Dark and Deadly Land

by Richard Murray

  “How does that help us?”

  “Well I’ve been north,” Jonathan said. “Where those roads meet was an almighty pile of wrecked cars and trucks.”

  “The zombies can’t go into the town,” Lily said with an excitement that I didn’t quite see the need for. “They all mill around a bit and then move off to the east.”

  “There’s a couple of roads that lead almost around the town but you’ll need to travel through at least part of it. After that, the road will be mainly clear all the way out to the coast.”

  Lily looked at me and smiled brightly. It was hard not to respond in kind but I still had doubts. If nothing else we would have something that needed killing at least.

  “You go tell the others while we finish up here,” she said. “Take your new friend with you.”

  I glanced down at the dog who looked back and even gave its tail a quick wag. I exhaled a sigh and left her to it, the animal following behind.

  Gregg seemed excited by the news and ran off to tell the girls while I went in search of Pat. I eventually found him standing on the small dock and staring out across the still water. He didn’t seem to notice my approach until my feet made the wooden boards of the dock vibrate. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that it was me.

  “Not in the mood mate,” he said quietly. “Not now.”

  “In the mood for what?”

  “For you,” he said. I could detect some anger in his tone and I wasn’t sure what the source was.

  “Why not?”

  “Oh for fu… fine. You want me to tell you,” he snapped as he twisted to face me and jabbed at my chest with one finger, his face screwed up in anger. “I’m still pissed at you.”

  “You are? What for?”

  “Really? You really don’t get it do you?” he shook his head and spat onto the boards at our feet. “That nonsense back on the trip to Coniston, leaving Jenny in the woods tied up and alone. For being the world’s biggest prick who doesn’t even see how much people give a damn about him. Take your pick.”

  “Jenny was infected and looked like she would turn anyway,” I said. “We were attacked by hundreds of zombies, what would you expect me to do?”

  “That’s the thing you’re confused about?” he visibly uncurled his hands that had formed into fists and stepped back away from me. “I get it mate, I really do. You’re a killer and that’s what you bloody love to be.”

  “Yes,” I wasn’t sure of the point he was making so I tried to pay attention and concentrate on what he was saying.

  “That’s what you care about and not the rest of us. You think of yourself and that’s it,” he sighed and looked away. “You never think to ask any of us about what we want do you? About what we’re concerned about.”

  “Gregg is so fucking miserable these days that he volunteered to go and babysit a cellar full of zombies for you. Lily, the woman who loves you, is tearing herself up inside trying to forget the men she had to kill, Cass is pregnant and terrified of what that will bring and me… I’m going to become a father in the middle of the zombie bloody apocalypse and I am beyond terrified.”

  He looked at me again and his eyes were red-rimmed and I was fairly sure it was turning from anger to upset. I had a brief wish that Lily was with me, she understood this sort of thing in ways I couldn’t. She’d know what to do.

  “I need a friend,” he said. “We all need a friend. You go around as if you don’t have a care in the world except for when you can’t find someone to fucking kill. Our world has collapsed around us and you’re having fun. It’s not good enough anymore, I’ve had enough of it.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Of course, I need to bloody explain it to you,” he said. “You need to do more for us. You need to work on being part of the group. We appreciate your ability to kill the zombies and believe me when I say we are grateful for the times you’ve saved our lives. It can’t continue though.”

  He seemed to be genuinely upset so I considered my words carefully before I spoke. I needed to say something that would bring him back on side. The last thing I wanted to be bothered with was all this emotional nonsense every five minutes.

  “You’re right,” I began and he blinked, apparently surprised at the admission. “I’ve never had friends before so I don’t know how to be a good one. This emotion stuff… I can’t always grasp and by the time I figure it out, it’s well past the time it would have been useful to know.”

  “This new world is fun for me,” I paused and reconsidered what I was about to say. “Not just because of the killing but because for the first time in my life I can be the real me. More to the point, I don’t have to hide who I am around the rest of you and that, to me is something incredibly precious.”

  I risked a glance at him, a flick of the eyes to gauge his reaction and as best I could tell, he was considering what I’d said. I thought back to the time before the end of everything when I had to pretend more often so I could blend in with the world.

  “All of this comes easy to the rest of you but for me it is hard, incredibly hard at times,” I said. “I will try, though.”

  “That’s all I ask mate,” he said. “I’m not asking to sit around a fire and talk about our feelings every night, but you know… be a mate sometimes.”

  “I get you,” I said and resolved to tell Lily about the conversation later. She could probably explain what I needed to do to be a better friend.

  Pat smiled, a genuine smile for the first time since he’d fallen out with me in the forest on the way to Coniston. He opened his mouth to say something and stopped as he saw my shadow sat on the dock behind me.

  “When did you get a dog?” he asked with surprise.

  Chapter 8 - Lily

  Pat lifted the last heavy bag into the back of the range rover and slammed shut the door with a bang. I glanced in to see how much room was left and couldn’t help the frown that formed. Perhaps there was a little more than we needed after all.

  The interior was all vinyl covered seats and plastic dashboard. It was likely twenty-five years old at least and wasn’t the luxury vehicle that the most modern versions were. There was space in the front for the driver and a passenger while the seat immediately behind would hold three people. That left space for one person to sit uncomfortably in the back cargo area with the boxes of root vegetables while our backpacks had been strapped to the roof rack. Definitely not comfortable for anyone but better than walking.

  “We good to go?” Gregg asked as our little group gathered around. I looked at each of them in turn and realised just how much I loved each of them.

  Pat helped Cass into the back seat to sit beside Becky as Gregg eyed the rear compartment as though he already knew he would be the one required to sit there. I smiled at him fondly, he was always so willing to put himself out so that the rest of us could be comfortable.

  Becky had wound down the window and was tapping her hand against the dirty grey door, beating out some half-remembered tune on its weathered surface. I grinned openly as I caught sight of Ryan standing off to one side staring down into the limpid brown eyes of the gorgeous Alsatian pup that had taken a shine to him. He seemed to be locked in a battle of wills and his face was showing his confusion as he realised he was losing.

  “I’ll drive first if no one minds,” I said.

  “Fine by me,” Pat said as he climbed in beside his girlfriend. Gregg sighed as his gaze switched between the passenger seat, rear compartment and Ryan. He opened his mouth and then closed it before he let out a sigh and climbed in the back.

  “Ryan?” I said and he glanced over at me. “Time to go.”

  “Finally,” he muttered.

  As he turned to walk around the range rover, he paused and looked up at the hills above us. Jinx, who had risen to follow him, stared in the same direction and a low growl issued from her. I followed their example and tried to see what they had noticed.

  “What is it?�
� Becky asked and I shrugged.

  “We in danger?” I asked him as I strode over to stand beside him.

  “Yes,” was all he said as his hand moved to the knife at his belt.

  “What is it?”

  “You can’t see it?” he asked before shaking his head and pointing up to the hill top. “There, between that large boulder and the scraggly bush. You see it?”

  I peered up at the area he had directed me to and was about to shake my head in the negative when what I had taken for a shadow, moved.

  “Is that a person?”

  “No, zombie,” he said.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s not doing anything though,” I protested. “Just standing up there.”

  “I can’t be sure but I think it’s following us,” he said. His muscles tensed as I placed one hand on his arm, afraid he would set off up the hill after it.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Why else would it be up there?” he asked. “Our route along the river wasn’t hard to follow and for something tireless and willing to walk all night…”

  “You think it’s that one eyed one from back near the island?”

  I looked at him as though he were insane as his head moved just a fraction in a nod. I honestly didn’t know what to say to him and was saved from having to speak, by Jonathan and Mary coming to join us.

  “Everything ok?” Mary asked as she handed over a large flask that I fervently hoped held hot tea.

  “Zombie,” Ryan said with a tilt of his head to the older couple. Jonathan followed his gaze and his face wrinkled as he squinted to try and see.

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Why does everyone ask that?” he asked with some irritation edging his tone.

  “Be calm,” I whispered.

  “It should follow us,” Ryan said to the older couple. “Keep watch for it leaving and be on your guard.”

  “Aye we will,” Jonathan said.

  “You best get going dear,” Mary said and hesitated before adding, “When you get up there and find the navy. Ask around for our son. If he’s there, tell him we’re safe.”

  “Of course, we will,” I said as I reached out to embrace her. She was trembling softly as she thought to hold back her tears and I could only imagine the strength she must have to keep going when all of her children had been lost to her.

  I climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled the seatbelt across my chest as I waited for Ryan. He pulled open the door and before he could even sit down, the Alsatian pup jumped into the foot well of the car. He looked down at in consternation as I stifled a smile.

  “Shoo,” he said as he waved at the dog and pointed to the ground outside the car. “Move mutt.”

  “She likes you,” I said and he grunted.

  “It’s not ours to take.”

  As if that would stop him if he wanted it, I thought.

  “You can take her lad,” Jonathan said as he watched the drama unfold and scratched his head as though surprised at her behaviour. “She’s no use for working the farm. We have to keep her indoors anyway.”

  “She’s fair taken with you,” Mary added.

  “Oh fine,” he muttered as he climbed into the passenger seat. He tried to shove her aside but she refused to budge and he was left with having to press his legs up against the side in a way that must have been uncomfortable.

  “Thank you for everything,” I said to the older couple. “Watch yourselves and be careful.”

  “You too dear,” May said.

  The engine rattled to life as I turned the key and then we were off. The couple watched us leave and I felt an odd worry for them all alone. I resolved to check on them on the way back to make sure they were safe.

  “It’s following,” Ryan said and I looked over to see him staring up at the hilltop to our right. A sense of unease moved through me as I considered the odd behaviour of the zombie. Feral or not, it was beyond odd and more than a little scary.

  At some point during the drive along the single lane road, the zombie fell behind and was lost to view. If it had followed us from the island I was sure it would be able to continue to do so since we only had one direction to go. I worried about what would happen when we had to rest for the night.

  Aside from that looming threat, the ride was almost pleasant. The sun was bright and the day almost warm, flowers were poking through the grass on the hills and the trees were showing new growth. Spring was definitely on the way and I felt almost at peace.

  We saw no threats along the road and after thirty minutes we rose out of the valley and into the hills, a short way through a stand of birch trees and then down towards the lake that Jonathan had said was named Derwent Water.

  I followed the road as it wound north towards the town that we could just see in the distance and as we came upon the occasional zombie making its slow way along the road, I swerved to avoid them.

  After an hour and a half of driving, we came to the edge of Keswick. A not too small town that was surrounded by open fields. Far to the east beyond the houses would be the long road full of the undead and I hoped they were far enough away that by the time they were aware of us, we’d already be gone.

  The road we followed went through the west edge of the town and the buildings that lined the road were once homes to the now deceased population. I drove forward carefully and the tension in the vehicle increased as weapons were made ready.

  I saw the first signs of the panicked flight as we came upon cars, abandoned on the road. Suitcases, clothing and other assorted personal belongings littered the street and gardens while the undead stared hungrily from the windows of houses as we passed.

  Without needing to stick to the road, I was able to drive around most of the empty vehicles. Few of the undead were out on the street and we progressed in silence, no one wanting to speak as we lost ourselves to the memory of our own flight back when this nightmare had begun.

  Ryan wound down his window as we passed a long line of cars, his arm striking out at a zombie just as it lurched towards us between two cars. It fell silently and he settled back with a faint smile on his lips.

  Cass cried out as the houses fell away and we passed a primary school, small bodies straining against the steel bars of the gate, high pitched moans of hunger that turned to fury as we passed them by. Not even Ryan could look at those torn bodies for long before turning his face away.

  I tried to focus on driving and pushed away the images that assaulted me. Eyes fixed on the road, but it wasn’t enough. I still saw the horrors of that town, could still smell that odour of death that blanketed it, could still capture those small glimpses of the despair faced by the initial survivors.

  The weathered blankets hanging limp from windows with entreaties for help, for food, for hope scrawled across them. The blackened shells that were all that remained of homes once full of life and laughter. Those bones that littered the ground, telling a tale of a last stand. It was all I could do to keep focused on the road ahead.

  No matter what, the horrors wouldn’t end. Someone was crying softly behind me at the sight of a stained pushchair torn almost to pieces. A body on the flat roof of a building, no sign of injury but the few zombies still waiting patiently in the parking lot below told the tale of a slow death while waiting for rescue that would never come.

  Words scrawled in blood on an upstairs window, a car crashed into a lamp post with four zombies held in by seatbelts, a body hanging from a tree just visible in the back garden of a house with high walls and a solid gate. Endless scenes of death and despair and oh so many bones spread across the town.

  It was a mausoleum now, a monument to death and one that would be repeated across the UK, across the world even. The urge to shout, to scream out my rage and the utter devastation I saw around me was almost overwhelming and my knuckles whitened as I gripped the steering wheel tight, desperate to hold on to something re
al and safe.

  One of the undead staggered out of a garden ahead of me and I caught it with the corner of the range rover, knocking it to the ground and felt the car rise as the wheels went over it. A small spark of satisfaction came to me as I managed to inflict some small damage on the undead that had overwhelmed this place.

  A faint humming came to me and I glanced across to see Ryan with the faintest trace of a smile on his face as he looked out over the town. No upset for him, no loss, no care for the horrors that seemed to psychically resonate through the town. I could have almost hated him then.

  “Possible survivors,” he said and I blinked, unsure if I had heard him right.

  “What?”

  “Back there, I saw something between two of the houses,” he said as he twisted in his seat. He glanced back to me. “You want to check it out?”

  The anger, that first stirring of hate for what he was drained away at that. No one else had seen, no one else would have known if he’d never mentioned it, but he had anyway. It reassured me that there was something inside of him worth loving.

  “Yes!” I said as I brought the car to a stop. “What did you see?”

  “Two people on top of a truck. It was a momentary glimpse between two houses to the street beyond as we passed but I’m fairly sure they were alive and surrounded.”

  “Group vote,” I said. “This isn’t like the island, we have a task to do and nowhere to put anyone we save. I won’t ask anyone to do it if they don’t want to but if you all vote not to then I’ll go alone and meet up with you later.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Gregg said. “Of course, we’re with you.”

  “Becky?” I said as Pat and Cass nodded agreement.

  “Like it matters,” she said with a nod to the others. “It’s already decided.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  We left the car on the road making sure to lock it and take the keys with us. Jinx seemed to understand the need to stay behind and guard the vehicle while the rest of us, I like to think, were eager to just do something after seeing so much horror in this town.