The Mound Builders Conclusion Part 1
by demented20

The world doesn't stop spinning. On tragic days and joyous ones the world turns just the same. The world didn't take note when a neighborhood dropped off the map, but the people of the county did. People didn't come to work, children didn't go to school. Fire trucks went into the Glen and never came out. The tunnel leading into Hidden Glen was completely blocked and collapsed after several hot fires had weakened the steel bolts holding back the rocks above. There were police car outside the entrance with a command center set up manned day and night. The state police were there, along with the FBI.

"The last contact we had from anybody inside the Glen was two nights ago. We had reports of riots from 911 calls but nothing was clear. There was panic and gunshots and chaos. We've tried several times to establish shortwave or ham connections, but the terrain won't let signals into the valley below. That area has a special tower that captures television and radio signals and pipes them down to the neighborhood because of the hills. We saw the tower burning on the first day we came. With that tower gone and the tunnel collapsed, Hidden Glen is cut off from the outside world."

"Electricity, water, and gas lines run underground and they are still functioning. We've decided to keep those utilities flowing. We don't have any idea what's going on inside the Glen, but we don't want to make it harder for the people in there than it already is."

"Has any person made it out since all this started?"

"The last group of people to make it out was an ambulance crew who transported a man named Vic Wooten to County Hospital. That man Wooten died about a day ago I was told. The state's ME is on the way to look at him, but for now he'd in cold storage. We won't be getting any answers from him."

"How long until the National Guard get's their helicopter down here?"

"Sometime today, but they aren't making any promises."

Several men sighed. Until that chopper came, they might as well be twiddling their thumbs. Those people were going to spend at least another night cut off and like the would be rescuers, all the people in the Glen could do was wait.

Anna bent down and kissed her son softly on the cheek. Alex's eyes fluttered and he turned to face his mother. His sleepy face turned brightly awake at seeing his mother. Anna held out her arms and her son climbed from his bed into them. Anna's body was beat and she was tired to the bone, but feeling her son's heart beating against hers made her feel strong enough to hold him forever. Anna avoided turning to look at her husband as she held her son. "Where've you been, Mommy?", Alex asked as Anna held him and walked around the bedroom.

"I've been with Mr. Chase and Mike looking at maps and charts."

"Are you guys planning on how to save the world?"

Anna laughed. "Something like that. We have to kill these creatures and get out of the Glen first."

"I know you can do it, Mommy. Did you know you're a real hero?"

Anna kissed him on the cheek again. "Heroine", she corrected. "The feminine form of hero is heroine."

"Are you always an English teacher?", Mike asked from the bed. Anna gave him a look, but didn't answer. She didn't have to. Mike already knew the truth. Since he'd been married Mike hadn't been able to read his wife as well as he would have liked, but the last couple of days had opened his eyes to a few things. Most of the time she was a mystery, but Mike could tell that Anna was scared, really scared and this was how she reacted to her fear. She clung to the things that she loved, the things that she didn't want to lose, which was why Anna joined Mike in the bed as soon as she'd put Alex back in his.

Anna pushed next to Mike under the surprisingly soft blankets. "Making time for your poor husband?", he asked.

"I always have time for you."

Mike rubbed his hands together before putting them on Anna's shoulders and slowly kneading her still tight muscles. Anna moaned and rolled over to her stomach to give Mike room to work her entire back. Mike looked over his shoulder to make sure that Alex was asleep before he pulled down her gown and rubbed her back with his hands. He had to press hard to do any good on Anna's muscles. Her body was always hard, but right now she was so hard that he wasn't sure a nail could be driven into her. His fingers were already tired and he'd only been at this for a minute or two. He worked his thumbs down the narrow of her back to the rise of her butt. He worked her gluteus muscles with both hands. Anna clenched her ass and swooned as her husband tried to work out the stiffness.

"This is hard work", he told her in her ear.

"You're a hard working man", she retorted.

"Yes I am", Mike said with a smile and went to work on her shoulders again. Whatever she'd done to rescue that little girl really had her muscles knotted. Mike kept at it until he had worked his way down both of her legs. He was massaging her calves when she turned over, sat up and took Mike by the head. She pulled his head to hers and kissed him passionately. Her eyes moistened and tears fell down her freshly washed cheeks.

"I love you so much", she told her husband, holding her face to his.

Usually Mike would have told her how much he loved her, but instead he said, "You're going to make it."

She threw her arms around him and pulled him down on top of her. "I don't know. Every time I close my eyes I see those things coming after me, and to think about going underground where they are… I don't know if I could even do that."

Mike pushed himself up to arm's length and looked into Anna's eyes. The moonlight shined directly on the husband and wife casting their oversized shadows on the wall. Mike felt all the love in the world for this woman. "Yes you can do that, and you will because that's who you are."

"You sound like Ethan. He's making all these grand plans for gas lines and stuff, but I haven't planned a thing I've done. I have no idea what I'm doing moment to moment, just surviving. Ethan thinks I'm some sort of mythic hero or something. I'm just one woman."

"Heroine."

"What?"

"Heroine, Babe. The female form of hero is heroine. Remember?"

Mike watched Anna's sweet lips curl up as she smiled. "You are special, Anna. I don't know about all that stuff that Ethan's talking about, but to me you're the specialest person on earth."

Anna chuckled. "No such word."

"Then I'll make it up just for you." He leaned down and kissed her lips again and rubbed his nose against hers. "Don't think the weight of all of this is only on your shoulders, no matter how strong those shoulders might be. I'll be at your side even if we have to walk into Gates of Hell. I'll be right there with you."

"You'd walk into Hell with me?", Anna asked as she looked up at Mike.

Mike shrugged. "Sure why not? As hot as you keep the house in the winter, I feel like I've been there at least once or twice." Anna's eyes narrowed as she laughed and slapped Mike on the chest. He lowered his body a top hers again and wrapped his arms around her bare back. They drifted off to sleep together. Her breathing was evening and so was his. "I love you Anna", Mike said as the sleep came on. Anna turned her head and kissed him again. She fell asleep with her lips against his.

The next morning Anna and Mike were in the now beat up Volvo. Ethan was in his Studebaker grinning. "It took me two decades to get my car to look like this. You two have managed to do it in two days."

"You missed your calling as a stand-up comic", Mike told him and loaded another shell into the shotgun. They were still in the garage, but a flip of the switch by Cindy opened the garage door. The two cars quickly backed up and Cindy closed the door, saying a silent prayer as the crack of light from the sun disappeared. She went back into the main house. She had a list of things to get done. It wasn't easy having so many people in a single house so they had to be organized. Some people had to clean and others had to distribute food and other essentials. Part of Cindy wished that she could go out and kill those damned creatures that had killed her parents and burned her home to the ground. Cindy's friend Mary was a little more fragile. She spent her time trying to occupy and look after the several children who were in the house, but her emotions were delicate like eggshells. Mary had been captured and imprisoned by her undead parents for more than week. It would take more than a couple of days to get over that, if she ever got over it all. It was different for Cindy. She was just angry and wanted to kill some zombies. She was about to find out that it was just as hard and just as dangerous to deal with the living as it was the undead.

Anna, Mike, and Ethan were relieved that there still people alive in the houses to be rescued. Ethan had ordered them to hang sheets or bedding or anything visible from a window or a vent so that they could be seen. Some people hadn't heeded the advice and were now part of the legion of walking corpses. As they drove around the Glen, all of them noticed the lack of bodies this day. There were no more random bodies lying in random places. All the ones that could stand up had walked or shuffled away to hunt the living. Many of them were in the houses that the three of them had to go into, but they'd perfected their system. Mike and Ethan would go in to clear any zombies from the first level and make sure they had a clear escape route, while Anna and her machete went to the second floor and got the people from their safe places. She'd had to dispatch a few creatures, and even after so many, it was still grizzly work. When the families were rescued they were sent back to Ethan's house.

They were working on their seventh house when they finally saw something out of the ordinary. A teenaged boy was standing on a crate looking over the fenced in back yard. He was shirtless in the chilly air. Anna stopped the car. Ethan and Mike got out first with their guns ready, but Anna put up a hand to keep them back. She approached the boy cautiously. She recognized him. "Bruce!", she shouted and the boy turned his head.

"Stay back, Mrs. Bernhardt. There's nothing here for you."

"Yes there is. I'm here for you. There's a safe place for us to go. We're saving all the people we can before we escape the Glen."

Bruce scoffed and turned his attention to the backyard again. Anna could hear something coming from the other side of the privacy fence, but she stayed locked on Bruce. He was fixated on whatever was on the other side of that stained wood.

"Stay back, Mrs. Bernhardt. I'm warning you for the last time", the teen said without looking at her.

"What's going on back there?" The teen didn't answer, so Anna moved closer.

"I SAID STAY BACK!!!", the boy screamed at the top of his lungs.

Anna froze, too startled to move for a moment. Bruce had always been a quiet kid. She'd never even seen a hint of anything like this in his personality. "Bruce you're going to have to come with me", Anna said calmly.

Bruce turned to her and instantly activated her fight or flight response. His face looked like that of a feral beast. She scanned his body for injuries, but didn't see any. He hadn't been bitten or scratched. He was as alive as she was. She saw his features change and he exhaled. "You want to see what's on the other side of the fence? Be my guest."

He stepped off the crate and motioned for Anna to take his place. She stepped up and put her hands on the top of the fence before she raised up high enough to look over. She gasped when she did so. There were seven or eight creatures in the backyard, ranging from adults to middle school aged children. They're hunger fueled frenzy made her shiver. All of them were chewing on the flesh of a still twitching man. Fresh hot blood ran from their wretched mouths. Their hands pulled off skeins of meat and flesh from what had been a living breathing man not too long ago. Anna could see the steam rising from the hot blood of the man in the morning air. Her mouth hung open as no words would come out.

"Meet my family, Mrs. Bernhardt. Well my family plus Josie my ex-girlfriend and her brother Warren. You should know Josie she's in one of your classes. Well anyway, she came over here with Warren after their family got killed. She thought that I could keep them safe, but I couldn't. I warned her away just like I warned you, Mrs. Bernhardt. Then I fed both of them to the beasts just like the guy from next door who they're munching on right now." Anna couldn't believe her ears. It felt like all the blood drained from her brain as Bruce talked, but he wasn't finished. "Yeah they should be finished with the neighbor, so I guess it's your turn now." He jumped behind Anna and grabbed her ankles. He lifted her off the crate and pushed her high using the fence as aid. She tumbled over the top without a chance of stopping herself. She landed head first on the ground mere feet from the creatures. The things looked up from their bloody meal.

"FRESH MEAT!", Bruce yelled with a laugh.

Anna vision blurred in and out as those things moved towards her. She groaned and rolled over as she blinked her eyes to clear her vision. When she did, those things were nearly on top of her. She screamed.

Mike ran with his shotgun aimed at the teen, but Bruce took one look at Mike and doubled over with laugher. "It's too late! It's too late!", he cackled.

"Anna!", Mike shouted and tried to find the gate to the fence. He jumped up on to the crate, but Bruce kicked it from beneath his feet before he could even look over. Mike fell to the ground and his shotgun flew from his hands.

Ethan ran up just as Mike fell. He took one look at Bruce and backhanded the teen in the mouth hard enough to knock out two teeth before he turned his attention to the fence. He grabbed a paling and started pulling. "We're coming Anna!", he yelled.

Anna pushed and struggled and forced her way to her feet. Those things were on her, and she frantically tried to save her own life. She reached around to her back and unsheathed the machete. She brought it down with a quick, but powerful swipe lopping off an arm. It was a girl's arm, but Anna didn't take the time to inspect it. She raised the blade high and brought it down. This time she hit the center of a head and the blade split the skull down to the base of the spine. That creature fell and Anna moved through that gap with hands and mouths coming for her. She tried to make herself a small target as she moved past the wall of undead into the bigger part of the yard. She tripped over the body of the next door neighbor. She crawled on her hands and knees to create distance, but once she was on her feet she turned and started slicing again.

"I've got it! I'm coming Anna!", Mike yelled as he worked the nail loose, but there was a crash off to his right. He turned in time to see Anna's long leg burst through the fence, the hard cable like muscles flexing along its length. She walked out of the hole that she'd created. Her face was blank and her eyes were wide. Lingering panic still swam in her dark eyes, and chest heaved from fear and exertion. Her clothes were spattered with gobs of blood and tissue both large and small. Thick trails of blood ran down her machete towards the tip and the ground below. It gently brushed the top of the cut grass as she turned towards Bruce. Now he saw the brains, bits of scalp, and bone stuck to the blade. He stopped laughing and looked up at Anna pleading without speaking. She stood in front of him, but Bruce couldn't read her either. At any moment he imagined that machete rising up to end his life.

"Are you okay?", Mike asked his wife and walked next to her.

She nodded slowly. "They tried, but I didn't let them get a hold of me." Her eyes bored into Bruce as she talked to her husband. The boy shrank like plastic next to an open flame. He cowered as Anna leaned closer to him. "You should have known that I'm not that easy to kill", she hissed and Bruce nearly cried.

"What do you want to do with him, Anna?", Ethan asked. "I'll shoot him if you want. We can't take a pussy like this back to the house."

"I agree with you there", she said. "With the fresh blood leaking from his mouth he'll have plenty of creatures coming this way. They act like sharks in that way. I suggest you rebuild your fence and get behind it Bruce. You're on your own."

Mike wanted to put a slug into that boy's chest for nearly murdering his wife, but he respected Anna's decision to leave him to his fate. Ethan had similar thoughts as he got back into his Studebaker. He looked at the boy sitting against the side of his house with his dead family on the other side of the fence. Ethan didn't know what would come of him, but he didn't really care.

Anna drove in silence. She shook her head from time to time as Bruce's actions rolled around in her head, but she didn't say a word. It was the first time someone had ever tried to kill her. She and her father had been chased from towns before for hustling, but not under the threat of death. To make it worse for Anna, it was a child from her own high school who had done it. After about half an hour Anna let out a long sigh and the emotions seemed to wash off of her even if most of the gore hadn't.

Ethan led them down a street that they'd been to before, but they hadn't been in any of the houses. A quick drive through this part of the Glen hadn't yielded any flags or other signs of people trapped, but they were here for a different reason this day. He pulled over his Studebaker and shut off the engine. They all got out and looked around the silent empty neighborhood. It was odd here because there were no bodies and the air didn't have that undertone of death like most areas of the Glen. They only smelled burning off in the distance. They couldn't make any smoke. The wind was blowing and the fire must have burned out. It smelled like bodies had been burned. It had probably been a house or car fire. Ethan didn't want to give himself a headache thinking about that. He stepped to the sidewalk close to Anna and Mike.

"This is the area of the Glen where I did my research on the Mound. The hollow where the bodies were initially found is right here under these two houses. We're going to have to get down there somehow. I'll take this one", he pointed to the house on the left. "You two take that one. I don't know what we'll find, but it could be anything."

Anna nodded and she and Mike started towards the house on the right, looking around them every step. A creature could come at them at any time. Anna had her hands on the machete, ready to lop off a head at a moment's notice. Her husband had his Mossberg, but he slung it over his shoulder as he got closer to the house. He preferred the Colt for close in work like a house.

"I'm not so sure about all this", Mike said as they carefully walked towards the front door.

"About going into this house? It looks pretty tame compared to some we've been in."

"No. I mean about the Mound and the Indian stuff. No offense, but we're going to have to kill these things with good old fashioned firepower."

Anna put her hand on his shoulder. "No offense Honey, but good old fashioned firepower didn't work against the Vietnamese did it?"

"That's different!"

"How exactly? We're fighting an enemy that we don't completely understand just like you were."

"And how are some Indian skeletons going to educate us?"

"Well for starters, the regular living people are holed up in a fortified house at the edge of the Glen, while those creatures roam free. The Ancient Ones were able to trap the creatures in a hole and allow living people to run free. I say that's Mound Builders one, us zero."

"I didn't know you were so into the mystical stuff Anna."

She shrugged her shoulders. "You never seem that interested, and I'm not going to push it on you. But for your information, my father was a teacher, one of the keepers of the history of the Shawnee. He passed that down to me. I haven't decided yet to pass it all on to Alex."

"Well you should. If it's that important then those stories shouldn't die with you", Mike said.

Anna sighed as they entered the house. "We have to survive this first."

They were quiet now as they walked around the house looking for anything or anybody. They went in every room before meeting at the basement door. Anna stood behind the door and opened it while Mike stood ready with his gun on the other side. Every creak and squeak of the hinges sent little shivers down Anna's spin. She tried not to imagine a creature behind that door, waiting with its hungry blood covered mouth and dead rotting skin with dead eyes that locked in like lasers. Mike's finger rested on the trigger as the door opened revealing the blackness behind it. Anna opened it all the way, and they continued down the steps. Anna sniffed as they made it half way down and flipped on the lights. "You smell that?", she asked.

"Smell what?"

"Exactly. This basement doesn't smell like Death's butthole. It smells like… like well a basement." Mike had to agree that she was right. They looked around, but there were no lurking zombies in this basement. There were other things lurking however.

Ethan was in the house next door nearly ecstatic. He'd noticed the same thing in that basement that Anna and Mike had noticed. There were no creatures in this basement and there hadn't been. Ethan bounded up the stairs to tell his partners the good news. He pushed the door closed and turned to his right, but he saw a man leaning against the front door. "Goin somewhere?", the man challenged. Ethan was never far from his gun. It was hanging around his shoulder. He went to reach for it when he felt the cold steel of a gun barrel press to the back of his head. He swallowed a lump when he heard the click click of a hammer being pulled back. Ethan put his hands up, but had the feeling that it might be too late.

Anna and Mike were out of the basement too. It might have been zombie free, but it was still a damned basement. "Oh Honey look!", Mike called enthusiastically. She turned and laughed. Her husband had found a bag of weed in the pocket of a jacket hanging on the rack.

"That's the last thing we need. To be giggly and hungry."

Mike put it in his pocket. "Maybe later." He went into the living room. Anna was the dining room admiring the china in the china cabinet when she saw a shadow on the wall next to her. She turned, grabbing her machete but was too slow. The man moved in a flash and draped a pillow case over her head. She felt him pull it tight as she screamed.

"Anna!", Mike yelled and spun round only to stare down the double barrels of a Spanish made 10 gauge magnum. Mike'd had guns pointed at him before and he only hesitated a moment. He pushed the barrel out of the way and kicked the man holding it between his legs. A quick elbow to the side of the face sent the man and his big shotgun crashing to the coffee table. Mike would have shot him, but he didn't have time. He ran towards the dining room. He saw a man with a pillowcase over his wife's head. He charged, but didn't get two steps. A man ran in from the outside and brought Mike down from behind. The man grabbed Mike's right arm at the same time put a knee in the center of Mike's back. The pressure and pain made Mike arch up. That's all the man needed. Despite Mike's best efforts, the man clicked on a handcuff. Mike used his free arm to start to roll himself over. He nearly had the man off his back when the man with the shotgun appeared. He pulled his leg back and kicked Mike in the ribs. The wind shot from Mike's lungs and they were able to snap on the other cuff.

Anna heard her husband's voice as he struggled with the men that she couldn't see. The man who was trying to hold Anna was in for more than he bargained for. She planted her leg and thrust her body forward, away from his grip. She took another step and snatched the pillowcase off her head. The man who'd been holding her ran to get hold of her again. Anna sidestepped and tripped him. He fell over a chair, but another was right behind him.

"Come on you bozos can't catch a single broad!", the man with the shotgun yelled.

The second man was already running at Anna too. She didn't wait for him, instead she lunged forward. He tried to grab her, but she ducked and caught him by his waistband and neck. She felt his weight pressing down her, but she pressed back. A deep furrowing frown creased Anna's forehead as even deeper cross striations sliced up her bulging horseshoe shaped triceps muscles. She pressed her arms up, and the man started to rise higher and higher. He could feel her power. This wasn't a joke. He tried to grab her arm or shoulder or something, but everything was harder than marble and he couldn't get a grip. With his momentum helping, he was over her head and nearly past her. Her elbows were nearly straight when she gave him an extra little boost. He sailed through the air and into the china cabinet. Glass and porcelain flew all over the place and there was a loud crash that could be heard even outside. Anna didn't look at the man she'd thrown. She turned to her left towards the front door and saw her husband's legs. He was still struggling, but they had him face down on the foyer floor.

"Let him go!", she screamed and started towards them. She had barely moved before she was tackled from behind by the guy who had fallen over the chair. The man wrapped up and slammed her like he was Willie Lanier. He'd seen what she'd done to his buddy and he wasn't going to take any chances. He'd seen some pretty strong men be able to press a man and throw him, but never a woman. She looked pretty trim and fit with a sleek musculature, but she didn't look strong as an ox. Either way he wasn't going to treat her like he would have treated most women on his job. Instead he treated her like what she was… a threat. After he'd slammed her, he dropped his knee directly between Anna's shoulder blades forcing air from her lungs. He leaned forward, putting all of his weight on her as he grabbed her arm and hammer locked it.

Anna's head was spinning, but through the haze she felt the pressure on her back and the painful grip of this man forcing her arm back. She was half a second away from clearing her head enough to resist him when she felt the first bracelet click painfully on her wrist.

"Let my wife go!", Mike yelled, but they just stuffed a corner of table cloth in his mouth to shut him up.

"Hold him until Jack comes", the guy putting the handcuffs on Anna told another man. "And this outta hold her." The man finally got off her back allowing her to take a pain free breath. He rolled her over with a look of satisfaction and a bit of surprise on his face. This was the first time he'd gotten a good look at this woman. Before now all she'd been was a mane of shimmering black hair moving like a blur, but now he saw that those raven locks framed a beautiful exotic face attached to a body built like a panther's. He looked over at Mike and nodded in approval. "If this is your wife then you're a lucky man."

Mike worked the cloth from his mouth and struggled to look up at him. "You have no fucking idea."

The man smirked. "You both sit tight until Jack gets here. He'll decide what we do with you." He went to the dining room to help up his friend who'd been thrown into the china cabinet.

He should have kept an eye on Anna because as soon as her world stopped spinning, she put her feet flat on the floor, arched her back and started to stand up.

"Keep her down!", a man ordered. A younger man ran up to hold her down, but Anna spun towards him and pulled her legs back until her knees were nearly touching her chest. He leaned too far forward he reached for her and walked into the soles of her sneakers. Her muscles were tight and as the man's weight pushed her legs in a little, increasing the tension on her always coiled muscles even further. He thought that he could push through a girly kick, but she didn't kick. She pushed, sending the man into what felt like low orbit. Her quads flexed into razor sharpness as the man's feet left the ground. Her ultra sexy and ultra powerful legs straightened in a split second. She even extended her toes, adding the power of her hard bulging calves to the already insane power of her quads.

The partner stood with his mouth agape as he saw this slim young woman make a man fly as if he'd been shot from a cannon. He didn't stop going until he hit the damn ceiling on the other side of the room. Big chunks of drywall fell on top of him as he crashed down. He exhaled as his head hit the ground making the cloud of dust even bigger. He ran over to the younger man, but he should have run over to Anna.

She was still on her back as she brought her knees to her chest, and at the same time she curled her upper body and rolled her shoulders forward making her arms as long as they possibly could be. She pulled her cuffed hands under her butt and up her legs until her hands could have very easily been in the front, but she stopped when her feet got even with the her hands. She pulled the chain taunt enough for her to get her right foot between the bracelets. Within the steel bracelets Anna painfully twisted her wrists until she could get her fingers wrapped over the edge of the bracelets near the chain. With her body mostly balled up, Anna took a deep breath and with all her might tried to force her body straight with only the chain standing in her way.

The men thought they had seen what this woman could do, but the man in the foyer with his knee in Mike's back could see into the dining room and what he saw nearly made him wet his pants. Anna pulled her arms down as she pushed up with right leg. The man saw Anna go into full flex for the first time. Muscle rippled and swelled and flexed all along her body creating perfect shapes that he'd never seen equaled. Thick etched muscle seemed to double in size as she strained. Her clothes threatened to burst at the seams. Her face was red and contorted in effort and pain as her muscled continued to go bigger and harder and stronger. Anna's biceps kept flexing as she tried to pull her arms down. She began to shake with effort, and her muscles got more and more defined. The veins and arteries looked fat and angry as she flexed her body even more. He watched in awe. It was like muscle was simply being created through an act of her will.

He could hear a low growl coming from deep in this woman's chest. Her legs were flexing too, especially her calf muscles, but it was her arms and shoulders and back that seemed to be flexing like mad. The chain was still holding despite all of this. He'd seen men try and break the handcuff chain before and they'd held. This woman had been deadlocked by the handcuffs for a while and despite the muscle show he was pretty sure they were going to hold until he saw her shoulder blades inch closer together. Her flex got harder and tighter. The skin stretched and sank and wrapped around muscles bursting with power. Her flex went to a new level of thickness and anatomy chart definition. Even the smaller muscles flexed so hard and thick that they fought gain space under her copper skin.

"No fucking way", the man on Mike's back breathed.

"That's it Honey, you've got it stretched thin!", Mike yelled to his wife in excitement and anticipation. "You've almost got it! Just a little more!"

That was all Anna needed to hear. With a yell like a banshee, Anna pushed her muscles to their peak. Her heart felt like it was going to explode it worked so hard to pump blood and oxygen. Every synapse in her brain seemed like they fired at once, and every nerve in her body was on fire, and every muscle in her body flexed like she was trying to explode. Her anger and her fear and her love and desperation all exploded into one mind numbing flex, a moment where all of her hard, angular, jutting, bulging muscles were all working together and standing out like they were carved from perfection itself. The hardened steel chain couldn't take it any longer and it snapped with a deep sound of surrender. Anna jumped to her feet and darted further into the dining room out of view of the foyer.

The young man holding her husband had a gun, so Anna knew that she needed something more than just her hands. She had two semi-conscious men in the dining room to use as human shields, and she had one completely conscious one who had seen her break the cuffs. He'd reached for his gun as the chain had snapped, and he just about had the barrel clear when Anna made it to him. She grabbed his right arm with her left hand and held it so he couldn't pull it out anymore. She used her right arm to grab the front of his jeans and pulled him as hard as she could. He lost balance as she pulled him forward and he slammed into the dining room table. He did manage to draw his gun, but he didn't get a chance to turn and aim it at her. Anna leapt in the air, bringing both her legs up before she kicked them out as she came down, onto the man's back. He crashed down so hard that all for legs of the table shattered when he hit it. The table crashed down with him on top of it and Anna on top of him. She kicked the gun out of the way and turned to the young man, the one she'd kicked across the room. He was just starting to stir. She grabbed him by his neck and squeezed him hard enough to make him gurgle. She dragged within sight of the foyer and looked the man in the gun in the eye. "Let my husband go!" Anna's voice was strong and she saw the fear and uncertainty on the man's face. It was nice to see that look on their faces now.

The man looked over his shoulder out the front door, and Anna saw two shadows moving closer. She dragged the semi conscious young man back away from the door a bit as a man slowly walked into the doorway and stood there. He was in his late 50's and had the look of a man not to be trifled with. He must have been Jack, the one that these guys had been waiting on. He had a big Smith and Wesson in a holster on his belt and a bowie knife next to it. He was a serious looking man, but Anna couldn't afford to be afraid.

"You tell them to let my husband go! Or I'll rip this guy's fucking head off!!!"

The man in the doorway turned towards Anna and a look of confusion settled on his face. Then the other shadow's maker moved into view. It was Ethan. He looked over and said, "I've never heard her cuss before, Jack. You better do what she wants, or she'll do what she says."

"What rip a man's head off?"

"Hell his head and probably pull part of his spine out of his back for all I know. Look at her. Those biceps look hard enough to crack concrete and cut diamonds. See her wrists? You don't think those handcuffs came out of the box broken like that do you?"

"Well I'll be…" Jack shook his head and pointed at the man on Mike's back. "Herbie, let him up and cut him loose. Eli, Walter get over here." Anna watched as the men helped Mike to his feet and took off the cuffs. Then Jack turned to Anna. "And now young lady, I'd appreciate it if you'd let go of my son."

Anna was breathing heavily, scared, confused, and hurting but she let the young man go. He took his first deep breath in a while. Anna hurried over to her husband making sure he was okay.

"You all right, Stevie", Jack called out to his son. The young man nodded, but couldn't quite talk just yet.

"What's going on?", Anna asked Ethan. "We were just standing here when these guys attacked us."

"Anna, this is retired Sheriff Jack Waller and his guys. They've been trying to keep this area clear of creatures and people up to no good. They thought we were looters."

"Yeah, Ma'am, we weren't trying to hurt nobody, but we had to hold you to my Daddy got here", Stevie said with a raspier voice than usual.

"We aren't looters", Anna started calmly then her anger and frustration returned. "And will somebody take these damned things off of my wrists!"

Several grown men jumped at her words, and three sets of keys tried to unlock the bracelets at the same time. Jack smirked and spit some chaw out the door. "Like you said, better do what she wants." Anna rubbed her wrists as the cuffs came off. She'd bruised herself, but she'd managed not completely tear her skin off.

Jack shifted his gun belt and started out the door. "Any of you guys up for a beer after all this foolishness?"

Anna and Mike followed Jack and his boys down the quiet street heading. Every person was on edge looking for one of those creatures, but there wasn't one in sight. There were lookouts standing near a house. They seemed to relax when Jack and the other guys came into view. Each of the lookouts, even the married ones, took turns getting a good look at Anna. She saw their eyes on her, but as usual pretended not to notice. She followed Jack in the house. The sentries turned to find out if Mrs. Bernhardt looked as good going as she did coming. The sight of Anna going in the house was enough to give the semi-bored men something to keep their minds occupied while they searched every nook and cranny for zombies.

The air was stuffy in the house and stale. The windows had been covered over, and those inside were afraid to run the furnace or air conditioner because they feared the very air carried the disease that turned once loving people into undead flesh seeking creatures. Others hadn't bathed because they feared that the source of the disease was the water. They only knew that they were alive, but none of them knew for how long. People had sought out the no nonsense Jack and his family for protection and so far he'd given it to them. It hadn't been easy. Every night the zombies came in droves, the former family members of the people hiding in this house. During the day Jack and his boys hunted the creatures, but the night belonged to them. They came and came from sundown until sunup. As Anna and Mike walked through the house, they saw the results of the last night's battle.

In a separate room, a man lay propped up on a pallet on the floor wrapped in blankets and sweating profusely. His normally coffee colored skin had taken on a yellowish pallor and he shivered like a man alone in the cold. His eyes were closed, but his lips moved, saying barely audible words that only one person was meant to hear. Anna frowned as she looked into the room. She saw one of her students, Curtis Jones, sitting near his father. His afro was instantly identifiable. Anna could always see Curtis coming down the hall, usually with a big grin on his face, but now the boy had streaks of tears down his face and a pistol sitting on his lap.

Jack stopped once they passed the door, and he sighed. "One of those things bit Mr. Jones last night while he was manning the perimeter. He held 'em off long enough for some help to come, but it won't do him any good. I hate to lose him. He's a good man, and with him going, that only leaves us five guys with any combat experience. He was a machine gunner back in Korea. He knew how to lay down fields of fire. He kept a lot of people safe."

"What's Curtis doing?", Anna asked. The concern was plain on her face and in her voice.

Another sigh from Jack. "He's waiting. He and his father worked it out that as soon as he breathes his last natural breath, Curtis is going to put a shot through his father's forehead to keep him from becoming one of those things."

Anna gasped and put her hand to her mouth. She leaned back and looked at Curtis, who didn't even notice that she was out there. "That's so much to put on a young man", she said trying not to sob. "What if he can't do it? Lord knows I couldn't have."

Jack nodded. "One of the other boys will do what has to be done if Curtis can't pull the trigger." He paused and tried to clear his mind. "Come on let's go to the patio out back."

A few minutes later, the group of Jack, his son Stevie, Mike, Anna, Ethan, Herbie, and Eli were sitting around a table sharing ice cold beers and talking. Once they were out there, they found the source of the burning smell from earlier. The people had dug a pit and burned the bodies in it. It kept the zombie carcasses from piling up. The fire was just smoldering now, but they planned to add more bodies to it before tomorrow.

"So what the hell do you guys know about what's happening?" Ethan sat forward and explained it all from the beginning. He even told them that Anna was Shawnee and understood the song that the Mound Builders had put in his head.

"Damn I knew this shit was supernatural", Stevie said. His voice had returned to normal since he'd recovered from Anna's choke. He still hadn't quite gotten over being kicked in the back though. "You have to go down there?", he asked while looking directly into Anna's eyes.

"It's the only way. The song doesn't explain every detail, but it says that the curse must be choked off at its source, and the source is under ground." She sat her beer down and looked at Stevie's neck. "Speaking of choking, I'm sorry about the bruise" she apologized and finished the bottle.

Stevie laughed. "Better a bruise than my neck ending up like Eli's handcuffs. "When I heard that cuff chain snap. I about shit myself." The group laughed, but Stevie didn't seem to be phased. "I can't believe you did that. How in the hell did you break those cuffs like that?"

Anna smiled and opened another beer. Every eye at the table was on her and she let them wait while she took a long pull from the long neck bottle. "That's not the first time I've broken handcuffs believe it or not. It's not easy to do, but my father taught me a way that I'd be strong enough to use. One weekend we were in… well I won't tell you where, but we were in a town to pick up a load and had some time to kill. Dad found a poker game and won pretty big, like a month's worth of money in a day. We were tying to get out of town when the loser called the cops and said that he'd been robbed by a big Indian and his girl. The cops pulled up and put us on the ground and the whole nine yards. Neither one of us kept ID on us when we needed extra money, so they left us lying face down on the pavement while they called the station. You can't really run really quickly with your hands cuffed behind your back, so they weren't really worried about us getting away, but Daddy had the biggest meatiest shoulder's you've ever seen. He broke those cuffs from behind his back. He told me to roll over off my belly and do it the way you saw with my back, arms, and legs. He knew that those were my strongest muscles. After I broke the chain, I took off running one way, and Daddy ran the other way." Anna paused and laughed. "We had to sneak into the truck so we could pick up our load and get out of town. Needless to say we didn't do a return haul to that town again."

Anna laughed and finished her beer. "Thinking back on it, Daddy and me should have done a father daughter circus strongman act. He would have gotten a kick out of that."

"You already had a pretty interesting childhood, Mrs. Bernhardt", Jack said for the group.

"Yeah I did. It was just me and Daddy. All we had was each other, well and Ole Blue, our rig. We hauled everything from one end of the country to the other." Mike had learned more about his wife's past in the last two days than he'd learned since he'd met her. It didn't change the way he felt in the least, it did clarify some things. At least he understood now why couldn't read his wife's moods. She'd grown up with hustling people as a family side business.

"I wish I'd had a chance to have met your father. He seemed like a pretty cool guy."

"Oh Mike you two would have hit it off. You remind me of him", she said and kissed him quickly.

"Which part?"

Anna smiled broadly. "All the good parts."

"So", Jack began after a minute or two, "How are the rest of us going to get the hell out of the Glen after Miss Circus Strongwoman goes underground and does what she has to do?"

Ethan smiled and sat forward. "There're a couple of busses not far from my house on the other side of the Glen. We take out the seats, armor the things a little and we drive everybody out of here. It might take two trips now that we've got so many people, but hell that's a good problem to have. We can't go in personal cars. They'll swamp them."

"Yeah I know", Eli said. "I was near the tunnel trying to get out with me and my wife, but those things broke the windows and snatched people out of the cars while they were moving, or they climbed in and massacred them. I certainly agree that cars won't work."

"So it's the bus then", Jack said for the group. He looked out at the sky then over to Ethan. They shared a look that the two of them understood. Jack was tough and he was a man used to making hard choices, but he had the weight of 80 plus lives on his shoulders. So far he'd done well, but he was ready for help. "Do you think your house is more defensible than this location?"

Ethan looked around. "A hell of a lot more secure. All of these people can't fit in my house, but it doesn't matter. I have a house next to mine that's set up for refugees too. It's not as armored as my own house, but both houses sit in mutually supporting locations like an old star fortress. There's an outcropping of rock that separates that house's back yard from the others further down. I think with the group you've saved and the group that we've saved that we have enough to keep everybody alive and get us the hell out of this valley."

"I hope you're right, Mr. Chase. We're going to get the people here to load up while there's still time in the day."

Ethan grinned and held out his hand. "Welcome in."

Jack smiled back and shook Ethan's hand. He opened his mouth to say something when a single gunshot sounded from inside the house. Anna bowed her head and Mike put his arms around his wife's shoulders. "No son should ever have to do that", she whispered into her husband's ear. "We have to stop this. I… I have to stop this." Mike pulled his wife back and saw on her face that her lingering fear had hardened into resolve.

Ethan's voice was a little somber too as he stood up and put down his beer. "Like you said Jack, we better do this while we have time in the day."

Anna walked into the house and sought out Curtis. He stood in the hall with his head against the wall and the pistol still in his hand. Anna stood next to him. "That was a really brave thing you did", she told him.

"I've got nobody now. They got my mother the first day, and now they've taken my father too", the boy lamented, but didn't cry. Anna did cry. She reached out and pulled Curtis to her. She hugged him tightly and didn't try to stop her tears.

"My father died when I was 19. He'd always been healthy as a horse, but he got an infection that wouldn't go away. Back in those days respectable city trained doctors didn't go onto the reservation to treat people like us. He lingered for months in misery. I took a semester off from college to tend to him. We sang a song as he died, and I cried and I cried. He was all I had in the world at that time, and he left me, but I knew that I'd made him proud of me. I knew that he saw what a good job he'd done raising me, in his own unconventional way." She smiled through her tears.

"Your father's proud of you too Curtis. He raised a young man, and that's the best thing a father can do, turn a boy into a man. We're going to make it through this, Curtis. I promise you."

"Then what I am I going to do?"

She pulled him back. Their dark brown eyes met and Anna smiled at him. "You keep making your father proud." Now Curtis did cry. He cried on Anna's shoulder, and it didn't seem like it would stop. Anna knew that the tears would dry, but she didn't make any attempt to rush him along. She just let his head rest there while she held him like a distant cousin had held her when her father had died. Mike was standing behind his wife, with Jack and Ethan standing close by.

"Your wife's a special woman", Jack told Mike and slapped him on the back.

"Yeah", Mike said simply. "And I think she's finally starting to realize that too."

Anna, Mike, and Ethan helped organize and load people into vehicles so they could travel to the other side of the Glen into the empty house next door to Ethan's house. Some people had luggage while others had just the clothes on their backs. Some people, like Anna, brought their pictures and other family heirlooms with them. Mike was more impatient, but Anna understood the need to take bring these things along. Anna kept Curtis close by and busy. She didn't want him having a spare moment to dwell on his father's death. She worked him harder than some of the other people. She wanted him so exhausted that he'd fall asleep easily that night. There weren't many hitches in the move, or many frayed nerves because everybody was very motivated. Nobody wanted to be outside after dark.

Inside the safety of Ethan's armored home, things weren't so cohesive. Cindy had accepted the role of organizer. There were dozens of people living in a small space with limited resources. She'd enlisted Jimmy's help to make sure that all food and sanitary supplies weren't hoarded or wasted. Mary watched the children with Alex's help. Mary had been near her wits end with some of the children, some of whom were orphans now. Alex had stepped in to do anything she needed which was usually to talk to a child or two. She had organized garbage collection and removal. Willis was well on his way to finishing his miniature census. He was making a list of everybody in the house, all the confirmed dead, the probable dead, and the missing. Cindy was pretty proud that she'd been able to get this put together. She was working out in her head a good plan for evacuation order when some people started giving her resistance. One man was leading the burgeoning revolt.

"Mr. Robinson, you're going to have to sit down", Cindy said for the second time.

"I don't think I will, young lady. We've been listening to you and the other children tell us where to sit or stand or sleep. I for one am tired of it."

"I got my instructions from Mrs. Bernhardt and Mr. Chase. We have to all work together, sir. We can't afford to be a bunch of individuals now. We have to all do our part", Cindy reasoned, but Robinson was having none of it.

"We're all packed down here like sheep and you want me to feel all warm and fuzzy about listening to what you have to say."

Cindy sighed and tried to keep her cool. Her demeanor was all she had going for her. "What would you have us do? We have limits."

"Oh sure, you get to go use the facilities upstairs with the queen and her brood while the rest of us have cots down here!"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything. We're maximizing the room this house has to offer", Cindy said.

"Bullshit!", another man said from a few feet away. He too stood up and stepped closer to Cindy. She looked around for Jimmy, but he was nowhere to be found. This situation was quickly getting out of hand.

"I think we should all have a say in how we are warehoused in this place", Robinson continued. "You think you're supposed to be in charge because that woman Anna told us that you were going to organize us? Why should we listen to her or to you?"

"Most of us in here would be dead if it wasn't for Mrs. Bernhardt", Cindy yelled suddenly very angry. "She's earned the right!"

"Not from me she hasn't!", Robinson shot at Cindy who knew that she losing control of the situation quickly. She looked around hoping that someone would stand up for her, but no one did. Most of the people just looked on silently, some agreeing and others just watching.

"I think we're going to do as we see fit in this place", Robinson said.

"But sir, we can't all…"

"Is there a problem, Cindy?", Anna said as she came in from the garage with Mike. Ethan was next door helping the people get set up.

Mr. Robinson turned towards her and mock bowed. "Oh well if it isn't the queen and her royal consort! Have you come to give us more edicts?"

Mike tried to hurry past his wife to get at Robinson, but Anna held a hand to his chest. "Oh that's right royal consort. Do as you're told. But now we're all under her thumb just like you." Mike bristled and turned red, but he stood next to Anna. He'd let her handle it.

"What is your problem? Everybody's been pulling together and you want to stand out, why?", Anna asked in a weary voice.

"Because this isn't right. You talk about pulling together and all of this, and yet you and a small group of others tell the rest of us what to do. Just like now you're heading upstairs to sleep in a bed with a bathroom of your own and a nice soft mattress while the rest of us have the surplus army issue cots."

"So you're sore that I get to sleep in a bed?"

Robinson looked around the room and then back to her. "Yeah, I think that's a beginning."

"Nevermind the fact that we've been out here busting our humps trying to save people and facing down flesh eating undead, exhausting ourselves while you are here protected by walls of steel? You think you should have a bigger say despite all that. Is that about it?"

Mr. Robinson nodded. "This has come to a head and it needs to be resolved now. You are not fit to lead us no matter what mumbo-jumbo supernatural stuff that crazy Ethan is talking about. You're a woman, and we're fighting for our lives. We need somebody who can fight and kill those goddamned zombies and get us out of here!"

"Watch your language. There's children in here", Anna told him and he laughed.

"See what I mean? This is life or death do or die and it's just like a woman. She's worried about decorum and manners instead of how to keep us alive!"

"Mrs. Bernhardt's the best of us", a young man said as he entered the room with his younger sister. Eddie and Julie stood in front of the doorway to the kitchen. "If this is going to come down to a fight, Mrs. Bernhardt will be out front not because she wants to be, but because she needs to be."

"She saved my life all by herself!", Julie yelled loudly enough to be heard, her small voice cracking a couple of times in the process.

"My Mommy's a heroine!", another young voice shouted as he came from behind Eddie. Eyes got moist as the three of them spoke up for Anna. More people wanted to shout Robinson down, but they were afraid to. Most of them didn't have will left to resist, so they remained silent.

"Ohh isn't that touching", Robinson mocked. "They make you out like some sort of fucking knight!"

Anna looked at her son across the room then back to Robinson and blew air out of her nostrils. She was tired, frustrated, emotionally drained and wanted nothing more than to hug and kiss her son. This idiot was keeping her from doing that. She looked Robinson from head to toe. He was a little larger than average built, about six feet tall, with a hairline in slow retreat. He had the hints of a belly forming under his shirt and was somewhat fleshy, but by no means fat. While she looked at him, an idea popped into her head.

"I tell you what. We'll keep it simple. Let's arm wrestle for it. You win, you get to sleep wherever you want and do whatever you want. None of us will try and tell you or anybody agreeing with you what to do. If you lose, then you shut up and follow the program like everybody else. Fair enough?"

"Arm wrestling?"

"Yeah. I'm too tired to debate you, and you seem to think that someone stronger and more capable should be leading this group. Isn't that it?"

"That's right. A man who has the strength and drive to save us needs to lead this group." Robinson looked at Anna like she'd lost her last functioning brain cell. "Sure I'll arm wrestle you if that's the best way you can think to resolve this. I'll agree", he laughed and made his way towards the table. "It does seem a little juvenile to me though."

"A juvenile solution to a juvenile grievance seems fitting", Anna shot back and took a seat. She put her wiry arm on the table and wiggled her fingers. She looked strong for a woman, but no match at all for a grown man. Robinson wasn't built like a Greek god, but he looked stout enough. He casually put his longer and much thicker arm on the table. "Who are we going to get to start this thing? Not your husband."

"Pick anybody. I'm tired. I'm sore, and I'm ready to take a shower."

Robinson laughed. "You'll have to wait in line for a shower after this is over."

"Yeah. Whatever."

The first guy who'd spoken up for Robinson stood next to the table and made sure the grip was fair. Robinson squeezed her hand tightly as they took their grip causing Anna to momentarily wince, but she didn't complain. He looked across the table at her and couldn't keep the smirk from his face. Once the grip was set and the arms were even, the starter yelled, "Go!"

Robinson pushed down with a burst. His hairy arm tightened and he used all the quick twitch muscle fibers he had to slam this uppity bitch's arm to the table. He wanted to slam her hand so hard that he broke it. He couldn't stand her, and the way she thought she was in control. A man should be in control, but the crack pot Ethan had made it clear that even under his own roof he deferred. She might have him fooled, and her will might be strong, but not as strong as the power from a grown man's arm. He roared in anticipation of ending this contest, but it didn't end. With all of his instant power, he moved Anna's hand back about six inches before it stopped. Her arm was a few degrees off vertical and holding.

"That's one", Anna taunted across the table. Her eyes were locked on Robinson, while his head was pointed downward and his eyes were squeezed shut.

"What the hell?", Robinson grunted. He hadn't expected much resistance from this woman, or really any resistance at all. He gathered himself, taking two big deep breaths before pushing with renewed vigor and effort. His arms tightened and flexed. It was plain to see that his muscles were working hard and pumping out lots of power, but Anna's arm was holding steady.

"That's two", Anna said with obvious strain. "Tire yet? I don't think you have more than three of those in you. I've been outside fighting zombies and three guys at once. I'm bone tired and you can't even put my hand to the table."

"Fuck you", Robinson grunted.

"Hey!", Anna yelled loudly enough for the people in the back of the house to hear. Robinson's head shot up and his eyes met hers. "There're children in here. I'm already ticked off. Any more language like that, and I'll stop being nice."

Robinson frowned and glared. His arm shook as he kept up the pressure. "Fuck you, bitch!", he yelled even louder.

Anna's face blushed from anger and her lips curled into a snarl. Her eyes were locked on Robinson's face while every other eye in the place was locked in on Anna's arm. They saw the color leave her knuckles as she tightened her grip. Her forearm ceased to simply look hard. Tendons and muscles flexed and defined from her elbow to her wrist. They tightened like anacondas around prey. Her fingers closed a fraction of an inch compressing Robinson's hand until he grimaced from pain, but that was just the beginning. Above her elbow it looked like an explosion under her reddening skin. A thick hard hunk of female muscle was rising up higher and higher. A thick throbbing blue vein snaked over the jagged separated peak as smaller tributaries fed her growing biceps. Anna's arm transformed before everyone's eyes. Her shoulders defined into a tangle of flexing and writhing fingers of pure muscle as she threw herself into this. Robinson's arm started over. She pressed back to neutral and kept going.

Robinson took a quick sharp breath and growled as he threw everything he had at her. Her progress slowed as spit and sweat flew from Robinson's face. His entire body shook as he dug deep to keep from losing, but it was too late. His face turned beet red and then purple as he rose up out of his seat for leverage, using his body against Anna's unrelenting force. Anna's face twisted from the effort. Her breath came in short sucks and blows as she pressed Robinson's hand towards the table. It got even worse after his cheating. Anger washed through her body. Nothing had going right for her this day, and now this jerk wanted to cheat to win a simple game. Anna took a big chest filling breath and screamed as the explosion of muscle under Anna's skin became an atom bomb detonation. Her biceps shot up and flexed into a dual peaked mountain as every tiny vein, artery, and capillary pressed to the surface, forced by there by the surging growth of her entire upper arm. She hadn't planned to, but Anna slammed Anna Robinson's hand to the table so hard that he screamed in pain and the table top split from one side to the other. He clutched his arm and fell to the ground.

Anna stood up shaking her hand a little to get the blood flowing to her finger tips. She looked so strong and in control like it hadn't even been much of a challenge. She wasn't shouting or ranting or raving, she simply stepped around the cracked table and held out her hand to Robinson. His breath caught as he watched her hand extend towards him. He looked past her hand at her beautiful and noble face. In the instant that he was able to look at her before hanging his head, Robinson saw it all, the frustration and anger and pain. He saw the responsibility that rested on her, responsibilities for the lives of people that she hadn't even known. She and Mike were probably the only couple that was strong enough and brave enough and smart enough to get out of his Glen without anybody's help, but she hadn't left. She stayed here for everyone else, because with her strength and resolve Anna had chosen to help others at risk of her very life. Now she had to come to the relative safety of this house and deal with potentially destructive discord. Robinson realized that this woman was so much more than he'd ever be.

"I'm sorry", Robinson said as he reached up with his left hand to grab her right. He got a good look at the muscles in the arm that had defeated him as she stood firm and helped him to his feet.

"It's hard enough fighting those creatures", she began with brittle emotion in her voice. "We shouldn't fight each other."

"It won't happen again", Robinson assured Anna.

She sighed and looked twice as tired now as she had when she'd come in the door. She turned to Cindy. "Come get me if he gives you any more trouble."

"Oh there won't be any more trouble, Mrs. Bernhardt. I promise you", Robinson assured her, but Anna looked unconvinced. She cut her eyes at him before she started up the stairs. She patted Cindy on the shoulder and disappeared to the second floor. Cindy looked at Robinson then over towards the kitchen. "Oh Morris", she called out to the man heading in.

"Yo", the happy go lucky former short order cook called back.

"Mr. Robinson here has volunteered to take care of garbage duties."

Morris looked at the man favoring his right arm and knew that he hadn't volunteered for a damn thing, but he smiled at Cindy and said, "Sure tell him come on."

Robinson turned to Cindy with a frown. She gave him a smirk and crossed her arms across her chest. Mr. Robinson slumped his shoulders and turned towards the kitchen. Cindy watched him go with no small amount of satisfaction. Then she pointed at the man who'd agreed with him. "You. Yeah you, go help him." That man hung his head and shuffled off after Robinson. Cindy turned around so the rest of the people in the room wouldn't see the big smile on her face now that her authority had been restored.

Upstairs Anna closed her eyes and let the hot water of the shower pepper her face, wishing that all the problems she had would go down the drain along with the soap and dirt. Instead the problems stubbornly clung to the inside of her head. There were mindless flesh eating monsters outside the house and unproven untrustworthy humans inside the house, and yet Anna was supposed to save them. There were good people in there of course, most of the people were grateful and understanding of the situation, but there was tension. Anna was trying to escape her own thoughts when the shower door opened and Mike stepped in. He pressed his chest against her back and his crotch against her ass. He loved the feel her body against his.

"How you feeling, Honey?"

She spun to face him, Mike's arms encircling her still. "Better…now." She smiled thinly and let her head fall onto his chest.

"We can't fight them both", Anna told her husband after a few seconds to gather her thoughts. "I always thought that the creatures were the enemy, but now I'm not so sure. First Bruce tried to kill me, and now that Robinson guy is trying to ruin what little bit of safety Ethan and the rest of us are trying to make. I'm starting to think that the people might be a bigger threat than those horrible flesh eating zombies. We can't fight the creatures and look over our shoulders at the same time. Who can we trust?"

"Each other firstly", Mike replied as he gave his wife a comforting squeeze. "Like you said with your father, all we have is each other, you, me, and Alex. But we have Cindy, and Eddie, and Jimmy, and there are others. The rest of the people are just afraid, Anna. They're out of their element."

"And I'm not!", she shouted more strongly than she'd intended. "I was supposed to be teaching Bruce and Cindy and Curtis and the others about W.H. Auden today not fighting zombies!"

Her passion didn't startle Mike. He just smiled and held her head to his chest as the water rained down on them. "That's why people look up to you, and follow you."

"Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that might makes right, and I'm probably the only person here who can break handcuffs or split a tree in two?"

Mike chuckled. "That has something to do with it, physical strength is always impressive especially from someone who doesn't look as strong as you are, but it's more than that. After you'd shown that you were physically stronger than Robinson, you showed everybody that you're mentally and emotionally stronger than him too. That's just natural born leader stuff, Anna. That can't be taught." Mike finally took his arms from around her and grabbed up the soap. "Here let me get your back."

Mike was in the bed after the long shower. Anna stayed in the bathroom and came out after a while in a pink satin robe with her freshly brushed out hair draped over one shoulder. She breeze over to her son who had a serious expression on his young face and his pillow in his little hand. "Where you heading?", she asked her son. "Aren't you ready to go to sleep? It's getting late." He nodded. "Then where are you planning on going with your pillow?"

He sighed and shrugged his little shoulders. "Some of the other kids were afraid to sleep alone. Some of their parents aren't with them", he said, putting death in his own words. "I told them that I'd sleep there with them so they wouldn't have to be alone. If that's okay with you, Mommy?"

Anna looked over to Mike and then at Alex, smiling broadly. "It most certainly is. Just tell Mary and Eddie where you are."

"Okay, Mommy." He started towards the door. She stopped him. "And give your Mommy a kiss before you go." He turned and quickly kissed her on the cheek. In the next beat he was out the door. Anna watched the closed door for a few seconds before she turned back to her husband. "Well what do you think about that? Before all this stuff happened I had to convince Alex to stay in his own room and now he's doing this."

Mike had all sorts of things that he could have said, but instead he threw off the covers and jumped out of bed. He took Anna by the shoulders and stared into her eyes and then down her body. "You know this means that I get some alone time with my wife."

"You are so bad", she chided.

"And you are so beautiful. You're more beautiful today than the day I met you", he told her and kissed the soft skin of her neck and rubbed his hands over her.

"So does that mean that I was ugly when you met me or something?"

Mike pulled back and frowned. "Well of course not… I mean… Wait a minute. Didn't I say more beautiful?"

Anna grinned. "You sure did." She took his head and passionately pressed her lips to his. Mike lifted Anna's feet from the floor and they fell into the bed together. He untied her robe and threw it open. He took in every curve and rise and fall of her body glorious body. Her smiling eager eyes and the little smirk on her inviting lips, the elegant sweep of her neck to her broad sinuous shoulders, and her round supple breasts with her nipples standing erect like chocolate candies waiting to be sucked. Her stomach was always tight as her hips curved gently with her long strong legs beneath. Anna was a vision. She held her hands up for Mike to take them. He did and he laid down on top of her, feeling with his hands and body what his eyes had just seen. Her skin was so smooth and soft, and still moist from the shower. He ran his hands through her raven colored hair. "You are so wonderful", he told her softly.

She laid her head down on the bed and smiled. "I'm all yours. What are you going to do with me?"

Mike grabbed Anna's waist and pulled her body to him. He entered her with one long hard stroke causing her to arch her back and for an instant she flexed every muscle in her body. An wonderland of hard lands and grooves  appeared over her body under that soft copper skin of hers. Mike worked his hips fast. Anna worked hers too. Mike knew that he wouldn't last long at this pace, but he was bound and determined to get her off. As Mike worked his hips, he hit that spot. She squealed and Mike kept at it.

Downstairs Alex had settled onto a cot in the midst of children, most of them younger, some of them older. Many of them cried or had been crying recently. All of them were scared, but Mary with Alex's help had settled them down. As the children faded off into sleep one by one, Alex was awake, fighting sleep for the sake of a few children who couldn't keep their eyes closed. "Why won't anybody come in and get us?", a child who'd lost his father to a zombie asked out loud after asking himself internally for hours.

"I hope nobody does", Alex said calmly. "The monsters will be waiting on them if they come. And then who'll rescue them?"

The officials holding vigil outside the blocked entrance of the Glen heard a welcomed sound on the horizon as a Huey came closer. The pilot had been held up for a while, and the sun had gone down hours ago, but there was no time to waste. They sent him in. He flew over the hills and did a couple of passes over the Glen. The pilot and his cohorts reported what they saw.

"Most of the structures are intact. I see a few houses with fire damage, some of it is extensive. I see the telephone junction building and there's fire damage too. It looks like a car hit it."

"What about people? Do you see any people?"

"We don't see any angry mobs roaming around, if that's what you mean", the pilot reported. "Many of the street lamps are on, but some of them are malfunctioning or the bulbs are blown. Wait a minute. I think I see someone in the middle of a street. He's waving his arms. I can't tell from this altitude, but I think he's trying to get us to pick him up."

"Well, we do need answers, but be advised that once you get below the level of the hills, our radio contact will be spotty. And keep your masks on in case there is an unknown pathogen loose down there."

"Acknowledged." The chopper took a slow loop and lowered towards an opening near the man in the middle of the street. He was a young man perhaps high school age. His face was slightly purple and swollen like he'd been hit in the face. There was a trail of dried blood running under the shirt he was wearing. He smiled despite his swollen face and quickly ran towards the chopper.

"That'll be close enough!", the flight engineer shouted after sliding the rear door open a little. "What's your name son?"

"Bruce!", the boy yelled to them.

He was on the co-pilot's side of the chopper so he had an unobstructed view and that young man had a strange look on his face. His eyes were wild and unfocused like he was hopped on some sort of drug, but he wasn't twitchy or showing signs of hallucination. "What's going on down here in the Glen?", the co-pilot asked.

"It's the end of humanity, sir!", Bruce replied calmly.

"What? Son, you sound ill… in the head. Come with us so we can get you help", the co-pilot urged, but the boy backed away. The man didn't give up. "You waved us down here. You must know that you need help. Come on and go with us."

Bruce stood directly under a street lamp, its light making him look like a specter or ghost. He raised his head slowly and the sinister smile made the doomed chopper crew flinch. "I didn't wave you down so I could leave. I did it to deliver you to them. They must feed so they can grow stronger."

A wave of dark shapes came from the shadows to the left of the chopper and from behind it. The crew looked at the crazy young man and never saw them approaching. Their shuffling uneven gate quickened in the dark. Their senses smelled only the blood and heard only the beating of live hearts. There was a knocking on the side of the chopper. The pilot turned to his left and saw a corpse staring back at him through the window, sunken dead eyes. The dry rotting flesh clinging to his arm slapped against the window as its fists beat on the glass. Others came behind him, women and men and children and the old. They moved with purpose, to feed. The pilot began to shake and he reached for the switch to spin up the motors. The flight engineer tried to close the door, but they'd come from where he couldn't see. He used all his strength to shut the sliding door, but fingers from a dozen undead hands impeded him. He scrambled back as the door slid open. Their hands reached for him, and their mouths awaited his flesh.

The pilot worked the switches as the blades of the Huey began to turn. He heard a gurgling scream from over his shoulder and the crunch and tears of meat being torn from a still living body. There was a gunshot now that got lost in the sea of undead. The door was forced open and the co-pilot carried off and dismembered hand by hand and mouth by mouth. The engine wined to life as the pilot throttled up, but a hand reached for his throat and another pulled at his leg and another pulled at his arm. Pain shot threw him as teeth sunk into his leg, and more sunk into his shoulder. The hand around his neck curled into a claw and tore the flesh away. Blood, his blood sprayed the glass and the instruments. His hand left the stick and went to the wound as more skin and muscle was chewed and torn. He tried to yell, but there was no sound coming from him. He only heard the gnashing of hundreds of hungry teeth and the chop-chop-chop as the twin blades turned slowly while he died.

Bruce watched on as the horde of zombies fed, but three men would barely whet their appetites, hardly satiate them. They would need more before the night was over, but he knew where there were a few families huddled together. That would probably do for the night. The sea of dead followed the smell of Bruce's blood and the sound of his heart as he led them towards the unsuspecting families hiding in tightly closed up house. The zombies would get in, of course, and Bruce would live for another night. While he lived, he would plot and think because tomorrow he would lead the zombies to the ultimate prize inside the Glen. The balance of the living were fortified in the southern part of the valley with Mrs. Bernhardt as their leader. Bruce smiled as he thought about tomorrow. He had something planned for all of them, and something very special planned for Mrs. Bernhardt. He could hardly wait.

....Part two of the conclusion coming very soon...

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