I realised that she had been making a lot of decisions for the group lately. She asked my advice and usually acted on it, but she directed the others, she led the discussions. The strain of trying to look after the people here was taking a toll already. It occurred to me that if she collapsed from the strain the group would struggle. I certainly didn’t want to deal with all the minor problems.
“You need to get some rest” I said.
“I can rest later,” she said without even raising her head.
“You will be no use to the group exhausted.” I pointed out to her, “These people look to you and if you wear yourself out you will be helping no one.”
“I can’t rest. I have too much to do to keep us safe.” She said, finally raising her head to glare at me.
“If you don’t get some rest you won’t be keeping anyone safe, and if you are too tired to look after them, then I will have to do it. I think we both know how terrible I would do.” I said with a smile and was rewarded with a slight upturn of her lips.
“There’s just so much to do, so much to worry about.” Lily said with a sigh.
“Those worries will still be here in the morning the difference will be that you will have the energy to face them.” I paused and then added “You are not alone in this. The whole point of being in a group is to have people who can help you, so you don’t have to do it alone.”
“Did the terrible loner just offer to help someone?” Lily asked with a genuine smile.
“I wouldn’t go that far.” I replied with a grin.
“Ok. Point taken, I will get some rest. Tomorrow is a new day.” She put the radio down and stood, taking a moment to stretch. “Goodnight Ryan,” she said with a gentle touch on my shoulder as she passed. It seemed that I had said something right to thaw the chill. I wondered what it was for a moment before going back to my reading.
Chapter 9
The next two days passed quietly with little excitement. I rapidly grew bored of my forced rest but by the end of the third day of my recovery period I could walk around easier with only slight pain in my ankle. I wouldn’t be running any marathons but I could at least be useful.
During this time Pat had taken to walking in the hills with Rachel and taking the hunting rifles for practice. They had wanted to set up a range behind the stables but I had insisted that they practice far from where we were staying.
Gregg had recovered enough that he was mobile and willing to help out. He still had a number of nasty cuts and bruises but the swelling had reduced enough that he could see. Liz was still in her room and wasn’t ready to leave it.
Claire and Lily had a complete written inventory of everything we would be taking when we did leave and a separate list of items we would still need to find. Maggie had read several of her own selection of books and was going stir crazy at being forced to stay inside with little to do.
We had heard nothing else on the radio since the brief message Lily had picked up. Ideally we would be better suited to find a much more powerful receiver and preferably a transmitter so we could speak with anyone else out there.
On the morning of the fifth day at the stables we were all sat in the living room eating the last of the breakfast cereal when Pat announced that he wanted to take the van and the rifles into the nearby village to have a look for some more food.
“Is that a good idea?” Claire asked. “There’s probably several thousand undead there.”
“That’s why we’ll take the guns. We can protect ourselves better and we will be careful.” Pat said confidently.
“Who is ‘we’?” asked Lily
“Well Rachel and me and anyone else who will come.” Pat said, looking around the assembled group.
“Yeah I’ll go” said Gregg. “Need to be doing something y’know?”
“Well if Gregg goes, then so will I” said Cass.
Pat looked across at me, “What about it Ryan?”
“I’m not sure how much use I will be.” I said truthfully, “I can just about walk but that’s it.”
He nodded agreement but I think he would have preferred me to go with him. Claire went into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a list of items to look out for. As the rest bustled about getting ready Lily took me to one side and spoke quietly, “You should go with them.”
“Why? I won’t be able to fight properly”
“No, but you can drive and keep them safe. I don’t like them thinking the guns will keep them safe.”
“Is this one of those things I have to do or you will get annoyed again?” I asked with a grin.
“I will get annoyed if they get themselves killed yes.” She said as she returned the grin.
It was pleasant to see her smile and I was quite eager to leave the house. “Fine, I will drive.”
“Thank you” she said with one last radiant smile before she left to inform the group that I would be joining them.
I pulled on my thick jacket and picked up my hatchet. I left the carving knife as it would be limited use against the dead. I limped along to the van and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“We all set?” I asked.
“Good to go” said Pat from the back of the van where he was fiddling with a rifle. “Glad you decided to come.”
“Aye well let’s take it easy. No unnecessary shooting.” I said firmly before starting the van. Gregg, Rachel and Pat all sat in the back of the van and Cass sat in the passenger seat. She seemed relaxed and confident, which was more than I felt.
I drove slowly down the driveway and stopped at the bottom to allow Cass to leap from the van and open the gate which she then closed behind us before climbing back into her seat. The road was clear and we set off slowly. I was concerned with how much fuel we had in the van and made a mental note to look out for more.
We passed the farm where I had found Cass and Gregg and continued on. “Our car broke down somewhere along there,” Cass said as we passed a road that branched off from the main one. I grunted and kept driving, if she wanted us to get anything from the car she could ask. A sign beside the road indicated the village was a mile away.
The van slowed and came to a stop at the first houses on the edge of the village. I could see a few undead dotted around the various gardens and alongside the road, but they seemed fairly passive, perhaps waiting for something to gain their attention.
“So what’s the plan?” Cass asked nervously.
“We go slowly and steadily. We can take out the few by the first houses when we get closer and then take a look inside those buildings.” I said.
“Wait. Why not just take them out from here and then go closer.” Rachel demanded.
“Save your bullets until they are needed.” I said with as firm a tone as I could muster. “Who is going to kill the zombies?”
“I will” said Pat as he reached for his hammer.
“I can as well.” Gregg said showing the hand axe he held.
“Ok, you two jump out and follow behind. Keep the doors open and as I drive closer we will see how many come at us. If it’s too many, get back in and we leave.” I told them waiting for the nod of agreement before starting the van moving.
This village was like most others. Houses built with a mixture of building materials. Generally two stories tall and each with a garden to the front and rear. The road carried on for a short distance before splitting at an junction. I drove slowly down the road and stopped at the junction past the parked and abandoned cars. Here and there were the remains of a person who had died and not resurrected. The few zombies that were able to follow after us were quickly despatched by Pat and Gregg.
“Looks like these ones are the slow types.” I said to no one in particular, I was just tense with having to rely on others to do the killing. The garden walls helped Pat and Gregg as most of the dead were still in the gardens and more often than not were foiled by the gates.
“There’s a newsagents down there” Cass said pointing down the right hand branch of the juncti
on. I followed her gaze and saw that it was indeed a shop and it looked intact. “Maybe we should check that place out first?” she said.
“Sure. Tell the guys to follow us and I will drive us down there.” I instructed. Cass quickly climbed from the van and ran back to pass the instructions on to Pat and Gregg. I waited until she was back in the van before setting off.
When we reached the shop we could see that it was intact and the few zombies that were in the area were moving slowly towards us. Pat and Gregg moved well together smashing the skulls of the zombies as they approached the van. They ignored the ones that were stuck in their gardens for now as the small amount of noise they were making didn’t seem to be attracting too much attention.
Pat walked up to my window. “What now?” he asked.
“There are five of us, so one to stay with the van and the rest split into two groups. One group into the shop and the other group can check houses.” I suggested.
“Sounds good, me and Gregg will take the houses.” Said Pat before jogging back to Gregg.
“Right then, it looks like you ladies are taking the shop” I said.
“Why do you get to guard the van?” asked Rachel.
“I am not sure how much strain my ankle will take” I said with exasperation.
“Well I want to stay and guard the van.” Rachel said clutching her rifle tightly.
“It’s fine, I can go in the shop alone” said Cass attempting to stop an argument before it began.
“No. I had better go with you” I said with a disgusted look toward Rachel who ignored it. My time with the group would definitely be over if Lily found out I let Cass go off alone and she got herself killed.
I climbed out of the van and glanced around. It seemed peaceful enough if you could ignore the zombie corpses that lay in a fairly straight line back the way we had come and the zombies who were trying to get out of their gardens. I could even see some in the houses that had been roused by our presence.
“If you see anything we should worry about, tell us. Don’t fire the rifle unless you really have to” I told Rachel and got a sneer in return.
Truth be told, I preferred Rachel when she was grieving. Her current attitude was beginning to grate. I dismissed my thoughts of her and concentrated on the task at hand, namely limping across to the shop door.
“It isn’t locked” Cass said.
“That could be good or bad.” I said as I reached to push the door open. The interior was dark with only the faint light coming through the doorway where we stood. Nothing moved within and I banged my hatchet against the door frame and waited for a response.
When nothing responded to the noise we cautiously entered the shop. Newspapers from more than two weeks ago still sat on the counter. I realised that in reality it hadn’t been that long since this whole thing started and we had a long way to go yet.
The shelves were stocked full of the assorted confectionary these shops usually held. Cigarettes and some small bottles of alcohol sat behind the counter. The entire section of bread and the fridge full of milk were ruined but the cans of pop and bottles of water we could use, as well as the jars of coffee, packages of tea and biscuits and the variety of tinned foods and cereals.
“Well this lot will be useful to have.” I said to Cass who was rooting behind the counter for bags. Cass started filling bags and taking them out to the van while I checked the back room, that turned out to be used for storage and contained boxes of stock items and a set of stairs that led up to the next floor. I ignored them for now and started moving boxes into the front of the shop.
“Might be worth calling Pat and Gregg to help” I told Cass who agreed and jogged from the shop to get them. I continued to pile boxes up by the counter and after a few minutes the others returned and began moving the boxes into the van.
We all froze in place at the sound of a gun firing right outside the door. “What the hell!” I said before we all rushed out of the shop.
Rachel was stood beside the van with the rifle raised and a wide grin on her face. “Look babe I got one” she crowed to Pat. I looked down the road to see that one of the zombies had managed to knock open the gate and step out onto the road. It was in no way a threat that warranted a gunshot.
“What do you think you are doing?” I demanded.
“What? It was coming this way” said Rachel with the grin still in place.
“We need to leave.” I said to the group, “Now.”
“Why? It’s just one more dead zombie.” Rachel said as her grin starting to fade.
“Yes and you have just rung the dinner bell for every damn zombie that heard that shot” I snarled as I barged past her and hobbled around the front of the van to the driver’s side door.
“You can’t get all pissed at me. Are you the only one allowed to kill them?” Rachel yelled after me.
I ignored her and started the van. Cass climbed into the passenger seat and Gregg was already nestled in the back amongst the few boxes we had loaded. Pat was arguing with Rachel beside the van.
The first zombie staggered around the corner at the other end of the junction. A glance in the side mirror showed some more appearing around the corner of the other end. We would be rapidly surrounded.
“Pat, get in the van now or I am going without you.” I shouted. Pat looked up and saw the zombies coming from both directions before grabbing hold of Rachel and dragging her around to the back of the van and thrusting her inside. He climbed in after her and slammed shut the door.
If it would have helped I would have cursed at the stupid girl for firing the rifle. As it was, I had enough trouble trying to manoeuvre around the cars and dead bodies in the street while avoiding the ever increasing number of undead.
Some of the faster zombies were already at the junction as I reached it and I was forced to hit them with the van to get past. The vehicle wasn’t built for driving over the many bodies that littered the street and I had to go slow to avoid catching something under the van and damaging it.
We were finally clear of the zombies but a large crowd of them were following us. I sped along the road and out of the village. It was a straight run back to the stables and I was concerned they would follow us there, but without knowing the area I had no way of taking a detour to lose them.
I was furious at Rachel and her stupidity. She was still arguing loudly with Pat in the back of the van. I increased speed to get us back to the stables as soon as possible so I could be done with her.
The van screeched to a halt and Cass jumped out to open the gate, once again closing it as I drove the van through. She waved me on and ran along behind us rather than climbing back into her seat. I brought the van to a stop outside the house and stormed inside without a word to the others.
My ankle was hurting and I stopped in the kitchen to get a drink and some more painkillers. Lily and Claire were sat at the table and I quickly outlined what had happened. By the time Cass and Gregg joined us they were fully aware of the situation.
“Where are Pat and Rachel?” Lily asked Cass.
“Outside by the van arguing.” She said.
Lily went out to speak to them and I leaned against the counter. “We need to get some chain or something to secure that gate.” I said. “Those zombies will probably keep coming and we have two choices. We secure the gates and hope they pass us by or we leave.”
“It may be a good idea to load the van and Land Rover anyway, just in case” said Cass. It made sense and at least we would be prepared if we had to leave in a hurry.
“Let’s get started on sorting the things we definitely need to take with us in an emergency and whatever space we have left we can fill with anything else.” I suggested.
“We will need space for everyone.” Claire chimed in, “Liz will be coming with us. She has told me she doesn’t want to stay here alone.”
We were discussing what we would need to put in the vehicles first when Lily and Pat appeared. “Where’s Rachel?” asked Claire.
/> “She has gone to sit behind the barn. You can see the road from there and she knows she has to come back and tell us if she sees any undead headed this way.” Lily said.
Pat looked embarrassed and was happy to be distracted as we filled them in on the plan to prepare the vehicles. Both he and Lily agreed and in a short time we were taking things out to the van and organising what went where.
As the last of the supplies were loaded into the van a thought occurred to me. I called Pat over. “When you were searching the house did you find keys for that car?” I asked as I pointed at the red car that still sat untouched at the side of the house.
“I think I saw the keys why? We gonna take that car too?”
“No, but if we park it behind the gate it will be an extra barrier to prevent anyone access. The only way up here from the road is to either climb the wall or come through the gate. If they can’t get through the gate, I am thinking that they will just keep walking past.”
“Makes sense to me, I’ll find the keys” he said before heading into the house.
I leant against the side of the van a moment to take some of the weight off of my sore ankle. With the supplies loaded we would be at least a little better prepared if we had to flee at short notice once again. We would still have to decide who went into which vehicle but I would leave that for Lily to sort out.
We would need to have someone stay on watch while we stayed here from now on. Ideally we would be better served by moving on to somewhere else. Until the rest of the people faced the reality though, I believed that they would be content to stay here as long as possible.
Claire had disappeared inside a while ago to start preparing some food. Maggie now stood at the door and in her quiet voice was struggling to get everybody’s attention. I limped across to her.
“What’s up?”
“I have to tell everyone dinners ready.” She said her voice soft and low.
“Well then you need to get everyone’s attention.” I said with a smile for her, “Here try this.” I picked up one of the spare pans from the pile of discarded items by the door. “Bang this and you will soon get their attention” I told her with a wink.
Search for Safety: Killing the Dead Book Two Page 7
