Bette walked near the infected, searching beyond them.  “What the fuck are you things doing now?” She spoke to them, brandishing a handgun. “Are you sneaking up on us? Is that your plan?” She leveled the gun as she spoke. One of the things smiled at her and raised his middle finger.

BANG!  The bullet tore through the thing’s finger and took off half his head. He slumped forward on the fence.

“Fucksake, fucksake, fuck!” Kit appeared behind her cousin. They shot the others quickly, before moving to the front lines where at least twenty of the infected were also tangled and mangled in the barbed wire.

One was still alive.

They all tilted their heads to the side and looked her over. “Isn’t that the producer of that soap opera, remember that one?” Dylan asked Leigh. “The one about the rich lesbians in Los Angeles.”

Leigh nodded. “I hate that woman. Let me…” But Jenny came up behind her and knocked the gun upward.

“She’s mine.” Jenny growled. Her hunting knife whizzed through the air. The producer was no more.

Catherine was breathless, running to meet them. “Those fuckers planned this. They saw us coming and they waited until there were enough to them to attack.”

“That’s fucking crazy and impossible.” Alice and Lara approached hand in hand.  “Those things don’t have brains.”

“Then why is shooting them in the head the only way to kill them?” Lara was confused.

“Because…because…well they can’t TALK, Lara, so…you know…” Alice was also becoming confused.

“Well that could just mean that they don’t have tongues.” Lara looked into space as she spoke.  “They groan and moan because they don’t have tongues.”

“But why do they just walk around slowly and sort of…” Alice poked a zombie with her gun, searching it for signs of brain activity. “sort of, you know, bang on things and pick things up and walk around with random things.”

“Hey! Earth to Alice and Lara, we have other things to think about. Now we have got to KEEP THE FUCKING NOISE DOWN!” Bette’s shouting finally quieted the camp site. They had grown complacent and now shit was beginning to happen around them. They still had to be careful. “Now listen up! We have got to stay on our toes. Half sleep while the other half guards. No parties, no stereos, and no strip poker!” Kit whispered something to her. “And no strip gin rummy either!” Kit whispered something else. Bette looked incredulous. She opened her mouth to speak, shut it, looked at Kit, and tried again. “And…no…NO KILLING PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE they can’t rap…” She trailed off quietly at the end of this last instruction, and walked away, shaking her head.