Killing The Dead (Book 18): Sacrifice

by Murray, Richard

  “Vanessa came? She understands…”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  That was a surprise and something I hadn’t even considered would be required. Her abilities as a doctor and a researcher were without question and while her personality left something to be desired, her work in attempting to create a workable vaccine for the zombie parasite was invaluable.

  For her to be part of the mad plan we were about to undertake was a complete waste of her abilities. I realised then that I needed to speak with her before it was too late.

  “How long before the raider fleet arrives?”

  “This storm is growing in strength and may well slow them, but I do not believe that they will stop. A few hours then, at best.”

  I nodded, chewing absently on my lip as I looked out at the falling snow. It covered the deck of the destroyer, settling on the heavy gun that rested at the bow and blowing against the windows.

  “Ryan will be in London by now.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  There was something close to sorrow in his voice as he answered me and I didn’t need to look at him to know that he was thinking of his own family, lost back when the world turned to hell. I shook my head, clearing it of the thoughts that seemed determined to distract me and turned to the Admiral.

  “How are we for ammunition?”

  “We still have the seven Aster 15 missiles and four Aster 30’s,” Admiral Stuart said. “A couple of thousand rounds of ammunition for the miniguns. The two 30mm small calibres and the main gun have just enough for three shots each.”

  I’d hoped for more, which was foolish since I knew exactly what we had and hoping it would magically change was a waste of time. If Samuel had managed to make it to the military base he might have been able to find something, but Genpact had put an end to that when they sunk his ship.

  Which meant that we had to make do with what we had. Two guided missile destroyers weighting in at around ten thousand tonnes apiece. One hundred and fifty metres in length and twenty-one wide.

  The ammunition and missiles that we had could have been split between the two ships but that was pointless as it would make both less effective in the long run. So, everything was loaded onto the Admirals boat and the other destroyer simply had to look like it had ammo.

  In truth, with the skeleton crew of volunteers onboard, it had one purpose and one purpose only. To buy us time.

  The fishing fleet was a mixed bag of smaller boats, each with a full cargo bay and plenty of soldiers or acolytes on board. Spread amongst them were the marines who carried our few remaining assault rifles and a tiny amount of ammunition apiece.

  My hope was that they would be able to provide cover while the knife and poignard wielding troops boarded the pirate ships and slaughtered the crews.

  “Ma’am,” Admiral Stuart said. He held out a set of headphones with a microphone attachment. “It’s time.”

  I took the headset and put them on, settling the padded cups over my ears, cutting out sound as I closed my eyes and thought about what I was about to say. I nodded once and a button was pressed. All that was needed was for me to speak and the entire fleet would hear.

  Real leaders would inspire their troops. They would get them fired up and full of hope that everything would work out. I couldn’t do that, and really, they deserved the truth. No sugar coating, no false hope. Just the cold, hard, truth.

  “Today we are going to die,” I said, voice clear and strong. “We will die defending our families, our friends, our home. This is a sacrifice that each and every one of you has volunteered to give and I could not be more proud to be here with you.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, tears shimmering in my eyes as I stared out at the snow.

  “If anyone wishes to leave, to return home because this is too much to ask of you, I give you my blessing. No one will feel less of you and no one will try to force you to remain. Speak now and arrangements will be made for you.”

  Once more, I sucked in air, heart thundering in my chest as I watched the sea, the snow, the sky, anything but look at the fleet. I was terrified that I would see half or more peel away and head home.

  “No one is leaving,” Admiral Stuart said as he stepped in close. “This is our choice.”

  With voice cracking, I spoke once more. “Each and every one of you has my respect and my thanks. I have asked more of you than I could expect you to give but you have proven once again that you are, each and every one of you, heroes.”

  “Thank you.”

  I removed the headset and handed it across to the Admiral who took it with a smile. He didn’t mention the tears on my cheeks or criticise my words, he just saluted and behind him, those sailors did the same.

  It was too much for me and I fled, leaving them there and hurrying through those steel corridors in search of someplace where I could sit in silence and wait for the end.

  Chapter 19.

  Sally squealed as the two zombies tore at her body, ripping away flesh and bone with their razor-like steel claws. I shook my head as I watched them, searching for any sign of weakness that I could exploit and coming up short.

  It appeared that Genpact had improved upon their previous model that had not fared so well against me. Their own natural claws of bone had been extended with steel attachments and steel plates had been bolted over their eye sockets.

  A smart move as they didn’t really need to see, and their vision was poor anyway. Sound and smell were the way they hunted, and they didn’t seem at all put out by the scent of the infected. Instead, it seemed to excite them.

  We’d barely made it a hundred yards from the shore before the first of them had caught our scent, carried on the heavy winds that were pulling at my clothes. It’s roar, had brought the second and soon enough, we were being chased.

  If not for Briony crippling Sally with one heavy kick, shattering the other woman’s leg, we might well have been caught. Instead, she had been left as a sacrifice for them to fight over.

  I stepped away from the wall and headed away from the two zombies. I’d seen everything I needed to, and the result had depressed me more than a little. The only real points of weakness were the joints that couldn’t quite be protected so easily, but the only place that would matter was at the back of the skull where it met the spine.

  Fighting one of those damned things would be difficult, and more than one at a time would be likely impossible. I shook my head as I walked, snow crunching beneath my feet, the sound barely audible due to the wind.

  With the falling snow, our tracks were fast disappearing behind us, which was a bonus, but my biggest concern was the buildings that towered over us. It seemed that every building needed to be a dozen storeys high or more and that meant there could be people hiding anywhere, watching us.

  I doubted it but couldn’t quite shake the feeling. I guessed that was the reason for the zombies though. Save having to patrol the streets or guard the area with their own limited number of mercenaries, when they could release a load of zombies to do it for them.

  We were slowly approaching the Canary Wharf district. From the little I knew of the area, it was a commercial estate that spanned several districts including the Isle of Dogs, and Tower Hamlets. It was one of the main financial centres which was likely why there were so many damned skyscrapers.

  Made up of around sixteen million square feet of office and retail space, it gave us a lot of places to check for access to a secret underground base. Of course, I had some rough ideas of the type of building we would be looking for which made it easier.

  Tall, with a flat roof wide enough for a helicopter to land. The little information I had been able to find back when we were planning our attack, had given me a few likely targets. One of which was the fifth tallest building in the UK and occupied by the headquarters of some bank.

  I’d discarded that as unlikely since the security measures in such a place would make it difficult to gain access to link it to the tunnels leading to the secret base
. Which, to be fair, would discount most of the buildings in the financial sector.

  Still, some of them shared space with other companies, other types of business and that would help narrow them down. As would the fact that the whole area was crisscrossed by wide waterways and docklands.

  One area, in particular, had a moat of those waterways on three sides and the Thames on the other. It was connected to the rest of the areas by bridges and had no less than seven ridiculously tall buildings with flat roofs.

  Which is why we were headed that way. If it was the area where their access point was located, we would need to approach on foot and slowly. There would be guards, and likely more zombies too.

  If I wanted any chance of actually getting into the base and buying Lily the time she needed, I had to avoid getting caught and killed first. That last part was why I looked across at Briony where she walked, leading her group of infected.

  As soon as she realised that we were in the right area for the base, it was likely she would kill me and toddle off on her own merry way. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  A roar sounded behind us, loud even above the roar of the wind as it blew between the tall buildings. Briony looked back, eyes meeting mine for a moment.

  “Find a building we can go inside,” I suggested, loud enough that she could hear me.

  She replied with a single jerk of her head and pushed on through the snow. It wasn’t far to the first of the bridges and one of the – admittedly – much smaller buildings nearby would afford me the chance to get a look up high in search of signs of a helicopter.

  Briony issued some instructions to her minions and off they went, rushing over to the nearest buildings and forcing their way inside, past the electronic sliding doors that were stuck shut without power. I followed them a little more cautiously and entered the building with knife in hand, ready for betrayal.

  The sound of the wind dropped off as I stepped inside, though the icy chill lingered. A once well-appointed lobby had been obviously caught up in the zombie mess. Chairs overturned, papers strewn everywhere and a number of messy streaks of bodily fluids.

  “You won’t need that,” Briony said, eyeing my blade. I just grinned.

  “We’ll need to take the stairs. Top floor or the roof would be best.”

  “Why? Do you think it’s here?”

  “No.”

  I winked as she scowled and I moved past her, keeping well clear, as I headed towards the stairs. Steven stepped into my path, that same sadistic smirk he’d worn in life, plastered onto his face. Death, it seemed, hadn’t changed him.

  “Wait,” he said, and I narrowed my eyes as I considered my chances. They weren’t good.

  “Where is their base?” Briony asked.

  It appeared that time had run short on me and I would need to either convince her that she needed me or break my word to Lily. I turned to face Briony, an itch forming in the centre of my back as I left Steven behind me.

  “Nearby.”

  “Not good enough. We want to know.”

  Her other minions were forming a rough circle around me and I couldn’t have stopped my smile if I’d wanted to. Sure, they would kill me, but I’d make sure to take a couple of them with me. I certainly wouldn’t give up the information, so Briony wouldn’t win.

  “Our bargain is over then?”

  “Yes.” She took a step towards me and I tensed, heart beating faster. “Tell us or we will turn you and make you tell us.”

  “No,” I said as I shifted the blade in my hand, quickly lifting it and placing the point against my throat just above the carotid artery. “One more step and I will die before you can turn me.”

  Her hiss was one of pure frustration and I grinned. I might lose but I was damned sure she would too.

  “Tell us and we will let you live!”

  “You wouldn’t be able to get inside without me.”

  “We will find a way.”

  She probably would. It was easy to forget that she had been a brilliant researcher before the vaccine had turned her into what she was. Clearly an intelligent person and one that I had been underestimating as I only saw the zombie.

  “Tell us.”

  Before I could answer, the door swung inwards and one of the zombies from earlier stepped inside. It walked hunched over, head raised as it sniffed at the air and we all just turned and stared at the armoured monstrosity, barely breathing lest it hear us.

  A low moan came from it, a rumble in its chest that seemed to reach down into my very bones, activating some long dormant primal part of me that was screaming at me to get the hell away from it.

  As a predator myself, a hunter and a killer, I could recognise another and more than that, I could see when I was outmatched. I lowered the knife, eyes darting towards Briony who stared back at me, indecision on her face.

  Slowly, so very, very, slowly, I reached into my pocket with my free hand. Briony’s eyes narrowed as she watched me, no doubt wondering what I was about to do. I grinned as I pulled out a lighter. Small, plastic and of little use for anything other than making a fire.

  Which made it all the more amusing as I tossed it at Briony’s feet. The plastic hit the tiled floor with a clunk that had the armoured zombie moving in an instant. It leapt towards the sound as Briony hissed and jumped back, out of the way.

  Her minions dashed towards her in some misguided effort to be helpful and I took advantage of the immediate confusion by turning and running like hell towards the stairwell. In moments I was there, pulling open the door and slipping inside.

  It slammed shut behind me, cutting out the sounds of a scuffle that was breaking out and I raced full speed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I could get out later, but first I needed to know, needed to see if I had been right and the base was close.

  Below me, a door slammed open and I increased my pace, breathing heavily as I ran up the stairs. Fourth floor, fifth, then sixth. Eight was the top and I burst through the door there, skidding to a stop.

  There was nothing I could block the door with, so I didn’t bother trying, I just set off running along the carpeted corridor towards the offices at the far side of the building. I entered the first I came to, heedless for any danger that might be lurking within and stopped beside the window, head moving as I searched.

  The snow obscured my vision and the angle wasn’t great. Even as high up as I was the buildings across the waterway were higher still. But not high enough, there atop the tallest of the seven was the proof I needed. The barely noticeable tail of a helicopter.

  Behind me, the door slammed open and I leapt to the side without even looking. Briony’s fingers scraped the glass where I’d just been standing, and I rolled to my feet at the other side of the desk.

  “We will kill you!”

  “Good luck,” I said with a grin as I raised my knife.

  Then, I hesitated, eyes flicking towards the door as the unmistakable sound of something heavy running along the corridor came to me. Briony looked too, seemingly drawn to the noise as I was.

  “Better be quick, looks like you have competition,” I laughed as the armoured zombie leapt through the doorway straight at her.

  Chapter 20

  The pirate fleet appeared out the snow as though by some act of magic. One minute, there was just the endless snow falling from slate grey clouds and the dark waves that crashed against our hulls, and the next, black shadows began to form.

  All too soon they began to take the shape of the ships of the fleet. Spreading across the sea ahead of us like a wall that was slowly approaching, a tidal wave of hate and death. They showed no sign of slowing or of considering us a threat worth slowing for.

  “Broadcast the message on every damned frequency!” Admiral Stuart said, his voice calm and even as he showed just why he was the Admiral. “And order a boat readied.”

  If they listened to us, if they were willing to stop and talk, that boat would be necessary. And boarding it would be Shepherd and a handful o
f volunteers. I swallowed hard at that and rose to my feet.

  “I’ll be with Shepherd and the others.”

  The Admiral turned to give me a measured look, one that would have once had me shrinking down into myself like a child about to be admonished by a parent. But not then, I lifted my chin and stared him straight in the eye.

  “Sergeant!” he snapped, and a burly marine stepped forward from where he’d been lurking by the door.

  “Sir!”

  “Please ensure that the First Minister returns directly here when the others leave the boat.”

  I gave him a grim smile, which he returned. Smart man, making sure that I wouldn’t head off with Shepherd on some foolish mission. He needn’t have feared. Those who were to go to the pirate fleet would be the first to die and I wasn’t ready for that.

  No, I needed to see the raiders destroyed utterly first. I needed to know that they were no longer a threat to my people, my family.

  I stepped out into the growing storm, heading down to the small room where the others waited. When I arrived, my clothes were wet and coated with snow and my nose was numb. I didn’t knock, just pushed open the door and stepped inside. The marine waited beside the door.

  Doctor Vanessa Cassidy stood beside the small round table where the volunteers had gathered. She held a syringe in her hand, and she was speaking to them in a low voice, though she stopped and looked over at me as I walked in.

  There was no love lost between the doctor and me and she never shied away from showing it. Which was fine with me, as I had no real interest in being friends with her anyway. I’d long since realised that I couldn’t be friends with everyone, and I didn’t need to be to do what was best for them.

  “Why are you here?” I asked, without preamble. “You could have done this before we set off.”

  “My reasons are my own.”

  She wore her hair in long dreadlocks that hung down to the middle of her back. Her eyes, a deep brown, were full of anger as she looked at me and I couldn’t help the tinge of resentment I felt as I noted her plump face.

  Even with her athletic build, she had a layer of fat that most people had long since lost due to the extreme conditions of our survival. We hadn’t had the time spent in a hidden government bunker stocked with ample food as she had, and it showed.