Dark and Deadly Land

by Richard Murray

  “Now, what about you?” Mary asked as she passed the last cup to Ryan and seated herself beside her husband.

  I glanced at each of my friends in turn before I began to speak, “Well it started last year.”

  The story was long and by the time I’d finished, I looked down to see my cup was empty. I’d not even noticed that I’d drunk it. I’d explained about meeting Ryan and the others, though I’d left out some parts.

  Our long journey to find a place where we could be safe and the losses we’d suffered. The attacks from the deserters and Marcus’s evil group. I explained how we’d found Becky and the box she carried that contained a great deal of research on the virus that reanimated the dead. How Cass was pregnant and immune and we were on our way to Scotland to find the navy that had landed there.

  “That’s quite a tale,” Mary said as I finished. She shared a look with her husband and gave her head a shake. “Quite a tale.”

  “You can stay in the holiday homes,” Jonathan said as he pushed himself up from the table and crossed to a drawer. He opened it and pulled out a set of keys that he placed on the table before us.

  “It’s really very generous of you,” I said. “A few hours rest and we’ll be off though.”

  “Take as long as you need,” he said.

  “Will be nice to have some company,” his wife added.

  “How long have you been here alone?” Cass asked.

  “Oh a few months now, since before the snow,” Mary said.

  “We can give you some food and a few supplies,” Jonathan added and when I protested he waved at the produce behind him. “We have an entire harvest and most will go to waste.”

  “Thank you then,” I said and he smiled.

  “It’s nice to have some young uns around, to be honest.”

  He paused as though considering what he was about to say and looked to his wife, finally he turned back to us. “We have a car, it’s not much,” he said. “Will need some work and if you can take the time to wait while I fix it… well, you can have it.”

  “You’re kidding!” Gregg said as he sat up, a look of excitement crossing his face. It was reflected in the rest of my friends except Ryan who had his arms crossed, his cup of tea untouched as he watched us all warily. It looked for all the world like he was waiting to see if we’d been poisoned before he’d trust his own drink.

  “That’s really generous of you,” I said. “I’m not sure how to thank you.”

  “It’s nothing,” Jonathan said with a wave of his hand. “We’ve no use for it. This is our home and no reason to visit anywhere else now.”

  “You could come with us,” Cass suggested. “If your son was in the army overseas, the navy could have brought him back with them.”

  The older couple shared another look that held all the pain they carried and the faintest of hopes for something good to appear once more in their lives. I watched as that hope slowly died and they shook their heads.

  “Thank you for the offer dear,” Mary said. “It’s best for us to remain here, where they can find us should any of them manage it. You’ve at least given us some hope that they might do so.”

  “We have?” Gregg asked, his voice soft and respectful.

  “If you have all survived so long then others will have too,” Mary said. “Maybe our children are out there somewhere, holed up and waiting for the right time to come home.”

  She had so much hope in her voice laced with a fear that she would never see her family again. I rose silently and rounded the table to embrace her as I whispered a promise to her. She smiled her thanks as her husband rose from the table once more and gathered his lamp.

  “I’ll show you to where you can rest,” he said. “Our water is pumped from our own well so feel free to use what you need.”

  “Anything you use in the showers will end up in the tanks we use for the fields,” Mary added. “Nothing goes to waste.”

  “Thank you,” I said as we all rose and began to gather our backpacks. “Really, this is so good of you.”

  We left her in the kitchen, sat at the table with a faraway look as Jonathan led us across the muddy yard. The circle of light cast by the lantern, our entire world and beyond it the unknowable darkness and the monsters it contained.

  A shiver ran through me and I moved closer to Ryan, his presence a comfort to me. No matter what else changed in the world, he was constant. His desire for death and violence at odds with the man I had seen he could be.

  “This one has two bedrooms,” Jonathan said as we came upon an honest to goodness log cabin. “I can let you into the other too if you want, but I imagine you want to stay together.”

  “That would be better,” Pat agreed.

  “I’m sleeping on the couch again then,” Gregg said with an exaggerated sigh.

  “You can take the floor,” Becky added. “The couch is mine.”

  “Keep the lantern,” the older man said as he handed it over to Cass. “I can make my way back in the dark.”

  “Thank you,” I said as he turned back the way we had come with a casual wave of the hand.

  Ryan pulled his knife free from its sheath and gestured for Cass to open the door, I reached out to touch his arm and he glanced back at me. The defences were up and I could see the darkness gathering behind his eyes. I released my hold and waved him away.

  He moved into the house and was lost to sight. We waited for several long minutes without speaking as I silently sent a prayer to ask that he not find anything. I believed the older couple meant no harm and didn’t want anything to happen to them.

  Finally, he appeared in the doorway as he slid his knife back into its sheath on his belt, “Clear.”

  “Let’s get some sleep,” I told the group. “Tomorrow we can see what state the car is in and figure out a route.”

  “You want us to take turns on watch mate?” Pat asked Ryan.

  “No,” I said. “Lock the door and barricade it if you really see the need but we all need sleep and I trust them.”

  “I don’t,” Ryan said. His eyes bored into mine as I stared back defiantly.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then believe me when I say I trust them and we have no need to stand guard.”

  He nodded once and turned back into the house. No further argument, no attempt to persuade me otherwise, just a simple act of trust. It was insufferable! I’d never been with anyone who was so willing to actually listen to what I had to say and more than that, trust that I knew what I was doing. I really didn’t know how to react to that which probably said a lot more about my screwed up previous relationships than anything else.

  We left Becky and Gregg bickering about who would get the couch and went to the bedrooms. Pat and Cass said goodnight as they ducked into the first room and I followed Ryan into the second.

  It was simple and bare of ornamentation with most of the items in storage for the winter months. The bed was wide and clean and I found blankets and sheets in a cupboard. Together we made the bed if not neatly then at least quickly.

  I was more than happy to get out of my clothing and slip under those clean sheets that smelt faintly of lilacs. It had been so long since I’d lain beneath freshly laundered sheets and the feeling was almost indescribable as I lay there.

  The bed moved beneath me as he slid beneath the sheets and we lay in the darkness in silence. His arm circled my waist and I shifted backwards to press up against him, our bodies fitting together as though made for each other.

  “We should sleep,” he said quietly. Each word almost whispered into my ear, his breath hot on my skin.

  “Not yet,” I said as I turned over to face him. He was just a shape in the darkness and without any real features but he was there.

  The loss our hosts had shared was a tiny pinprick compared to the loss felt across the world but when I had heard their story something had stirred deep within me. For so long I ha
d pushed aside any thought of those I had left behind, my mum and dad, a sister and even my boyfriend. All people I had loved and lost to the undead.

  Such a loss would have, should have, broken me. It hadn’t because I’d had someone to depend on, someone who had protected me in the beginning when I so very badly needed it. Someone I had come to love with all of my being and who I believe, loved me in return. Even if he didn’t know it himself.

  I reached up to run one finger along his arm, feeling the firm muscle beneath and more, the strength in him that went beyond that. He’d kept me whole in body and mind when the zombies had come and for that, I owed him everything. More than that, I trusted him in a way I’d not done with other partners I’d had.

  He believed in me, he stuck to his promise and that was slowly destroying him. When I looked into his eyes he was an open book, his soul writ plain before me and I saw the pain, the loneliness and how he was trying to understand the changes that were happening to him.

  Our end was coming, I knew that. Deny it though I might and fight it I would with all of my being, but he had been firm. He couldn’t fully change who he was any more than I could and for us to be together, one of us would have to lose themselves to the other and it would destroy us both.

  For now, I could be with him, hold him and be held in turn. My lips met his and I gave myself over to him while I still could.

  Chapter 7 - Ryan

  My first truly peaceful sleep for a number of days was broken by the incessant barking of canines. I gave up on the idea of staying asleep and opened my eyes to find daylight streaming through the half open curtains and Lily was gone.

  No signs of a struggle and no blood indicated she had left voluntarily. Her clothes were gone and my knife still hung from the belt I had looped over the bed post. I sighed and sat up, stretching to relieve the kinks in tired muscles before I went in search of the bathroom.

  By the time I had relieved myself and taken a wonderfully hot shower with the type of water pressure I had been missing for several months, I was ready to face the world. I dressed quickly in my less than clean clothing and went in search of the others.

  The house was empty and I stepped out into the yard to be greeted by bright sunlight and the sight of Gregg running around after a small furry creature that was the source of the racket. He saw me and waved before throwing a bright red ball for the dog to chase.

  In the light of day, I could see that the buildings were all arranged in a rough semi-circle with a road that led north through the hills. The holiday cottages backed onto a small lake and a short distance away was a dock with a rowboat tied up.

  Cows and sheep wandered the fields and I caught sight of a chicken coop behind the main house. Directly to my right was a second barn that contained vehicles and tools rather than the animals we had seen in the other.

  A battered old range rover was visible through the doors with the bonnet raised to allow access for the old farmer and Lily. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled brightly before turning back to listen to Jonathan as he spoke.

  I left her to it since my knowledge of vehicles was that they tended to have four wheels and required fuel. Instead, I crossed to the main house in search of breakfast. I was ready to admit that Lily had been right and the old couple were trustworthy.

  Cass and Becky were seated at the table talking animatedly with Mary. She had dark rings beneath her eyes and her hair appeared greyer than I recalled from the previous night. I’d misjudged her age and in the full light of day, I realised she must be well into her sixties.

  “Good morning dear,” she said as she noticed my arrival. “Would you like some breakfast?”

  “That would be most pleasant, thank you.”

  “Come sit with us,” Becky said with a cheeky grin. “She was just explaining to Cass about what she should expect when she has the baby.”

  “Oh? That sounds quite interesting,” I said as I seated myself opposite Cass. She looked a little nauseous and I wondered if it was from the pregnancy or just hearing about what she had to face. I added it to the list of things I needed to ask.

  “You’re not bothered by that talk?” Becky asked. She sounded almost put out. “Pat listened for a few minutes and then went outside.”

  “Why would I be bothered?” I asked and nodded thanks to Mary as she placed a plate piled high with scrambled eggs on the table before me.

  “Typical that you wouldn’t be,” Becky said with an eye roll and a look shared with Cass that undoubtedly meant something.

  I tried to pay attention to the chatter as I ate the eggs but was soon distracted by something warm and damp pressed against my leg. I looked down to see a black furred canine staring up at me as it rested its muzzle against my leg.

  “Go away,” I said but was ignored. “Shoo?”

  “Made a new friend?” Becky asked with a laugh.

  “It seems to want to touch me,” I said. “How do I make it move?”

  Mary leant over to look down and her eyebrows raised in surprise. She smiled and patted my hand for some reason.

  “That’s Jinx,” she said with what I took to be a fond smile at the animal. “She was the runt of the litter. I’m surprised to be honest, she normally doesn’t take to people. She must like you.”

  “Why?” I asked at the same time as Becky who guffawed for some reason.

  “What breed is she?” Cass asked as she reached over to scratch the hound behind its ears.

  “German Shepherd,” Mary said as the dog growled and Cass snatched her hand away. “Be careful dear, Jinx really doesn’t like people.”

  “Says a lot about you then,” Becky said to me and had to hide her giggle behind her hand as I glared.

  “Try stroking her,” Mary suggested. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen her respond to, well, anyone.”

  “Why would I stroke it?” I asked. “Animals tend to avoid me normally and I’m fine with that.”

  “Just stroke her,” Cass said with a tone startlingly close to the one Lily used when I was refusing to do as she asked.

  With a heavy sigh, I reached down one hand to tentatively touch the thick, dark fur of its head. Big brown eyes looked up at me and when no growl issued forth, I moved my hand down its back, letting my fingers move through the soft fur. It wasn’t too unpleasant, not that I’d admit that to anyone.

  “Well that’s remarkable,” Mary said. “I’ve never seen anyone stroke her before. Even our other dogs avoid her.”

  “They do?” Becky asked with a look of pure mischief crossing her face as she turned to me. “Looks like we’ve found the doggie version of you Ryan.”

  “How do I make her go away?” I asked.

  “You don’t,” Cass admonished before speaking to Mary. “I’ve never seen one with an all black coat before.”

  “Oh you can get several varieties,” Mary said warming to the topic. “Her mother was bred to a friend of ours dog and all three of her pups had the same colouring, black with a reddish tinge.”

  “Is she trained?” Cass asked while Becky giggled at my fruitless attempt to wave the animal away.

  “Oh yes,” the older woman said. “She will obey Jonathan but he swears that she is too wild to be allowed to work the farm like the others. He was never comfortable having her out with the sheep.”

  Becky seemed incapable of stopping her giggling and I was growing irritated. My food was finished so I thanked Mary and placed the plate in the sink at her instruction before leaving the house.

  With nothing else to do, I headed over to speak to Lily to find out when she planned on leaving. She was talking cheerfully about engines as I approached and I stood patiently, waiting for her to finish.

  “Should be just about done,” Jonathan said. “I have to admit it went a lot easier with your help lass.”

  “My pleasure,” Lily replied. “It’s been far too long since I got to work on an engine.”

  “You’ve been d
oing it long?”

  “Misspent youth,” she said with a grin. “I hung around with a rough crowd and picked up a lot from them. Turned out I was quite good at it.”

  “Aye well you certainly are that,” Jonathan said. He turned away from the engine, wiping his hands on a stained rag.

  “Morning,” Lily said as she noticed my presence. “Who’s your friend?”

  “What?” I followed the direction of her gaze and turned to find the canine sat silently behind me, its tongue hanging out of its mouth.

  “Jinx?” Jonathan said. “Well now, what on earth is she doing just sitting there?”

  “No idea,” I said with a scowl that the animal ignored.

  Lily smiled at my irritation and threw her arms around me as she kissed me in greeting. I allowed it for a moment before pulling away, uncomfortable with the public display of affection. She just grinned.

  The dog had its head to the side as it watched us and it seemed to have some understanding in those dark eyes. It came forward and sniffed at Lily’s hand, I was about to warn her not to touch it when she scratched it behind the ear. Much to my surprise and Jonathans, it gave no indication of displeasure at her touch.

  “Well now,” Jonathan repeated. “Seems like she likes you two.”

  “People keep saying that,” I muttered softly. Lily heard and rolled her eyes.

  “Car should be ready in another hour,” she said. “Jon has kindly offered us a good bit of food and a map of the area.”

  “Ordnance survey from when the kids wanted to go camping,” Jonathan said with a roughness to his voice that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

  “As much as I appreciate the gesture,” I lied. “I’m not certain how much use a car will be to us. The roads are full of the undead.”

  “This valley’s enclosed,” Jonathan said. “One way in or out by road and if you follow it all the way north you’ll pass by Derwent water and come to Keswick.”

  “The town that Toby mentioned,” Lily said. “That road, the A591 or whatever leads right there. Sort of.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That road will meet this one,” Jonathan said with a gesture to the lone road. “But the A591 curves around before splitting to the east and north-west.”