Killing The Dead (Book 15): The Gathering Storm

by Murray, Richard

  “H-how many?”

  I didn’t want to know the answer but I needed to. Those were Ryan’s people who had stood against a horde of the undead that numbered in the tens of thousands. Barely three hundred of them, armed with knives and the belief that they were already dead, just that their bodies hadn’t realised it.

  “One hundred and sixty-seven.”

  I swallowed hard. More than half of his people had died protecting the refugees. They’d gone to that barricade knowing that there was no way to stop the undead, but all they had to do was hold them back long enough for our improvised napalm to be unleashed.

  Even then, it hadn’t been enough and standing there, with the bodies piled around them, they would have realised it. Not a single one had taken so much as a step back.

  God above, I wanted to weep.

  “I-I’m sorry.”

  “They fought well.”

  “We’ll detach some people to help you bring their bodies back.”

  “Why?”

  Cass and I shared a look at that. It was the kind of reply we would have expected of Ryan and I was honestly surprised that Samuel had responded the same way.

  “Because they were your people,” Cass said.

  “Their purpose is done. We made sure none would rise again, that is the only gift we can give the fallen. A pyre will be raised once we have finished hunting the Scourge.”

  I shared another look with my friend and knew she was thinking the same thing I was. It wasn’t fitting to just treat their fallen as rubbish to be discarded. They had died for the people of the island and they deserved some form of respect for that.

  Cass nodded and quietly excused herself before leaving the room at a quick pace. Samuel didn’t seem to even notice and I pulled out one of the office chairs that had been shoved to the side of the former office and gestured for him to sit before he fell.

  “How did your meeting go?”

  “It didn’t,” I replied, biting my lip once again. “Admiral Stuart suggested that he meet with them first to try and discern their intentions before a formal meeting with me happens. He took, Lou with him.”

  “A good man.”

  I wasn’t sure if he meant the Admiral or Lou but figured it could apply to either man and so I just nodded. Samuel’s shoulders slumped and his eyelids drooped as the weariness became too much for him.

  “You need to rest.”

  “Later,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. “Has there been new word from, My Lord Death?”

  “Not yet. He’s due to radio in soon.”

  Samuel nodded slowly, face betraying his relief. Like me, he hadn’t believed for a moment that Ryan had abandoned me the night I told him I was pregnant. We’d been right and it turned out that he’d been abducted by some people for some unknown reason.

  I’d only briefly spoken with Ryan since Gregg had found him and only then, managed to learn he hadn’t been treated well and that he would explain more when he returned.

  “I’m thinking of sending one of the planes for him.” I tasted blood on my lip as I bit down on it once more. “Is that right, do you think? Should I do that?”

  The older man smiled gently and reached out to pat my arm.

  “No one would question your motives anyway, but there is reason. He has information about whomever it was that abducted him and that information could reveal a threat to us. Getting him back as soon as possible would be a good idea.”

  “I want him back because he’s Ryan though and not because of the information he might have. People should suspect my motives because I just want him here, with me.”

  “The very fact that you are questioning it is enough to tell you that your motives are pure. If I said no, would you send the plane?”

  “No.” It was true and I was miserable about it. Which was why I was looking for any other excuse to bring him back as quickly as possible. “I wouldn’t.”

  “There you are then. We need to know why he was abducted and if nothing else, the Dead will not leave this island until he returns.”

  “Why would you leave?”

  He smiled at the alarm in my voice and patted my arm comfortingly once again.

  “You sent out most of your fleet to find survivors. Your army is barely trained and needs to take the time to secure your hold on this island.” He gave me a warm smile. “Your Admiral is using his warships to patrol the sea around you and that leaves us. We cannot be used against the Living, but we can go out there and find the food that is needed to keep everyone alive.”

  I blinked, not sure what to say. His reasoning was sound. The Dead wouldn’t even speak to those they considered to be of the ‘Living’ but they would die willingly to protect them. They kept themselves purposefully apart, their one task to kill the undead and protect any innocents they found.

  They would be ceaseless in their assault upon the towns the undead held as they secured more supplies for the people of the island. No matter the cost to themselves, they would pay it willingly to ensure life continued for the others.

  “Thank you.”

  “Do not thank me until My Lord Death returns. Until then, we will tend our wounds and continue to train.” He paused and his eyes met mine with a strange hesitation in them. “We have been approached.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some of the people here have asked to join us.”

  Ah.

  Ryan had said they would not recruit but they would accept those who came to them. But, doing so could raise the ire of the other factions that were slowly forming, most notably those of the various religions that had a distinct dislike for the newest religion growing amongst them.

  I had to be careful to ensure that there was not more reason for unrest. A bored populace had little to do but grumble and I wasn’t sure what I would do should any serious unrest come about. I was loathe to send the CDF against them and I couldn’t send the Dead.

  My goal was to keep people alive and not kill them over such nonsense. At the same time, we owed the Dead a great deal and if people were willing to join, I couldn’t in good conscience deny them.

  “Allow them to join, but if any wish to leave at any point they will be allowed.”

  I held up a hand before he could offer protest. They had no desire to keep people who didn’t want to be there. Their entire belief system was based upon that one thing. They had lost everything and had nothing to live for so they were already dead and while they waited for their bodies to realise that, they would fight the undead.

  If they thought anyone still had connections to the living, they would be ejected. They were to protect the living and not let them die fighting the undead if they could help it.

  “We need to be open about this, that way no one can say you are forcing people to join your ranks.”

  “As you command, My Lady.”

  I smiled at the honorific that he refused to stop using despite my repeated commands. I reached across and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it softly.

  “Rest now.”

  “Not until the island is safe.”

  He pushed himself to his feet and paused, before bowing low. Then, he spun on his heel and marched for the door, back straight and head high, showing no weariness. I watched him leave and then turned to Charlie, decision made.

  “What’s up, boss lady?”

  “Find me an airfield near Ryan’s last location.”

  Chapter 3

  It wasn’t so much a house as it was a cabin. Remote, surrounded by trees with nothing but a dirt track leading down to the road that ran alongside the loch. The windows were protected with wooden shutters, while moss and old leaves covered the roof.

  With a glance and a jerk of my head, I sent the minion around the back to check for potential danger. I was in no real condition to fight without some rest and food and, if I were totally honest, no desire to waste my little remaining energy on some random zombie that had likely been at the cabin since the whole end of the w
orld thing had happened.

  Gregg held on to me stoically. Without his support, I would have likely made half the distance we had and that was nothing to get excited about. An hours walking and we’d gone barely a mile if I were any judge.

  “Clear,” the minion said as he pushed open the door from the inside.

  I was too tired to ask how he got in and the day was drawing to a close. As high as we were, the temperature was dropping fast and I just wanted to sleep. So I stumbled along with Gregg, into the cabin while the minion held open the door.

  As I was dropped unceremoniously onto a low, leather, couch, the minion closed the door and set about securing it. Then he did the same for the back door as Gregg set down his backpack and stretched theatrically.

  “Jeez, you’re heavier than you look, mate.”

  “Aye, it’s all the lounging around I’ve been doing lately. Even the starvation and torture couldn’t stop me from gaining a few pounds.”

  He flashed me a grin and crouched down, rifling through his pack for the first aid kit. He pulled back the bandages that wrapped my foot, being surprisingly gentle but even so, I winced with each layer he unwrapped.

  “Christ,” he muttered. “Your foot looks as messed up as my face.”

  I couldn’t argue with that assessment as I glanced down at it. Each of my toes was just a bloody mess, though there didn’t look to be anything in the way of infection. I wiggled them tentatively and was relieved that they seemed to work okay.

  “This’ll hurt.”

  He poured the antisceptic directly onto my toes and I let out a growl as I gripped the leather arm of the sofa. “A bit more bloody warning would have been nice.”

  “Don’t be a baby.” He dabbed at the toes with some clean cotton wool and shook his head before placing a rectangle of gauze over them. “If you keep them clean they’ll probably heal up without any problems.”

  “Yeah, which would be fine if we didn’t have a couple of hundred miles walking to do.”

  “Could be worse.”

  “How?”

  He shrugged and began wrapping my foot with a clean bandage. Behind him, the minion dropped an armful of cut wood onto the floor beside the stone fireplace and began building a fire. As far from the road as we were, I doubted the woodsmoke would bring any attention, but even so, it would need to be kept low.

  “Saw this place on our way here,” Gregg was saying and I turned my attention back to him as my eyelids began to droop. “Looks like it was used by hunters. Probably a load of them around here.”

  “Might be some useful supplies.”

  “Aye, already thought of that, mate. You have a kip and we’ll take a look.”

  I didn’t bother answering and just let my head fall back and watched them through narrowed eyes as they moved around the cabin. It wasn’t long before I was asleep.

  When I awoke a short time later, there was an aroma of fish stew filling the cabin and while that would have ordinarily made me gag, instead I found myself salivating. The meals during my brief incarceration in the bunker had been few and far between.

  As a result, I would have happily eaten a day old fish that had been sat in the sun. My stomach rumbled loudly and Gregg looked around, raising one eyebrow at the sound.

  “Should I take it to mean that you’re hungry, mate?”

  “Just a little.”

  He spooned a generous portion of the stew into a tin bowl and brought it across to me. I took it with a grateful nod and looked around the small room we were in.

  “The minion?”

  “Gathering wood and checking out the area to make sure we don’t have any unwanted surprises.”

  I nodded and swallowed down a spoonful of the stew, barely tasting it, which was probably a good thing. “Have I missed the call?”

  “Not yet. Should be anytime now.”

  “Good.”

  We’d agreed to keep in touch around the same time each day, limiting how long we could speak as we were not entirely sure whether anyone would be listening in. Considering the tech the people in the bunker had, I wouldn’t put it past them to be able to though.

  I took another spoonful of the stew and looked around. Clearly whoever had used the place before us had been a hunter. There were pictures aplenty on the walls of people holding up large fish and posing beside the carcasses of the animals they had shot.

  The furniture was leather, old and banged up a little but still useable and the cabinets and end tables were a dark brown and shone with years of use, their surfaces scratched and worn. It had clearly been well used.

  Gregg had told me, during our slow walk earlier, that he had sent one fist of my minions south and then had followed the north road out of town with the other. They would have been called back and would meet us at Oban after securing the transport back.

  It wouldn’t be a quick and easy journey though. On the way to the bunker, I had been driven along in an electric truck. We’d made good time, but even then it had taken days. For Gregg and my minions, it had taken an extra week.

  With some rest and food, along with some shoes, I would be able to walk albeit slowly. Even so, it would take more than a week to get back to Oban and there was the chance of meeting zombies along the way.

  I had a strong urge to return to Lily and our unborn child, but I also needed to get back and check out the contents of the flash drive that Isaac had given to me. On it was the location of the other base that was buried somewhere in England.

  That base, according to my captors, was full of potential allies who were rebelling at the ideas of the Genpact group. A little late, admittedly, what with the death of the majority of the world, but even so, they could be useful.

  If nothing else they would be able to give me the location of the other bases and then I could merrily visit each and every one of them and lay waste. That thought gave me cause to smile in such a manner that Gregg looked away and shivered.

  The crackle of the radio coming to life broke the silence and Gregg reached over and pressed a button before speaking into it.

  “Hey, it’s Gregg.”

  “You guys okay?”

  I felt a peculiar sensation as I heard her voice and shook my head slowly. How she had managed to get beneath my skin I couldn’t say, but she had and she was there to stay. I had changed for her in ways that I had never thought were possible.

  No longer the amoral killer, I could only ever truly find joy in the murder of those she would consider evil, or at least not innocent. Still, the world still had plenty of those and always would.

  “We’re good. You want me to put lover boy on?”

  “Please.”

  He passed the radio across to me with a grin and went back to the kitchenette to tend to his stew, giving me a little privacy.

  “Hello, Lily.”

  “Hello, Ryan.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure what to say next. Small talk was not exactly my strong suit.

  “You are well?”

  “We are fine,” she said with the sound of humour in her voice. A sound I realised I had missed. “Me and your babies.”

  “Babies?”

  “Twins,” she confirmed and I blinked, a little taken aback.

  “Congrats, mate,” Gregg called.

  “I’m pleased you are… all… well.”

  “God, you are so awkward aren’t you? I bet you’re hating this.”

  “A little.”

  “Okay, well to the point then, my love. We have an idea.”

  Gregg looked over and I waved for him to join me. He settled onto the couch beside me and tilted his head as he listened.

  “Go on.”

  “You’re about a hundred miles from Oban, right?”

  “Sounds about right,” I said as Gregg just shrugged.

  “Well, there’s two airfields that are closer. One to the north-west and the other to the south-east. Both are about fifty miles from where you are now.”

  With the shutters over the window an
d the dark of evening I couldn’t see much, but in the daylight and looking north, I would see the mountain rising up above the loch. The hills to the north were steep and there were many. It would not be an easy journey.

  While there were hills to the south, there were not as steep nor so numerous. But, as a result, there would be more villages and towns, which meant more zombies.

  “You have a way to reach us at an airfield?”

  “We do, but… we aren’t sure which of them would be best.”

  “If either are any use,” Gregg muttered and I glanced at him. “Has to be said, mate.”

  “Gregg has pointed out that either airfield could be unusable.”

  “We have considered that,” Lily said. “It was suggested that the smaller plane could land in a field or on any long, straight, surface.”

  “But you need something else,” I said softly.

  “Parts for the planes we have and potentially any other planes that could be useable.”

  “Which do you think is the best option?”

  There was silence for several long seconds that seemed to stretch interminably, then she spoke again.

  “The south-east.”

  She knew the dangers that would pose as well as anyone. To the south-east was Perth, a city. That meant a lot of people who had potentially become a lot of zombies.

  “You don’t have to do this, but it could get you back to me quicker.”

  “Half the distance, mate. Have to consider that.”

  I did consider it and I considered that fact that I had spent a week being tortured and I was exhausted, in pain and not entirely sure I was up to fighting hordes of zombies. Not to mention the Reaper that had followed me from Oban. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t give up so easily.

  Not to mention the fact that it was the wrong direction and if there was nowhere for the plane to land, we would be further from Oban and the boat back to the island.

  “There’s something else,” Lily said and I closed my eyes as I rolled my head to either side, feeling the tension in my neck. There always was.

  “Go on.”

  “We’ve found some… allies,” she began slowly, as aware as I was that there could be anyone listening. “An agreement can be made but they need something from us.”