I look at Ashley, stepping close enough so that we’re face to face. I smile, knowing that I still have a thin scar at the corner of my mouth where Fallon had cut me that very first time I met him. Knowing that all of this happened because of him. Ashley smiles wider and holds her hand out to me, and I reach out to shake it, but at the last moment I grab her gun. She jerks back but it’s too late, and her eyes go wide.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m not going to kill you. I genuinely meant everything I’ve said, I really did. But there’s one thing that I have to do, no matter what.” My gaze moves over her shoulder, to the man that had raped and tortured me. The man that had taken great satisfaction in my pain. The man that had smiled down on me as I had cried and begged and pleaded…
I fire the gun at him, feeling a surge of satisfaction as the bullet enters his stomach and he falls to the ground writhing in pain.
“Dante!” Ashley cries out.
The Forgotten members all pull out their guns too, aiming them at my head. And that’s okay. I can happily die right now, knowing that I’ve gotten my own revenge.
I hold out the gun in my palm to Ashley. “He tortured me…for months,” I say. “He was the only one who didn’t deserve a second chance at anything but death.” My voice is shaky, and I have to swallow so that I don’t cry.
Ashley takes the gun from me, her hard gaze burning into me. And then she puts the gun away and holds out her hand again. I take it this time, shaking it in agreement that it’s over. I let go of her hand, and she turns to face her people again, ignoring Dante’s calls of pain and gesturing for them to lower their weapons and that everything is okay. I smile down at Dante, the same way he had smiled down at me, and I find the sick satisfaction that I want in his agony.
I watch him until he dies. And I enjoy every moment of his death. It’s probably the only time death has ever been a joy. The only time I’ve waited anxiously for someone to wake up as one of the undead so that they can be killed all over again.
Ashley hands me back her gun so I can shoot him in the head, ending it once and for all. And when I do, I feel the blissful relief that I so rightly deserve.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I load up the truck with provisions—you know, the typical stuff that you needed in an apocalypse: guns, knives, warm clothes, some MREs, and of course plenty of ketchup. I’m going to find Mikey. Whether I come back here with him is another question that I’ll answer when I find him. But I will find him again. And boy does that man love his ketchup.
“I’m coming with you,” Mattie says from behind me.
I turn and smile at him. “You need to stay here, Zee needs your help.”
And he does. Zee lost both of his legs back at the army base, and the Forgotten, thankfully, have a great engineer who is going to help build him some new legs eventually. Ashley can’t do this on her own—or more that I don’t think she should. She needs someone else who isn’t as bloodthirsty, but who will be willing to do what it takes to protect people. That’s Zee, but since he’s so banged up that task now falls to Mattie.
Only a handful of our people are still alive. Not many survived the brutal slaughter at the army base. The deaders overran it, killing nearly everyone that wasn’t quick enough to get in a truck and get the hell out of there, or hadn’t managed to lock themselves somewhere safe until Mikey got there. Good people had died, and so had bad. But I accept that for what it is. You have to, because if you don’t, you end up like Fallon: a bitter, sadistic man who so twisted up inside for revenge that he would take everyone down with him. And I don’t want to be that person.
“I hate these people,” Mattie confides, stepping forward so he isn’t overheard. His eyes dart to the Forgotten members that are killing some of the deaders crowded around the gate like they’re ready for their next shopping spree.
“I know, but we all need each other. You need to set your differences aside and move on from it. We can make this work, Mattie,” I reply, closing the back of the truck. It’s tanked up to the max, with another can full as a spare. “Make this work, for everyone’s sakes.”
“Will you bring him back here?” he asks, and I know he means Mikey.
I’m going to find him, no matter what it takes, just like when he found me. This world is huge, and there’s so much of it that I haven’t seen, so many dangers that are out there, yet I have to do this. I have to find him. Because when you’ve found the person that makes your survival mean something, you hold onto it with both hands.
I don’t know if Mikey would be safe here. I want to believe he would be, that Ashley and the rest of the Forgotten would finally put their differences aside—that maybe they really have changed. But revenge is a ticking bomb, and I killed Fallon—there’s no mistaking that. And of course I had been willing to risk everyone’s survival so I could get my revenge on Dante.
“I don’t know,” I finally admit.
“Fine, I’ll stay.” Mattie nods, looking frustrated, but he’s a good man. I know he’ll do good here. He’ll help stop everything from turning to shit again. He’ll keep everyone from killing each other, and make sure that everyone stays true to their word.
“Well, you can’t stop me from coming with you,” Michael says, opening the driver’s side door on the truck. “You’re going to need someone who’s a half-decent shot if you’re going to survive out there, and we all know that you can’t shoot for shit.” He grins and slams the door shut before I can disagree with him. Moments later the engine roars to life, drowning out the barrage of swear words I yell. His arm comes out of the truck window, his middle finger sticking up, and I laugh.
“So he can go but I can’t?” Mattie says, looking annoyed again.
I place a hand on Mattie’s shoulder. “Yeah, he can. I got both of his sisters killed—me and him have some unfinished business.” I pat him and step away, turning to Ashley, who has come out to wave me off. I turn to her. “Don’t let it all go to shit again, okay?” I say.
She nods. “I’ll do my best, but people can be assholes.”
I let out a small laugh. “Yeah, they sure can.”
I walk around to the passenger side door and open it, and Ashley follows me.
Michael looks over and tells me to hurry the fuck up because night is falling, and I look back at Ashley. She holds out her hand and I take it, shaking it briefly, but before I can let go she pulls me close to her and whispers in my ear.
My eyes go wide as I listen, and then she stops talking, lets me go, and walks away. I climb into the truck, closing the door behind me, and I look across at Michael as he starts to drive. The Forgotten pull the gates open for us, their empty stares looking in at us as we leave. And then we’re on the road, heading off to find Mikey, and I know I’m never coming back here again.
I watch Mattie in my rearview mirror until we crest a small hill, and then he’s gone from view and a new guilt burrows its way into my stomach.
“Are you okay?” Michael asks without looking away from the road.
“Yeah,” I lie. “I’m fine.”
But I’m not fine.
Ashley may have called a truce between the Forgotten and Mikey, and he was finally free of them, and she had agreed to try and help the people in the walled cities instead of killing them, but I had still killed Fallon, her partner. And that won’t go unpunished. I may not be there for the vengeance that she’ll inflict on our friends, but knowing what she’s going to do and not being able to stop her—that’s all the torture I’ll ever need.
Go find Mikey, you two go be free. But if I ever see your face, or his, again, I’ll kill the both you and I won’t help a single person in those walled cities. As for these fine people that you’ve left in my care, they’re all mine now, and I’ll have fun playing with them however I see fit. Perhaps I’ll turn them all into killers, perhaps I’ll just kill them all. Either way, they’re not your business anymore. So go, go find Mikey, because staying isn’t an option for you. You stay, you die. You all di
e. Got it?
I nod. “Got it.”
“What did you just say?” Michael asks, turning to look at me.
I shake my head and look out the window. “Nothing.”
Perhaps I could have done something more, or said something to change her mind. Maybe if I tell Michael, then maybe we could do something. But it’s more likely that I’d get us both killed and the Forgotten would never help the people I had left behind in those cities. The real victims of the apocalypse. The innocent. The lost. The true forgotten.
A single tear slips from my eye as the sun sets, and I pull out the map and look where Mikey and I had circled.
“We’re heading here,” I say to Michael. “That’s where Mikey will be going.”
ODIUM V
The Dead Saga
Coming Summer 2017 (I promise!)
Read on for a sneak peek…
ODIUM V The Dead Saga
Chapter One
Mikey.
The screams echo through the darkness, catching ahold of me and tearing at my skin. I breathe, slowly, deeply. I refuse to let the fear get a grip on me. I lean back on the door, listening to the crying and the sobbing, and the sounds of tools on flesh and what that means for me.
I rub my sweaty palms down my pants, feeling for the folded piece of paper in my pocket, and then I pull it out. In the darkness, with the cries of pain as my mantra, I stare down at the map in my hand and I whisper my apologies to Nina for not going there.
I had thought I was doing the right thing by searching for Adam, and by keeping Joan safe. I thought I was doing what she would have wanted by finding a new group to belong to. But I was wrong. I should have gone to the cabin, like we had said.
The sound of footsteps coming closer has me shoving the map back in my pocket and scooting backwards across the floor. The door opens and Tim is there with a plate in his hand. He smiles down at me.
“You know, nothing tastes better than fresh food. Wouldn’t you agree?” he asks.
“You’re sick,” I reply.
He leans down and slides the plate across to me. It bumps against my foot but I don’t reach for it, even though I’m starving. “I’m just trying to survive. That’s all we can ever do these days.” He stands back up. “Go on then, it’s not like you really have much choice.”
I kick the plate back to him, and it bounces off the doorframe, the food sliding off the plate. “I always have a choice,” I snarl back.
Tim laughs. “You’re not dead yet, Mikey, but you can be, if that’s what you want.”
I don’t bother replying to him. Tim crouches down and picks up the food before putting it back on the plate. He slides it back across to me.
“Your only choice is to eat and stay alive a little bit longer, or I’ll kill you right now—gut you like a little piggly-wig.” Tim smiles. “Those are your only choices. Don’t you see that yet? There is no way out of this. No one is coming to save you. This is the way it has to happen.”
I look down at the plate, knowing that this could be human flesh—it could be Phil, for all I know—or it could be squirrel, like he’d said. I pick up the plate, feeling sick but refusing to die like this. Because if there was one thing he did say that made sense, it was this.
I wasn’t dead yet.
I bite into whatever meat it is, feeling sick but wanting to stay strong. I won’t go down without a fight. That’s the only certainty I know right now, and I hold onto it with both hands as I chew and force the food to stay down.
I’ll make him pay. Even if it’s the last thing I do.
Acknowledgments
Thanks, as always, goes to my wonderful fan base, who continue to read The Dead Saga series and enjoy it so much. Thank you for your constant hounding for the next book, your messages of support, and your all-round awesomeness. I wouldn’t be writing these books without you guys.
Another huge thanks goes to my sister from another mister and fellow author Eli Constant. You’re always there when I need support, advice, or just a good old moan about the world. Thanks for being so awesome. Love you.
And of course not forgetting my awesome Street Team – Little Red’s Deads. Your pimping, and graphic/meme-making, reviews, funny conversations, and general awesomeness never fail to surprise me.
A special thanks also goes out to: Safari Phil’s Animal Adventures for all of their help. Without them, you would have never have got to know some of the most memorable characters—Miss Foxxxy Love, Zazz Blammymatazz and Lavender https://www.facebook.com/SafariPhilsAnimalAdventures/
And finally a huge thank you to everyone who filled in my ‘survival questionnaire.’ Some of you made it in to the book, and some of you didn’t. some of you played small parts, others big. And of course, some of you turned out to be total assholes—I’m especially sorry about that! Regardless, all of your answers were useful. Most of you, if I haven’t killed you already, will be in book five also, so hurray for that!
Therefore thanks goes to: Clare Parr, Shantell Weeks Harmon, Betul Er, Niamh Colvin, Steve Emery, Ricky Chambers, Shane Bridges, Boon Mills (Alfie) Ashley Marie, Vicki A. Matticks, Emma Keating, Emma Walker, Gail S. Squirell, Mike Goss, Phil Safari Lines-Rowland, Kelli Fisk McElrath, Danielle Kelly, SJ Warner and her daughter Moo, Stormy Grant, Jessica Austin Gudmundson.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire C. Riley is a USA Today and International bestselling author. She is also a bestselling British horror writer and an Amazon Top 100 bestseller.
Her work is best described as the modernization of classic, old-school horror. She fuses multi-genre elements to develop storylines that pay homage to cult classics while still feeling fresh and cutting edge. She writes characters that are realistic, and kills them without mercy. Claire lives in the United Kingdom with her husband and three daughters.
Author of:
Odium The Dead Saga series
Odium Origins series
Limerence (The Obsession series)
Out of the Dark series
Twisted Magic
Books co-authored with Madeline Sheehan:
Thicker than Blood series
Shut Up & Kiss Me
Contact Links:
www.clairecriley.com
www.facebook.com/ClaireCRileyAuthor
http://amzn.to/1GDpF3I
“She writes characters that are realistic and then killsthem without mercy” – Eli Constant, author of Z-Children, Dead Trees, Mastic, and much more.
More books by Claire C. Riley
Out of the Dark #1
We are temporary. Finite.
The choices we’ve made, the people we have loved. Who we used to be no longer matters.
Because now it is all about the ending. And the ending always comes too soon.
There’s fear in the dark. And behind every drop of light, the shadows creep and the darkness comes in the form of clawing, red-eyed monsters. They hunt us—stalk us…they are desperate to destroy us.
But I have a reason to fight the darkness and everything in it. A small glimpse of light that lives within my golden-haired daughter, Lilly. She is my strength. She is my everything.
Every life is an untold story, each scene unfolding until the final act. But our ending has yet to be written, and I will continue to protect us, until I can not.
A post-apocalyptic masterpiece – Goodreads reviewer
Add it to your bookshelves here --> http://bit.ly/1Sd6pE4
Read on for a sneak peak of chapter one:
Out Of The Dark #1
By USA Today Bestselling Author
& Bestselling British Horror Author
Claire C. Riley
Chapter One.
#1 Appreciate what you have.
There are times when I wish for the old days. For bills, and jobs, and too much TV. For fast food, sports cars, and thoughts about the ozone layer and how we can repair it.
Now we know that there was never any way to repair it. That it didn’t matter how high your cholesterol was i
n the end, because you were always destined to die a slow and agonizing death. Or maybe you would be one of the lucky ones, maybe you would go quickly. Regardless, you would still die and you wouldn’t be around to see the ice caps melt.
So what would I say if I could go back in time and speak to the old me? Or even the old you? I’d say this: Get fat—eat the food you love, because soon enough it will be gone. Love freely, but trust no one. Always hate with regret, because hate is such a waste. Drive fast, but be mindful of others on the road because one day, in the not-so-distant future, you might need one of those people that you overtake and undercut, to save you.
I would tell you not to waste too much of your time pondering what to do with your life, and just enjoy the here and now as much as you can. Because before you know it, it will all be much too late. Doctor, lawyer, farmer, computer technician, police officer, delivery driver—in this world that I now live in, none of that matters. Who you were isn’t important anymore; it’s who you are that now holds the greatest significance. And most of us, those that are still alive, are not good people at all.
I look out across the calm ocean with a sigh. The waves gently caressing the pebbled beach remind me of happier times, when I would go crabbing with my mother and father. I never killed those little crabs; I just liked to catch them and watch them scuttle around in my blue plastic bucket. Perhaps that was a hint as to the sort of woman I would become.
Odium IV: The Dead Saga Page 29
