Killing The Dead (Book 18): Sacrifice

by Murray, Richard

  A passing patrol, alerted by their screams, had rushed into the house and found them both. It had been a short and brutal scuffle, but the older couple had died for a second time. Not before waking up half the street though.

  So, not only did I had to read the report of what had happened, but I had also had to help the district leader calm a street full of frightened people. It had not been easy, and I had been left with a headache.

  On top of that, I had taken meetings with the islands quartermaster about the state of our winter larder and with the head of the fishing fleet who had told me quite firmly, that they wouldn’t be outfitting the newer boats we had found with green crews in the middle of winter, no matter how urgent our need for food.

  I could understand why, it was dangerous at the best of times, but with people who were only barely trained and those that had likely never been on a fishing boat in their lives, it was damned near lethal.

  As a concession, he had allowed that he would start training more people along with giving a crash course in shore fishing, which would help a little.

  Next had come the meeting with the Admirals staff on the proposed fortifications. We had a fleet bearing down upon us and since we had bugger all chance of defeating them at sea, we would be forced to hunker down and prepare for a long siege.

  On the plus side, it had been pleasant to see the warehouses that were being converted into large grow houses. The first seeds had been planted and while they wouldn’t be of use to us before the siege began in earnest, they would be something for our future.

  A way for us to grow and move beyond just surviving.

  The guards at my door moved aside without a word and one of the black-garbed acolytes held open the door for me. I gave them a weary smile of thanks and went into my apartment, ready to see my babies.

  “Sit down,” Evie said as soon as I was through the door. “Your dinner is heating and there’s a glass of wine waiting.”

  “Thank you. The twins?”

  “Sleeping but due for a feed in about half an hour so you can let them sleep until then and have a rest yourself.”

  I nodded wearily in reply to that and headed straight for the sofa, dropping into it with a heavy sigh. My head fell back against the cushion and I just sat for a moment, appreciating being off my feet.

  “Shoes off,” Evie said sharply, and I looked up, giving her a bemused smile. “C’mon now, you weren’t raised in a barn. Act like it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Sorry,” she said, a little sheepishly as she moderated her tone. “I get a bit bossy sometimes.”

  When she’s worried, I thought, my smile fading away.

  It was easy to see why she was worried. The tall and quite beautiful woman with dark hair that always appeared glossy and an intelligence that was, quite frankly, intimidating, was Ryan’s brother. She knew who and what he was and while there had been some pain recently, she was moving past it.

  She’d reconnected with him. It was in its infancy, but there was the definite beginning of a real relationship of sorts between them. When he had gone away, it had been for a short mission. No one had really expected him to take off to bloody London.

  It wouldn’t have been a problem ordinarily. Sure, we would have been annoyed, but the original plan had been to send our armed forces and Ryan’s own cult to a staging area outside of London as a show of force to Genpact.

  With the approaching pirate fleet, that wasn’t going to happen which meant my beloved and one of my closest friends were on their own in a city of millions. They would face zombies and mercenaries, not to mention the new horrors that Genpact had created.

  Evie was battling with facing the loss of another brother and to be honest, I wasn’t sure how well she would take that. Not so soon after reconnecting.

  I pulled my boots off and deposited them messily beside the sofa and then peeled off my coat and gloves, thankful for the electric boiler that ensured the radiators were warm day and night. Evie took the clothes and boots and marched, stiff-backed across the apartment to place them by the door.

  “How’s Lucas?”

  “With his grandma,” Evie said, a smile touching her lips for a moment. “I thought it best that he spend the night there so that he doesn’t have to deal with me being all worried and grumpy.”

  “So, I get to?” I asked with a smile that she returned.

  “Afraid so.”

  I didn’t mind, in truth. The company was nice to have, and I liked her. We’d become close since I had the twins and while her strained relationship with her brother had made that a little awkward, she had never resented me for being part of his life.

  “So,” she said, settling down beside me and reaching for her own glass of white wine. “How was your day?”

  It was there on the edge of her voice, a hesitation at the end of her sentence. She wanted to ask if I had heard from Ryan but couldn’t, as she didn’t want to upset me or seem too eager to know.

  “The day was long and very boring.” I shifted my gaze from hers as I added, “and I haven’t heard from Ryan either.”

  “No?”

  “No.” I reached for the wine she had poured for me and lifted it carefully before inhaling the sharp aroma. “He’s probably having the time of his life.”

  “Probably.”

  “In other news,” I said, shifting the topic not so subtly. “I haven’t had an update on the approaching fleet which is good. It means they haven’t reached the channel yet.”

  That was understandable. The last communication we had had from Commander Lowery, who was keeping watch from beneath the waves in his submarine, was that it would be approximately two weeks for the fleet to reach the channel.

  We’d received that news barely two days before which still gave us plenty of time to prepare as best we could. If the fleet went east along the channel, we would have even more time. If they decided to follow the coast north towards the Irish Sea, then we were in trouble.

  Either way, we had a couple of weeks before we would know and that wasn’t near enough time to prepare.

  “Pirates,” Evie mused. “I mean, it’s human nature to form groups and times of trouble bring out the worst in people, but six hundred or so people who are happy raping and killing their way around the world? It beggars belief.”

  “Yah, I’d always looked for the best in people. If the apocalypse is good for one thing, that’s taking the blinders off and revealing people for who they are.”

  Like a serial killer who had become my protector and the absolute love of my life as well as the father of my children. Everything I had known or thought I’d known before the world fell had told me that would be impossible.

  Killers were evil, the worst of the worst and would prey on anyone. They had never really been shown as actual real people who could be kind and decent too. It was a strange thing to realise that for all his murderous ways, Ryan was just a person like any other. Capable of being good.

  “I haven’t seen Samuel today?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts. “He left a few hours ago with a complement of troops.”

  “Where to?” She immediately held up her hands, palms out towards me. “No, sorry. Forget I asked. I know it’s confidential.”

  “Not really,” I said. “We aren’t going to broadcast it but it’s no secret. He’s headed to Moray. There’s an RAF barracks there and it’s close enough to the coast that we should be able to get to it without losing any of our people.”

  “I hope they find what they need there.”

  So did I, but if they didn’t, there were two more groups headed to two other bases in Scotland and if they came up short, we would start looking at England too. We’d find the ordinance we needed to protect the island. We had no choice, not really. We needed it.

  “What-“

  She cut off as a knock sounded at the door and one of the acolytes pushed it far enough open to stick his head through.

  “A
pologies. A visitor.”

  At least he hadn’t tried to use the title they had chosen for me. I might finally be getting through to them.

  “Who?”

  “Me,” Shepherd said, pushing past the acolyte with a dismissive glance. “We have a problem.”

  “When don’t we?”

  “Funny,” she said, looking around. “Nice place. Good to be the boss, huh?”

  “What’s the problem?” I asked the older woman.

  She had a natural tendency to look like she was angry, so when she was actually angry, there was no hiding it and from the expression she wore, she was furious.

  “Turn on your TV.”

  “Why? It doesn’t work.”

  “It didn’t.”

  She crossed the room to where the flat screen TV had sat untouched since we moved into the building and she flicked the power on. It took only a moment to flicker to life and much to my surprise, there was a broadcast being received.

  I leant forward, staring at the screen as the image began to play. My mouth hung open and I turned to stare at an equally startled Evie who looked back at me, astonishment quickly turning to fear.

  “The whole island’s seeing this,” Shepherd said. “Every idiot with a TV is getting a front-row view to the apocalypse part bloody two.”

  Chapter 5

  I spun, blade flashing, and blood sprayed into the air, mixing with the falling snow. A body fell to the frozen earth and I slipped beneath the fumbling grip of a decaying foe and ended its life with one swift thrust before dancing back out of their reach.

  The horde didn’t so much as slow down as they trampled over the two bodies I had left before them.

  Fingers numb from the cold, I turned my back to them and trudged on, tugging on the leash around Briony’s neck. She stumbled, but pressed on, well aware of what I would do should she try to resist.

  I was in no mood for rebelliousness, my mind on the slaughter that was to come when I made my way into the Genpact base. I wouldn’t allow anything to stand in the way of that. Not even the horde of zombies following along behind us.

  With my friend's footprints as my guide, I kept moving along the snow-covered street. We’d long since moved out of the centre of the town and were approaching the far edge if I were to guess.

  New built shops and businesses had given way to white painted houses, their once clean façade streaked with dirt the tracks of dirty water that had escaped the overflowing gutters. That water had turned to ice with the colder weather and hung down, like the giant teeth ready to bite down on the unwary wanderer.

  Another roar sounded from far to our rear and I rolled my eyes, knowing that the Reaper was giving out a call to arms. More of the undead to add to our macabre caravan. Slow as they were, they were keeping pace simply because they were tireless as they ploughed through the snow that slowed my own steps.

  Briony stumbled and I grabbed her arm to steady her, only for her to jerk away from me, bringing another smile to my face. It seemed that she resented my treatment of her just a little.

  A sharp whistle sounded, cutting cleanly through the still air and low mumbled moans of the undead that followed me. I glanced up, peering along the road full of snow-covered mounds that were once cars, towards where Gregg stood waving.

  I raised an arm in acknowledgement and he ducked back, between the buildings. With a sour smile, I glanced back over my shoulder at the horde and gave a bitter laugh. It wasn’t what I would prefer, but I had better prey to slay than those pathetic creatures.

  We passed several bodies, lying in the snow. Blood seeped from their shattered skulls into the surrounding snow, blackened, foul and stinking. I nodded appreciatively at Isaacs work and continued on, one foot before the other, walking in the tracks they had left as they had moved on ahead of me.

  “Took your bloody time,” Gregg said with a grin as I came abreast of the alleyway between the two houses. “Hurry up then.”

  I pushed past him, and he had barely enough time to push shut the iron gate and slide the deadbolts into place before the first of the zombies reached it. He stepped back, grunting as he stared at the gate through narrowed eye, until certain it would hold.

  “This way,” he said, turning and jogging through the snow towards the rear of the house.

  With a tug on Briony’s leash, I followed along, almost too weary to be curious. Behind me, the zombie's moans rose in volume as they strained to reach us, arms outstretched, between the bars of the gate.

  The two men had hurried ahead with the idea of finding a way to lose the horde and while I had no doubt, an iron gate between two buildings wouldn’t hold them for long, I was confident Gregg and Isaac would have a plan.

  Which was more than I had.

  I could admit that. Since meeting Briony, I’d had almost tunnel vision with one thing and one thing only in my sights. Genpact. My goal was to reach them and lay waste to their entire organisation.

  Normally, that would have focused me, but of late, I had been reacting blindly. Taking the helicopter, flying across the damned country without waiting for the army that was due to follow us. Even the crash and leaving the car park.

  I could have found a way to do it without bringing a horde of zombies. I didn’t care to, though. I just acted, expecting things to work out because all I cared about was that one, damned, thing. Genpact had threatened the lives of my family and I would not allow that to go unpunished.

  It seemed that I was far from the cold, calculated, killer that I had been two years previous. Before I had met Lily, made friends, fallen in love, become a father. Somewhere along the line, I had discovered that I could feel, but at the cost of all logical reason.

  “Here!” Gregg urged, pointing towards a faded wooden gate set into an overgrown hedge.

  I stepped through, pulling Briony along behind me and stopped, staring down the banking at what I imagined was either an old river bed or a train tracks. Judging by the bridge crossing over it in the distance, I imagined it was the latter.

  Of course, the train carriage a few hundred metres away, lying on its side, was a good indicator too.

  In the distance, I could just make out a couple of larger buildings built up alongside the tracks, but after that, nothing but open track for quite some distance.

  “We’ll be exposed.”

  “Nah, will be fine,” Gregg said. “We crash in those buildings tonight and then tomorrow, we follow the track all the way down to the coast.”

  “Runs alongside a river,” Isaac said. “Better than the roads.”

  He had me there, I had to admit. Besides, I was too tired to really care, and the idea of some rest and warmth was quite appealing.

  We hadn’t gone far before the gate burst open behind us and a creature of nightmare leapt through it. Crouching on the snow-covered banking, head tilted back as it sniffed at the air, searching for our scent as it’s almost blind eyes couldn’t see us.

  Like a man that had been stretched, the too tall creature, rose up to its full height, towering over the few zombies that followed in its wake. Its grey skin was dry and cracked, with dark stains around the chin and chest from its last feeding.

  Bony ridges surrounded the skull, forming a crown of sorts that protected it. I knew from experience the soft palette of the mouth had similar protection and the forearms had bone growth that seemed designed to tear at your flesh if it caught you in passing.

  It took two steps forward, face turning towards us and I let Briony’s leash drop as I pulled both knives from their sheaths.

  “Nothing’s ever fucking easy with you, is it, Clever Bastard?” Isaac muttered as he readied his heavy mallet.

  I leapt to the right as the Reaper rushed in, the thick snow barely slowing it. Much to my surprise, it ignored the glancing blow from my knife and me, entirely. Its attention was focused fully on Briony, who bound and blinded by the hood she wore, couldn’t do much to protect herself as it hit her full force.

  Like a cat with a mous
e, it picked her up and flung her, blood spraying across the snow. The Reaper howled and leapt at her again.

  “Deal with them,” I instructed the others as I nodded at the approaching group of undead.

  While they moved towards them, I ran at the Reaper. There was no way I would allow it to destroy my best chance of getting through the city of London.

  My knives sunk deep into its back, and I was forced to leave one behind as I rolled to the side, away from its grasping hands. I landed in the snow beside a bloodied Briony and with one quick slash of my blade, I severed her bonds.

  “Kill the Reaper if you want to live,” I snarled as I snatched free the hood and leapt away from the sweeping blow of the Reaper.

  I hit the snow hard and rolled, trying to create as much distance as possible from me and the zombie, before I came to my feet, knife ready.

  Briony, without hesitation, pulled back her arm and flung it forward with all her strength. The powerful blow crushed the creature’s chest, but it barely paused as it raked its claws down her face.

  She shook blood from her face and swung again, and again. Her blows, while powerful, were ineffective. It was clear to see that she was no natural fighter and despite her enhanced state, was woefully unmatched.

  I risked a quick glance to my rear to make sure I wasn’t about to be devoured. Isaac was making wide, sweeping, swings of his mallet, dozens of corpses already at his feet. Gregg, meanwhile, was slower but no less effective.

  He killed with a calm, efficiency born of long practice but from the stillness of his face, there was no joy, no passion in the task. It was merely something he needed to do. I could almost admire him for that.

  Despite how much he hated it, he still came, because he knew that it needed to be done regardless of his own desire to be anywhere else.

  A howl brought my attention rapidly back to the fight between Reaper and Infected. Briony practically flew across the tracks to crash against the rear of the overturned train carriage. Blood streamed from multiple lacerations and there was a hint of panic in her eyes as she realised just how outmatched she was.