The others finished off their adversaries as I spun to peer amongst the snow covered trees and bushes, looking for an enemy that may be watching.
“You ok?” Lily asked as she came to stand beside me.
“Yeah,” I said distractedly, “I think so.”
Whatever may or may not have been watching me didn’t seem to be willing to make its presence known and I turned back to the group with an uneasy itch between my shoulder blades.
We continued on with that long and above all, exhausting trek through the woods and just about the time that I was contemplating taking off my boots to check for frostbite, we came upon Hawkshead.
Nestled in a valley, the picturesque town spread out before us like a scene from a Christmas card. Little movement could be seen and no smoke rose from the chimneys of the houses. The main road that led through the centre of the village looked to head in the direction of the lake and I imagined that it likely met up with the road that ran north to south besides the lakeshore.
Several smaller roads connected to the main and all along the length, cars were dotted. Little movement could be seen and I thought that perhaps those zombies not trapped in houses had moved outwards. We may have encountered some of them in the woods.
We had been standing at the edge of the trees for several minutes, each lost in our own thoughts as we surveyed the village and each, no doubt contemplating the fresh horrors we would face there.
I couldn’t shake the thought that we were being pursued, hunted by someone or something and it was starting to irritate me.
Pat led the way down the steep valley side towards the outermost houses with an ease that I envied. He seemed as tireless as an ox and moved as though the stresses of the previous day had barely touched him.
My own legs were trembling and if they weren’t numb from the cold, would no doubt ache even more than they currently did.
As we approached the houses of whitewashed stone and black beams in a Tudor style I became very aware of how wrong things were. It wasn’t just the stillness of the town or the presence behind me that had me fighting the urge to keep looking over my shoulder, it was something else.
“Stop.” I called out gently and Pat paused as he glanced back questioningly.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked with concern as the others looked around with weapons to hand.
“Something’s off.” I said uneasily.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure, it just doesn’t feel right.” I said.
“Hell, if the serial killer’s uneasy then the rest of us should be shaking with terror.” Gregg said in an attempt to lighten the tension.
“Forgive me.” I said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s just be wary and go slow.”
“Sure.” Lily assured me and nodded to Pat who led the way into the village, Lump hammer held ready.
We rounded the corner of the first house and stopped, each of us staring ahead as we tried to take in the sight before us.
“Damn.” Gregg whispered and I felt a slight tingle of pleasure at being right in my unease.
Chapter 15
The zombie blinked at me and its eyes seemed to follow me as I stepped first to the left and then to the right. It was almost unsettling. More so when you had an entire row of zombie heads all blinking at you, with eyes that followed your movements.
Someone, no doubt some unpleasant sort of person, had decapitated a number of zombies and arranged their still moving heads neatly atop a wall in front of what had once been the village pub. Eighteen in total had been arranged before someone had grown bored or run out of zombies.
“Is this something your kind of people do?” Gregg asked with a hint of unease as he stared right back at the heads.
“My kind of people?”
“Yeah, you know... serial killers.”
“Strangely enough I’ve never met any other serial killers. Though speaking for myself, I’ve never actually had an urge to do something like this.” I said with a touch of amusement.
“Where are the bodies?” Cass asked and I shrugged.
“No idea.”
“Well what do we do now?” she asked and I shrugged once more.
“We came looking for food, that hasn’t changed just because of this.” I said with a wave at the grisly display.
“Whoever did this could still be around though.” Cass said.
“They’ve been here a few days at least.” I said with a nod to the light dusting of snow that sat atop each of their heads in a little pile. “Since before the last snowstorm at least.”
“No tracks.” Pat added, apparently unfazed by the heads he leant against the wall beside them and watched the surrounding houses instead.
“Which would indicate that whoever left these here, has not been back to visit for a few days at least.” I agreed.
“Do you think it was the deserters?” Lily asked as she chewed on her lower lip.
“Maybe, though they hadn’t done anything like this at the other places they raided.” I said.
“Well someone’s been through these houses, so we should move a couple of streets in.” Lily said finally.
The street, though short had a number of houses that all faced onto the road and no pavement to speak of. Most of the doors were either wide open or at least partly so which lead us to assume they had been looted and cleared.
My feeling of being watched had lessened but was still there, itching at the back of my mind and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same person who had arranged the heads.
I hadn’t lied to Gregg, it truly wasn’t something I had ever considered doing and seemed more the product of an unhinged mine which I firmly believed wasn’t one of my issues.
Warily we made our way along the street, stopping occasionally to peer through a door into one of the houses. Nothing moved and even the moans of the undead that I had come to associate with collections of buildings and people was absent.
We were several streets in before we reached the first houses that hadn’t been searched by some other group of looters. The evidence of their having reached this far into the village was clear however.
“Whoever did this really is bloody twisted.” Cass snarled.
“Why would they do this?” Lily murmured.
“Bait.” I said as I looked over at the zombie that was hanging several feet above the ground.
She had been a young woman in life and fairly pretty, though I doubt she had counted that a blessing towards the end. Her clothes were missing and she had rope wrapped around her hands that were raised above her head, the rope tied at the other end to the top of the lamp post.
From the look on her face and the bite marks around her lower legs, she had been alive when it had been done to her. Several lifeless bodies lay scattered at her feet.
“What do you mean bait?” Lily asked.
“I would imagine that after they had finished with her, they strung her up and made a great deal of noise.” I said with distaste. “She would doubtless have attracted any zombies that were in the area and whoever set her here then killed them.”
“It must have been those deserters. We’ve seen what they did with women and men that they caught.” Cass snapped.
“Perhaps not.” I said as I looked over the bodies.
“What do you mean?” Lily asked and I turned to her, thinking carefully before replying.
“The places we found before, that the deserters had raided. Do you remember?” I asked and she nodded, no doubt picturing the bed and breakfast we had found and the slaughtered people within. “Every single one of their victims that we found had been shot.”
“So what?” Gregg asked.
“These have been bludgeoned.” I said with a gesture to the dead bodies. “Someone left this woman as bait and when they were biting her came in with clubs and killed them as they were distracted.”
“Then who?” Lily asked.
/> “We were in Windermere for a number of days.” I said quietly and she opened her mouth to speak but then paused, “When we returned, we were met with armed people. I didn’t recognise most of them and I assumed that was because, well because I’m me and just hadn’t paid much attention.”
“During the siege, I saw a lot of new faces, most of them healthy, young men and women. I have to wonder where they found those people and more importantly how they fed them.” I said, and saw that Lily was thinking about what I had said.
“They were running on empty when we left, hell it’s one of the main reasons we went looking for food.” Gregg added.
“During the fight, most of them were armed with clubs that I’m guessing Jason made.” I added and she nodded slowly.
“It makes a sick sort of sense.” She agreed. “I guessed they might have gone out scavenging but to do this...”
“You saw them when we returned. So eager to take the food we had found and ready to take it by force if necessary.” I said as I tried to hide my glee.
If she considered them a threat, then I would get free reign to kill them as I chose. Lily was nodding along thoughtfully to my words and I began to hope that I would be able to get my vengeance without driving her away.
“Matthew wouldn’t do this.” Lily said finally. “It must be someone else.”
“He is running the place but he wouldn’t be going out scavenging.” I pointed out. “He’d send someone he trusted instead.”
“Rachel.” Pat grunted, and I nodded.
“She seems to be his right hand these days.”
“Why would she allow this though?” Lily asked with a sorrowful look to the hanging corpse. “The abuse of this woman and lining up the heads is the result of someone really twisted.”
“She’s been unhinged since the beginning, was worse when Ellie died back at the farmhouse.” Pat said.
“Then why the hell would you sleep with her?” Cass snapped and he shrugged.
“I didn’t realise how bad she was becoming, when I finally did I left her.” he said.
“We can’t do anything about them now.” Lily said before a row could erupt. “I suggest we get the food we came looking for and get back before its dark. We can decide what to do about all this later.”
Since time was short we decided to split up and check through a couple of houses at the same time rather than have everyone crowd into one. I led Lily to a single storey house a few buildings down from the hanged woman after I had taken a moment to end her miserable un-life.
It had whitewashed walls and a snow covered patio before it. The curtains were closed and I had no real sense of threat from the place. It wouldn’t hurt to be cautious though.
The PVC door had a decorative glass panel in the centre and since it seemed that we had no real need to avoid loud noises, Lily smashed it with one swing of her hammer and when no zombies appeared, I climbed through.
Weapon held before me, I stalked down the carpeted hall towards the nearest room. As I approached I thought that I heard a sound and turned to look back over my shoulder with one finger to my lips to indicate silence to Lily, she nodded and I led the way into the room.
A flash of steel and a burning pain in my cheek caused me to recoil as my assailant swiped at me with their knife. I had the briefest moment to sway back from another clumsy jab before kicking out, my boot connecting with their stomach and then a right hook across their face left them on the floor.
“What the hell!” I said as stepped forward with my knife held ready.
Chapter 16
“Ryan, wait!” Lily called and I paused before looking back at her. “She’s hurt.”
“So am I.” I said but stepped to the side as Lily brushed past.
My assailant seemed to be a young woman, barely eighteen and half-starved from the looks of her. She was wearing faded blue jeans and a grey hoody that was far too big for her and she had a wild look around the eyes.
I felt at my cheek as Lily crouched before the girl, hands out in front of her and made calming noises. Blood ran freely over my fingers and I winced as they touched the open wound. I had to resist the urge to kill the woman right then and there.
“You guys ok?” Cass called from the front door. “Our house is clear and the guys are loading up some food.”
“I could use your help.” Lily called.
“Crap, what happened?” Cass asked as she entered the room and I gestured at Lily and the girl.
“Can you please see if you can find anything to patch up his cheek?” Lily asked Cass before adding for my benefit, “I’ll be ok here.”
“Sure.” Cass said. “Come on then.”
I paused to pick up the knife that had been used to cut me and gave the girl a hard look before following Cass from the room. A brief search of the other rooms in the house revealed no further threats and we stopped in the bathroom as I inspected the cut in the mirror.
“You aren’t going to be winning any beauty contests.” Cass grinned as she dabbed at the cut with a damp cloth that seemed clean.
“Wasn’t much chance of that before.” I said and she laughed.
The cut wasn’t too deep but it cut across my left cheek from just below my eye and almost to my ear lobe.
“It could do with stitches.” Cass muttered as she rooted through the bathroom cabinet, eventually coming up with some antiseptic gel that she squirted into and around the cut while I yelped in pain at the burning sensation it brought.
“Hush up you big baby.” she said, and I glared which just made her giggle.
“Just what I need, an open wound.” I muttered and she cocked her head to one side as she worked at attaching a gauze pad from the bathrooms first aid kit.
“Could be worse. What happened?” She asked.
“Girl was hiding in the room, when I walked in she slashed my face and I hit her.” I said.
“So you didn’t do anything to threaten her?”
“Aside from breaking into the house?” I said with a grin of my own.
“Yes, aside from that.”
“No, of course not.”
“Right, well that’s the best I can do at the moment so let’s go check on Lily.” Cass said.
I followed her back to the living room, one hand probing gently at the pad she had managed to stick over the cut with surgical tape and frowned as I entered the living room and found Lily sitting beside my attacker on the three seater sofa.
“This is Alicia.” Lily said, and Cass greeted her warmly while I leant back against the wall beside the door and crossed my arms over my chest.
“What are you doing here all alone?” Cass asked as she crossed to sit at the other side of her on the sofa.
“I’ve been hiding since people first went crazy.” Alicia said haltingly.
“Why did you attack me?” I asked. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”
“Ryan!” Lily said warningly, “She’s been alone here all this time and we broke into her house, she was scared.”
Alicia had wilted beneath my glare and I grinned once at Lily then shrugged at her annoyed frown.
“I’m sorry.” Alicia said near tears.
“It’s fine.” I sighed as I found both Lily and Cass glaring at me.
“I’m not surprised it happened,” Lily said, “She saw what they did to that other poor girl out there and was understandably frightened.”
“She saw who did it?” I asked, my curiosity outweighing my animosity.
“Three men and one woman.” Alicia said. “I watched from the window, too scared to do anything.”
“Of course you were.” Lily said gently as he embraced the girl.
“What did they look like?” I asked.
“Just regular people. I didn’t see much.” The girl said with tears in her voice at the memory.
“It’s ok.” Lily said and Cass echoed her.
“Did you live here alone?” I aske
d.
“No, my parents lived here.”
“Where are they?” I asked while ignoring the glares from the two women.
“They never came home from work. My mum was a nurse and my dad worked for the council.” Alicia said and I nodded, it explained the well stocked first aid kit in the bathroom.
It also explained why her mother hadn’t returned but a warning look from Lily stopped me before I could mention that. I rolled my eyes as dramatically as possible and excused myself as the girl started crying in earnest.
Whatever food had been in the house had long since been eaten by the girl and I suspected that she had been to some of her neighbours’ houses, the ones that were empty of zombies anyway. I gathered up the medical supplies, since I would likely need a little more first aid before my cut healed and I had already guessed that Lily would insist on taking the girl back with us.
By the time I had finished, Pat and Gregg had returned with a rucksack and three carrier bags full of packets and tinned food. I ignored their looks of surprise at the dressing on my face and sent them in to the living room ahead of me.
Alicia had calmed down a little and was talking quietly with Cass as Lily approached me and gently touched the dressing on my cheek.
“Does it hurt a lot?” She asked quietly.
“Yes.” I grunted, still somewhat annoyed at being cut.
“Well I’m glad you didn’t kill her straight away.” Lily said. “You showed great restraint.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown and Lily stared at me for several long seconds before laughing and shaking her head in amusement.
“You had your knife in your hand and when you were attacked you had a split second to react.” Lily said. “The fact that you didn’t just kill her straight away but instead knocked her down tells me that you knew she wasn’t a real threat to you and subconsciously you were sticking to your promise.”
She laughed again at my look of confusion, this time with genuine affection and put her arm through mine before pressing herself against me and kissing me lightly upon the lips.
Killing the Dead (Books 4-6) Page 37
