead began to walk and she’d lost her son. Her daydreams had devolved into nightmares.

  Sitting in the office watching Yolanda work, it felt like the last year and a half wasn’t real. All that death and gore, the endless sorrow, the burning rage, was fading to a dark memory in the light of hope. She could take charge of her life again and maybe find a sliver of happiness. It made her dizzy just thinking about the possibility of finding a new role to fulfill other than grieving mother and vengeful zombie killer.

  “I’m not sure when I’ll be able to assign you to a patrol. I have to dig through all these boxes and get the schedules sorted out. I can assign you a hotel room now. I’ll get someone to take you to where we keep our inventory so you can select toiletries and find more clothes. There are three meals a day and we all eat in the hotel dining room.”

  Yolanda continued to talk, explaining the ins and outs of the fort, and Emma gripped the metal armrests of her chair to keep the room from spinning. Again, she was dazed by the abrupt change in her life. To go from being alone, scavenging for food, and relentlessly killing zombies while searching for her dead son to a place filled with life and people was too much to process.

  “Yolanda!” Juan called out from the doorway.

  The woman stopped speaking and looked up.

  “I think you need a better introduction speech,” he said with a wink. “I think you’re overwhelming her.”

  Emma tried to force a smile, but was certain it looked fake. She was feeling slightly lightheaded. Perhaps it was the heat, though most likely it was her mind attempting to drink in every new bit of information flowing her way.

  “Dammit. I am. Peggy had this down to a science.” Yolanda shook her head, looking annoyed. “Damn her for leaving us.”

  Leaning against the door frame, cowboy hat in hand, Juan gave Yolanda an encouraging smile. “You’re doing a good job though, you know. You got this.”

  “I hope so.” Rummaging around in a box, Yolanda wagged her head disapprovingly. “If only she had said something.”

  “We were all freakin’ out. None of us noticed Peggy was panicking more than the rest of us. It’s not your fault.”

  “I keep telling myself that, but I don’t believe it. When I think of how scared she was and little Cody…” Yolanda closed her mouth, tears welling. “How could she? He was a baby!”

  “No one knew she’d do that,” Juan said gently. “If we’d suspected, we would’ve done somethin’. You know that.”

  “It’s like losing Tobias all over again.” Yolanda’s gaze flicked to the portrait of the gentleman on the wall. “I didn’t see that coming either.”

  Emma rubbed her hands against her thighs, her fingers lightly grazing over the holes in the knees. It wasn’t too hard to piece together what had happened. Apparently Peggy had been the former city secretary and had taken her life and that of her child prior to the horde arriving, leaving a vacuum that Yolanda was trying to fill. People didn’t always die in this world by natural causes or a zombie bite. Sometimes they chose to check out. She’d found two of her neighbors hanging in their living room. Another had taken an exit via shotgun.

  “Life ain’t kind,” Juan muttered. “And can be fragile.”

  The sound of keys jangling filled the office. The conversation paused while Yolanda searched for the correct key. The weight of personal loss created a heavy atmosphere in the office.

  “Boss,” a voice said from the doorway.

  Juan pivoted around. “What’s up, Enrique?”

  A small-statured man with deeply tanned skin and dark eyes leaned against the doorjamb. Drenched in sweat, filthy with dirt and what looked like cement dust, he wiped his face with a kerchief. “We’re working on that new wall, but we got zombies coming in from those warehouses along the train tracks. I pulled the crew back in.”

  Juan pulled his walkie-talkie off his belt. “I’ll let Nerit know.”

  “Let her know they’re runners.”

  “Is that what you call them? The fresh ones?” Emma asked.

  “Yeah. The new ones are scary fast.”

  Enrique nodded and disappeared down the hallway.

  Whi
le Juan radioed in the situation, Yolanda approached Emma with a key with a post-it note wrapped around it. “This is your room. Feel free to change it around however you want. If you wait a few minutes, I’ll find someone to take you up there.”

  Juan interrupted his conversation to say, “Don’t worry about it, Yolanda. I’ll make sure she’s settled in.”

  “Oh, okay,” Yolanda said with surprise but also a knowing look in her eyes.

  Emma knew that expression. It was the one the ladies at church got when they happened upon a new bit of gossip to spread around.

  “Nerit is going to check out the situation. I’m gonna join her. Want to tag along and see how we do things around here?”

  Though she’d had her fill of zombies, Emma nodded. “Yeah. That sounds good.”

  “You don’t have to, you know,” Juan said, suddenly seeming nervous. “I know you’re new here.”

  “No, no. If this is going to be my home that entails learning how things function here.”

  Juan grinned. “You’re going to do fine here. I feel it in my bones.”

  That smile made her a little fluttery and she blushed, much to her dismay. Under his cowboy hat, his face reddened too, much to Yolanda’s obvious amusement.

  “What about my stuff?” Emma asked, pointing to her bag and weapons.

  “Bring the rifle, machete, and pistol. Yolanda, she can leave the bag here, right?”

  “No problem.”