SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

93

ROBIN

"Robin," a voice whispered. "Robin, wake up."

Robin groaned, roused awake in a dark, chilly room by someone shaking her by the shoulders. A thunderstorm boomed outside. The weather sounded wicked. One more reason to stay in bed.

Cramped muscles between her shoulder blades ached. She groaned again, louder, and stretched it out.

"Ugh, Lori? It's still dark. What time is it?" she mumbled.

The shadowy figure standing over her bed folded her arms. "I'm not your wife. It's me, Danielle."

Robin blinked away the sleep from her eyes. Gradually, she picked out the teenager's shape in the dim light. As Dani came into focus, so too did other details. She remembered that Lori was gone. The bed they shared was gone. The home they shared was gone.

The world they shared was gone.

Robin sat up, tucking her wool blanket against her shoulders to fend off the cold. She looked around, allowing reality to trickle in a little bit at a time. The uncomfortable bunk she spent the night in was one of many filling up the frigid Fort Independence dormitory. A single candle flickering in the corner illuminated others snoring away the sporadic thunderclaps outside.

"Danielle?" she yawned. "Uh, what time is it?"

Danielle shrugged. "It's after sunrise. The colonel wants everyone who can shoot straight to meet in the courtyard to help clear out the dead."

"Uh-huh." Robin slipped her legs out of bed, wincing at the cold floor on her bare feet. "So I guess that means they made it back safely then?"

"Late last night. They snuck back in while the zombies were preoccupied."

"Preoccupied with what?" Robin grunted as another boom echoed outside the walls. Now that she was awake, it sounded anything but natural. "What was that?"

"Homemade fireworks. Once it got too dark to see, they'd send off a rocket over the parking lot to give the zombies something to chase," Dani replied. "Milton's idea."

Robin reached under her bunk for her boots. She pulled her socks from them and finished getting dressed. "Noisy. I must've been wiped out if I slept through that."

"Causing a racket wouldn't have been my first choice, but I suppose it's all right now that they fixed the barricade. It's working, anyway. They managed to herd all the zombies to the far end of the parking lot."

Robin tied her bootlaces. "So what's the plan now? Are we back to shooting them from the wall?"

"I don't know. They'll fill us in once we get out there."

She stood and grabbed her coat from the bottom of the bed. "Okay. Ready when you are. What's first? The armory?"

"Is there anyone else we need to get? Charlie's still in recovery and mom's working. What about Drew?"

Robin chuckled. "Drew? I love the big lug, but he can't shoot straight to save his soul. He'd be more apt to shoot himself or one of us than the zombies."

"Okay, then. Looks like it's just us. Let's grab our guns and meet up with the others."

Robin finished getting dressed for the cold and joined Danielle on the short walk to Castle's armory. The route passed through many other darkened bunkrooms, full of people tossing and turning in their beds as they struggled to sleep through the pounding outside. The pair passed by silently, trying not to disturb them.

Not everyone bothered to show the same respect. Footsteps clapped behind them from someone rushing to catch up. Robin peered over her shoulder to find an unexpected face smiling back.