Dead Bones - Six Pack. The Ultimate Zombie Collection

by Ian Woodhead

  Before their eyes, the cut knitted together, leaving a wet line of thick red blood on his unmarked flesh. Moses brought his arm to his mouth and licked off the blood.

  “Now, Brother Enoch, I believe that it’s your turn.”

  The man shook his head and dropped to his knees.

  “Please, Abbot. Forgive me. I meant no disrespect. I sometimes cannot control the rogue thoughts that rush through my mind.”

  The Abbot drew his finger though a spot of blood that his tongue had missed and wiped the wet digit across Brother Joshua’s lips. He watched with satisfaction as his tongue automatically flicking out to taste the Abbot’s blood. The kneeling man groaned while he watched Brother Joshua’s face go through paroxysms of ecstasy.

  He lifted the brother up. “Remember and believe in the creed. We are God’s chosen. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

  The Abbot spun around and hurried away from the pair of them, desperate to taste his supplement. Cutting his arm and willing his body to repair the damage so quickly had taken a large amount of energy. His head was pounding and he felt as week as a newborn kitten.

  When the brothers were out of sight, Moses stopped. His legs were trembling and the shakes were getting worse. His body needed fuel. He detected footsteps heading his way. His weakened mind could not determine the source. He tried to stand, to look imposing and in control.

  “Dear god, look at the bloody state of you, James,” sighed a familiar voice.

  The Abbot attempted to move his bulk off the wall and failed.

  “Brother Jacob. I am so relieved to hear your voice. I think I may need your assistance.”

  “James, look, we’re alone here. For once, will you please give this religious bullshit a rest for a couple of minutes? It’s me, your mate here.”

  The Abbot felt a pair of strong arms encircling his waist.

  “I’m Lee and you’re James Worthington. You used to be a data system’s engineer who worked for Barclay’s bank. You are not called Moses and you sure as shit are not a fucking Abbot.”

  He looked up and gazed deep into Brother Jacob’s mind. The Abbot smiled and sighed. His friend was full of worry and compassion.

  “And get your dirty paws out of my fucking head, James. Bloody hell, I wish you’d stop showing off, not when you’re so close to your supplement treatment.”

  “Did you take that from my mind, Brother Jacob?”

  The man shook his head, “Didn’t need to, mate. I’ve just walked past those two jokers who think you’re the new fucking messiah.”

  "The novice was floundering, Brother Jacob,” replied the Abbot. He felt his strength returning. “I had no choice but to reinforce his faith.”

  The man carried the Abbot along the corridor. “Whatever, I’m not complaining, James. This World of Warcraft bullshit that you started keeps these fucking morons in line. I just wish you’d stop taking so many risks.”

  He stopped beside a huge metal door and leaned the Abbot against the wall. “The others are due back today. I hope to fuck that they come back with the goods.”

  The Abbot nodded, watching Brother Jacob unlock the imposing door. Five fellow church members, under the leadership of their final founding member, had been sent to the outside for a period of one hundred and eighty days and nights to seek out the failing hunters and to search for more supplements.

  He glanced over at Brother Jacob, watching him curse at the lock. It saddened him to witness his friend refusing to embrace the faith, although Brother Jacob’s unwillingness to see the light did bring a refreshing balance to his outlook.

  “Come on, you,” he said, lifting up Moses and carrying the Abbot through the open door. “Let’s get you fixed up.”

  Moses never failed to be impressed by the transition between the rest of the monastery and the apothecary’s chambers. The harsh white light bathed the room eliminating all the shadows. Moses forced his head down and looked at the black tiled floor, allowing his eyes to get used to the intense brightness.

  He still felt weak, but his strength was slowly returning. It didn’t make sense to the Abbot why Brother Jacob could seem so normal. He guessed that if his companion did purposely cut himself and force the wound to close, Bother Jacob would not need a helping hand. Like the Abbot, the other two founding members took the supplement but he appeared to derive more benefit than the Abbot did.

  Their entry had not gone unnoticed. Moses could feel the black waves of revulsion and hate emanating from their source of supplements. He lifted his head, growling with desire, and looked upon the sixteen-year-old female strapped to a metal bed in the middle of the room.

  He hurried across to the table and brushed his fingers down her smooth arm, lingering over the raised scar tissue from where a climber had bitten her. It was the only blemish on her otherwise flawless skin. She was the only tainted human they had.

  “I don’t think she’s all that happy to see you, mate!"

  The Abbot vaguely nodded, his attention solely focussed on this delectable creature before him. He just wanted to rip into the girl’s delicate meat and consume every part of her.

  “Oh fuck,” sighed the other man. “Come on, James, get a grip here.” The man pulled back the white sheet covering the other girl’s arm. “Come on, James, dig in. Take a bite. You know you want to.”

  Unlike the girl’s other arm, this one looked as though she had barely survived an attack from a hungry lion. Lumps of meat were missing along the arm. There was evidence that her body was attempting to repair, but even with her enhanced regenerative ability, it would take her weeks for the body to replace all the flesh. He could not wait any longer. The Abbot opened his mouth, sank his teeth into her bicep, and ripped off a large bloodied chunk of meat.

  The Abbot sank to the floor. He was gripped in climax, chewing in ecstasy, listening to the girl’s mental anguish and feeling her hot blood running down his throat. He felt his friend lift him up and sit the Abbot on a chair. The feeling of delight subsided, he watched the man tend to the girl’s injury.

  “Are you not going to join me, Brother Jacob?”

  The man dressed the girl’s wound, pushed a syringe into her shoulder, walked over to the Abbot and kneeled in front of him. “We have had this conversation before, James. Tell me how you feel.”

  The Abbot smiled, he felt as though he had just had sex. The strength certainly was flowing through him now. He just wished the brother had allowed him to feed on the girl’s pain a little longer. That saddened him. “I feel good.”

  The other man sighed. “You, my friend, are as high as a kite. Her terror and agony has turned you into a fucking addict. All the nutrition that you took from her flesh has just been fucking wasted.” He stood up and wandered over to his desk.

  The Abbot watched him for a few moments before closing his eyes. He wanted to sleep now.

  “No you don’t. Open those eyes, I have something for you.”

  The Abbot recoiled at the sight of a glass full of pale pink glutinous slime. He now remembered the Brother showing him this vile stuff the last time he took his supplements. Just the smell from it made him want to eject the chewed up flesh.

  “No, not this time, James,” snarled the man.

  He pulled the Abbot off the chair and sat on his chest, pinning the Abbott’s arms to the floor. Even with the new strength flowing through his body, he was still no match for the man on top of him. He felt him grab his jaw and force his mouth open. He tried to scream as he felt the vile jelly like stuff flow down his throat. The man jumped off him.

  The Abbot leapt to his feet, growling, he advanced towards the man.

  “Oh, you fucker!” he shouted, wiping his mouth, you are trying to poison me. He wiped his mouth. “I’m going to rip you a new arsehole, Lee.”

  The other man suddenly ran at him and swung his fist into the Abbot’s face. He fell back, clutching his damaged nose. “Stop this, man. Just stop. Listen to your words, man. You called me Lee."

  "You busted my
fucking nose.”

  The other man nodded. “Too fucking right I did, and now it’ll heal within a few seconds and you won’t feel like crap for the next few hours.” He picked up the empty glass and drained the last few dregs. “It tastes like shit but it’ll sort you out every time.

  “Do I want to know what’s in it?”

  “It’s mainly her blood, mixed with powdered protein, the shit what the weight lifters used to take. Now tell me, James. How do you feel?”

  “I feel clear headed. The mental fog has lifted.”

  Lee laughed. “Good, so what the fuck do we call you, James or Moses?”

  “I was drugged?”

  “Close enough, man. I’ve been trying to tell you this for months. Did it not occur to you that it’s only been your bite marks evident on her arm?”

  “I think you had better still call me Moses or the Abbot in front of the others.” He replied, standing up. The Abbot turned and jumped back when he saw the door starting to open. “Lee, I thought you locked it?”

  The other man nodded.

  They both watched a ragged figure push open the door and collapse in front of the Abbot.

  “Geoff!” James cried rushing over to the man, “What’s happened to you?”

  He looked up at the Abbot’s face.

  “James? I’ve found them,” he whispered before closing his eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Madeline Wallis wrenched the metal tipped staff out of the corpse’s stomach, gagging at the foul stench of gas that escaped from the puncture.

  “You dumb bitch,” she gasped. The girl brought her weapon up and pushed it through the thing’s eye socket, grunting with satisfaction as it abruptly ceased moving and slid off her staff.

  She sensed another behind her and swivelled on her hips. Her target hadn’t quite reached the young girl. A naked, middle-aged fat man stumbled over one of the girl’s other fallen targets. He fell forward, his chin crashing into the road with a bone-shattering crack. Despite the broken jaw and lack of teeth, it did not stop it from reaching out both arms, vainly trying to grab Maddie’s legs.

  Swallowing down her revulsion, Madeline slowly spun her staff and brought the weighted end down on the back of his skull. Finally, the dead thing stopped it’s struggling.

  The staff sounded like a boot stuck in wet mud when Maddie tugged the weapon out of its pulped skull. Her stomach did a slow, graceful pirouette.

  “Oh my god,” she muttered. “That is just disgusting.”

  She spun around; gratified to see that he was that last one. The menace had been extinguished, at least for now.

  “Maddie? Are you alright, sweetheart? You really do look like shit.”

  She turned away from the four bodies lying by her feet and nodded at her companion. “I’m okay, Bruce, really I am.” It was Maddie’s boyfriend, Bruce Simpson, and at twenty-one he was only two years younger than she was. Even so, right this moment, she felt as old as the man’s mother. Her stomach lurched again; she smiled through the discomfort, not wanting him to worry.

  This pain had seriously begun to worry Maddie. What the bloody hell was it? It had only started this morning. If she did not know any better, Maddie would say that she was pregnant. No, she refused to entertain that notion. Besides, they had been very careful. Maddie sighed, even if she was up the duff, it’s not like she could get herself checked out; the community’s doctor would be reaching for the phone to the adjustment officers as soon as her blood tests came back.

  “Fuck it,” she whispered, it was probably something she ate, best to forget about it.

  “Maddie, talk to me.”

  He stood in front of her, his double-edged sword splattered with congealing lumps of bloodied brain matter. She looked into his baby-blue eyes, full of concern and worry. All Maddie wanted to do was to fall into his arms and hold her beautiful man tight. If his padding wasn’t covered in wet gore and Bruce didn’t stink like roadkill, there would be no stopping her.

  “Just how the fuck did these shuffling bags of decay manage to do that?” he murmured, looking at the ruined barrier. “I’m telling you, that wall was secure, Maddie. I built the fucker myself.”

  She shrugged; it didn’t make any sense to her either. The dead were not that smart—at least, that used to be the case. No, that was bollocks; of course they were dumber than sheep. Maddie looked at the eight bodies on the floor behind them, the evidence was right there.

  “We’d better get this wall built back up. I can’t see any more, but I think they’ll be back.”

  Maddie slowly nodded, then waited for Bruce to turn back around and examine the break in the barrier before she clutched her stomach again. Oh fuck, the pain was increasing, what was wrong with her?

  “This situation is just ridiculous. I thought those adjustment officers were supposed to have cleared this area just a couple of days ago,” said Bruce, oblivious to his girlfriend’s agony. “They obviously didn’t do it right. They also promised us more materials. It’s not right that we should do this work ourselves. Robbie told me yesterday that he knows for a fact that the elite have coils of razor wire just lying in storage bays at the top of town.”

  She dropped her staff and pressed both her hands tight into her abdomen. Surprisingly, the pain began to ease. After a few more seconds, only a slight discomfort remained. No way could she be pregnant. It must just be something she ate, just a touch of food poisoning. Dodgy stomachs were rife in the community, not surprising considering just how dire their food stock was. Maddie picked up her staff, rearranged her clothing, and walked back over to Bruce.

  He had almost completed the repairs. He didn’t look all that satisfied with the job; considering just how easy it had been for these eight to break through, she didn’t blame him. She handed him the last wooden plank. Bruce smiled, and then his eyes darted past her head. His face crunched up into resentment. “This is so not fucking funny.”

  Maddie spun around, expecting to find one of the dead sitting up.

  “Oh look, it’s the filth,” he snarled. “As per fucking usual, the useless bastards are way too late again.”

  Three adjustment officers were running towards them, their weapons already raised. “You’re too fucking late!” shouted Bruce. “We’ve already done your job for you.”

  One officer stopped by the bodies and proceeded to examine them. The other two hurried over to Maddie and Bruce. Their weapons were still in their gloved hands.

  Maddie groaned inwardly at the sight of the lead officer. This bastard was the last person she wanted to see, why did it have to be him? Maddie tried not to glare at the captain of the guard. Lionel Hanson had to be the most unpleasant man she had ever met.

  This slimy worm so made her flesh crawl. He always held his gaze just a fraction too long. She knew that he was undressing her with his tiny eyes. He was just horrible.

  Nobody would believe that such a diminutive man could have amounted to anything. He had not in his life before the outbreak. She had been told that he used to be a bank teller with an overbearing wife and two feral teenage kids. Maddie suspected that unlike nearly everybody else who was surviving through this nightmare, Lionel was happy that it had happened. It had certainly changed his life around. Thanks to the man’s uncanny ability to wield an adjustment officer’s weapon, the creep had managed to rapidly rise through their ranks until he got to choose his own pompous title.

  This encounter would not end well. Lionel hated the dead, but he despised anyone who lived in the lower borough. As far as he was concerned, if he could drag himself out of the pit then anyone could.

  “Have you been scratched?” shouted Lionel.

  Maddie shook her head. “Of course not, we’re not fucking idiots. We’ve protected ourselves.”

  “Not good enough, I still need to examine you.”

  Her blood ran cold when the creep slowly ran his eyes across her body, knowing exactly what would happen to her if this bastard continued this line of questioning.
<
br />   “We don’t have time for this, Lionel,” replied the other officer.

  She wanted to kiss the other officer.

  Bruce marched up to the little man. “Come on then, why were you so fucking long?” he demanded, towering over Lionel. “Were you too busy polishing your badges or were you two having too much fun sucking each other off?”

  Maddie cringed, she wished he’d just shut the hell up.

  Lionel’s lunge was blocked by the other officer’s arm. She was so grateful that it had been David who had partnered up with this clown.

  “Those things have broken in all over the community,” said David. “The attack has stretched us to the limit. We’ve only just been able to free up enough men to be able to come down here.”

  Maddie nodded; she could now see traces of wear and tiny splashes of black shit across their uniforms.

  Bruce sneered, “Sounds about right. We were the last and most definitely the least of your worries. You had to ensure that all your rich pals were tucked up in bed before checking out the scum. Did you suck them off as well?”

  Maddie felt her stomach pains returning. All she wanted was to go home and get all this rotting muck washed off her.

  “You had better watch your mouth, you dirty boroughs slimeball.”

  “Or what? Will you put me up against the execution wall?”

  Maddie spun around and punched Bruce hard on the shin, “Will you please shut the fuck up?”

  “They have saved us a job here, Lionel. You have to admit, their methods were most effective.” David looked at Maddie.” Where did you learn how to handle that staff, lady?”

  “At the self defence classes,” she replied. We both make sure we attend every single one.”

  “It’s a good fucking job we do,” muttered Bruce.

  Maddie didn’t think either of the officers heard that.

  “The classes were your idea, Lionel,” said David.

  Bruce jumped off the car bonnet and pushed past Maddie. “I want an apology,” he snarled, marching up to the adjustment officer.

  Maddie saw Lionel show his teeth before the man’s arm snapped up. She screamed as Bruce folded like a bed sheet. She tried to run forward, only to find a pair of strong hands gripping both her wrists.