Dead World Rising

by Katerina Petrova

  'Let's head for the trees,' I told them in a hushed voice. The horde hadn't seen us as we were at the top of hill and they were at the bottom, we raced into the trees keeping an eye for any stray biters. We hid, waiting for the herd to pass by, Zachary had told the others that they might pass their way. We'd found a truck not far from the castle, that we would use to store them in until we were ready.

  'Do you think there will be any more hordes on the way?' Delilah asked worryingly.

  'I don't know lass, it's hard to say. All we can hope is that we find a car, so if there is any more herds we can lead them to the truck,' I replied quietly.

  'I just hope your girlfriend knows what she's doing,' Zachary snapped.

  I almost laughed as both Jensen and Nikkita turned, and gave Zachary a scowl.

  'She's the best when it comes to rescue missions, she won't let anyone get hurt,' Jensen told him sharply.

  'I just don't see why WE have to listen to someone we barely know,' he barked.

  'Oh give it a rest, it's a good plan. If you're not careful I might just feed you to the corpses,' Delilah scolded him.

  'Bitch,' he mumbled.

  'What was that?' She asked with a stern face.

  'Nothing,' he answered almost nervously.

  I had to admit out of Nikkita's friends, I liked Delilah. She took no crap and wasn't afraid to speak her mind, I always admired strong women as there were too few of them back in my homeland. We waited until the herd had passed, then we carried on down the road, keeping an eye for any that might have got separated from the main horde. Again Delilah and Zachary walked ahead of us, I took this opportunity to find out more about Nikkita and her people.

  'He's a bit of a prick isn't he?' I said to Nikkita.

  'Yeah he is, but the git saved us all from a pack of dead ones last year so we put up with him,' she told me.

  'I'm guessing he never lets you forget it,' Jensen chimed in.

  'You got that right, his brother Anthony is alright though.'

  'What's the story with your people, if you don't mind me asking?' I asked her kindly. 'No I don't mind, makes sense to get to know one another if we're going into battle together. I met Delilah first, three years ago in Northumberland National park, she had been living there for almost two years. I stumbled on her camp and she near enough slit my throat, took me hours to convince her that I wasn't there to rob her,' Nikkita actually laughed as she told the story.

  'Sounds like the meeting we had with Finn,' Jensen laughed.

  'Oh yeah,' Nikkita said curiously.

  We told her how we met Finn, she laughed saying how she'd met quite a few people over the years in similar ways.

  'Delilah's been great, I doubt I would have made it this far without her,' she told us kindly.

  'Where did she come from?' I asked. 'She's originally from Carlisle, poor girl's family got murdered by their so called friends in the first year. She lost her whole family, her parents, two brothers. Her three little sisters died not long before I found her,' she answered sadly.

  'Blimey, she seems pretty normal considering,' I said.

  'Yeah she is now, when I first met her she was a bit feral. But after a few months of being with me, she mellowed out,' Nikkita smiled as she reminisced about Delilah.

  'What about the rest of your group?' I asked her. 'Yasmin and Brian we met just after we met Zachary and Anthony, poor kids were hiding out in an abandoned building in Keighley. They hadn't eaten in almost a week, despite Zachary's bitching that we shouldn't take in any more people the rest of us agreed. They've both proven to be very capable, though you won't get them to talk much,' she told us happily.

  'Seems like you've got some good people,' I replied.

  'Yeah most of them are. I almost lost them earlier this year, we were in Leeds and we got separated for a while.'

  'Isn't that when you met Andi and Bob?' I asked.

  'I'm guessing Frankie told you the story.'

  'Yeah, to be honest I can't blame her for thinking you were dead,' Jensen admitted. 'Me neither, but somehow I fought my way through the horde. By the time I got down to the bottom floor, Andi and Bob were long gone. They'd cleared out most of the building, so it was easier getting out than it was getting in,' she explained.

  'How long were you separated from your people?' I wondered. 'Almost two months, the city of Leeds had been taken over by slavers. Damn bastards are everywhere, they barricaded the city. My friends got stuck inside, they were on a run when the walls went up. I was scouting the woods, looking for somewhere safe. I was almost ready to give up when they found me,' Nikkita answered.

  'But you found each other in the end,' I smiled. 'Thankfully yes.' As we walked along the seemingly never ending road, she told us about the rest of her group. Zachary and Anthony were from Leeds, they lost their parents two years in. Zachary never got over it, hence why he turned into a dick. Anthony still retained his kind nature according to Nikkita, the more she spoke about them the more I had a bad feeling about Zachary.

  Yasmin and Brian were from Harrogate, they'd grown up together and only started seeing each other about a year ago. Brian's parents died when he was young, in a car crash. He lived with his aunt and when everything went to hell they stayed with Yasmin and her brothers. His aunt died a year into the outbreak, while Yasmin's two brothers died just before Nikkita and the others found them.

  Casey was from York, she has a sister called Emily who is being held captive by Nathaniel and his men. She also had a brother but he along with her parents died in the beginning, Nikkita and the others met Casey two years ago in York with her sister. Nikkita told us that like Delilah, Casey was very capable and very rarely needed help. She was also the brains behind their operations. They met Xandra and her siblings a few days after Casey and Emily, Xandra had a brother and sister, but her brother died trying to save his other sister from a biter. She was from Barnsley and had taken care of her siblings since their parents died when she was eighteen, Nikkita told us that it had been almost four months since Wendy and Emily had been taken.

  'How did it happen?' I asked. 'Emily and Wendy were on a routine run, not far from our camp, in Barnsley. We all heard some cars, we crept nearer to the sound and arrived just in time to see about twenty men hauling them into their cars. We followed them back up here, as we heard them say roughly where their camp was. But we've not had the numbers to take them on,' she told us sadly.

  'Until now, lass,' I replied smiling.

  'We're here,' Zachary announced.

  'This is Glendale?' I said, confused at what lay before me.

  'Doesn't look like there's much of it left,' Delilah mumbled sadly.

  'No it doesn't, but we're here to do a job so lets crack on,' Nikkita told us. The village had been mostly burned down, the buildings were derelict and black. I could still see the smoke lingering from miles away, I told the others to take out their weapons as we walked towards the town. We walked in silence as the strong smell of smoke became overwhelming, this fire could not have been set that long ago. There was so little here, a few dozen houses at most, one large shop/post office and one large building that was a few stories high. Mostly this place was filled with lush, green rolling hills and stunning scenery. If only we weren't on a mission, I'd gladly just stay here and enjoy the view.

  As we reached the middle of the village centre, I heard the low growls. I looked but couldn't see them, until it was too late. How on earth they'd managed to surround us without our knowing, was beyond me. The endless hordes stretched out in every direction, the smell of rotting, burning flesh filled the air. I pulled my crossbow round from my back and shot as many of them as I could, I'd not had a chance to make any more arrows, so I only had a dozen left.

  The squelch as my arrows went through their heads made me want to cringe, the others readied their weapons, waiting for the dead to get within reach.

  'Come on girls, get a move on!' Zachary shouted as he took out a nearby corpse.

  'I'm planning
on getting out here in one piece lad,' I called back to him. I took out a dozen walkers with my arrows, once they ran out I had to go hand to hand. I stood back to back with Nikkita as I fought them, I could feel her body shaking with fear. I wondered if she'd ever dealt with this many at once before. Jensen stood next to Delilah, seeing them fight I thought they made a good team. After a few minutes I began to see an opening in the horde, if we were quick we could get through them.

  'Look there's an opening, if we run now we might get out alive,' I yelled at them all. They all looked nervous but nodded, well except Zachary he just looked smug. I grabbed Nikkita's hand as I ran through the biters, I didn't look back to see if the others had made it through. I stabbed a corpse as it got too close, I didn't stop as I pulled my knife out of it's rotting head.

  'What about the others?' Nikkita asked in panic.

  'They'll be alright, Jensen is a smart lad, he won't let anything happen to them,' I replied as I continued to pull her along.

  The bulk of the horde was behind us now, but a few had broken away. I stopped half a mile down the road to find half a dozen were not far behind us.

  'We can take these ones out, and start looking for the others,' Nikkita said sounding a little panicked.

  I nodded determinedly.

  I slashed my way through a few of the dead when I heard screaming from nearby, I looked at Nikkita who's face was one of fear and worry.

  'I've got to find my friends,' she almost shouted. While she'd said 'friends' I had a feeling that she was only really concerned about Delilah and didn't particularly care much for Zachary. We fought our way through the rest of the dead, I saw that another dozen from the herd were coming our way. I kicked the one nearest to me, it fell into the two behind it. They fell into a car causing the alarm to go off.

  'Shit,' I muttered.

  The rest of the horde would be on us in minutes if we didn't do something.

  'Any chance you know how to hot wire a car?' I asked.

  'Actually yes I do, but I need to keep them off me while I do it,' she replied fearfully. 'Alright then, come on.' We quickly found a large 4 x 4, to our joy we saw that it had been reinforced. There were large metal spikes on the side, sticking out from the doors, it had a bull bar on the front which had smaller spikes on the inside of it. I fought tirelessly as Nikkita hot wired the car, I slashed one corpse causing the top of it's head to go flying. Again I heard screams from nearby, as I was getting increasingly worried I told Nikkita to hurry up. There was a small group of five coming my way, using the little spikes that I'd put on my gloves the night before, I punched a few of them straight in the head. Watching as the dead I'd taken care of piled up on the streets, the smell becoming overwhelming, the sight one of horror that I didn't want to see again but knew I would.

  'There it's done, come on,' she called to me. I hopped in the car and slammed the door as Nikkita put it into gear and drove through the dead, the screams were getting closer. I kept a look out for Jensen and Delilah, we rounded a corner, collecting walkers in the bull bar as we went.

  'Delilah!' I heard Jensen shout. I looked but couldn't see them straight away, it wasn't until I looked at a tall building that I saw them. They were up on the fourth level, the floor beneath Delilah's feet had crumbled, Jensen was struggling to hold on to her. I couldn't see Zachary anywhere, which meant it was up to us to help them. I jumped out of the car, killing a lone walker as I did. I told Nikkita to keep the corpses away from the car as I ran to help them, it looked like she was going to protest but she just nodded. I raced to the floor they were on, stabbing a couple of biters on the way. I was careful not to fall in any of the holes, as I reached the third floor I had to dodge as the part of the ceiling caved in. I shouted up to Jensen and Delilah. Delilah let out a piercing, fearful scream, I could see that Jensen had almost let her go. The floor was weak on my level, if he dropped her she would fall through it and there would be no saving her from those wounds.

  'Just hold on lad, I'm almost there,' I shouted as I ran up the stairs. I dodged and kicked walkers as I reached their level, I jumped over the giant hole in the floor just in time to grab Delilah as Jensen unwillingly let her go. There was such a look of relief on her face as we pulled her up but we didn't have time to relax, I could hear the corpses coming up the stairs.

  'Where's Zachary?' I asked trying to sound like I cared.

  'No idea, I lost track of him when we ran in here,' Delilah replied tiredly.

  'Let's get downstairs, Nikkita's waiting for us with a car,' I told them.

  As we fled the crumbling building, I slipped down some of the stairs, banging my head on the hard wall as well as crashing into a biter. Delilah was there in seconds to kill it before it could bite me.

  'Thanks for that,' I said graciously.

  'Just repaying the favour,' she winked.

  We managed to get to the bottom of the building without any more trouble, there were a few more walkers but nothing we couldn't handle.

  'Are you two alright?' Nikkita asked worriedly. 'A few cut and bruises, but nothing to worry about,' Delilah answered.

  Without a moments notice Nikkita flung her arms round Jensen, 'thank you so much for keeping her safe,' she cried.

  He looked taken aback by her sudden outburst of affection, 'it's alright,' he answered sounding a little shy.

  She turned to me, 'and thank you for getting there in time,' she smiled brightly at me, I think this was the first time since meeting her that Nikkita had looked genuinely happy.

  'Oh give over lass, I wasn't about to let your friend die,' I told her smiling.

  'Where's Zachary?' She asked.

  'I'm right here,' came Zachary's voice as he appeared from some nearby bushes.

  'Where the bloody hell have been!?' Nikkita shouted.

  'Hiding from the dead,' he replied plainly.

  'Did you not hear Delilah's screams? Why didn't you help her?' She shouted furiously.

  'She's your fuck buddy, it's your job to save her,' he answered rather loudly.

  Both Jensen and I stared in shock, Nikkita's face was now red with fury. She marched over to Zachary and punched him straight in the face, he fell to the floor with a thump.

  'Next time, keep your damn mouth shut. Keep being such a dick and I'll leave you behind,' she barked.

  'Fucking cunt,' he shouted angrily.

  Nikkita was about to give him another whack when Delilah grabbed hold her and pulled her back.

  'We need to get out here, the dead will be on us again in a moment,' she warned Nikkita.

  Nikkita pulled away from Delilah with a furious look still on her face, she marched up to Zachary and pulled him up by the scruff of collar.

  'Listen to me you fucking wanker, next you decide to run your mouth I'll throw you into a horde and watch as they tear you apart. You got it!' She growled at him.

  For a moment he actually looked afraid, something told me that as nice as Nikkita was, she like most of us had a nasty dark side.

  'Y-yeah, I got it,' he stammered fearfully. She threw him on the floor and walked effortlessly to the car, none of us said anything as we got in and drove home. This mission had been a complete waste, all we'd accomplished was putting Nikkita in foul mood.

  I woke to find someone knocking loudly at my bedroom door.

  Chapter 4

  Nathaniel

  I woke to find someone knocking loudly at my bedroom door.

  'What is it?' I barked.

  'Boss, we've got Dave and what's left of his men outside, claiming that they need help taking out some group,' Maddox said coldly.

  'Alright give me a few minutes, put them in the town hall, don't let them go anywhere,' I answered sternly. Maddox was my second in command, he was the only one that knew about my rule of not raping women. I knew he didn't like it, but he never told a single one of my men or called my leadership into question because of my choice.

  'Maggie, wake up, we've got trouble,' I told her as I gently nudged her awake.


  'What's wrong?' She asked sleepily. I looked down at Maggie, her flaming hair sprawled across the bed, the silvery nightie clinging to her white skin, I had never become fond of any woman since the death of my wife on the day of the outbreak. Maggie was unique, she was at first, a quiet, shy girl, but since she'd been with me she'd become almost like one of my men. At first I liked the fact that she'd adapted to this way of life, but after a few months, I found that there was something truly dark within her. Whether it had always been there, lying dormant, or if I'd created it by forcing her to be here, I didn't know.

  'Dave and his men are here.'

  'What the fuck! What are they doing here?' She shouted angrily.

  'Shh, don't let anyone hear you,' I scolded her.

  She could speak her mind when we were on our own, but she had to keep her voice down. If anyone overheard her speaking out of turn or arguing with me, I'd have no choice but to hit her.

  'You've got to let me have him,' she said furiously.

  'No,' I replied sternly.

  'But-,' 'I said, no!' I stared at her angrily. She put on her clothes and just stood by the door with an angry expression on her face, I could hear her huffing as she waited impatiently for me to get ready.

  'Wipe that look off your face, I don't want the men to see you like that,' I told her gently as I kissed her forehead.

  She closed her eyes for a minute and breathed deeply, when she opened them she looked calmer and a little happier.

  'Come on then,' she said trying to sound happier. We walked to where the town hall was, I whispered to Maggie to keep quiet and just smile while we were in there. She nodded as she walked gracefully beside me, I flung open the doors to find Dave, four of his men, as well as Maddox, Cyrus and Byson sitting round the large table.

  Maggie simply smiled at them as we took our seats at the head of the table.

  'What brings you here?' I asked Dave plainly. 'I come with bad news, a group of people attacked our camp and killed most of my men, this is all that's left. We followed them up here to find that they are going to attack your camp, they've got friends here they want to rescue,' he replied with an urgent tone to his voice.