Part Four

The rest of the walk was uneventful, but the signs of a huge battle were evident once the four had moved inside the city limits of Lytle. Girls and women worked in teams to pile bodies in the middle of each intersection, and it seemed a true horde had run over the town in broad daylight.

Catherine felt more anxious the further into town she got. It was hard not to with the number of girls who were watching her with undisguised suspicion. The other thing she began to notice was how many women and girls there were, while she couldn’t find any boys or men working at all.

“Have you got a pass for them?”

Catherine turned to her left, where a shockingly pale skinned girl leaned against side of a thick magnolia tree. The girl was dressed in black jeans and a dark suede jacket covered in blood stains, some of them more recent than others. Her wavy brown hair was pulled into a loose tail, and thin streaks of black goo were spattered along the sides of her head. A faint trace of streaks near her hairline suggested her whole face had been covered in the goop before she’d wiped it away, probably on the sleeve of her jacket.

Gaunt faced and possessed of a slight body frame, she was perhaps thirteen at the most, but both the suspicion flowing from her narrowed blue eyes and the dual headed axe propped on her shoulder made her seem much less childlike.

“I’m sorry?” Catherine asked.

The girl gestured to a nearby pile of bodies. “There’s a horde in town because of the convoy. You aren’t supposed to have those boys in town without a pass.”

Catherine’s eyes flicked to the axe head. “We aren’t from Lytle. I was supposed to take this boy to meet his aunt at the market.” She pointed out Reagan before going on. “But my partner stepped in a zombie trap set up by these two, and she’s resting at their house.”

“Who are you?”

“Catherine Murphy.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you aren’t here to pick up one of our men?”

Catherine’s face blanched. “Of…of course not.”

“Funny…it seems to me that’s exactly what you’re doing.” The girl nodded toward Juan.

“Whoa,” Tina said and stepped around Catherine. “First of all, we don’t live in Lytle, and we don’t answer to you. Second, we hired Catherine as our escort. So if you've got a problem with Juan being here, you talk to me, not her. Third, my cousin isn’t some kind of private property you own, bitch. Now put the hatchet away and stop acting like you own the damn place.”

The girl regarded Tina with a bored expression. “And you would be?”

“Tina Suarez.” She paused to smile arrogantly. “As in the Suarez stockpile?”

The girl's attitude was gone instantly, but the civil smile she put on seemed as genuine as a three dollar bill. “Very well. Oh, by the way, I’m Cora Ramos.”

Then Tina relaxed as well, dropping her hands from her hips while her angry expression metled into embarrassment. “Oh.”

Cora raised the axe over her shoulder to slip the handle through one hoop at the top of an old bandolier. Using her other hand, she steadied another hoop to lock the handle down before she turned around to walk away.

Tina followed behind her, and Catherine fell into step beside Tina before she leaned closer to whisper “Who is she?”

“Miguel and Rene Ramos own the market here,” Tina muttered, cringing when Cora turned to smirk at her. “Technically, she does own the whole damn town.”

Catherine took several fast steps to catch up with Cora. “You didn’t institute a death penalty here, did you? I mean, you wouldn’t kill someone just for bringing their males out during the day, would you?”

“No, but we’re a little edgy around outsiders, especially zombie killers like you. It seems like every week, one of you shows up just long enough to find a man before you wander off again.” Cora paused and turned to watch Catherine with an unreadable expression. “We’ve heard rumors that you might be coming to town to look for a husband.”

“Then it’s just a rumor. Really, I’m just here to look for Reagan’s aunt, Janine Coker.” Catherine made an embarrassed smile. “My partner Maggie wanted to check out guys once we got to town, but she’s fifty-two.”

Cora laughed. “Did you come to check out the girls instead?”

Catherine was about to make a joke that she might if her luck didn’t improve. Then she realized the slight shift in Cora’s expression was interest. “Ah, no I don’t ‘like’ girls.”

“Pity.” Cora shrugged. “Well, you are covered in zombie guts, so I suspect you might have wandered into part of the horde on your way into town.”

“Yeah, I took down forty-nine of them outside the city. I was hoping to redeem those back in Natalia, since I already keep a tab with Calvin. He runs–”

“I know who he is, but I think you’ll prefer to take your credits here instead.” Cora raised her hand when Catherine began to shake her head. “Wait until you talk to my dad before you decide.”

Groups of women and girls milled around the parking lot of the Ramos market, many pausing in their quiet conversations to nod or wave to Cora. Most gave a passing glance toward Catherine, but some of the women seemed to recognize her. Before she had crossed half of the distance of the parking lot, Catherine noticed at least four groups of women watching her. Some stared with looks of suspicion, while others seemed only curious.

The extra attention still made Catherine feel nervous, and she raised her eyes to watch the white market building instead.

A white vinyl tarp had been tied down over the old signboard of the store, and another hung over the logo above the entrance. Both tarps were painted with a bright cobalt cursive script which read Ramos market.

Catherine was stunned when she stopped on the electronic doormat and the doors slid open. She felt cold air sweep past her face, and after months of living in a hot house, she wasn’t sure what to make of the air conditioning. Calvin never ran the air conditioner in his market, so the sudden change in temperature when Catherine stepped inside was truly shocking.

All of the aisles had been cleared out of the store, and in their place, interlinked rows of tables were staffed by one or two women. The arrangement reminded Catherine of the old indoor flea markets her parents visited.

Tina, Juan, and Reagan split up to wander around the store, and Cora waved for Catherine to follow her. Near the front entrance, a tall husky framed Hispanic man stood at a customer service booth, his head bowed while he pored over items on his clipboard. He was leaned over so far that his bushy mess of curly black hair hid most of his face.

“Hey dad,” Cora said.

Miguel Ramos glanced up, revealing a full round face which seemed nothing at all like Cora's. His skin was light brown, while his eyes were a much darker shade which almost matched his hair.

Straightening up from the counter, Miguel smiled at Cora before before his attention wandered to Catherine. “Who’s the new killer?”

“I’m Catherine Murphy. I live outside of–”

“I know who you are.” Miguel turned to gesture at the ham radio on the back counter. “Calvin brags about you, and Florence has said good things about you a few times.”

Catherine was unable to hide her surprise. Florence wasn’t known to talk to anyone in Natalia aside from confirming their orders.

Cora leaned on the counter, propping herself on her forearms. “Dad, Catherine claimed forty-nine kills on her way into town. She says she wants her credit in Natalia.”

Miguel nodded and moved to the back counter to grab another clipboard. He handed it and a pen to Catherine. “Just fill out this form and I’ll have your payment shipped with Emmit and Florence next week.”

Catherine glanced down at the form. “What kind of payment is it?”

“We pay a gallon of gas per kill, but I’ll play with your numbers and just call us even with a single fifty-five gallon barrel.” Miguel gestured at the form. “Of course if you don’t want it, I’m sure–”

Catherine cut him off by laughing and quickly shaking her head. “Just tell me where to sign.” She leaned over to fill out the form. “How is it you can pay in fuel for every kill?”

“Trade secret,” Cora said.

Miguel waved his hand at daughter’s wary look. “We can tell her. Some of the women started a convoy which travels out to the refineries to siphon their reserves. The convoys head up to San Antonio or Corpus Christi, so they pick up a lot of zombies on the way back. But they’ve also been picking up survivors from the smaller towns.” He paused to leaned over the counter and catch Catherine’s attention. When she looked up, he offered his most charming smile. “We’re always hiring, and we’d be willing to offer you your choice of homes inside the town limits.”

Catherine returned the smile, blushing while she tried to find her voice. “I…it’s a tempting offer, but I like my home. Besides, with my partner Maggie nursing a bad leg, I’m going to be one of the few killers working in Natalia for the next few weeks.”

“So what does Calvin pay in, food stamps?” Cora remarked snidely.

Catherine turned to pout at Cora. “Look, I’m not here to look for work, credit, a new home, or any of your men. I’m just looking to get one little boy back home with his own family.”

“Cora, be nice,” Miguel chided. “Who are you looking for, Catherine?”

“Janine Coker?”

Miguel’s cringing expression answered he before he said a word. “I’m afraid she’s gone. She got tired of dealing with the hordes, and she moved after she lost her son.”

Catherine dropped her head to fill out the form. A hopeful thought came to her, and she glanced up at Miguel. “You don’t know where she moved?”

“No. I’m sorry, but no one fills out forwarding address slips these days.” Miguel looked over the form when Catherine slid it back across the counter. “How much would you want for the boy?”

Taken aback by the question, Catherine could only stare for the longest time while her expression filled with confusion. “I’m sorry?”

“We can take him off your hands if you can’t find someone else to care for him, and I can assure you he’d find a good home. But you must understand how things work around here. I imagine they’re the same in Natalia.”

“Well we aren’t trading our men or treating them like property yet.” Catherine paused when she noticed the look of disdain Cora made. “I’m sorry if I’m coming off like a hick, but I don’t know how things work anywhere except my own back forty.”

“We aren’t exactly property, but with so few of us left, males are being treated as prized possessions around here. Every male who comes in with the convoy is snatched up and taken somewhere pretty quickly.”

Catherine’s face wrinkled with worry. “But you aren’t allowed outside without a pass.”

“Yes, and an armed entourage.” Miguel shrugged, his expression becoming bemused. “I don’t like being coddled, but it’s just how things work now.”

Catherine nodded. “If I understand you, Reagan is now effectively mine?”

“By right of possession, yes. We can still offer him-”

“No, I think I’ll take him back with me.” Catherine sighed and stepped back from the counter. “If not for the kills, this would almost be a wasted trip.”

Miguel nodded and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry we’ve been a bust for you.”

“No, you’ve been the first good thing about this trip.” Catherine waved and took a few backward steps away from the counter, deciding to ignore the miffed glare Cora was shooting at her. “It was nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Miguel agreed before he made a cough as a subtle hint to his daughter.

“Bye,” Cora said bluntly, turning to look at her father’s annoyed expression “What?”

Catherine left before they got too involved in their argument about customer service. She wanted to find Reagan and explain the situation. She hoped at least being able to tell him his aunt was alive could make things seem better.

But her real concerns were more for herself. She’d liked living alone, and unless she was willing to drop Reagan off with some other family, he would become her responsibility. Catherine didn’t care for the idea of moving the boy to Lytle, where a new horde could kill him as quickly as they’d killed his cousin. She didn’t want to hand Reagan over to another family in Natalia either, but the thought of becoming the boy’s guardian terrified her worse than any zombie ever could.

Catherine found Juan first. He stood in front of a stall filled with books, and he bowed his head while he read from the back cover of a paperback novel. He raised his head to glance around and gave a small nod to Catherine when he noticed her.

Moving to the end of the table, he added the book to the small stack in front of the cashier. “Put these on the Suarez account, please.”

Catherine watched him put the books away in his backpack. “Why are you buying books?”

Juan shrugged into the shoulder straps of his bag. “It fills up the empty spaces.”

Catherine made a faint smile. “I wish I knew what those were like.”

She found Reagan and gave him the bad news, who reacted only by nodding his consent to return home with Catherine. She didn’t bother telling him how everything would be all right. She knew if she tried, it would come out sounding like a lie.

Instead, she moved around the stalls to find Tina. Once she’d found Tina and declared that she was ready to leave, no one argued for more time at the market, nor did they try  to make conversation on the walk back to the house.

Catherine wanted to leave for her house right away, but Gabriela asked her to wait for dinner. With the scent of rabbit stew wafting through the house already, it wasn't difficult to convince her to stay, and she had no sooner finished eating when Alexis, Tina’s youngest sister, announced that hot bath water was ready for her.

Gabriela insisted both the meal and the bath were payments for safely escorting Juan and Tina, but Catherine began to think of them more as delaying tactics. The lure of a hot bath was simply too strong for her, and she let Tina take her back through the house.

Alexis was sprinkling rose petals into the tub when Catherine entered the bathroom, and she had no sooner settled into the steaming water when Tina knocked on the door and stepped inside. Tina laid out fresh clothes for her again, and before she’d closed the door, Catherine laid her head back and closed her eyes.

She wasn’t truly sleeping, but a hazy dreamlike thought began forming behind her closed eyelids. In the vision, Maggie came to the bathroom and settled herself on the rim of the tub. It’s a very nice home, dear, the dream Maggie remarked. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?

For many long minutes, Catherine didn’t have an answer. The scent of the rose petals and the heat of the bath worked to drain her sense of urgency. But she roused herself anyway, rising slowly out of the water while she thought I don’t belong here. The dream Maggie tried to remain to ask why, but Catherine forced her away.

Walking into the living room, she found Reagan laying on the couch with his head propped on Maggie’s lap while the old woman read from a storybook. The story caught Catherine’s interest, and she leaned against the frame of the door and listened to Maggie’s low voice changing pitch to mimic the different characters.

Arrayed out on the living room floor, the three younger sisters watched Maggie with rapt attention. They were all mesmerized, and Catherine smiled at a stray memory of her mother reading a story to her. She wondered if she’d looked so enthralled when she was a little girl.

Tina laid her hand on Catherine’s shoulder, waving an invitation for Catherine to follow her to the stairs at the front of the house. She ascended two floors and walked into a bedroom. Gesturing for Catherine to sit on the bed, Tina went to her dresser to pick up a brush.

She held it out to Catherine and smiled. “May I?”

Catherine stared without understanding before it occurred to her that Tina was offering to brush out her hair for her. “I really should be going home now. I’ve got to care for my animals.”

“There’s still plenty of time. You can probably run the whole way in an hour,” Tina said while she moved to the bed.

“I’m not superwoman,” Catherine joked, though she still let Tina unroll her braid and slip off the leather cord which bound the end.

Tina worked slowly to untangle the knots, and when she finished, Catharine’s hair fell over her back and shoulders in fiery waves. Tina braided Catherine’s hair into a much looser tail and went to her dresser again to retrieve a tiny crystal bottle. Her soft smile became almost impish while she sat down on the bed and removed the cap from the bottle. Putting her finger over the pump on the top, she pushed it down and dabbed a tiny drop of  perfume on either side of Catherine’s neck.

She nodded to herself and smiled wider. “You’re perfect.”

The door opened, and Juan stepped into the room while Tina got to her feet. He watched his cousin leave, then turned to stare at Catherine with an uncertain expression.

Catherine was naïve, but she wasn’t stupid, and the look of yearning in Juan’s eyes was obvious even to her. She stood up and went to the door, trying to think of something to say to let him down gently.

“I’ll be back. I have to pick up Maggie and Reagan later.”

Juan closed his hand over her wrist when she tried to step around him. She glanced at the door and thought of yanking her arm away until she watched the pleading look in his eyes. She froze with indecision, and Juan took the chance to lay his hand on her hip. Then all of her priorities changed.

“Can’t you stay with us tonight?” he asked

Catherine’s heart thumped so hard she was certain he could hear it. “I…” She dropped her head to avoid his intent gaze. “I have to feed my animals. No one else knows to watch them.”

“You don’t have to leave now, do you? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you yet.”

He doesn’t want to talk, Catherine thought. In spite of her own objections, she heard Maggie’s voice shout Just kiss him already!

She took a timid step toward him and leaned closer to peck his lips. Her eyes flicked down when he moved to close his hands over her upper arms. Juan pulled her body against his, leaning his head to kiss her. He closed his eyes, and then she did as well.

Slipping his arms around her waist, he shuffled a few steps to move her back toward the bed. She went with him, and her act of consent fueled his eagerness. He broke the kiss to nip smaller kisses on the side of her throat. Catherine’s whole body became sensitive, and she tittered, leaning her head to keep him from tickling her.

He reacted by dropping his head to kiss her collarbone while his fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt to caress her bare skin. By then, he didn’t need to guide her to move toward the bed, because she was beginning to pull him by his hips, urging him to walk faster.

Catherine’s legs thumped into the bed, and she sat down, arm crawling back over the covers. Juan paused long enough to shuck his boots and help pry Catharine’s off before he pounced onto the bed. Giggling, Catherine rolled over to avoid being pinned under Juan, who made a playful growl when he bounced. Then the top of his head connected with the head board, and while he yelped, Catherine laughed again.

Juan rolled onto his side, looping his arm around Catherine’s waist to pull her back against his chest. His lips moved to the side of her throat again, and she gasped, leaning her head to bare her neck to him.

He slipped his hand under her shirt first to trail his fingers over her stomach before allowing them to drift up towards her chest. He laid his palm over her breast, seeking out the nipple through the padded cup of her bra.

Juan’s hands trembled while he started to search for the clasp of her bra. Catherine rolled over in his arms and drew her hand back to help him, but she found she was also shaking with excitement.

In spite of their fumbling hands, they were able to shed their clothes, which ended up tossed in careless piles around the sides of the bed. Juan rolled over her, his mouth seeking out her breasts while his hands wandered down to stroke her sides, and then her thighs. He closed one hand over her hip, guiding her to arch her lower body up from the bed while her entered her.

Catherine closed her eyes and pressed her head back into the pillow. The dull ache between her legs became a sharp pain without warning, and she clamped both of her hands over Juan’s sides, uttering a warbling whimper. He froze, staring at her with concern. But the sudden pain was already fading into an ache again.

Catherine relaxed and took a breath before she whispered “Okay.”

The first time was too quick for Catherine’s liking. Whether she was too eager or he was, he was only able to last a few minutes before he gasped and froze.

But Juan’s attention didn’t wander from her. While he pecked kisses on the freckles covering her chest, his fingers moved to stroke her sex and keep her in the mood until he was hard enough to take her again. He urged her to roll onto her side, then mounted her from behind. The arm he looped under her waist dipped to stroke her mound while the other cupped her breast.

Lost in a flood of new sensations, Catherine whimpered her encouragement until her whole body tensed in climax. Then with her voice gone, she could only pant while Juan continued to thrust himself inside her.

Finally spent, he shuddered and laid his head against hers, panting for air before he made a breathy laugh against the side of her throat.

He pulled away from her long enough to draw the covers over their intertwined bodies, and then he pulled Catherine’s head over to rest on her shoulder. She wanted to insist that she should leave, but fatigue and the warm tingling in her limbs won out against her common sense, and she drifted into sleep.

When she woke up, the sky outside was dark. Catherine pulled her arms away from Juan and slipped out from under the covers to get dressed.

She was opening the door when he spoke. “You’re still going to leave?”

Catherine sighed and returned to sit on the edge of the bed. “I have to. I’ll be back, but I need to take care of my animals.” She raised her hand to pet his cheek. “Don’t worry about me, Juan. There’s nothing out there tonight I haven’t seen already.”

“But-”

“Hush.” She laid her finger over his lips. “I’m not a delicate flower who needs to be protected. If the zombies could feel fear, they’d be afraid of me. And…and now they have more reason to be scared.”

“Why is that?” Juan asked.

Catherine leaned over to kiss him. “Because now I’ve got a reason to live again.”

Getting out of the house proved to be much harder than just walking out. Both Tina and Gabriela made additional offers to walk with her back to the house to fetch her animals the next day. But she turned each offer down, and finally they unbolted the front door to let her out.

Tina walked with her to the road, and her deep frown was visible even under the dim light of the crescent moon. “Catherine...Cat, this isn’t a good idea. The zombies own the night.”

Catherine uttered a mirthful laugh and shook her head. “No, they’re just borrowing it until I’m ready to take it back.” She reached up to pat Tina’s arm. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

She turned and started to walk, glancing over her shoulder to confirm Tina had gone back into the house. With her mind put at ease, she started to hum to herself. It was still several minutes before she could remember the words to one of her mother’s favorites songs, but as soon as she recalled a verse she began to sing.

“All through the night…stray cat is crying, so stray cat sings back…”
 
The End