Nerit checked it over and noted Jimmy was already on watch where she had assigned him. “Excellent. I’ll make sure to get the updated schedule for the next few days to you as soon as possible.” With Mike and the others dead, the roster would look very different.

“I can go ahead and take you off kitchen duty, since you took over for Mike,” Peggy offered.

Nerit shook her head. “No, no. Cooking is relaxing. Keep me on it.”

Peggy shrugged, then cocked her head. “Nerit, I was wondering.

Could you show me how to shoot?”

With a grin, Nerit answered, “Of course. I’m thinking about making lessons mandatory, not voluntary.”

With a little sigh, Peggy bobbed her head in agreement. “I just don’t want to feel so useless or helpless.”

“That seems to be the theme of the day,” Nerit answered and strolled away. She was halfway across the lobby when she saw Curtis.

“Curtis, I have something I need to attend to. Mind joining me?”

Curtis hesitated. “Sure. What are we dealing with?”

“Jimmy.”

Curtis frowned. “Yeah. I talked to Travis and Juan about what he pulled yesterday. Juan wants him pulled from anymore excursions.”

“We need all the people we can use. He just needs to learn a lesson,” Nerit answered coolly.

She entered the elevator and Curtis followed.

“I don’t know, Nerit. He’s always been twitchy.”

“We’re all twitchy.”

This brought guffaws from Curtis.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re the coldest of us, Nerit, a true killing machine. You’re never twitchy.”

Nerit shook her head. “I’m just well-trained.”

“We don’t need cowards,” Curtis said in a low voice. “We don’t need people who will sacrifice others to protect themselves.”

“No, we need well-trained people,” Nerit answered in such a way Curtis fell into silence.

Jimmy was up on the second floor, positioned over the front door.

He was sitting on the windowsill looking over the street with a bored expression on his face when they entered.

“Jimmy,” Nerit said.

He looked up, startled, and quickly slid to his feet. “Hey, Nerit.”

“Good morning, Jimmy. How are you?”

“Good…good…” He looked decidedly nervous as his gaze darted between Nerit and Curtis.

“Curtis, can I have the gun you used yesterday to shoot the zombie with the metal plate in his head?”

“Sure,” Curtis said, looking confused. He pulled a small.22 from his side holster. “It’s my backup weapon.”

Nerit nodded, stepped up to the window, and fired down at the zombie still languishing on the street lamp below the window. It took four shots, but the zombie collapsed into final death. Silently, she handed the weapon back to Curtis.

“Sometimes, with small caliber, the bullets glance off hard surfaces.

Not just metal plates, but bone. You just have to keep firing. If you shoot them through the eye, the bullet will bounce around their brain and make mush of it. The lesson here, Jimmy, keep firing.” Nerit's gaze grew steely. “Never leave anyone behind. If they are bitten shoot them, but if they are alive cover them. Understood?”

Jimmy looked at her sullenly, but nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.” Nerit turned and walked out of the room, her job done.

Curtis shuffled after her. “That’s it?”

Nerit turned to face him. “That’s it. For now.”

Curtis stared at her, then stepped back. “Okay. Fine. Juan and Travis will not like this.”

“Then they can talk to me,” Nerit answered. She stepped into the elevator and hit the button.

The doors closed on Curtis frustrated features, Nerit sagged against the side of the elevator and sighed.

2. Drawing the Tower

The elevators slid open on the sixth floor. Juan and Jenni stepped out, arguing loudly in Spanish. Jenni was limping as she walked down the hall, her face a decoration of purple and green bruises. Waving her hand in frustration, she called Juan a few choice words in Spanish before knocking on Katie's door.

Juan tried to comfort Jenni, but she punched his arm, annoyed beyond words with him. He had ruined a perfectly nice morning by ranting on and on about how he was going to kick Jimmy's ass. All Jenni had wanted to do was strip him naked and have lots of sex once Jason had gone down to breakfast. Juan seemed to only want to devise ways of making Jimmy miserable.

“I just love you, okay, Loca,” Juan said, taking hold of her arms and pulling her close.

“Yeah, then show me. Don't talk about something that happened yesterday. I'm alive, okay?” Jenni frowned up at him.

Juan's curls fell around her face as he kissed her. A bit of her anger dissipated. But she pushed him away anyway and stuck out her tongue at him. Juan laughed and kissed her cheek.

Katie opened the bedroom door, clad in a tank top and pajama bottoms. She looked a little flushed and her skin had a light sheen of water on it. Behind her, Travis was in jeans, toweling off his chest, his hair still wet from a shower. Katie's own hair was in wet curls around her face.

“Damn,” Juan said in awe.

Jenni took a moment to admire Travis' very impressive chest, then looked at Juan. Lifting her eyebrows, she said, “See? They started off the morning right.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “What's up?”

“Juan is having a hissy fit,” Jenni answered.

“I am not,” Juan protested.

Travis pulled on his shirt and started to button it up. “What's up?”

“The situation with Jimmy,” Juan answered.

Travis made a face and sat on the bed. “I thought we talked about this last night?”

“Uh, we came to no conclusion,” Juan answered. He walked in and flopped onto a couch.

Jenni slid in and eyeballed Katie. Her friend looked back with an innocent smile that Jenni didn't buy for a moment.

“Didn't we agree that Nerit needed to deal with it?” Travis asked.

“No, we didn't. Curtis was all for finding a way to discipline him.”

“I don't know if we have to go that far,” Travis answered, his brow furrowing. He tugged on his socks one by one.

Jenni noted how very comfortable he was in Katie's room. Again, she looked at her friend and gave her a sly smile. Katie responded with a wide-eyed innocent look.

“He almost got Jenni killed!” Juan's anger was about to get the best of him again.

Jenni put her hand on his shoulder, but she could feel his Latin temper building up to an explosion. “He just freaked.”

“And almost got you killed!”

“Well, it was bizarre with that zombie having that big ol’metal thing in his head!”

“Again, he almost got you killed!”

Travis shook his head. “Juan, we need to drop this.”

“I'm not going to, Travis,” Juan answered firmly. “What if it had been Katie left alone in a room with three zombies? Huh?”

Travis looked toward Katie and his look said it all.

“Exactly,” Juan answered, and stood up. “You know what? I'm going to deal with this man to man. Fuck diplomacy.”

“Juan,” Travis said softly.

“No, fuck it.” Juan walked out, and slammed the door behind him.

“He's having anger issues,” Jenni said.

“Obviously,” Travis responded. He stood and grabbed his new denim jacket. “I better go after him.”

Katie moved to his side. They shared a sweet little kiss that had Jenni grinning. It was good to see Katie and Travis together. She felt a little less guilty about moving on now that Katie had, too. She knew it had been much harder for Katie.

“See you later,” Travis said.

“Okay,” Katie answered, and walked him to the door.

Another soft kiss, then Travis was gone.

Jenni lifted her eyebrows at Katie as her friend shut the door.

“What?” Katie asked, then broke into a huge grin. Jenni tackled her.

Like schoolgirls, they hugged each other and jumped around laughing until they collapsed into a heap on the bed.

“You have FFG!”

“Do not!”

“Uh huh! Freshly fucked glow!” Jenni howled with laugher, pointing at Katie’s flushed countenance.

Katie covered her face and laughed. “Oh, gawd…I do!”

For the first time, laughter filled their time together.

***

After missing Juan at the elevator, Travis headed down to the lobby and found him nowhere in sight. Confused, he walked toward the front desk and found Peggy printing out what looked like a map of their area.

“Peggy, have you seen Juan?”

“Uh-mm…no. Not recently.”

Travis leaned against the counter and thought for a second. “Can I see the duty roster?”

“Sure,” Peggy answered, and handed it to him. She began to use a highlighter to draw circles around areas on the map.