Bark exploded from the side of the tree that I had ducked behind and I thrust my arm out, firing blindly towards the mercenaries position. I didn’t expect to hit him but to keep his head down as the acolyte ran on.
I ducked around the other side of the tree and ran at the mercenary from the opposite side as the Acolyte. A gun fired and the acolyte went down. I pushed through the thick bushes, snow flying into the air and fired wildly at the shape before me.
Blood sprayed over me and I stood, stock still, surprised, as I stared at the woman in shock. Her lips twisted into a smile, breath misting before her as she tried to speak. I hesitated, gun half raised as I considered shooting her again, and then she dropped the rifle she had used to kill so many of my people.
“Y-y-you. W-w-in.” she managed as she clawed at a pocket of her fatigues.
Her fingers found the way inside and she pulled her hand out with a small black device, much like a key-fob for a car. I didn’t know what it would do but I guessed it wouldn’t be good, so kicked out at her hand.
Too late, though, as her finger pressed down on the button. Her eyes rolled back and a last gasp escaped her as she hit the ground hard, body shaking. Realisation came to me and I raised my gun and fired, the bullet entering her skull.
She stopped moving and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. Aside from all of those that she had killed, of course. Someone would need to stop them from reanimating and I guessed that would be me.
I pulled free my knife and went to check on the closest acolyte. He was dead, a bullet having hit his throat. I slammed my blade into his skull and moved on. There were many more to kill.
One of the acolytes was still alive and I pulled a bandage from a pocket of my coat and quickly did the best I could to stop the bleeding. Slipping one arm beneath her waist, I hauled her to her feet and, slowly, we made our way down the hill.
Several of the bodies had begun to rise by the time we reached the road and I slipped my knife into its sheath and pulled free my sidearm. Taking careful aim, I finished them off from a distance, moving slowly and making sure I took my time.
When they were all done, I let the acolyte slump down beside the truck as I went in search of the radio. It was lying in the snow beside the body of the sergeant and I reached for it, pressing the button on the side as it burst to life.
“-Down, Jamie’s down. Goddamit, someone shoot that fucking thing!”
I stared at the radio in surprise.
“Anyone see it? Bastards moving fast.”
“What the fuck is that thing?”
“I see it, someone get-“
The last voice cut off with a scream of pain and my head jerked towards the south-west where the medical centre was.
There was the faint sound of gunfire and I let out a groan. The prisoner was there. A prisoner with a black disc attached to his chest. The same type of disc that Ryan had activated remotely in the bunker.
My mind flashed back to the button the mercenary had pressed just before I’d killed her and I began to swear. One final little petty act of defiance, activating the prisoner’s disc and turning him into a zombie.
I was still cursing her when the first of the trucks loaded with CDF soldiers rolled up.
Chapter 24
The boat was more of a tug than anything else. It was barely large enough for all of my minions to crowd on deck, especially since they seemed to feel the need to keep a wide berth around Briony.
On her command, her people had set off swimming as we boarded the boat. I checked my weapons and counted the seconds until the engine started and we set off.
It was a less than pleasant journey, the boat bobbing up and down in the waves and visibility low due to the damned snowstorm. Added to that was the expectation that at any moment we would be fired upon, leaving a feeling of tension that I could have reached out and cut.
The plan was a simple one. Get aboard, kill everyone and then destroy the ship as we escaped. Sometime before then, I would kill, Briony. I watched her from the corner of my eye and smiled as I pictured my blade ending her life.
I had a restless energy as the adrenaline rushed through my body. I wanted oh so very badly to kill someone. More than that though, I wanted it to be challenging. I wanted to feel as though I were in danger of dying.
There was a growing need for me to lay waste to everyone around me and sit on a throne, above a mountain of bones and know that I had finally sated that desperate need for murder that I carried within me.
To finally feel something close to being at peace.
It wouldn’t happen. I was as addicted to murder as that first junkie I had killed was addicted to heroin. I had chosen to kill him because he was a junkie and of little worth to society.
The irony of that didn’t escape me.
An enormous shape loomed out of the gloom, the falling snow dancing on the winds as they brushed around the tankers hull. Distant shouts could be heard and the staccato burst of gunfire. I grinned, knowing that the fight was underway.
Our little boat bumped against the hull and rocked back, sending many of the minions stumbling. One grabbed a rope we had prepared earlier and as our pilot kept the boat as steady as she could, he loosened several feet of rope and began to spin it before throwing it up and over the railing that ran around the deck of the tanker.
The improvised grapple, made of iron hooks, latched in place and with a tug, the minion gestured that it was secure. A second was thrown as the first was tied to the railing of our little boat. Another minion, this one a whip-thin youth, grasped the rope in both hands and began to climb.
Another rope trailed behind him, that one connected to a rope ladder that we had liberated from another boat in the dockyard. When he reached the top, he hauled the ladder up the rest of the way and secured it. Then my minions began to climb.
A particularly violent wave hit the boat, sending it crashing against the hull of the larger ship. The minion holding onto the snow-slickened ladder lost his grip and fell. He landed with a splash between the two hulls and disappeared beneath the water.
“Keep climbing,” I ordered.
Some of the minions turned to look my way but they understood the rules as well as any. If someone died, we didn’t waste our time but continued on. And you could be sure that anyone who fell into that freezing water would not last long, especially if he tried to swim up between the two hulls.
“After you,” I said to Briony when it was our turn.
She hissed quietly but reached for the rungs of the ladder. She scurried up far faster than any person had a right to and it showed just once more, how different she was. I followed after her, a little slower, taking care not to end up like the hapless minion that had fallen.
I grasped the railing to pull myself up and felt overlong fingers circle my wrist. My head shot up, glaring at the grinning face of the Infected.
“Let us help you,” she whispered as she pulled me with a surprising amount of strength, up and over the railing.
My glare faded as she released my wrist and I rubbed at it absently as I watched her. A smart mind indeed. She had just given me a reminder of how strong she was and I was sure it was done on purpose. A warning that she would be no easy kill should I betray her.
The gunfire had died down and I gestured for my minions to go on ahead. They raced off, soon becoming dark splotches in the snow storm. I followed a little slower, my need to kill tempered by my desire to not stray too far from Briony.
“That’s a fucking Sea King,” Isaac said as we approached the helicopter. “Those bloody things can hold twenty passengers.”
“We’ll have more than a few enemies here then,” I agreed and then stopped and turned to him. “Do you know how to fly it?”
“I’m no pilot but I know the basics.”
“See if you can get it ready then,” I said with a smile as a new plan began to take shape. “Gregg can stay with you.”
“What! Why mate?”
“Beca
use we might need to leave in a hurry,” I said with a shrug and a sideways flick of my eye towards Briony. “And it beats swimming home.”
The helicopter was huge, larger than the one that Gregg and I had flown in towards the first ship out in a storm not dissimilar to the one that we were in right then. Painted slate grey, with a flattened nose and twenty odd meters in length, it certainly seemed formidable.
I left the two men arguing quietly, pleased that I had ensured my friend would at least survive. As I watched Briony once more, I felt a quickening in my blood as the realisation that I might not, occurred to me.
It was beyond thrilling and I had to force myself to breathe normally.
A short distance beyond the helicopter pad, we found the first body. A Genpact mercenary by the look, wearing full body-armour over grey fatigues and a heavy coat. His throat had been ripped out, assault rifle left lying on the deck.
There was no damage to the skull that I could see but he had not reanimated. His eyes stared up at the sky as the blood slowly spread beneath him. It seemed that I was right and the two parasites had either destroyed each other or were stalemated as they battled for control.
Even so, I jammed my blade into his skull just to be sure.
“You do not want the gun?” Briony asked as I moved on past the dead man.
“No.”
I knew that answer would likely frustrate her and I smiled, hurrying my steps as more bodies began to appear out of the storm.
Two of Briony’s, judging by the lack of protective clothing and the ice clinging to their bodies. The bullet holes in their heads were a good indicator too.
We pushed on towards the control tower, headed for the bulkhead door that led inside. I grabbed the handle and pulled, grunting at the weight as the wind pushed against it. I gestured for Briony to lead the way and followed her in.
With my knives in hand, we moved along the corridor, following the sounds of gunfire and stepping over the bodies that littered the floor. The stench of gunpowder filled the air along with a haze of smoke.
Several of my minions were down and more of Briony’s people. The mercenaries were retreating, corridor by corridor, using their assault rifles to good effect. Here and there we found a dead merc, but the majority of the bodies were ours and I wondered if I had miscalculated.
Briony’s hand shot out, grabbing me and pulling me back as a burst of gunfire filled the adjoining corridor. A high-pitched shriek sounded and a brief smile touched Briony’s face.
“Come,” she said. “The battle line is near.”
I scowled at her giving me instructions but followed her anyway, moving slowly, well aware that she would make a useful shield should anyone fire upon us.
One of her people was feeding on a mercenary and she hissed at him as we passed. He leapt to his feet and ran ahead, blood coating his face and hands.
We arrived at the control room as the last of the mercenaries died and I pouted a little, as I realised that I had missed most of the fighting by babysitting, Briony. Thirteen of my own minions remained and only three of Briony’s.
I surveyed the large room for a moment before I grinned and called out loudly to my minions.
“Kill the Infected now.”
Chapter 25
She lashed out with one hand and I blocked it with my left, striking at her with the blade I held in my right. Briony hissed at me, as she jerked her head to one side and leapt back, long-fingered hand lashing out, tearing through the soft flesh of one of my minion’s throat.
The others, obeyed my order and leapt on the few remaining Infected, knives rising and falling as they delivered a final death.
“Just you now,” I said with a grin.
My minions turned from the bloody remnants of the Infected and I let out a laugh. She had nowhere to go and I could take my time in finding the most fun way to kill her.
Briony hissed once more, the sound like that of a snake and then turned, running straight towards the control consoles. She leapt, crashing through the glass windows and dropping out of sight.
I stared after her with an open mouth.
“Well… that was unexpected.” I looked at the minions, standing there confused. “Well? Go after her!”
Most ran for the doors while a couple attempted to climb through the broken window. While it wasn’t a sheer drop to the deck below, it wasn’t an easy climb down at the best of times. In the middle of a snowstorm it could only be foolishly dangerous.
I made my own leisurely way down the stairs. I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t flee far. She still needed the information I had, and I’d seen her strength. She’d just ripped a man's throat out without even seeming to try.
No, she would find a battleground more to her liking and take out my minions before finding a way to make me talk. It would just about make up for my missing out on killing the mercenaries, I reasoned.
As I walked down the corridor to the bulkhead door that led outside, I paused and picked up the assault rifle that had been dropped by a mercenary as he died. It seemed simple enough to use and looked much like the ones I had used before.
I made sure the safety catch was off and cradled it in my arms as I pushed open the door and stepped out into the storm.
A scream sounded above me and a black-garbed body hit the deck with a thump. I looked up in time to leap forward, dropping into a roll and coming up with assault rifle raised. Briony hit the deck where I had been standing.
Her coat had been cast aside and I saw the changes that had been wrought by her infection. The way her torso had lengthened, the black veins that ran across her grey skin. She held her arms outstretched, mouth opening wide as she howled her rage at my betrayal.
I pulled the trigger.
The bullets peppered her torso and she staggered back, seeming to hold herself upright by force of will as I emptied the entire clip into her.
“Should have aimed for our head,” she said and laughed, mockingly.
I tossed the gun to one side and pulled out my knives. A headshot probably wouldn’t have worked and besides, the germ of a plan that had been forming had blossomed into something truly exciting and I had no intention of killing her straight away.
She leapt at me, hands flashing out as I ducked, dropping to the deck and rolling away, coming back up to my feet as she flew past me. I lashed out, blades cutting deep and yet still she laughed.
“We cannot die.”
Briony threw a punch, and my arm came up, brushing it aside. It felt like hitting concrete and I grunted at the burst of pain in my forearm. I ducked the next blow, booted foot kicking out. Knee, hip and then stomach, three quick blows that had her stagger back, just a little.
The blood had stopped flowing from the bullet wounds and I swore as I danced back, away from another wild swing. I’d hoped she would bleed for longer, weakening her. As it was, she was still way too strong for me to risk rushing in.
My only advantage was the months of almost constant training in anything combat related. She had power, yes, but she was still a research scientist and not a fighter. I, well, I was a killer and a damned good one.
A minion ran in, knife raised, and she batted her aside without even turning her attention away from me. Even I could admit that was quite impressive.
The deck was slick with snow and ice and I wasn’t entirely sure of my footing as I rushed in, spinning away at the last moment to avoid her punch and slamming my knives into her back. Which was when my footing gave way and I ended up sliding across the deck without my weapons.
“We will enjoy turning you,” she said as she approached and I realised that I had miscalculated.
She couldn’t kill me, because she needed the information that I had but she could make me one of her infected slaves, which would not be something I would enjoy. I didn’t very much like taking orders at the best of times.
I scrambled to my feet and set off running towards the helicopter as more of my minions raced to join the fight. I let them
distract her long enough to get to Gregg and Isaac.
“The hell’s going on?” Isaac snapped as I came running up. “What’ve you done, Clever Bastard?”
“It’s under control,” I snapped as I slid to a stop. “But I need a knife. Now!”
Gregg pulled his free and handed it to me just as Briony came bounding up. She leapt a good seven feet and then howled as I ducked low but thrust the knife up high. Blood sprayed across the deck as she came crashing down and I spun to face her.
“Surely that’s enough to keep you down,” I said as she struggled to rise.
Briony was doing the best she could to push together the two sides of the deep gash that ran the length of her abdomen. She hissed and swiped at me with one hand as the fingers of the other sank deep into her own flesh, holding both sides together.
I grinned as I approached her, keeping her attention on me. That way she didn’t see Isaac creeping up behind her with his heavy mallet held in both hands. He swung it high and brought it crashing down on her skull.
Bone cracked and she slumped to the deck. I took a step forward, raising one hand to forestall another blow. I stared at her intently, concerned that he might have actually killed her and then her eyelid twitched and I released the breath I had been holding.
“Find some way to secure her,” I said and the two men stared at me as though I were mad.
I almost sighed as I realised that they couldn’t see the potential. The Genpact bunker was in the heart of a city. It would have been a monumental task to build it but they had the wealth and resources to accomplish it.
More than that, with a city full of zombies above them, they were safe from prying eyes. Unless those eyes came attached to an Infected. A new type of zombie that the others feared, that they would shy away from.
With her at my side, I could walk through that city right up to the bunker’s gates. Once there, I could make my way inside and kill each and every one of those people that had threatened my family.
“How many of my minions remain?”
“A handful, why?”
“We’re going to use her to get us close to the Genpact bunker. Then, when she is no use, I will kill her.”
Killing the Dead Season 3 Box Set | Books 13-18 Page 82
