Killing the Dead (Books 4-6)

by Murray, Richard

  What would have been an impossible swim took less than ten minutes of slow sneaking and we were outside the coffee shops front doors. I knew that on the other side of the shop was the dock where we would find Lily and the others. With one last look around to make sure we hadn’t been noticed, I led the way inside.

  Scattered tables and chairs filled the room and a single zombie was pawing ineffectually at the doors that led out to the docks. Dark stains covered the glass that only grew worse with every swipe of its grimy paws. I drew my knife and crept forward.

  The sound of a chair scraping across the floor from behind me as Gregg bumped into some of the furniture caused the zombie to swing round just as I was raising my arm to strike. It moaned its rage and lunged for me.

  I swayed to the side and banged into the counter right about where I happened to have a large wound and I yelped in pain as I lashed out with the knife, catching the zombie in the temple but glancing away without doing any major damage.

  Before I could swing again, Gregg cracked it in the head with a heavy wooden chair and it collapsed to the ground. I nodded a quick thanks to him before trying the door.

  The handle turned proving to me once again that the zombies were incredibly stupid and we were outside into the cold wind. Ahead of us I could see Pat pulling the hose from the boat and a relieved Cass and Lily were gesturing us forward. The undead were still milling around the end of the dock at the other side of the marina looking for us.

  “Glad you made it back.” Lily said as she ushered me into the boat and I gave her a weary smile. Exhaustion had stolen my voice and I could see unconsciousness featuring heavily in my future.

  Pat once more took the pilot’s seat and I left him to it as I sat in one of the seats towards the front of the cabin, too tired to move further back. Gregg climbed in through the hatch and his sister followed a look of fury on her face.

  “Idiot boy! What do you think you were doing?” she yelled, and I saw him flinch and didn’t hide my amusement.

  “I told you not to do anything stupid,” Lily snapped and I turned my attention to her, mirth fading.

  “It was hardly my fault.” I protested.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” She turned and shouted at a chagrined Gregg, “Why were you pointing the gun at him?”

  “Answer her.” Cass snapped and he lowered his eyes and shook his head. Pat wisely kept quiet and concentrated on moving the boat.

  “Well?” Lily demanded of me, “What was going on?”

  “Nothing to worry about.” I assured her.

  “Yeah right.” She turned back to Gregg, “Is this going to be a problem?”

  “No.” He mumbled and I saw him flush.

  “Idiots.” Lily said to Cass, “Both of them.”

  I was too tired to protest too much and I was beginning to grasp that part of their anger was at concern for the near death experience they had just witnessed. I caught Gregg’s eye and nodded as I flashed him a grin. He returned the smile shyly and crossed the cabin to sit on the seat behind me as Lily and Cass stood beside Pat and commented loudly on our failings.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly with a surreptitious glance towards the women. “I reacted badly and you still saved my ass.”

  “I told you, I’m not a threat to you.”

  “Yeah, I get that mate. You’re not going to hold my trying to shoot you against me are you?” he asked nervously, and I smiled at him.

  “Not at all, it was the right thing to do.” I assured him, “You saw what you considered to be a threat to your group and you acted to protect them. If anything, you have a little more of my respect.”

  “Thanks... I think.” Gregg said and seemed to relax a little.

  “Of course if it had been me, I wouldn’t have hesitated. You’ll have to work on that, someday your life or ours may rest on it.” I said and his smile faltered as he lapsed into quiet contemplation.

  It was a not unpleasant feeling to have resolved that issue without having had to kill or even just wound him. It had also led to a little bit of excitement, I’d had the chance to kill a zombie and the boat was fully fuelled. All in all not a terrible day was the last thought I had before I lapsed into sleep.

  Chapter 7

  I was roused from a restless nap by Lily gently shaking my arm. I blinked bleary eyes at her before looking around to get my bearings.

  “Why aren’t we back at the apartments?” I asked irritably.

  My still wet clothes were cold and unpleasant against my skin. With no heating to speak of I had been looking forward to at least getting changed into something dry.

  “It’s still daylight.” Lily said apologetically. “We still need to gather some things for the apartments.”

  “We couldn’t do that tomorrow?”

  “Afraid not. I don’t like the look of those clouds,” She said with a gesture towards the heavy grey clouds that filled the sky. “If the weather turns worse than it is, no idea how long we’ll be stuck on the other side of the lake. Best to investigate the town now.”

  With a pointed sigh that she ignored I stretched to try and remove some of the kinks that seemed to have formed in my muscles. Ordinarily I would be more than happy to explore the town. The chance of violence and mayhem was entirely too enticing to miss out on.

  In my current condition however, the idea of doing anything other than crawling into a bed and sleeping for a week was unwanted.

  I watched the rest of the group set about the task of tying up the boat and preparing themselves for the trip into town. I was pleased to notice that Gregg seemed as uncomfortable in his wet garments as I was. It seemed misery really did enjoy company.

  Pat ran ahead, past the main boatyard building with its two docks that led out from the building to extend over the water. He was soon past the warehouse where we had found the wood and tools that Jason was making such good use of back at the camp.

  The only sounds around us were the lapping of the lake water against the mud and stones of the shore and the crunch of the gravel beneath Pat’s feet as he ran. I could hear neither animal nor insect and that immediately set me on edge.

  Cass breathed a sigh of relief as Pat returned from behind the warehouse. He stopped and waved us over to him.

  “Nothing moving on the road.” Pat said as he raised his heavy lump hammer to wave back the way he had come. “Saw some fresh blood out there though.”

  “Someone’s been by here?” Lily asked, and he shrugged.

  “We assumed the refugees and soldiers were overrun and killed.” I said quietly, “They could still be alive or some at least could have survived, scattered through the town.”

  “That’s something else we need to watch out for then.” Lily said.

  “Why?” I asked quietly and all eyes turned towards me.

  “What do you mean why?” Cass asked. “People might need help.”

  “We can barely feed ourselves at the moment.” I pointed out as I tried to avoid showing my irritation at their inability to grasp such a basic idea. “We have some more space now admittedly but barely food for a week, no power and who knows when the water will stop. We can’t save everyone.”

  “Wow.” Cass said as she shook her head. “You really can be a callous bastard you know.”

  “Okay,” Lily interrupted with a significant look towards me, “We’ve had this discussion before and we’ll help anyone we find.”

  “What’s the point of rescuing more people to just have them starve slowly?” I asked.

  “We’ll find the supplies.” Lily said in a tone that brooked no argument and I just shrugged and ignored the looks being passed around by my companions.

  Since they had discovered my little secret, I was sure they would be looking at everything I said in a new light. Things they may have not even noticed before would now be inspected closely before being declared a result of my being what I am.

  I followed along behind
the group as I tried to conserve what little energy I had. It was my choice to come along for the thrill of it and I would make sure I did my part. No matter how exhausted I might be.

  We followed the trail of abandoned belongings, the detritus of a fleeing people who just didn’t make it very far. Books and magazines, photos and items of clothing filled the sides of the road along with the personal items, the soft toys and treasured possessions.

  Before long we were at the houses we had visited almost a week ago. The zombie that had nearly managed to bite Lily was still lying slowly rotting in the road and the only thing I could smell was the stench of rot and death that was blowing from the town.

  “We going through the houses?” Gregg asked and Lily shook her head.

  “No, we need to look around first. See how far into the town we can get and if there are any shops nearby with anything we can use,” She said.

  “Wouldn’t everything have been looted already?” Cass asked.

  “From the bits and pieces I’ve heard from Matthew and the others who managed to visit the town before it became too dangerous, the soldiers arrived after it began and gathered up everybody they could into the southern end but it all happened too quickly for them to do much more than herd people along.”

  “One of the guys with him said he’d been speaking with the soldiers while Matthew spoke with their captain. He said that while they were gathering people up they were being attacked constantly. A lot of people died.” Lily finished softly, sorrow at the loss of so many lives evident even to me.

  I could do little but marvel at her ability to feel such emotions for anyone, let alone for people she didn’t know and would never meet.

  “We could find plenty of useful stuff then but likely lots of zombies too.” I said thoughtfully, “Though the largest quantity will hopefully be towards the south of the town where the refugees were.”

  “So here we are, once again, vultures picking over the dead.” Cass said miserably. “I’m so sick of this now.”

  “Get used to it sis, it’s not changing anytime soon.” Gregg said with a sympathetic squeeze of her arm.

  We continued down the road making sure to keep a wary eye out for any zombies wandering nearby. Both lanes of the road were full of cars, vans and trucks with plenty of rubbish strewn about.

  The houses we passed were often damaged in some way though occasionally one would appear in the midst of the wreckage of the town with pristine garden and looking for all the world as though the end had never happened. Others of course were in a much worse state.

  We had become used to seeing the dark stains of blood and other bodily fluids smeared over walls and gates along with the now familiar dark patches that stained the pavement. The people of the town had died in their thousands and it showed.

  “Did you see that?” Gregg asked pointing towards a house on the opposite side of the road from us.

  “See what?” Lily asked.

  “I’m sure I saw someone looking out through the curtains.” He said and everyone craned to look.

  “Nothing moving now mate.” Pat said and Gregg swore.

  “I saw someone looking through them and when they saw me they moved away.” He insisted. “We should check.”

  “Why?” I asked, “Anyone who sees us and still hides obviously doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Yeah but look at the kind of people we’ve bumped into.” Gregg said, “I’d hide from a group wandering around a zombie filled town with weapons visible.”

  “We can go and check.” Lily said, “If they don’t want to talk to us then that’s fine but we can at least try.”

  Too weary to argue I just shrugged and plodded after them as an eager Gregg led the way around the obstacles in the road towards the building.

  It was an ordinary house, not the type that would stand out and it certainly hadn’t been boarded up or protected in any way which made it even more unlikely that anyone alive was inside.

  A short path led past a once well tended lawn and flower beds and through a side gate to a door that was set into the side of the house. We clustered by the door as Gregg knocked as loudly as he dared.

  When no one answered he bent down and peered in through the letterbox before standing and knocking again.

  “I can see you in there,” he called through the letterbox after he received no response to his knocking. “It’s ok, we’re friendly.”

  “Try the door.” I suggested and he looked at me as though I were an idiot but eventually reached out and turned the handle. The door opened easily.

  “That can’t be a good sign.” Pat muttered and Gregg looked crestfallen.

  “I’m checking anyway.” He said with a defiant look towards me.

  “Go for it. I’ll wait here.” I said with a smile and a shrug.

  I was perfectly happy to rest against the wall and let someone else do the killing for a little while, too exhausted to care about the fun I was missing.

  Gregg led the way inside and the others followed. They were in there for less than three minutes before he led the way straight back outside. Cass and Lily followed and his sister patted his back as he bent over and retched.

  “Where’s Pat?” I asked Lily and she grimaced.

  “He’s dealing with the... with what’s inside.” She said and I raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Don’t ask.” She said.

  “Aw man this day is just fucking unbelievable.” Gregg said as he spat and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “It’s going to get worse.” I said quietly as I watched the first flakes of snow beginning to fall.

  Chapter 8

  The first snow of winter was always going to be a bad thing for our little group of survivors but seeing it falling just hammered home the fact that time was limited.

  “Should we head back?” Cass asked with concern as she watched the heavy flakes fall to earth.

  “Let’s wait a bit.” I suggested, “We don’t know how long it will last and we can see what sort of effect it has on the zombies.”

  “What do you mean?” Lily asked.

  “We know that heavy rain confuses them, hampers their senses enough that we can get a lot closer before we’re noticed. What if snow does the same? Will walking through snow slow them down or even be virtually impossible because of balance issues?”

  “If the snow is disabling for them then we can come into the town with more people and have a chance against them.” Lily said thoughtfully, “Ok. If everyone agrees to stay for a little while we’ll do that.”

  Cass and Gregg had no objections and Pat just shrugged as he returned from inside the house. He looked paler and was more taciturn than normal and I was intensely curious about what they had found that was so upsetting, but then realised that it was likely something I wouldn’t ‘get’ and wasn’t worth the effort of going inside.

  We continued along the road heading roughly south. The going was slow and we went out of our way to avoid the occasional cluster of undead. Along with the general rubbish that was piling up everywhere we began to find more and more corpses.

  They were littering the pavements and gardens of the houses around us. Male and female, young and old alike, covered in filth with torn clothes and tortured expressions. In another time it would have been considered a massacre, the numbers growing the further south we moved.

  It was apparent to us all that the soldiers had killed a huge number of the zombies as they retreated through the town, herding their refugees. Smaller numbers at first but growing in size as the zombie plague spread through the town and the undead numbers increased.

  “Christ, what’ll it be like at the part of town the soldiers were defending?” Gregg asked as he stared at a particularly large pile of the dead.

  “Certainly explains why the town stinks so bad.” Cass said with a grimace of distaste.

  “Rats and other vermin will be a problem soon.” Lily said, “Too small and fas
t for the zombies to catch and with plenty of food their numbers will grow.”

  That was certainly an unsettling thought. Vermin that they were, once the piled corpses were gone a massive horde of rats would be a problem for anyone trying to survive. We had enough of an issue trying to find food without having to fight rats for it.

  We were ignoring the houses for now, our goal was to scout out the area and see what we could find. I was surprised at the numbers of undead we had seen. A few here and there, mostly confined to the gardens and houses we passed.

  The snow was slowly settling and the temperature had definitely dropped, a fact that I was very aware of with my still wet clothing. Our breath was misting before us and visibility was becoming an issue.

  After a brief discussion between Lily and the others it was determined that we would check a couple more streets before heading back. Of course the universe being what it is, that was just before we turned a corner into a side street and stumbled into a group of zombies that were tearing into the bloodied corpse of man.

  My knife was out of its sheath in an instant and I could see that the others had their weapons raised as the zombies noticed us. I did a quick count and realised we were facing nine undead, the majority of which were quite badly damaged with missing limbs and flesh. Two stood out as being almost ‘fresh.’

  “You see them?” Lily hissed as nine heads turned towards us and a rising moan escaped them.

  “Yeah, those two at the back will be trouble.” I said raising my voice to be heard above the zombies. “Faster most likely.”

  I was confident that the others would be on their guard and in truth I had no time to think much beyond that as the lead zombies stumbled towards us, arms outstretched with gore stained fingers reaching for us.

  Pat stepped forward and crushed the skull of the first with one swing of his lump hammer, a second fell on his next swing. Cass caught the third with her cleaver, the thick steel blade sinking into the creature’s skull with a satisfying thunk, but was soon cursing as it fell backwards and took her cleaver with it.