Killing the Dead (Books 4-6)

by Murray, Richard

  With breath misting before me, I soon left the lake behind as I followed the road that wound upwards through the hills. The snow covered trees that loomed to either side of me soon took on a sinister aspect, as the little light provided from the moon and stars was obscured by thick leaden clouds. I walked along in a world of shadows, which suited my mood quite appropriately.

  It was the sound that came to me first and soon after, the smell. That now familiar stench of the undead, that thick and cloying scent that lingered in the air and on the tongue. Rancid meat and the foulness of voided bowels and bladder, all mingled together to announce they were close.

  I pulled my combat knife from its sheath, the curved blade almost invisible in the darkness as I stood in the snow and waited. This was, and could only ever be, my element. Hidden beneath the blanket of night, knife ready to strike out at those I chose to die. I had been a fool to think I could ever be anything but a bringer of death and misery.

  The faint illumination of the snow as it reflected the thin strands of light from the moon and stars during the breaks in the clouds was enough to show me that the road ahead was undisturbed by the tread of living or undead. That could only mean they were moving my way.

  A moan came from ahead, managing to sound both sorrowful as well as famished at the same time and it was soon answered from between the trees to the south. It occurred to me that perhaps it hadn’t been the best idea to keep moving during the night.

  Their arrival stilled any thoughts and I counted their number as each appeared from the gloom ahead of me. I had yet to be noticed and I briefly considered dashing into the forest to the north and losing them amongst the trees and shadows but quashed the thought almost as it formed.

  I had made my choice and this would now be my life, no one to watch my back and nowhere to ever really hide. I would face each challenge as it came and I would succeed or die. I ploughed forward through the thick snow.

  They noticed me before I had gone a dozen steps and their moans rose in volume to echo off the tree covered hills around me. Five dark forms moved through the darkness towards me, arms outstretched and jaws moving as though already tearing at my flesh. I didn’t stop the grin that formed.

  I sidestepped the clumsy lunge of the first and clouted it on the side of its head with the hilt of my knife, hard enough to knock it to the floor but not enough to break through its skull. I knocked aside the arms of the next and swung the knife in an arc to collide with its head, the sharp blade breaking through the thin bone of the temple easily.

  The one I had knocked to the ground was scrambling towards me, reaching for my legs and I kicked out at it once before driving my blade up beneath the jaw of the third. It fell lifeless to the floor and the fourth tripped over it.

  A short leap backwards through the churned snow to gain some space before striking down at the first zombie that I had knocked to the floor. It moved at the last moment and my blade bounced off its skull after merely slicing away a sizeable chunk of flesh. My next thrust drove the sharp metal into its brain and ended its life.

  The fourth was back to its feet and the fifth appeared to be somewhat more cautious. I couldn’t see clearly enough to ascertain whether or not it was one of those fresher zombies that were agile, feral and almost clever. I could only hope that it wasn’t.

  I kicked out at the legs of the fourth and it fell once more to the snow covered road as I leapt at the fifth. My initial strike caught its cheekbone and I clearly heard something break, the sound sharp on the night air.

  Its thin fingers clawed at my face and I recoiled in disgust at whatever vileness covered its hands. The chance of infection was too great to risk and I would rather have a clean death than a short, painful one followed by rising again.

  My next blow caught it in the temple and it shuddered once before collapsing against me. I shoved it away and turned my attention to the last zombie that was struggling to rise. I kicked out once at its arms and it dropped face first into the snow before I drove my knife blade down through the back of its skull. I wanted to scream my defiance at surviving.

  The adrenaline soon faded and I was left to stand alone amongst the remains as I listened to the moans rising faintly in the distance as the dark blood dripped from my knife. They were moving ever closer and if I stayed where I was, I would have the chance to kill again or perhaps die.

  I shook myself from my reverie and wiped the blade clean as best I could on the blood and dirt encrusted clothing of the undead before using some clean snow from the side of the road to wipe clean my hands and face.

  It was cold, shockingly so, but far better than walking around drenched in infected blood. As fun as knives were to kill with, in combat they had a tendency to create a lot of mess.

  Once again I had been fortunate. The zombies that I had faced were slow and fairly easy to dispatch though it was a worrisome sight to see them moving around on the west side of the lake. The majority we had seen had been on the far side of the lake. With a sigh, I continued along the road.

  Even being back to my competent killing self didn’t seem to be moving the gloom that filled me. The joy I had once found even in killing such pathetic shambling creatures as the undead was absent and the only real pleasure I had felt was at surviving, winning.

  It soon occurred to me that perhaps I would need to kill a real person again to truly be back to the man I was before I met Lily and I resolved to do just that with the next person I met. With no one to hold me back and tell me I was wrong, I could do it as I preferred and gain the maximum pleasure from it.

  With that cheerful thought sustaining me I continued on into the night.

  Chapter 2

  Sometime before dawn I came upon a house set just away from the side of the road. It had a thick four feet high hedge, currently devoid of leaves that surrounded the grounds and even the thick blanket of snow couldn’t hide the fact that they had been well tended in the past.

  The building was the usual grey stone that many of the homes in the area were made of and it was two storeys high with twenty metres of driveway that led between the house and the road.

  At the end of the driveway was a red car, half buried in the snow and while the road was a churned mess from the passage of the zombies I had encountered earlier, the drive and garden were practically untouched.

  I had no intention of digging out the car let alone trying to drive as each new snowfall made the roads ever more impassable for vehicles. I was however more than a little hungry and in need of some rest and the house looked to be the best place to find both.

  The wrought iron gate at the end of the driveway had decorative spikes along the top that discouraged my climbing over it. Fortunately it was only held closed by a simple latch and I was able to push it open through the snow with just a little bit of effort.

  As I carefully walked along the driveway I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched and I slowed my pace to allow myself time to assess the house before me.

  If it had people within then I would have the chance to kill someone sooner than I had expected, though they could be armed or even undead. In which case, I would be forced to kill them quickly without any of the real pleasure I sought to recapture.

  I approached the front door and feeling a little foolish, I knocked. Once, twice and then again before waiting patiently. I strained to hear movement from within but a rising wind was blowing through the hills and snatched away any sound before I could catch it.

  My instinct had been right, the door opened and an elderly man stood in the entranceway looking out warily.

  “You’d better come in.” He said with a touch of nervousness.

  “Thank you.” I replied as I followed him through the darkened house, careful to keep the eager smile from my face.

  He led the way into a living room that had a small candle lit, sitting in a pool of melted wax on the coffee table. Thick curtains covered the windows and blocking any light from
reaching beyond while a young girl slept on the couch.

  I looked from the old man to the young girl thoughtfully as I sat in the comfortable fabric chair beside the fireplace that the man gestured me to.

  “It’s just the two of you here?” I asked.

  “Yes, just my granddaughter and me.” He said as he looked down on her fondly and stroked her dark hair.

  “Then may I ask, why did you invite me in?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Aren’t you worried that I am going to hurt you both and steal your belongings?”

  The elderly man smiled at me and I felt that it was neither condescending nor dismissive but was actually kindly. It irritated me immediately.

  “I believe that during these dark times, we should look after each other. I have faith that God will see to our protection.” He said and I grimaced.

  “Your god’s doing a pretty terrible job of it these days.”

  “We are alive when so many others are not. I have to believe that there’s a reason for that.” He replied. “Now tell me, what are you doing wandering around at night all alone?”

  “Nothing else to do.” I told him with a grin of my own, “Put down roots anywhere these days and you’ll soon find yourself surrounded by the undead.”

  “Have you survived for so long alone?”

  “No.” I said with finality that I hoped indicated that I didn’t want to speak of it.

  The elderly man smiled once more and nodded his head in understanding. “Then perhaps you have been brought here for a reason.”

  “I was brought here by nothing more than a desire to not be elsewhere.” I replied sourly, his smile was beginning to irritate me.

  “We will see.” He said before standing and extending his hand. “I am called Phillip and my granddaughter is called Laura, you are?”

  “Ryan.” I said and ignored his hand. He didn’t seem to take offence, sitting back on the couch beside his granddaughter.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ryan, we don’t have much left but what we do have we are more than willing to share.”

  “Have you been here alone all this time?” I asked.

  “No, my son and his wife were here for a time. They went looking for food and help several days ago and have yet to return.” He said unable to disguise the sadness in his voice and I thought it would be churlish to point out that they were likely dead.

  I watched as he carefully stroked the hair of the young girl. She looked to be around the same age as Emma had been, a fact that I found to cause a great deal of discomfort. She was painfully thin and her hair was lighter than Emma’s. She had a blanket around her shoulders and in the dim light from the candles she seemed wan, sleeping more from exhaustion and worry than from any real desire to sleep.

  The elderly man wore a thick grey jumper and brown trousers, the backs of his hands had the dark spots of age and his grey hair was thinning. His eyes, I noticed were a milky white.

  “You’re blind.” I said and he smiled once more.

  “Almost.” He agreed.

  I shook my head and fell silent as I glanced around the room. An elderly man who could barely see and a young child who wouldn’t last long without him, it would be the simplest of things to kill him and yet I could find no real desire to do so.

  Perhaps it was the girl, so reminiscent of Emma that was stopping me. I had no wish to kill her and if I killed him, then I would be stuck with another child to look after. I wasn’t ready for that pain again anytime soon.

  That wasn’t entirely it though. The rage I had felt earlier had dissipated only to be replaced by a dark emptiness that clawed at my insides. I had no desire to kill the elderly man or anyone else, no desire to do much more than sleep and avoid thinking of those I had left behind.

  In the time I had known them all and most especially her, they had awoken something in me that I had not known existed and once awake it refused to sleep once more.

  I had once told Lily that before I found the joy of taking another’s life, the world had been a place of constant pain and torment. Endless days spent in a world where nothing fit for me. She had been a balm on that despair I had felt and even in such a short time I found that I missed her.

  It was a curious and unwelcome feeling and I knew that the impact she had made was somehow stopping me from returning to the person I once was.

  “You seem troubled.” Phillip said and I realised that the silence had stretched for several long minutes. “You can talk to me if you like. I was once a vicar before I retired. I know how to listen.”

  “Great, more religious nonsense.” I sneered, and was annoyed when his smile never faltered.

  “Then if you do not wish to talk, perhaps you would like to get some sleep.” He said tolerantly, “There are a number of bedrooms upstairs. Feel free to make use of any and I will prepare some food in the morning.”

  “You are far too trusting to survive long. You know that?” I snapped, eager to wound him and wipe that smile off of his face. “Someone will come and steal your food, kill you and abuse your granddaughter. It’s the world we live in and you need to get used to that.”

  “I shall be here if you wish to talk.” Was all Phillip said before turning back to the sleeping child.

  With a shake of my head at his foolishness I left him in the living room and climbed the stairs. It didn’t take long to check each of the rooms to ensure I would find no surprises waiting for me.

  Once certain that I was alone, I chose a room with a double bed and a chair that could be propped beneath the handle of the door to prevent access while I slept, before removing my fouled clothing and climbing beneath the thick blankets.

  I lay in the darkness and listened to the sounds of the house for some time as I turned over the old man’s words in my mind. He was wrong of course, his belief in a deity would prove no protection for either him or the child and I briefly considered killing him and taking her for her own safety.

  In the end I rejected the idea, I just couldn’t find that urge within me to kill him. Something was missing, something vital and as more time went by, I was becoming less and less concerned with surviving.

  After all, what was the point? The one person who had truly meant anything to me was no longer around. She would do better without me and would live, but my world was a duller place. Worse than that, it was even less bearable than it had been before I met her and now it seemed I had no interest in the one thing that had given my life any real pleasure. Sleep refused to come.

  Sometime before the dawn as the wind was howling through the trees outside and I was tossing restlessly amongst the blankets, something caught my attention. I couldn’t pin down exactly what it was but it was there, something on the edge of hearing alerting me to a presence in the hallway outside the room.

  I rose silently from the bed and pulled my knife free of its sheath. Holding it before me, I moved to the door and gently, quietly moved the chair away from it before pressing my ear to the painted wood.

  There it was, the sound of someone moving down the hallway, pulling open doors and perhaps looking inside before moving to the next. Looking for me? Hard to think of the old man as being able to even see me in the darkness let alone ambush me.

  Perhaps the girl’s parents had returned and sought to remove me as a potential threat or it could be some killer who was merely clearing the house of any threats before looting it. I stood beside the door and waited patiently for the footsteps to approach as I contemplated the revenge I would have on the old man if this was some trap of his.

  A floorboard out in the hallway creaked, not loudly but enough that I heard it. I stepped back from the door as the handle turned and readied my knife. As the door swung open I would leap forward and drive my blade through their throat.

  My heart was beating loudly to my ears and the faint tremble was from excitement and not the cold. I didn’t stop my grin of anticipation. It would be the last
thing they saw before I took their life.

  The door swung inwards and I leapt forward only to yank my hand back before I could strike and stop with shock as a yelp of surprise issued from the hallway.

  “Hello Lily.” I said with more than a little surprise.

  Chapter 3

  “Are you trying to give me a heart attack!” Lily snapped and my grin faltered.

  “Sorry... what are you doing here?”

  “Did you really think we’d leave you?” Lily said peevishly as she glared at my knife that I quickly lowered, “That I’d leave you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re an idiot. Now are you going to invite me in before I freeze to death in the hallway?”

  “Erm... sorry, yes. Come in.” I said as I stepped aside for her. “Is it just you?”

  “Of course not.” Lily said as she looked around the dark room, waiting for her eyes to adjust. “Gregg, Pat and Cass are all downstairs with Phillip.”

  “How did you find me?”

  “The one good thing about the snow is that you leave a noticeable trail.” She said with a flash of white teeth as she smiled, “When we reached this place we saw a set of footprints leading up to the door and figured you’d come here. I didn’t expect to find Phillip and his granddaughter.”

  “It’s their house.” I said.

  “Yes, I’m very glad to find them alive.” Lily said with another smile as she removed her jacket and damp trainers. “It means you were sticking to your promise even when you thought you were alone.”

  “Maybe.” I muttered uncomfortably as she removed her jeans and slid under the covers in just her underwear.

  “Come on.” Lily called gently, “I’m really bloody cold.”

  Still a little shocked at even seeing her, let alone having her strip down and climb into my bed, I crossed the room and lay my knife on the bedside table before climbing into bed beside her.

  I lay there awkwardly beneath the covers as I waited for the trapped air to warm from our body heat and could feel her amusement.