Killing the Dead (Books 4-6)

by Murray, Richard

  Gregg was swinging his metal bar like a bat, striking at a zombie’s upper body but unable to immediately crack its skull. Lily stayed close beside me as though determined to protect me of all things. Her hammer swung at the zombies with all the strength she could muster and a fourth was soon dead.

  I did what I could to land a blow with my knife but was finding it harder than normal. The zombie before me was over six feet in height and had a longer reach than I did. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get close enough to sink my blade into its skull.

  Pat had already killed another and was grappling with one of the fresher zombies that was indeed the type that were more dangerous than their slower brethren. It was agile and fast and seemed to have a feral instinct for survival that the others lacked.

  Cass was trying to pull free her cleaver and Gregg had finally caved in the skull of his zombie and was moving to help Pat, while Lily was backing away as the second of the fresher zombies moved after her, avoiding most of her wild swings and swiping at her.

  Running out of options and rapidly tiring I gave in to the inevitable and stepped into the zombies embrace. Its odour was overpowering up close and while it had no breath to speak of, the smell of the rotting flesh still in its mouth made me gag. I drove my knife up beneath its chin and through the soft roof of its mouth and into its brain.

  I turned to lend aid to Lily in time to see her duck beneath a lunge and crack the hammer against the creature’s knee which shattered loudly before the zombie lost its balance and fell to the floor. She was on it in an instant, swinging the hammer down with both hands against its skull.

  A quick glance at my companions showed them all still standing. Cass had finally freed her cleaver and Pat was wiping off his hammer on a clean piece of zombie clothing while Gregg looked around with distaste.

  “Everyone ok?” Lily asked, her eyes darting to me and a smile appearing as I nodded.

  In truth I was embarrassed by my performance. I had barely been able to kill one slow zombie and then only by putting myself in a fair amount of risk and even that was enough to leave my limbs shaking with fatigue.

  “All good.” Pat grunted while the others quickly agreed that they were fine.

  “Time to go then.” Lily said, as she gave my arm a quick squeeze.

  We retreated back the way we had first arrived only to stop once we turned the corner and look on aghast at the forty or more zombies that were making their slow shuffling way along the road.

  “Where the hell did they come from?” Cass gasped.

  “One of the side streets.” Lily said before ushering us back around the corner.

  I could see from the side street that we were in that we would have limited places to hide and we certainly couldn’t fight so many by ourselves.

  The cold stone homes in the terraces around us looked to be either locked up tight or damaged badly enough by the zombies that we would be unable to secure them. Lily had come to the same conclusion as me.

  “We need to keep going.” She said and the others looked at her in confusion.

  “We do?” Cass asked.

  “Any of these houses will take too long to break into or would be no defence anyway. We can’t fight that lot and we have one direction to go.” Lily said. “We also have very little time so it may be a good idea to run.”

  We ran or at least walked rapidly. Even then I struggled to keep up with the rest and I hated my current weakness as much as I resented the fact that the others were slowing themselves to allow me to keep up.

  The next corner led into a long street that was all homes on one side and businesses on the other. Cars still filled the roads and many of the windows in the buildings had been shattered either by zombies or looters during the first days.

  Through the snow that seemed to be falling heavier with each passing minute I could see more than enough zombies on the road to be a problem. Lily was looking up and down the street her indecision and worry clear.

  “Through there.” I said to her quietly and pointed at one of the businesses. “It should have a back door.”

  She nodded and smiled her thanks before leading the group towards the building. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the zombies come abreast of the side street before turning down it, drawn by the fresh blood and corpses.

  The shop door was unlocked and we were able to enter and close it behind us without incident. I stood by the door and kept a wary eye out as the rest of the group looked around the shop to make sure we wouldn’t be surprised by any undead.

  “All clear.” Gregg announced quietly and I moved away from the door to join Lily who was looking at a row of shoes wistfully.

  “I’ll probably never wear heels again.” She said as she pulled one of the shoes off of the rack.

  It was all strap and heel and looked incredibly uncomfortable anyway so I wasn’t sure why that would be a problem. Horribly impractical at the best of times let alone in an apocalypse.

  “I know what you mean.” Cass said with a sad smile of her own. “No more clubs or meals out, no dates to the cinema or holidaying at the beach.”

  “You know, I never realised how much I’d miss music.” Lily said as she placed the shoe carefully back on its rack, “Or ice cream.”

  “Wearing a tight dress and driving the guys wild on the dance floor.” Cass smiled.

  “Shouldn’t we be moving on?” I asked, interrupting their musing.

  “Back door opens into an alley.” Pat said as he and Gregg returned, “Couple of zombies out there but we took care of them.”

  “Thank you.” Lily said to the two men and I felt a stab of envy. They were taking the role I usually filled and it was not pleasing to me at all.

  A quick look out through the front window to check on the undead showed them to be almost obscured by the heavy snow being blown along by the fierce wind. It was getting worse.

  “Visibility is low out there.” I said as the group headed towards the back door, “It’s getting worse and we could find them on us before we knew it. We’re going to have to find somewhere to wait out the snow.”

  “That’ll be first priority,” Lily agreed as she led the way through the doorway.

  Chapter 9

  After a torturously slow walk down several more streets and cutting across a snow covered car park we finally found a building that was unlocked and undamaged.

  We entered through the back door and waited quietly while Pat and Gregg cleared the building. They returned after just a short time and announced that it was safe.

  The door had a deadbolt which we used first before Lily wedged the thin side of her hammer head beneath the door making an effective doorstop. It wasn’t perfect but it was a good start.

  The front of the shop looked out over the main road and was on a corner which gave us a good view of the streets in either direction. The wide glass window filled the front of the building but had a screen which effectively hid the inside of the shop from view. As long as we were quiet we shouldn’t attract the attention of anything outside of the shop.

  Pat and Gregg climbed the stairs that were almost hidden behind a curtain and went to discover what the second floor of the building held while the rest of us examined the merchandise on display on the sales floor.

  Whatever the shop had been before, it had a variety of items for sale. Nothing that was worth looting when the zombies were chasing you of course, which was lucky for us though I would have been pleased to find food of some sort.

  Instead the shop held racks of clothes and shoes along with hats, toasters and mini-fridges, books and kettles. A box beside the counter held posters of various pop groups and one shelving rack was full of DVDs and music cds.

  “Here,” Lily said as she handed me a pile of clothes. “Get out of those wet things and put these on.”

  “Thank you.” I said and she smiled.

  “Can’t have you freezing to death.” She said before turning to
Cass, “Might be worth seeing if we can find something dry too.”

  For the sake of modesty which I was surprised to find I still had, I hid myself as much as I could behind the counter and quickly stripped out of my wet clothes before depositing them on the floor.

  The Jacket I would need to leave out overnight in the hope that it would dry at least a little but the rest of the clothes could be left. I pulled on the gray trousers, blue shirt and a thick navy blue jumper that Lily had chosen for me and felt a great deal better for wearing something dry.

  Lily and Cass were busily stripping down to their underwear and I turned away politely much to their amusement.

  “You’ve no need to do that.” Cass said, “Modesty is one of the things we can’t afford these days.”

  “Perhaps.” I said.

  “Besides I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” Cass said humour evident in her tone.

  “Leave him be.” Lily chided gently.

  I was saved from further comments when Pat and Gregg returned. They stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened to the exchange in amusement.

  “You guys need to get changed too.” Lily said, “What was upstairs?”

  “Storage.” Pat grunted as he moved to the racks of clothes and began looking for something in his size.

  “I figure we spend the night up there.” Gregg was saying as I turned back to the group, pleased to see Lily and Cass were dressed. “Lots of boxes and stuff we can block the door with, we can use the spare clothes to make something soft to sleep on.”

  “You think we’ll need to spend the night here?” Cass asked.

  “We need to be prepared for it.” Lily said with a smile for Gregg, “You didn’t find any food I guess?”

  “No.”

  “Well we can at least make ourselves comfortable she said with a sigh.”

  While Pat and Gregg changed I followed the women up the stairs. I was pleased to note that the second floor had a bathroom, likely for the shop staff. Simple and incredibly basic, a single toilet with small sink set beside it. We could at least relieve ourselves and after an experimental turn of the tap I found that we had water.

  The rest of the floor was filled with cardboard boxes in all shapes and sizes. The vast majority were clothes and the smaller electrical appliances that wouldn’t fit on the small sales floor below us.

  It didn’t take more than an hour of moving the boxes around before we had the kind of fort that any kid would dream of playing in. The boxes were stacked to the ceiling and enclosed an area of the floor that was covered in a thick layer of loose clothing.

  We had enough spare clothes to cover ourselves and we could all huddle together for warmth. I saw what Cass meant about modesty being something we couldn’t afford anymore. We were going to be spending the night very close together indeed.

  For what little remained of the day I stood by the single window set into the wall that overlooked the street and watched the snow fall. All was quiet beyond our little room above the shop where we had taken refuge with only the howling of the wind to distract us from the boredom.

  From behind me I could hear the others talking quietly, some topic or other that I hadn’t the energy to feign interest in. No doubt my joining in the conversation would just make it awkward so I was better off alone by the window.

  I was so lost in my own maudlin thoughts that I didn’t immediately realise what I was seeing. Down on the street a lone man was making a run for it while pursued through the snow by a handful of undead.

  It was difficult to get more than the most basic shapes due to the heavy snowfall and the violence of the wind that was blowing it along the street, but I was sure it was a man of average size. He was dashing from one doorway to the next, holding one arm close to his body as he tried each door before moving on.

  The zombies that were following him were moving slowly, almost sluggishly and occasionally wandering off at odd tangents as though distracted before catching a glimpse of their quarry through the snow and heading once more in his direction.

  He was almost at the entrance to the pub opposite and I kept watch, interest piqued as he pulled on the door. He seemed unaware of the second pack of zombies shambling along the road from the other direction, effectively trapping him.

  I glanced over at the others but they all seemed happily content to sit together on the piled clothes and chat. As the unknown man pulled on the door of the pub I considered telling Lily about his plight.

  That stunned me. I had no reason to consider the man on the street, to help him or to hinder him. It would be interesting to watch the outcome of the little drama that would unfold when he met his end but beyond that, I had no reason to even consider bringing it up with the others and putting our group at risk.

  “There’s someone out there.” I said and paused wondering why I had just done that.

  “What! Where?” Lily asked in alarm.

  She rose in one swift and graceful motion and was beside me at the window in seconds. It took her even less time to realise what was happening on the street below and by the time the unknown man had darted to the corner only to recoil in alarm when he saw the second group of zombies, she was organising a rescue effort.

  Pat and Gregg were already out of the room and running down the stairs to the shop before I could even consider raising a protest. I could just watch from the window as they caught the stranger’s attention and he rushed over to disappear from view.

  “That was a good thing you just did.” Lily whispered and I just looked away in a sulk.

  The man was brought up the stairs and he entered the room still shaking the snow from his clothes. I took the opportunity to look him over as introductions were made by Lily.

  A little over six feet in height with a regular build and pleasant features if you could forgive the crooked nose that looked like it had been broken not so long ago and hadn’t been set properly. His clothes were worn but serviceable jeans and thick overcoat and he was definitely injured.

  “Hi, thanks for the rescue.” He said simply, “Name’s Dale.”

  “Have you been bitten?” Lily asked with a meaningful look at Dale’s arm.

  “God no.” He said quickly, “I fell down some stairs running from them in this bloody snow.”

  “What’re you doing here?” Cass asked.

  “Trying to survive, same as you.” Dale said with a confused look at her.

  “Yeah but why here? Must be better places than a town full of undead.”

  “It’s taken us this long to get this far.” He said.

  “Us?” Cass asked with what I took to be an appropriate amount of suspicion.

  “My family and some friends.” Dale said. He was looking at each of us with increasing confusion. “You’re in the same boat aren’t you? Ran for it when they overran the camp?”

  “What camp?” Lily asked as she inspected his arm as best she could.

  “The large one on the other side of town.” He said frowning.

  “We aren’t from there.” Cass told him and his expression cleared as he finally understood. I was quickly under the impression that he wasn’t very bright.

  “Where’re you from? Have you come to help us?”

  “We’re just trying to survive the same as everyone else.” Lily said and I was pleased by the vague answer. She at least grasped that we needed to be careful.

  “Oh, can you help us get out of town?” He asked hopefully.

  “We can try.” Lily said gently, “But first we need to wait for the snow to stop.”

  “My wife will be worried.” He said, “I need to get back to her.”

  “You won’t get far today.” She told him and he looked crestfallen.

  “We’ll help you tomorrow.” Cass promised and I glared at her though she either didn’t notice it or didn’t care because she added, “We’ll get you safely out of town.”

  “How many of you are there?�
� Lily asked.

  “Seven.” Dale said. “We’re in a house not far from here.”

  “You made it all this way through town from your camp?” Gregg asked, “How’d you manage that?”

  “Little bit at a time mainly. Most of the zombies were busy eating the people at camp and we managed to escape in all the confusion.”

  “Are they others out there?” Lily asked with quiet concern and I wanted to groan.

  I could already see her planning on rescuing everyone. I swore quietly at myself for opening my mouth and telling her about Dale.

  “No idea. It was chaos and people were running in every direction.”

  “What exactly happened?” Cass asked, “We know you had soldiers protecting you.”

  “Yeah but there were just too many zombies.” Dale said, “We were surrounded by them with more coming up from further south every day. It was just too many.”

  His eyes were filling with tears and panic edged his voice as he recalled the camp so Lily shushed him and changed the subject to a safer one. I grew bored and wandered back to the window. Both groups of zombies were gone and with nothing to distract myself, I just kept turning over in my mind the question of why I had alerted the others to Dale’s plight.

  Eventually the answer came to me and I had no choice but to accept it. I had always been able to lie easily to everyone else around me but I had never been able to lie to myself. It was because of Lily.

  Since I had not changed that much, despite now apparently having gained some friends, I was still the same cold blooded killer I had always been. I truly had no care for whether or not Dale had lived or died down on the street other than for the momentary amusement it may have afforded, but Lily did. She cared about other people and for some inexplicable reason I cared about her.

  I glanced over at her as she calmed the frightened man and felt... something stirring within me. It was strange and unfamiliar and yet I wanted to explore what it was since it was such a rare thing for me to have. She was the cause of it and I didn’t want her to go away and take with her that most frail fragment of feeling.

  She wanted to help people and care for them and I wanted her to be happy. Startling though that was to me, it was true. If saving people made her happy then I would have to ensure she had people to save. Besides, I reasoned, I could always kill him later.