Killing the Dead (Books 4-6)

by Murray, Richard

  She said it with such hopelessness that I swallowed back the glib reply I was about to make and stared at her in the darkness. In that moment she seemed so very scared and I felt no real pleasure from that.

  “You have my promise that while I’m alive, you will be safe.” I said firmly.

  “Thank you.” she said, and laid her head back down on my shoulder and didn’t speak again for quite some time, just shook silently as she wept for the future she had just realised she’d lost.

  Chapter 21

  The next morning I awoke with my breath frosting in the chill air. Lily was still sleeping beside me until I moved and then her eyes fluttered open and she smiled sleepily at me.

  “Thank you.” she said and when I looked at her with an uncomprehending gaze she added, “For last night, being there for me.”

  “Oh... right. Sure.”

  “God it’s cold this morning.” She said with a smile and a slight shake of her head at me.

  “That will tend to be the case in the winter.” I told her as I returned the smile.

  Together we rose to our feet and stretched out the kinks that form from sleeping on the firm fabric covered seats in the cabin. I pressed my hand carefully to my side and found little pain from the wound that I had almost forgotten in the last few hectic days. It seemed to be healing nicely which was a bonus though I was looking forward to changing the bandage.

  After making use of the single toilet on the boat and waking everyone else, we climbed through the hatch and stepped out into the fresh fallen snow.

  The snow fall had ended sometime during the night but it had left a great deal of fresh snow for us to deal with. On the roads in the town it had been churned up by the passage of countless zombies but with no local councils gritting the roads and clearing snow, every time it snowed it just became deeper. If it continued then we would be snowed in and forced to survive the best we could until it cleared.

  With all of us working together we soon had the vans emptied and the various supplies piled inside the cabin. The work raised few complaints as it actually kept us warm moving one item after another.

  After everything was stacked as neatly as possible in the back of the boat’s cabin, Pat and Toby locked up the vans and we all gathered before the hatch. Gabby’s group seemed apprehensive about what they would find at the other side of the lake while my friends were eager to return to the place that they called home.

  Lily was spending her energies offering encouragement to the new members of our group and I couldn’t help but once again admire her skill at dealing with people, setting them at their ease with a few words here and a gentle touch of the arm or shoulder there.

  We finally climbed aboard and Pat took hold of the controls and we were off, travelling across the lake towards whatever fresh chaos this new world would provide. I was almost looking forward to it.

  The crossing wasn’t exactly swift and since we had no real encounters to deal with, it left us with little to do but sit in the cold cabin and wait. The rest of my group mingled together, talking and sharing in their newfound camaraderie while I was left alone with my thoughts which inevitably turned darker as we neared the apartments.

  It had been barely two weeks since I had been forced to take Emma’s young life and as we neared the place where that had happened, I found myself oddly reluctant to return. It was unusual for me to brood over a life taken but for some reason, hers had affected me quite deeply.

  I hadn’t had any problems before meeting Lily and becoming a part of a group of people who appeared to actually like me despite my murderous urges. Somewhere deep within me, something had changed over the last few months. I was no longer just using these people, I was actively wanting them to survive and prosper.

  My thoughts couldn’t help but turn to the promise I had made Lily. The idea that I would be able to keep her alive to enjoy a future in the post apocalyptic world we now lived in was laughable. It was entirely likely that we wouldn’t survive the winter let alone the decades’ necessary for the world to right itself, if it ever did. I knew I’d try though and I’d do everything I could to keep her safe.

  “Get ready guys, looks like we’ve a reception committee.” Gregg called.

  He was standing beside Pat and watching through the front window and looking past him I could see the apartment building in the distance with several people moving around the grounds.

  “Everything ok?” Gabby asked with concern.

  “Yeah. I’m sure it’s fine.” Lily replied, “Matthew must be taking precautions is all.”

  “Are those guns?” Melody asked.

  “Yeah we have a few of them.” Gregg said, “They’ll help keep us safe.”

  “Unless they get dropped in the lake.” Pat added quietly and Cass burst into laughter while a flush worked its way up Gregg’s cheeks.

  “Aye well...” He began before Lily cut him off.

  “I think I see Matthew... and Rachel has one of the rifles.”

  “Crap.” Gregg said and I had to agree with him.

  “That crazy bitch shouldn’t have a spoon let alone a gun. What’s Matthew thinking?” Cass asked incredulously.

  “I think we’re going to find out.” Lily said as the boat glided to a gentle stop alongside the road.

  Matthew was shouting orders to people, his face was ruddy and his hair and beard looked a little greyer than I remembered. Rachel looked the same, dark red hair tied up in a loose ponytail and a look of intense concentration on her face as she held her rifle steady and watched our boat.

  The other three that held rifles aimed our way were members of our group but I had no real idea of their names. I considered asking Lily but she looked like she was deep in thought and I decided it didn’t really matter that much.

  Once the four armed people were positioned as he wanted, Matthew stood at parade rest, hands clasped behind his back as he waited for us to make the next move. Lily pushed open the hatch with a quick smile of assurance to the rest of us and then stepped out onto the road.

  I had no intention of letting her go alone and was on the road right behind her, one hand resting casually on my knife. Matthew’s expression darkened as he saw me and Rachel assumed the sneer that I had seen directed so often at myself.

  “You’re back then.” Matthew said to Lily.

  “We are...”

  “They’ve brought more people with them.” Rachel interrupted and Matthew’s frown deepened.

  “We’re down to almost nothing in terms of food; you shouldn’t have brought more people.” he said sternly.

  “We’ve brought food.” I said before Lily could speak. “More than enough, though from this reception I’m half tempted to suggest we take it elsewhere.”

  “Nothing to stop us taking it from you.” Rachel snapped.

  “You can try.” I said with a grin that I knew would infuriate her.

  “What’s going on Matthew?” Lily demanded, “Aren’t we welcome here any longer?”

  “You are. Him... not so much.” Matthew said with a nod towards me.

  “Why?”

  “We don’t want child killers here.” One of the unnamed men said and my hand tightened on the handle of my knife.

  The look Rachel was directing towards me was full of gloating and I could almost sense the tension from the people holding guns around us.

  “You know there was a reason for that.” Lily said to Matthew, “You know he was the one who brought back our stolen supplies as well as Leon and Jenny. Which is more than the rest of you did.”

  “Yeah and how about that.” Rachel said. “Not many men could go and kill half a dozen soldiers on their own. Maybe people here are starting to realise just how easily he kills and how often.”

  “A lot of questions have been raised since you left.” Matthew said, “The only possible answers to those questions paint an unpleasant picture.”

  “This is ridiculous.” Lily said, voi
ce rising as her anger grew. “He’s been with us since the start and done nothing but help and protect us.”

  I could see the tension on the faces of those people facing us and more than one rifle had moved to be pointing more towards us than away. I couldn’t truly fault the conclusions they seemed to have arrived at. They were right after all.

  “So what exactly are you proposing?”I asked and silence fell. “Are you going to gun us down and take the supplies we worked so hard to bring here? Or maybe you’ll just take everything and send us on our way to survive as best we can?”

  “Not everyone, just you.” Rachel said.

  “This is ridiculous Matthew.” Lily said.

  “You do any of those things and you’re no better than those deserters I killed.” I said and saw at least Matthew recognised the implied threat. He watched me thoughtfully before speaking.

  “I have a duty to protect everyone here.” he said.

  “Then you should keep him here.” Lily said. “He’s done more to protect these people than any of you.”

  “No.” Matthew said and the smirk on Rachel’s face widened.

  “Then you give us no choice but to leave.” Lily said.

  “You can leave with him if you want but you won’t be taking the boat or anything on it.” Matthew said almost apologetically, “Like I said, I have to look out for everyone here.”

  The rifles were most definitely pointed directly towards us now and I could hear voices raised in argument inside the cabin of the boat behind me. I was almost certain they were arguing about how best to take on the armed people before us.

  “Fine, but know that you’re condemning us to death.” Lily said hotly and I took her hand in mine.

  Lily and the others would have the best chance of survival by staying with the group and my being there would put them at risk. Lily had once said to the others that I had often seen threats to the group and dealt with them before they even realised the threat was there.

  Well I was the biggest threat to their safety and despite the cost to myself, I would have to ensure the threat was removed. She looked at me with surprise that turned to sorrow as I spoke.

  “I’ll leave.” I said to Matthew, “The rest of them can stay if I go right?”

  “They can.”

  “No!” Lily yelled, “This isn’t right.”

  “Maybe not but we can’t fight them.” I left unsaid the ‘just now.’

  “Then we’ll all go.”

  “Gabby’s group have no reason to leave with me and as you said, a group without supplies in the cold of winter will die. I promised you that wouldn’t happen.” I spoke softly, for her ears alone and my smile was genuine.

  “I don’t want you to go.” Lily said in a voice thick with tears.

  “And I don’t want you to die. This place has the best chance for you to live.” I said. “For perhaps the first time in my life, I’m trying to do the right thing. Please let me.”

  Cass was beside Lily and had her arms wrapped around her and I was surprised to see tears in her eyes as well.

  “Where will you go?” Cass asked and I shrugged.

  “No idea.”

  “Get a move on.” Rachel snapped and I turned to look directly at her and she flinched at the threat my gaze promised.

  “Look after her and yourselves.” I said to Cass and with a nod towards Gregg and Pat I walked away.

  Matthew and two of the armed people followed me as I made my way across the grounds that surrounded the apartment building. In the distance behind me I could hear voices raised in furious argument and I refused to look back.

  The changes that had been made to the apartment building in our absence were impressive. The fence had been reinforced and lengthened to stretch out into the water and a raised platform had been built for someone to stand on to keep watch over the fence.

  All of the windows on the ground floor had been boarded over with thick sheets of plywood and it looked as though Jason had kept his promise to make a number of small greenhouses along the side of the building.

  The whole place certainly looked a great deal more defensible though it would still fare badly against a large number of undead. The nearby island would be a much better place to stay and I couldn’t understand the decision to avoid the place.

  As I approached the gate with my armed escort I couldn’t ignore the ache inside of me. I had finally found friends and someone to care about and it was being denied me. I would be alone once more and that was no longer as enticing as it once would have been.

  When we reached the fence that crossed the road, one of my armed escort stepped forward to pull open the gate and I was all but shoved through it. I did turn and look back at Matthew then.

  “I have no doubt that you’re as dangerous as I’ve been told,” Matthew began, “That being the case, if we see you again we’ll shoot first and ask questions later.”

  “Protesting my innocence would likely be pointless I guess.” I said with a strained grin.

  “I was an officer of the law for enough years to know there’s something off about you. You’re entirely too familiar with a knife for me to be comfortable.”

  As I stared back at Matthew I was surprised by how desperately I wanted to stay with my friends and the one person I cared for more than any other.

  Despite all the pain to be found with them and the dark memories of the loss I had found at the apartments, I very much wanted to stay.

  “You look after them.” I said as firmly as I could manage.

  Matthew didn’t bother to reply, just gestured for the gate to be closed and in moments I was standing before the fence, alone and for once missing the presence of other people.

  I knew it had been the right decision and though my time alone would likely be short, I would protect my friends by leaving.

  With hands thrust deep into my pockets to stave off the cold, I set off walking down the road and away from the only people who had ever accepted me.

  Killing the Dead: Everything Must End

  By Richard Murray

  Copyright 2015 Richard Murray

  All Rights Reserved

  All Characters are a work of Fiction.

  Any resemblance to real persons

  Living or dead is purely coincidental

  Acknowledgments

  This work wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my family, friends and of course the readers.

  Those of you who have enjoyed the books enough to encourage me, not only to continue but to complete the series. Thank you all.

  I could feel an itch between my shoulder blades right up until I was out of sight of the armed people guarding the apartments. When I reached the junction where the road split to the north and south, I stood for several long minutes as I debated which way to go.

  To the north was another zombie infested town at the top end of the lake and to the south was the sea. To go east would mean a long trek around the lake and if I continued west over the hills and forests of the lake district, I would eventually come to the sea and several more towns that were no doubt full of the undead.

  While I could make the nearby island my home, it had no food stored there since my group had taken it all and I had no way to reach it other than by swimming, which would be fine in summer but not in the middle of a snow covered winter.

  My first priority, no matter which direction I took would be to find food and shelter though that may be harder than it sounded since any nearby homes had been picked clean by either the deserters or my group. But then ‘former group’ was perhaps more apt as I was once again, alone.

  I set off walking southwards along the road. It was hard going through the thick snow that in some places was almost knee high. I could recall the route from the last time I had travelled this way with Lily and I knew that eventually I would find roads that led further to the west.

  The urge to kill, that dark incessant need that cam
e upon me on occasion had been quiet for some time. The deserters had seemed to satisfy that need though perhaps my enjoyment of the time I had spent in the company of Lily and the others had helped distract my attention from thoughts of it.

  Now, alone and no doubt soon to die, it was back with a vengeance. I wanted to strike out and kill someone. I really wanted to wait until nightfall and return to the apartments to slaughter every last one of the treacherous bastards within.

  I couldn’t do that though. They were the only chance for Lily and my friends to stay alive through the winter. I sighed loudly and pushed my hands deeper into my jacket pockets before pushing on through the snow.

  She would be safe, that was the important thing. She would live and prosper, surrounded by friends and people to protect her. She would have a chance and more than that, she would have something I could never truly give her.

  Why then, did I feel so miserable? I wondered as I walked along through the thick snow, its deep chill reaching through to my very bones as the sun slowly slipped down towards the horizon.

  I needed to get away from the area, away from the apartments and the memory of a young life so cruelly taken that seemed to haunt me in a way that I had never before experienced. To escape the feelings that were growing within me that I couldn’t understand.

  It had been a mistake to want more, to want to explore those feelings for Lily and to even consider for a moment that I could ever be more than a killer. My lot in life had been chosen and I would end it as I had chosen to live it, with death and violence.

  The temperature seemed to be dropping as the sun finally dipped below the horizon and I briefly considered whether or not I should find a place to stay for the night before finally rejecting that idea. I couldn’t shake that urge that was telling me to get as far away as possible.

  At a crossroads I recalled from my last trip with Lily, I made the decision to move along the westward road rather than south as we had done previously.