March of the Dead (Killing the Dead Book 11)

by Richard Murray

  “Send Kareem or Harper out to find some chain,” I said. “Secure the doors and we can take turns on watch.”

  “Or you could go down and tell them your plan.”

  She laughed at the look of discomfort that idea brought to my face and I gave her a sour smile as I drank more of the fiery liquid. I’d not had alcohol for quite some time and the cheap booze was potent. My head had already begun to swim a little and the tip of my nose felt numb.

  “You know the plan.”

  “Nah, you need to tell them since you’re the leader now.”

  I thought that I could hear a bite to her tone that spoke of resentment and smiled to myself. A genuine reaction from her. That was a rarity since she was even better at hiding who she was than I had been.

  “Fine. In a bit.”

  My agreement seemed to mollify her for the moment and I went back to slowly sipping on the whisky as I watched smoke rise into the sky.

  On the walls of the fortress, people milled about. Too far for me to see clearly, but I could get the general idea. They were using long spears to jab down into the crowd below. Considering the wall was thirty feet high, if they could reach the undead even with long spears, it meant that they were either Ferals climbing the walls or they were forming a ramp of their own bodies. I suspected a bit of both.

  That could mean that we wouldn’t have too long. The zombies wouldn’t stop for the night to rest and wouldn’t be as hindered by the dark as the living were. Perhaps I should move up my timetable. I wouldn’t want to be late to that party after all.

  Due to the distance, it wasn’t quite clear what they were doing but a flexible pipe of some sort was lifted up to the men and women on the wall. Once they had it held securely in place, a liquid spilt out over the side and onto the zombies.

  I figured it out just before several of them dropped Molotov cocktails down onto the zombies. Flame roared up as high as the wall for a moment as the petrol soaked undead burned merrily.

  “What was that?” Kareem asked as he handed me a plastic plate piled high with food.

  “They just doused them in petrol and set them alight,” I said and took the plate from him.

  It wasn’t the greatest meal ever. Some pungent tuna that had likely been in a tin for a little too long, brown rice and some sliced carrot. No doubt there was a chef somewhere pulling his hair out at the limited meal options we had.

  While I ate, Georgia took Kareem back down into the school to set about the task I had given her and yet more smoke rose to the sky. As a breeze picked up, it carried the sickly-sweet scent of burning rotten meat. Unpleasant and almost enough to put me off my meal.

  I finished up the food and took a final swig from the bottle before pushing myself up to my feet. I swayed a little, arms spread as I tried to maintain my balance and thought that perhaps it hadn’t been wise to take that last swallow of whisky. Or the half-dozen before it.

  It took me a little time to climb down the aluminium ladder that we’d propped against the side of the building. No one had seemed to consider it prudent to provide roof access in a primary school and for the sake of my aching body, I cursed the architect,

  Harper nodded a greeting as I hobbled into the assembly hall and I’d made it almost all the way to the podium at the front before I was noticed by the main crowd. A taut silence fell and all eyes were on me. I can’t say that I liked the attention.

  I stood behind the podium and gripped the edges of it with both my hands, feeling the smooth polish of the wood and hoping that I wouldn’t lose my grip and fall over. I needed to appear to be strong. Unassailable.

  “You’re wondering what we’re doing,” I said, pleased with the commanding tone of my voice.

  Georgia, over in the far corner, crossed her arms across her waist and leant back against the wall. Her eyes were alternately on me and scanning the crowd to gauge their reaction. I couldn’t help but wonder if she would be on my side if they turned on me or if she’d save her own skin.

  “In the morning,” I continued. “We will go to the Fortress and aid them in their defence.”

  Confused murmuring rose that increased in volume as I said, “there will be no rape, no theft and we will fight the undead only.”

  “Whit the fuck yoo on abit?” a lanky red-headed man asked with considerable anger in his voice. I was beginning to detest the thick accent that gave me a headache just trying to understand what the hell they were saying to me.

  “It’s very simple,” I said with a smile that should suggest to him that he was an idiot for not understanding. Perhaps it did since he flushed and reached for the knife stuck through his belt. My grin widened as I stared at him and his hand fell away to hang limply at his sides.

  “We will go, we will fight and when we win, we will take the place for ourselves,” I continued. “They won’t win without our aid and we wouldn’t be able to hold that place without theirs.”

  “Why not just rob them blind and make a run for it?” someone asked. “There’s a shit load of them bastards out there.”

  “Those creatures are slow, stupid and the vast majority are falling apart as they slowly rot,” I said. “Killing them will be easy with enough people and solid walls to stand upon.”

  “They don’t sleep!” called one voice.

  “Or stop!” said another.

  “Then we leave,” I said and the growing rumblings stopped for the moment.

  “We leave?” Redhead asked.

  “Aye. We give it a couple of days,” that would be all I needed. “During that time, we’ll start gathering things we can take with us and if it looks like the place will fall, we leave.”

  “Why nae dae that from the start like?”

  “Because I am sick and tired of wandering this damned country,” I said. “Sleeping in whatever hovel I can find. Picking up scraps of food and water while spending each night wondering if I’ll wake up to zombies walking through the front door.”

  That seemed to hit home with more than one of them judging by the glances that were shared amongst those gathered people. Everyone, even raiders, wanted somewhere to rest their heads safely.

  “We take that place, with those thirty foot high walls and we have a place that is safe. A place we can use as a base when we go out and loot the country around us.”

  Georgia tilted her head towards me, a satisfied smile on her face. She knew they were going to go for it as much as I did. They weren’t the brightest bunch and so long as I kept them filled up with booze and promises of riches to come, they would do as I wished.

  “Rest tonight and tomorrow, we’ll go and be on our best behaviour,” I said with a grin for the crowd. “Once the undead are finished with, we can do as we please.”

  To my surprise, a cheer rose from the crowd. My oratory skills were not that good, so I imagined it was the booze. No matter, I’d take it.

  She met me as I hobbled around the outside of the crowd. I had no intention of mingling with them and they seemed fine with that.

  “You should rest too,” she said by way of greeting.

  “That’s my intention.”

  “Want some company?”

  There was a tone beneath that seemingly innocent question and I wasn’t so dense that I didn’t realise that I needed to keep on her good side. At the same time, I had zero interest in being intimate with her.

  “More than you know,” I lied. “Not sure how much use I’d be though. Beaten up and stinking of Cole’s stomach contents.”

  “That doesn’t bother me,” she purred and I blinked. Of course, it didn’t!

  “It does me,” I said carefully. “We take the fortress. I get a shower, some medical care and a bed to sleep in and I’m all yours.”

  “Promise?”

  There was definitely something in her voice and I was reasonably certain that if I said no, I wouldn’t make it through the night.

  “Of course,” I said and she smiled, though it didn’t touch her eyes.

  That wasn�
�t entirely unusual considering our natures, but still, I reckoned I’d sleep with my knife in hand.

  With that cheery thought uppermost in my mind, I went in search of a place to sleep.

  Chapter 21

  The next morning brought with it a break in the heatwave we’d been having. Rather than bright summer sun, we had an overcast sky filled with light grey clouds. Not much chance of rain, but a good breeze had kicked up and I took that to be a good sign.

  Of course, that was the only good thing about that morning. When we approached the walls of the Fortress, we were met by a solid group of armed men and women. Lou stood at the centre and when I waved him down, he shook his head.

  “Come down,” I called again.

  “Can’t do that.”

  “Then let me up to talk,” I said, trying to keep the irritation from my voice.

  “Can’t do that either.”

  “Uptight prick,” Georgia muttered and I hid my amusement as I stared up at the group atop the wall. More than one bow was aimed directly at me.

  “We’re here to help,” I called up and waved towards the thick cloud of smoke rising from the other side of the Fortress. “Looks like you could use it.”

  “We ken whit ye did!” A robust lady with a thick blonde braid and a face reddened by anger almost spat the words at me. “That puir wee lassie.”

  “I’m seriously starting to think the first thing we do when the world returns to normal is find a fucking translator,” Georgia said.

  “Let me up!” I called again, looking directly at Lou. “Just me. We need to talk.”

  There was some murmuring from the crowd but he waved them to silence and made one sharp gesture. A rope ladder was tossed over the side and he pointed directly at me with one finger.

  “Just you. Anyone else tries to come up…” he left the threat unspoken and I held back on my sigh. Cheap theatrics wouldn’t work on the raiders I’d brought.

  I climbed the ladder, slowly, all too aware of the people watching me from above and below. I didn’t want to show any weakness, but at the same time, I didn’t want my knee to give way and drop me back to the ground. Eventually, though, I made it to the top and found a number of angry people with sharp pointed weapons aimed directly at me.

  “Any chance of a private chat?” I said and flashed him a smile.

  He gestured curtly and a gap appeared in the group of people. He led me through, stiff-backed and holding himself under tight control. I began to wonder just what those captives I’d released had told him.

  “Say your piece,” he said. “Then get yourselves away from here.”

  “I thought you needed help?”

  “Not from your type.”

  “My type?” I asked and his hands clenched into fists at his side. I was all too aware of the angry crowd at my back.

  “She was just sixteen!” he snapped as he took a step towards me. “A child!”

  “Then she shouldn’t have been out there,” I replied calmly.

  He grabbed my t-shirt in one fist and pulled me close as he snarled his reply.

  “You killed that poor girl! Why shouldn’t I just throw you from this wall right now?”

  “For one,” I said with a grin that I knew would enrage him. “You do that and you’ll have around forty angry raiders down there. Can you really hold them off as well as the undead?”

  His hand trembled where it held me and I thought for a moment that he might actually do it, but instead, by some rather impressive feat of self-control, he released his hold and stepped back.

  “Say your piece and then go,” he said.

  “I killed the girl,” I admitted. Loud enough that the people behind me heard too. “I did it because those men down there had broken her so badly that she would have died anyway. I gave her peace.”

  “You speak of what they did to her and then what? Still expect us to let you in here? These people, that girl, are my responsibility!”

  “And you’re doing a bang-up job,” I said before I could stop myself. His face went from red to purple and I was fairly sure he would order my death, so I spoke quickly.

  “You can’t survive the undead that are attacking this place. You just can’t. Not with the people you have.”

  I took a long look behind me at the angry people gathered there and then looked back to Lou.

  “Hell, even with the Raiders helping you, this place won’t last.”

  He stared at me a moment, eyes searching my face. What I’d said couldn’t be news to him.

  “Then why are you here?”

  “Because there’s nearly forty men and women down there who deserve to die for what they’ve done,” I said in a matter of fact tone. “And I have a way to make that death count for something.”

  “Tell me,” he said and I smiled at the silence of the people around me. A silence that deepened when I laid out my plan.

  ****

  I didn’t bother to climb back down the ladder, just waved for them to come up. Georgia came first and smiled widely at the hostile glares the people around us wore.

  “We good?” she asked and I gave a nod of assent.

  “Took some negotiating but we’re good.”

  That was an understatement to be fair. While they had agreed to my proposal, it had taken a great deal of effort to convince them that my reasoning was right. They were far too sure that their little fortress would stand against the tide of undead.

  Some concessions had been made and while I didn’t think they’d be a huge deal for my little group of anti-social apocalypse warriors, I would still need to make things clear to them.

  “Ground floor only,” I said to Georgia. “Can take whatever food and water we need while here and they have some spare spears we can have. We’ll take shifts on the east and south walls. West is the river and north is clear, so that’s something.”

  “Why shifts?”

  “Easiest option. Their people fight together and we fight together. No cross-over of people means no chance of ‘accidents’ happening.”

  “Fair enough,” she sounded like she agreed, but the way she narrowed her eyes and watched the people around us told me that she was suspicious.

  “The fires going to be burning for a few hours yet,” I continued before she could start to think too hard about our situation. “After that, we’ll take the first shift. Let them get some rest.”

  “That’ll mean fighting through the night.”

  “Yeah, not ideal but we can manage.”

  “This’ll be fun.”

  I just grinned in reply and left her to get our people organised. Lou was waiting by the rope ladder that dropped down the inside of the container wall.

  “We all set?”

  “Yes,” I replied with a tight smile. “We’ll man the wall tonight and you can get your people organised. Long day for you tomorrow.”

  “We’ll be ready.”

  “The explosives?” I asked and he hesitated just a minute before he nodded curtly.

  “They’ll be set up and ready. Jack is sure that he can fix up a working detonator for you.”

  “Good.”

  My plan was starting to come together. The pieces were almost all in place and provided that I could keep Georgia on side and the raiders in line, it might actually go as planned. Unless the zombies messed it up of course.

  But the likelihood of that happening was low. At least I kept telling myself that.

  “You coming for food?” Georgia asked as she directed the first of our new group down the ladder.

  “In a little while,” I said. “Will join you in there. I want to check out the zombies so I know what we’ll face.”

  “Hold on a minute and I’ll come with.”

  I held back my grimace and waited impatiently while she directed Kareem to get the raiders settled. Lou had graciously provided space on the ground floor with the proviso that none of those raiders went up to the first floor and his people.

  There were no real promises
made there. I had some control over the raiders, but once inside with so many people above them. Well, I could just hope that ample food would keep them all happy.

  “Right, ready,” Georgia said and I grunted a response before turning and making my slow way along the top of the wall.

  She took my arm, interlocking it with hers and as much as I hated her touch, I appreciated the support for my damaged knee.

  The river ran right alongside the wall, with barely a metre or so of grassy banking between them. At some points, even less than that which meant that we’d have little problem with that side of the wall. On the inner side, there was a six-foot gap between the container wall and the building.

  Obviously, the building hadn’t been built with the intention of having a whopping great wall made of shipping containers and old train carriages built alongside it. That small gap was useful though, if the worst came to worst and we needed to retreat then we could hold a large number of undead there with just a few people.

  We had to hang back from the heat of the burning bodies at the south wall. The smoke didn’t make it easy either, even with the wind blowing it to the east, I still had to cover my face as best I could to get close.

  What I could see was enough to make me seriously reconsider the timeframe for the plan I’d made. The zombies filled the road to the south, all the way back to the hill we’d descended and even that was blanketed in them.

  They kept a wary distance from the river but had spread east so that they filled the space along the entire bottom of the wall, spilling around the side and according to Lou, coming up against the stone built back wall of the auto yard next door to the distribution centre.

  Since they couldn’t get enough of them to the east to cause too much of a nuisance, he’d only put a small complement of his people there. Mainly in case any Ferals made their way there and tried to climb up. The majority of the problem was the south.

  When they’d met the wall, and been able to go no further, the ones at the front of the horde had stopped. The ones behind hadn’t. While it had no doubt been amusing to see the front ranks of the horde turned into a rotten slurry, trampled beneath the feet of their own kind, it had quickly become a problem.