Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3)

by Richard Murray

  Laughter wanted to bubble to the surface and I clenched my jaw tight to keep the sound from escaping. My breathing was heavy and my heart was racing and I wanted very much to shout with joy.

  Instead, I pulled free my knife and left the room. I approached the door to the master bedroom and listened intently. Fresh shouts and screams were sounding from outside but all I could hear from beyond the door was grunting.

  I pushed the door and it swung open silently. I stepped inside and saw the half naked form of Shaun beneath the blankets as he took advantage of the unconscious Beth. He was so intent on taking his pleasure that he didn’t even notice as I sidled up beside him.

  He definitely noticed when I grabbed his hair with my left hand and yanked back on his head before sliding the knife across his exposed throat. His attempt to scream produced little more than a gurgle as he thrashed and tried to stem the blood that was spurting from his severed carotid artery.

  My back hit the wall and I sagged against it as I watched the man die. Even the copious amounts of blood that drenched the young woman beneath him, didn’t wake her. I stood and watched for several long minutes, drinking in the sight and revelling in the deaths I had wrought before the sounds from beyond the cottage finally intruded.

  With a smile and humming a low tune I left the bedroom and retrieved my boat hook before leaving the cottage without a backwards glance.

  Chapter 34

  The camp was in chaos. Dozens of undead had fallen and their corpses mixed with those of the people of the camp. I could see a large number of people were headed towards the Lake while Matthew tried to contain a growing number of zombies pressing up against the barricade of cars.

  With boat hook in hand I jogged across to where Lily stood swinging her axe overhead at any Zombie that tried to crawl over the barricade.

  “What’s going on?” I shouted as I thrust the boat hook at a zombies face.

  “Large group” She called back, “We need to hold them here long enough for everyone to get on the boat.”

  “Sounds fun” I said with a grin and she cast a quick glance my way.

  “Where have you been?”

  I just laughed and jabbed at another zombie. She looked at my blood spattered clothes then rolled her eyes and said. “Oh.”

  A scream came from beside me and a woman pulled back her hand that was missing two fingers. Her wooden club lay on the roof of the car besides the zombie that had fresh blood around its mouth. I cracked it in the side of the head with the boat hook.

  “This won’t work” I muttered as I looked across the parked car at the ever growing horde of zombies that were pushing their way down the road.

  Another scream came from behind us, inside the camp and I turned in time to see a blood drenched naked woman run through the camp. I turned back to the barricade and Lily caught my eye. I shrugged and assumed my most innocent expression.

  The next half an hour passed in a blur as we worked to keep the undead on the other side of the barricade. Moans surrounded us as the zombies spread out into the woods to either side of the road. I thrust the boat hook into the throat of a zombie and pulled Lily to the side.

  “We need to go” I said, “If we don’t leave now we will be surrounded.”

  She looked around desperately before finally nodding in agreement. She ran across to Matthew and spoke urgently to him. I pushed back another zombie as I tried to keep an eye on the frantic argument she was having.

  Matthew was shaking his head and seemed determined to stay though that opinion changed as a few zombies came out of the woods behind the cottages. He screamed for everyone to run for the lake.

  We ran. Through the camp and down the short lane to the lake. The zombies moaned their outrage as they saw us flee and renewed their efforts at climbing over the barricade. The trees that lined the route seemed more menacing as we passed. We were all too aware of what could be waiting within.

  I ran into the back of a man who stopped abruptly just before the shore and I swore loudly.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded and he just pointed.

  His reason for stopping became clear as I followed his arm. The rowboat was floating off shore and nine or ten zombies were ripping apart the remains of the people who had been trying to reach it. The boat beyond still floated at anchor.

  “Oh god!” Lily muttered as she stopped beside me.

  “Kill them!” called Pat and an angry roar rose from the men and women around me. They rushed forward with weapons raised high and struck out at the undead creatures.

  I joined in the slaughter and happily stabbed with my boat hook. In minutes they were all dead.

  “What now?” Someone asked.

  “We swim to the boat.” Lily said as she cast aside her axe and marched into the water.

  The moans of the undead were coming closer and with a deep sigh I dropped the boat hook and followed her.

  In more civilized times the swim wouldn’t have been difficult. In freezing water during a rough storm after fighting the undead and having had limited rations for weeks, the swim was the hardest thing I had ever done.

  More than one person didn’t make it, their energy gave out or they succumbed to the cold. At least two people tried to get to the row boat only to find the oars had floated away.

  Eventually I reached the boat and had to wait, trying to stay afloat as the people onboard did their best to help pull everyone out of the water.

  I saw Lily pulled aboard and felt a release of tension that I hadn’t realised I was holding. A glance back to shore revealed a growing number of undead gathering. A few had even stepped into the water a few paces as they stared hungrily at us.

  An arm reached down and grasped my arm and I reached eagerly for the hatch. I was grateful for the help as I was hauled inside as I wasn’t quite sure whether I would have been able to climb in myself.

  The boat was filling with people. Blankets were passed to those of us who had been in the water and we were instructed to strip down and get out of the sodden clothes. I did so happily and wrapped the blanket around myself as I shivered.

  Lily was sitting towards the back of the cabin and smiled invitingly as I took a seat beside her. She was shaking with the cold and I was happy for her to press herself against me to share what body heat we could.

  “How many survived do you think?” I asked through chattering teeth.

  “Far too few” she replied.

  “Most of the kids did at least” I said as I spotted Emma and Julie as they helped hand out spare blankets. I smiled gratefully and genuinely as they passed an extra one to me and I covered both myself and Lily with it.

  “Pat and Gregg did too, I haven’t seen Cass yet.”

  “She is just climbing in now” I said as I saw her pulled through the hatch. She looked more angry that cold.

  “That’s something at least” she said, “I’m even glad Rachel survived. I’m so tired of people dying.”

  “Rachel survived?” I asked with interest. I was pleasantly surprised as I had wanted to kill her myself for quite a while.

  “Yeah, that Candice and Beth too.”

  “Beth is here?” I asked, “You’re sure?”

  “Yeah I saw her with Rachel. She seemed ok if a little bit shaken.” She said as she yawned. “I’m glad, perhaps with those men gone she will be ok.”

  “Perhaps.” I agreed as I looked around the cabin for her. I finally spied her wrapped in a blanket beside Candice. She looked a little ill and I wondered how long it would be for the infection to take her.

  I reached down and picked up my knife from the pile of clothes on the floor. It occurred to me that I would have need of it sooner than I had expected.

  Lily yawned again and pressed herself closer to me. I kept a careful watch on Beth. I couldn’t do much until she turned so until then I could sit and enjoy the closeness of the person beside me. We were alive and relatively safe for the moment. I smiled.
For a little while at least I could relax.

  Killing the Dead will continue in Book 4.

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