War of the Dead

by Richard Murray

  She scanned the faces of the councillors before us and looked directly at the Admiral as she continued to speak.

  “There an estimated million or more undead in and around Glasgow. More and more of these were becoming Ferals and then Reapers. They began to separate the city into small enclaves. A thousand territories that they defended rigorously.”

  “When there was no more food for them to have, they began to fight. A Reaper would lead its pack against another and they would fight until only one remained. Any zombies still standing seemed to become part of that pack and the ones that had been killed were used as food.”

  “Holy God!”

  A woman held her hands before her mouth as she shook her head, cheeks heating from embarrassment at her exclamation. Her eyes met mine for a moment before she flinched away.

  “You observed this yourself?” Admiral Stuart asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “More than once?”

  “Three times myself, seven reported in total, sir.”

  “This is odd behaviour, but it is good for us, surely?”

  I glanced at the speaker, a middle-aged woman who wore a colourful hijab at odds with the tone of the room. She tapped painted fingers on the table before her and stared at the Admiral as she awaited his response.

  “No,” I said and she turned to look my way.

  She didn’t flinch and she met my eyes squarely. I liked that. There was no fear in her gaze, which was interesting and somewhat unique.

  “Explain.”

  “At the moment, there are tens of millions of undead in the UK, yes?”

  She nodded and gestured for me to continue.

  “So far they have been mindless. Wandering in packs while searching for food. The Reapers, have begun to take charge of small groups. Directing them, making them more dangerous.”

  “When a Reaper takes over another's territory, its own grows. Even as we left, there were some Reapers with a pack of a thousand or more undead under its control.”

  “This,” Lily said. “Is a huge problem. Before, we could fight them off because they were mindless. A problem in large numbers but one we could outwit. The Ferals were harder, smarter and more cunning. Dangerous. But even they could be out thought.”

  “Are you saying these Reapers are as smart as us?” the first speaker asked.

  “Some of us,” I said with a wide smile.

  “What he means,” Lily said with an irritated glance for me. “Is that while they aren’t quite at our level of intelligence, they are certainly smart enough to lay ambushes and traps. To use basic tactics like sending a horde of Shamblers directly at us while sending the Ferals to flank us.”

  “They are, in short, a growing threat,” Admiral Stuart added. “Which is why I ordered the lieutenants return to provide a full report. Which she will do and submit to me by this evening.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  “And you will provide us with a complete debriefing,” Weasel Face said.

  “Naturally.”

  “Then on to the next question,” the first speaker said. “Why did you order her to bring them here.”

  “We are preserving the last known remnants of humanity,” the Admiral said sternly. “That includes everyone, regardless of how uncomfortable they make you feel.”

  “It has nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with stopping you throwing a lit match into a blasted powder keg!”

  The speaker slammed his hand once more against the table as the council members all began to speak at once. Lily looked my way and gave a half-shrug of apology. She’d explained to me that we wouldn’t be welcome but I didn’t think that she’d expected it to be so blatant. I, as usual, was unsurprised by the stupidity of my species.

  “We are happy to leave,” I said softly. Even so, all chatter ceased and each of the council members looked my way.

  “What?”

  “There are millions of the undead out there and plenty of people that require saving. You, clearly, are not doing anything about them. My followers will be more than happy to do something.”

  “Now look here…”

  I cut the first speaker off with a single glance and he sputtered to a stop as I gave him a slow smile.

  “We were invited here because we were told that this would be the best place to organise our sorties to the mainland,” I continued. “That would certainly make it easier to bring back any survivors or supplies that we find.”

  “Supplies?” the woman wearing the headscarf asked with a gleam of avarice in her eyes.

  “Yes. We have limited needs and are more than willing to bring back anything we find for others to use.”

  “We are low on pretty much everything,” Cass said with a smile for me. “Some of our people are managing to grow little bits here and there, but there’s no real farmland here.”

  “A steady diet of fish won’t sustain us indefinitely. Not without health issues for a lot of people,” the Admiral added. “That is why they are here.”

  The man I assumed to be the head of the council, the first one who had spoken, looked pensive as he considered our words. In truth, I was fine with whatever they decided. I was there at Lily’s request and meant what I said when I spoke of heading to the mainland with just my minions.

  “We can allow them to stay while we consider this,” the first speaker said. “But they will keep away from the main populace, is that clear?”

  “Of course,” Admiral Stuart said smoothly. “I shall arrange some accommodation.”

  “Do so. We will discuss this further during tonight’s meeting.”

  “Won’t that be fun,” Cass said with a bright smile. “But for now, if we’re done. I have business to attend to.”

  She pushed her chair back and rose to her feet. As though a signal had been given, the other councillors did the same. I remained beside Lily as they filed past us, ignoring their curious glances. Soon enough they had all gone leaving just the four of us.

  “I’ve missed you!” Cass said rushing over to embrace Lily in a tight hug.

  “It’s been too long,” Lily agreed.

  Cass pulled back from the embrace with a wide smile of what I assumed was genuine joy on her face when she looked at me.

  “I’ve even missed your miserable expression,” she said stepping forward and grabbing me in an embrace that was a great deal more awkward than the one she’d given Lily.

  “Okay.”

  “I really have,” she said, her voice low so only I could hear her. “You should have come sooner.”

  “Not quite my choice,” I said as she released her grip on me and stepped back, wiping at her eyes that were brimming with unshed tears.

  “Please don’t expect a hug from me,” Admiral Stuart said with a tight-lipped smile. “But, I too am pleased to see you.”

  “I wish I could have given more warning, sir,” Lily said.

  “No matter. I expected you weeks ago. You lasted longer than I thought.”

  “You expected us?”

  “He did,” Cass confirmed with a grin. “Has a place set aside for you on the edge of town and everything. All ready for you to move your people in.”

  She hesitated, her smile slipping a little and looked at Lily.

  “Gregg’s fine,” Lily said. “Really. He’s on the boat with the others.”

  There was a visible release of tension in the other woman and her smile returned.

  “He’s not joined your new religion, has he?”

  “It’s not a religion,” I said.

  “He’s not allowed,” Lily added.

  “Allowed?”

  “Yeah, Ryan wouldn’t let him. Apparently gave him a big speech about having too much life to live or something.”

  She ignored my glare and her smile only grew as Cass began to laugh. The Admiral gestured me to the side.

  “I think we should let them catch up. If you would like to come with me I can show you to your new quarters.”

 
; “Probably a good idea,” I agreed.

  I turned to go but a hand grabbed me before I had gone two paces. I glanced back over my shoulder.

  “Wipe the irritated look off your face,” Cass said. “I want to come see you later. After the meeting.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s someone I want you to meet.” She paused and looked me square in the eye. “Please. It’s important to me.”

  Behind her, Lily nodded and made a gesture with her hand that I assumed meant for me to agree. With a shrug, I nodded.

  “I’ll make sure they let you past.”

  “Thanks.”

  Her lips brushed my cheek for just an instant before she turned back to Lily and I shook my head wondering what was going on.

  “Come on,” the admiral said, not unkindly. “Let’s get you settled.”

  I ignored the smile he wore and followed him from the room.

  Chapter 3

  “He looks just like I remembered,” Cass said with a sad sort of smile as the two men left the room. “Last time I saw him was just after… well, you know.”

  “Yeah.”

  His loss still hurt. I’d lost other people along the way and I doubted that you would be able to find one person left in the world who couldn’t say that. But Patrick had been with me since very nearly the start.

  He had been a supportive friend and competent fighter. He’d kept my spirits up more than once when I had thought things had been lost. He had been my friend and I missed him still. For Cass, it was a thousand times worse. She had loved him and he’d not lived to see the birth of his daughter.

  “How’s Patricia? And where is she anyway?”

  “Callie has her.” She caught my look of confusion and smiled as she added, “My nanny.”

  “You have a nanny?”

  She gave a half-shrug of her shoulders and smiled sadly.

  “There are a lot of women who lost their own babies and there haven’t been many born yet. The ones that have, well, I like to think of them as being the hope for all of us here. It would be selfish to try to keep her all to myself and besides, with being part of the new government I am kind of busy. The help is appreciated.”

  “I’m sure. How are things here in general?”

  Her smile slipped as she sat back on the hard, polished wood of the table and crossed her arms. She shook her head gently and for just a moment, I saw how truly tired she was. It was clear in the way her shoulders slumped and the darkness beneath her eyes that no amount of makeup could erase.

  I settled down beside her and slipped one arm around her shoulder. She gave a wan smile and rested her head against me as she breathed a soft sigh.

  “We’re keeping it quiet, for the moment.”

  “What?”

  “One of the reasons the Admiral has been ordered to stay close to the island. The reason why the new government doesn’t want Ryan and his people here, leading sorties against the mainland. The reason why I’m so bloody tired.”

  “You can tell me,” I said softly, not at all sure I wanted to hear what she was about to say.

  “There are too many of us.”

  Her shoulders shook as she trembled and I held her for a minute wondering what she meant as I made soft, cooing noises while she wept. After a short time, she wiped at her eyes and pulled away from me.

  “Sorry,” she said and I waved away her apology as I leant in close and lowered my voice.

  “What do you mean?”

  “At the last count, we have twenty-six thousand, three hundred and forty-eight people here.”

  “That’s a great achievement!” I said and began to frown as I noticed her expression. “It is, right?”

  “There’s too many,” she whispered. “Everything we have is going towards producing food and that’s mainly whatever we can catch from the sea. We have no crops going and little farmland on this island to grow the food we will need as we keep growing.”

  She shook her head as she turned away, avoiding my gaze as she continued to speak.

  “We have a few chickens and there are rabbits and other small animals running wild on the island. We’re trying to catch as many of them as possible before the people here eat the damn things. If we can begin a breeding program, that will help a little, but it won’t be enough.”

  “People will start to die soon. We’re already getting reports from the medical teams we have here. Malnutrition is the biggest problem but we’ve actually had some cases of fucking scurvy!”

  She wiped at her eyes and added, “That isn’t the only problem. We’ve had dysentery, lice, pneumonia and all manner of other illnesses. The hospital stations are under constant guard in case someone dies and turns.”

  “I didn’t realise it was so bad.”

  “It’s worse than that.” She ran one hand over the tight braids she kept her hair in and scratched her head, a subconscious response to the thought of lice. “We have a need of clothes and no way of making them. Entertainment to keep people distracted and jobs to give them a purpose.”

  “That doesn’t even touch on the psychological issues we have here. The survivor support groups are running twenty-four seven and still can’t cope with demand.”

  She looked me square in the face and I couldn’t help but see the very real fear in her eyes. She had survived so much and thought that things would get better.

  “We have a prison.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. Currently holds almost four hundred people.”

  “So many?”

  “The people who make it here are damaged. We have domestic abuse from men and women, random assaults, mental breakdowns that result in violence and we have no way to deal with them other than to lock them in a makeshift cell and then there are the rapists.”

  “I didn’t know any of this,” I said softly. It hadn’t been in the few reports I received and I had been under the impression that things were progressing well at the island. “What are the government doing about it?”

  “They… we, I suppose, are stuck. We have no way of fixing the problem and the general consensus from my colleagues is to hope that enough people die off to make surviving possible.”

  “God! That’s…”

  “Something your boyfriend would consider,” she said grimly. “Though he might be more proactive about it.”

  There was no denying that. He would see the problem and search for a solution that would work, regardless of whether that meant culling the herd a little. I hoped to God that that wasn’t the only solution.

  It hit me then, that the problems meant I wouldn’t be going out and rescuing more people from the mainland. They would be stuck on their own until we could figure out a way to keep the people we had already saved, alive.

  “Not what you expected, huh?” Cass asked. “I know how you feel, I went through something similar.”

  I breathed out, unsure what to say; if there was anything I could say that would make things better for her. I wanted to be supportive, God knows I did, but it was a hell of a lot to take in. Finding out that everything you had been doing for the last few months was only making the problems worse was a hard pill to swallow.

  “Why?” I asked, finally. “Why did they keep letting people in when we sent them?”

  She gave me a pitying look and I waved away her response before she made it. I knew why, of course, I did. They would keep allowing people in to give the perception that they were doing the right thing. If they didn’t, they would face anger from a people with nothing to do but protest and demand change.

  “What are the other members like?”

  “Some are decent people, some are absolute asses, but most of them seem to think they are doing the best thing for the people here.”

  “Most of them? Some don’t then?”

  “A couple,” she admitted with a shrug. “They’re clearly in it for themselves but are playing along for now.”

  “Jeez! I thought we’d been done with all this sort of bull
shit!” I shook my head, despair settling around me like a cloak. “After everything we’ve been through, you’d think people would learn to work together properly.”

  “I hate to say it, but…”

  “Go on.”

  “The new government is the wrong idea.”

  I raised my eyebrows at that. I hadn’t expected her to say something like that at all. She’d always been pro-active and vocal about the rights of people in a democracy. We’d had more than a few conversations about it when we’d been waiting for long nights to pass as we travelled together.

  “What then?”

  “We need a single leader. Someone who will do what has to be done despite what everyone else thinks. Someone who will take control and force people to do what is right, whether they want to or not.”

  “You’re talking about a dictator.”

  “A benevolent one,” she agreed with a smile. “But that won’t happen and we’re stuck with my colleagues. Admiral Stuart was offered the role once and he refused, insisting on a civilian government that was elected by the people. That was a mistake.”

  It was a depressing thought and it put an effective end to all those plans I had been working on while we travelled across the sea to the island. I’d had such dreams of what we could do and I couldn’t help but feel distraught as I saw them all dashed before me.

  “Come on.” Cass rose to her feet and pulled me up beside her. She linked her arm through mine and steered me towards the door. “I have a little girl I want to show off and a bottle of wine squirrelled away in my quarters. Let’s go and talk of lighter things.”

  I forced a smile and nodded along but my mind kept drifting back to the problems she’d listed. There were solutions, I was sure of that but they eluded me for the moment. I just wondered how I was going to break the news to Ryan. He had his own plans for the future and they involved a great deal of killing. When I told him that might not be possible, I wasn’t sure how he’d take it.

  Chapter 4

  The cold rain hit me as I stepped out of the stuffy building and I almost smiled. I’d always enjoyed the rain and had an undeniable pleasure when a storm rolled in. There was something about the raw, power contained within that appealed to me.