Killing The Dead (Book 15): The Gathering Storm

by Murray, Richard

  I licked my lips and pressed one hand against my stomach. She wasn’t wrong and I was woman enough to admit that. Things had been getting too much for me and it was my own fault for not being willing to share that burden.

  “You’ve been trying too hard to be this strong leader. Determined to stand alone and shoulder the burdens so we don’t have to. That’s something a man would do and you’re better than that.”

  Ouch. She was showing herself to be way too perceptive for my liking.

  “Now. It’s time to pull up your big girl knickers and be the kind of leader I saw when you first took control. Stop reacting to what is happening and take control.”

  I couldn’t help the chuckle and I reached out, grasping her hand in mine and squeezing it tight. She responded in kind and I realised that I had been wrong in my initial impression of her.

  “Thank you.”

  “No time for that. Stop your blubbering, girl and give out some orders.”

  I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin before I strode back across to where the others stood, ostensibly ignoring the red mark on my cheek. I stared at the monitors, chewing my lip as I thought and then it occurred to me.

  “Charlie.”

  “Yes, boss?”

  “Find me, Wells.”

  “Boss?”

  “He has to be around somewhere, directing things. The riots too organised.”

  “What do you mean?” Cass asked stepping forward to look at the monitors.

  “Look at where they are targeting. Going straight for places of importance and leaving other areas entirely untouched. A riot should mean those streets are full of people too. They aren’t though and all the rioters are headed towards areas we need. Ones that will weaken our position.”

  The others looked at the monitors and I silently cursed myself for not seeing it earlier. It had taken a friend slapping some sense into me to get my mind to focus it seemed. But focus it had.

  I’d seen rioting before and you always seemed to have two types of rioters. Those that would take out their fury on the people in power, the ones they were rioting against. And then there were those who were just out for the fun of it, and for the looting.

  There was a reason the local stores always got hit in a riot. People stealing electronics goods and the like. Well, we didn’t have anything like that but we did have some items that were considered valuable.

  Clothes, blankets, even wood used for the fires people cooked with and kept their homes warm. There were any number of small, local, distribution areas where those items were located and not one had been touched.

  No, they had only headed for the food warehouses first. Which I would understand if we had been on half rations for weeks and not just for a morning. No one was that hungry, yet.

  More than that, a lot of those foodstuffs were disappearing from the crowd. People milled around outside the buildings, sure. Some even held items taken from the warehouses but not enough. Most of it was just … not there.

  That told me that someone was taking it. My guess was Wells so that he could bring it out later and be the saviour. To do that though, he would need to be close.

  “There!” Shepherd said. “I’d recognise that fat bastard anywhere. He’s the only one on the damned island who hasn’t lost weight.”

  She pointed at a monitor and Charlie quickly set that particular drone in a holding pattern and zoomed in the camera. It revealed the unmistakable round form of the former first minister. I turned to Samuel.

  “Bring him to me and anyone with him.”

  “As you command, My Lady.”

  Samuel bowed low at the waist and then spun on his heel, striding from the room. He would get the job done and likely with fewer casualties.

  “Is that wise?” Cass asked. “I thought you said…”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m done trying to placate people. If they don’t like the Dead being here after this then they are welcome to leave.”

  “Ma’am?” Admiral Stuart coughed lightly to get my attention.

  “Yes?”

  “The medical facilities are secured with minimal loss of life.”

  “How minimal?”

  “Seven people died and the rest backed off. I am getting reports of more deaths to the north.”

  I gestured and Charlie tapped on her control panel. One of the drones flew off and it didn’t take long to find the problem. Someone had died. I doubted that we’d ever know why, but they had gone unnoticed and risen as one of the undead.

  Several people had been bitten before it was noticed and like it had back in the beginning, it spread outwards. More people were attacked, bitten and turned, leaving us with a couple of dozen zombies spreading out as a crowd of people ran in the opposite direction.

  “Order the CDF to contain it,” I said and one of the techs spoke into a headset, relaying the command.

  I leant forward and stared hard at the screens. My resolve bolstered as I determined to bring as much order as I could back to the island.

  Chapter 25

  They would be watching the roads. I was certain of that. There was the A9 which ran towards the south and went right past the town of Dunkeld, crossing over a ten-metre wide branch of the River Tay.

  The A923 passed through the town itself, crossing over the wider River Tay and joining up with the A9 right outside the town. Which gave the raiders just two crossing points they needed to watch to control all travel from north to south.

  Add to that, the A9 would have steep hills on one side and the town on the other, meaning that even if we somehow managed to sneak across, we would be caught in a narrow box with no real escape.

  All in all, it was not an ideal situation and trying to make our way south with a dozen civilians burdened with their supplies was just not going to happen while they held those crossing points.

  It was a problem that I was going to have to solve and as I walked along at the rear of the column, sweat covering my skin and every movement sending fresh waves of pain through me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do anything.

  Gregg, at the front of the column, raised his hand as we approached the bend in the road. Everyone stopped and as we had instructed earlier, they moved across to the side of the road where they could be hidden by the undergrowth.

  I continued on until I came up alongside him.

  “Just round this bend, mate.” He waved and the girl from earlier scurried forwards. “How many are in the town?”

  “There was six. Three on each bridge.”

  Plus the four that had fled the research facility, that made ten. I gave a soft grunt and looked up at the overcast sky. There was very little light to see by but in a couple of hours, the sun would rise, making things infinitely harder.

  No, I had to do it then, in the darkness, when it would be just me against them. I wiped the sweat from my face and gently pressed my fingers against the bandage over my side.

  The bullet had gone through barely a couple of centimetres of my flesh. Straight in and out with no real damage which I guessed made it a flesh wound. Still hurt like hell though. As for the wounds in my back, I’d had worse.

  There was some stiffness to my movements and I was pretty sure if I moved too fast I would open the stitches there, but all in all, I’d been in worse shape. Though, admittedly, not when facing ten raiders.

  “Probably be sleeping,” I said. “One or two watching the roads but the others sleeping. Now is going to be the best time to do this.”

  I hated how it sounded like I was trying to convince myself and flashed a grin at Gregg as his face took on that worried look he wore so often.

  “You sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

  “This isn’t your kind of task,” I said as I slipped the blade from its sheath. “You’re not suited for it, my friend.”

  “Damn, mate. You realise if you die then I can’t go home? Lily would kill me.”

  “Would probably be quicker than if Samuel got hold of you.”
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br />   His face paled a little in the darkness at that and I chuckled before moving past him, walking slowly along the road.

  I slipped into the trees beside the road and moved through them as quietly as possible. Not that it would make much distance. I was pretty sure I knew what I would find at the crossing point anyway.

  It didn’t take long before the bridge came in sight and I cursed myself for being right. They had set up at the far side of the bridge which meant that anyone sneaking through the undergrowth would still have to give up their cover to cross the bridge.

  They would see anyone coming and have a clear line of fire. The road behind them was straight and narrow with open land at either side allowing them to see anyone approaching from the other direction too.

  If those new allies of Lily had sent people that way, it was easy to see why they hadn’t managed to get far. Anyone approaching the bridge would be an easy target and no matter the training you had, you couldn’t dodge bullets.

  Across the river, the land rose steeply so even if I thought I could swim it, I would be screwed when I reached the other side and had sod all chance of climbing up the banking, even if I wasn’t in the poor shape I was.

  They had built a fortified position with sandbags forming a rough square. In the dim light, I could just about make out a shadowy shape of a man leant against those sandbags. Typical of my luck to find the one raider who actually took his duties seriously and paid attention on watch.

  I crouched down in the undergrowth beside the end of the bridge and waited. If I had been in good health, I would have risked hanging off the side of the bridge and moving across, hand over hand, as I dangled over the river.

  That might have worked if I was in good health. Just then, as injured as I was, there was no chance I would be able to do that.

  So I’d have to do it the hard way.

  “What now?” Gregg asked in a whisper and my head whipped around as I raised my knife, knuckles whitening as I gripped it.

  “The hell are you doing?”

  “Can’t let you do this alone, mate,” he said. “I don’t like killing people but will if I have to.”

  I gave him a hard stare and then let out a soft exhalation. As much as I hated to admit it, he could be of help.

  “You won’t need to kill anyone. I’ll do that.”

  “Okay, but what do I need to do?”

  “Walk out onto the bridge and call out to them. They’ll either shoot you on sight or, considering how low their numbers are, see if you can be useful to them.”

  “Those are my options? Be shot or probably beaten and questioned?”

  “You said you wanted to help.”

  “Yeah, but, damn. I thought it would be in another way.”

  “No. This is the best way to help. When they are busy questioning you or dragging away your body, I will be able to kill them.”

  He shot me a sour look that I could only dimly see in the darkness. “Thanks.”

  Without another word, he pushed himself up and held his hands in the air as he stepped out onto the bridge.

  “Hello? I’m unarmed, just passing through.”

  There was an immediate reaction from the other side of the bridge and I was actually pleased when they didn’t immediately shoot him. It meant I’d been right. They wouldn’t waste a bullet on one guy if they didn’t need to.

  A man jogged forward, rifle raised before him and Gregg stood very still. I watched the far end of the bridge, a frown forming when there was no movement. I’d expected something.

  “Who the fuck’re you?” the raider asked. “What you doing here?”

  “Just passing through.”

  Gregg didn’t move as the raider quickly patted him down, pulling the knife from his belt and tossing it to clatter against the pavement that ran along the side of the bridge.

  “Put your bag down.”

  He did as instructed, pulling the pack off his back and dropping it before him. I nodded approvingly as it meant the man would need to look away from my position if he wanted to search through it.

  “There’s some food in there, mate. Happy to share it with you.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” the raider hesitated looking back to the other side of the bridge and apparently satisfied, gestured with the rifle barrel. “Open it up.”

  Gregg sank down into a crouch and opened the pack, making sure his back was to me. I smiled grimly, appreciating what he was doing to distract the raider. It made it very easy for me to move ever so slowly to the bridge.

  So distracted was he by the contents of the pack that he didn’t notice me until my blade slammed into the side of his skull. He went down without a sound and Gregg whirled, catching the rifle before it could hit the tarmac.

  I left Gregg to gather his things together and moved across towards the stacked sandbags. There was a lone raider there, curled up around a bottle of whiskey. He shifted in his sleep, matted beard and hair sticking out wildly.

  He died without waking up.

  Afterwards, I wiped my blade and sheathed it as Gregg approached. He glanced down at the dead man and then quickly away.

  “Where are the others?”

  “Probably in the town,” I said with a shrug. “No need to sleep on the cold tarmac when there’re houses.”

  “You’re gonna kill them though, yeah?”

  “It’s either that or have them behind us. When they find the bodies in the morning they’ll come looking.”

  “Damn.”

  “Go get the others and start walking south. I’ll catch up when I’m done.”

  He gave me a sceptical look that I didn’t need daylight to recognise and I grinned, then walked away without a word. I hadn’t gone far before the road split. The main road continued on south but another branched off to the north.

  That would lead directly to the bridge according to the girl's description. The raiders, if they had any intelligence at all, would choose a house nearby that would allow them to move to either bridge with minimum fuss.

  Which suggested that they would be in one or more of the white painted houses that sat behind a screen of aspen trees. It was a small cluster that had a road connecting to the northern road that led to the bridge.

  Since there was just grass and a few trees separating them from the A9 road, I just walked across and picked the closest. I was pretty sure that laziness would win out for most people and they would go for the easiest option every time.

  They hadn’t even bothered to lock the door. I stepped inside and paused as I leant against the wall for a moment to gather my energy before continuing. It was a two storey dwelling with living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs. There were most likely at least two but probably three bedrooms upstairs and a bathroom.

  The house was filled with rubbish. Bottles and cans sitting on every open surface along with filthy plates covered in half-eaten food. I understood why they would all stay in the same house. Safety in numbers and all that, but couldn’t understand why they would live amidst such filth.

  My bet would be that they would let it reach critical mass and then move to another house and start again. I pulled a face at the odour or rotting food and began to move through the house, checking room by room.

  They had clearly looted plenty of alcohol judging by the stacked cases of beer in the kitchen and the counter filled with full bottles of hard alcohol and wine. One way to spend your apocalypse I thought, but not a particularly bright one.

  A man, as dirty and dishevelled as all the others I had seen of the little group, lay on the leather sofa in the living room. I stared at him for a moment considering and then walked across to him. I placed the barrel of the handgun against his forehead and woke him, almost gently.

  “Wha- huh?”

  I motioned for him to be quiet with a finger against my lips and pushed the gun a little harder against his skull.

  “Now, tell me,” I said. “How many of your friends are in this house?”

  His mouth w
orked and eyes flicked from mine to the hand holding the gun and he licked suddenly dry lips.

  “F-five, mate. Just five.”

  “They all upstairs?”

  “Yeah.”

  That made sense then. Two at each bridge and six in the house sleeping. “Anyone else in here? Women?”

  “N-no, they were all gone.”

  Good, I thought. That would make it a great deal easier because truth be told, I was feeling every ache and pain and had a long walk ahead of me.

  “Thank you,” I said politely and then slit his throat in one smooth motion.

  He gurgled and thrashed pleasingly as the blood sprayed across wall and floor. I held him as he died to keep him from making any noise.

  Once he was dead I rose to my feet and stuffed the gun back in the waistband of my jeans and sheathed my knife. I went back to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of bottles of the hard liquor, pulling free the stoppers and emptying the contents on the floor.

  I moved through the bottom floor of the house, spreading the alcohol across every surface and ensuring the carpet was well and truly soaked. After that, I did the same for the stairs.

  As the last bottle was emptied, I lit one of the many half-melted candles on the mantlepiece and carried it with me to the front door. I tossed it into the living room and stepped outside, closing the door firmly behind me as light flared.

  The fire spread fast and it wasn’t long before cries of alarm were raised as a smoke alarm went off. That was unexpected but useful. Good quality batteries obviously.

  I leant against the wall and pulled out the gun once more, making sure the safety was off. Then I held it in my hand and waited.

  A second-floor window was opened and smoke boiled out. A face appeared, the raider coughing and spluttering from the smoke. I took aim and fired once, the sound echoing from the houses as the man died and I smiled.

  I ducked down behind the low stone wall and waited. Another scream sounded from within and glass shattered as someone tried to escape the flames. Then came the sound of running feet on the road.

  As they came close, I rose up and fired three times at the running raiders. They died with looks of surprise on their face and I walked slowly around to the back of the house. A man was moaning as he lay amidst the weeds and grass.