‘I don’t think it is,’ Lilly replies. ‘Who are you talking to?’ she calls out, not seeing anyone else in sight.
‘Okay. Same as before,’ Cassie says in the kitchen of the little cottage while listening to Gregori in the shower upstairs. ‘Repeat what I say…’
‘This is going to be a very weird conversation,’ Cassie says, the boy says, the woman says on the shore road outside the container wall. ‘Lilly. My name is Cassie. We need to talk…’
‘Talk then,’ Lilly says. She frowns gently, thinking she has heard the name Cassie somewhere recently, but she can’t recall where from.
‘Oh hang on, just to avoid any confusion, the woman you’re talking to isn’t called Cassie. I’m called Cassie. I’ve no idea who you are talking to…’ the old woman says.
‘She is called Deborah,’ the old woman then says, clearly having a conversation with herself while projecting the manner of conversing with other people that cannot be seen.
‘The woman is called Deborah apparently,’ the old woman continues. ‘Anyway, the point is I’m about three hundred miles away in a cottage talking to you through a little boy. Which I know sounds crazy but there you go…are they still there?’
‘Yes,’ old woman says, replying to her own question.
‘What the fuck…’ Mary mumbles.
‘I can’t see you, I can’t hear you either, which is annoying and something I hope is fixed very soon as it would make things so much easier if I could have access like the boy does,’ the old woman says with a clipped, distinctly unhappy tone. ‘But anyway, that’s a conversation for later…’ Cassie says, pausing when the shower cuts off upstairs in the little cottage. Oh, did you know Blinky is dead?’
Lilly doesn’t reply.
‘We didn’t kill her. I don’t know who did. The others are alive though. Howie and his merry bunch. They’ve got some new people with them since they left your fort. Danny and Natasha, and a new guy just joined them too, but I think they know him already. I also know you are called Lilly and your brother is Billy. I know you run the fort and I know you’ve had lots of troubles there. I also know a lot of the people you have inside. Sam and Paula, I think she’s called Pea. Lenski of course. Joan…’
Lilly tenses, her eyes hardening.
‘I also know Howie left you. I’m sure, that like every other sycophantic idiot you think the sun shines out of his arse, but he did leave you…didn’t he…’ Cassie pauses, trying to picture the young woman standing outside a big wall made of shipping containers. ‘But it sounds like you have coped rather well. Tell me, what do you think of the new world, Lilly? The air is clearer isn’t it? No cars, no aircraft, no noise and no traffic. I was terrified when I realised what had happened…now though? Now I’m not. Now I’m glad. This is better than what it was…’ Lilly watches the old woman speaking, seeing something not quite human in her eyes. Something wild and feral, something cunning and learning.
She knows Marcy was infected and kept her own mind too. What she doesn’t know is why this old woman is here now, but she remembers what Reginald said. That the infection is evolving.
‘What do you want?’ Lilly asks.
Cassie thinks fast while Gregori moves about upstairs. He’ll be down in a minute for dinner. She has to hurry.
‘It’s never going to go back to what it was,’ the old woman says on the shore road. ‘It can’t, and nor should it. I spoke with that awful little twat Reginald too and said our country was the sixth biggest economy in the world, yet we had homeless and poverty. He said I was trite. Mind you, I had just thrown people they knew at them, which was a bit dark, but I wanted their attention. But then something tells me I don’t need cheap tricks to get your attention. Do I have your attention, Lilly?’
‘You have about ten seconds before I shoot you,’ Lilly says.
‘I’ve offered Howie a deal,’ Cassie says, the old woman says. ‘I’ve told him if he stays inside the fort I will let you all live. I won’t touch this area. You can grow crops and do what you want. Howie should be with you either tonight, or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow because I chased them all into a big room full of cocaine so they’re a bit wiped out. The point is…no I’m just going to make dinner now. Give me five minutes…sorry, there’s someone else here. Are you still there, Lilly? I can’t see you…’
Lilly blinks, trying to make sense of it. ‘I’m still here…’
‘Howie won’t take the deal. He’s got that self-righteous stick up his arse. He’ll come back to the fort and then come straight back out to fight…but he can’t win. Not against this. It’s too big. Lilly, listen to me, you haven’t come against me. You’re defending your own and I respect that. I want you to live in freedom. I don’t want to hurt you. You can stay behind your wall and we’ll co-exist without ever impacting on each other…’
‘If you think I will kill Howie…’
‘I can do that without you. What I want is for you to tell him to stop. Withdraw your support. Make him see reason. The world is better now. This thing isn’t evil, Lilly. I can feel it. I just know it’s not. It seems that way because of how it acts, but it’s young and learning…it has to take more hosts, but they don’t feel pain and they don’t hurt each other. It cures every disease and illness they have. They don’t need to eat or drink as much…shit, I wish we had more time to talk but I’m playing catch-up a bit here. This isn’t the devil, Lilly. This is the future…tell Howie to stop and keep me informed of his plans and in return, I will give you this whole area. Let your brother grow old…’
Lilly listens, still silent, still watchful.
‘I’m coming,’ Cassie says, smiling at Gregori mooching through the kitchen cupboards.
‘Where is mushky peas?
‘We’re not having mushy peas again,’ Cassie says, the old woman says as Cassie leans in closer to whisper into the boy’s ear. ‘Howie left you. They all left you. You went through hell in that place, and now you are thriving. Don’t waste that? This is a new world, Lilly. The old rules are gone, and we’ve got something good going. It’s so fresh. So new. I love it! And I am never going to let Howie take that from me. I’ll send every host I have against him and then I’ll come for you. I don’t want that…’
‘I hungry now.’
‘Yes! Gregory, I know…’
‘Is Gregori. Not Gregory…’
‘Jesus, right listen, I have to go. Lilly, all I want is to know what Howie is planning. That’s it. Then you can all live in your fort…blimey, she doesn’t say much does she. Is she still there?’
‘I heard you,’ Lilly says.
‘I’ll be in touch,’ Cassie says, the old woman says and drops dead, her heart stopped by the infection. Both Lilly and Mary staring down at the corpse in the road.
‘So, let me see if I’m getting this right,’ Mary says, needing to break the silence. ‘Did the zombies just try and make an alliance with us?’
‘I think they did,’ Lilly says.
‘Right. Gotcha. And there’s me worrying about being a little bit gay…’
‘A little bit gay?’ Lilly asks, looking up into her green eyes.
Mary shrugs. ‘Either that or it’s just a crush.’
‘Oh,’ Lilly says. ‘Yes, I guess that makes sense.’
Laughter brings her back to the now. To the canteen packed with people. Damsa and some of her family now inside. Not Tajj though. He’s not interacting with people so much.
‘And I’m like, Blondie, there’s no bloody way we’re getting in a boat over that sea now, and she said, Mary, we’re going over to the fort we are, and off she runs, into the big waves and that little boat throwing us about. And I’m puking up, but Blondie is still driving it on…it’s only a wee storm she says. I said, Lilly, this isn’t a wee storm now…’
Laughter rolling through from Mary’s story that gets a bit wilder with each re-telling. The air warm. The smells of food and coffee hanging in the big room.
‘…and we get into the middle bit of the gates there and we�
��ve no idea where we are, then she jumps up Donald, give me your gun now. I’ve a fort to save I have!’
‘I didn’t say it like that,’ Lilly says, rolling her eyes.
‘Then we run in and Lenski’s right there…Lilly! she says, they’re littering in my fort…littering I tell you!’
‘I no say this,’ Lenski laughs.
‘Whatever,’ Mary says, not going into the rest of the story and choosing to leave it on a light note. She looks to Lilly. Green eyes meeting blue. Smiles shared. Secrets shared too.
Lilly looks to Kyle, sensing the time for a conversation is rapidly approaching. But not right now. Howie will get back tomorrow, and that gives her tonight to think.
Lilly is a most incredible young woman. She is ruthless, capable and highly intelligent. You’d do well not to underestimate her.
She may also be, as it turns out, a little bit gay. Or it could just be a crush. Either way is fine though. Norman said so.
‘You okay, Lilly?’ Norman asks her quietly.
‘Fine,’ she replies. ‘But we’ll need to talk later. I think I need your advice on something.’
‘Sure. Anytime. I’m right here whenever you need me…’
Afterword
Dear reader
Thank you so much for reading this next episode in The Undead. I truly hope you have enjoyed it.
I still get an enormous thrill from writing this series, and being able to self-publish these stories, so to have such strong and loyal support is incredibly humbling.
You may have seen the drawing of Lilly by the container wall in chapter 16. That was produced by an exceptionally talented artist called Solene Pasquier. I am hoping she can do a lot more illustrations for The Undead world.
As ever, please do leave a review and let me know what you think. The Undead has gained the attention of some movie studios over the last few months, so giving your support by way of a review can only ever help!
Take care,
RR Haywood
Also by RR Haywood
EXTRACTED SERIES
EXTRACTED
EXECUTED
EXTINCT
International best-selling time-travel
#1 Amazon US
#1 Amazon UK
#1 Audible US & UK
Top 3 Amazon Australia
Washington Post Best-seller
In 2061, a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.
A desperate plan is formed. Recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.
Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.
'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission—to plant charges on a heavily defended submarine base—but he also escaped with his life.
Ben Ryder is just an insurance investigator. But as a young man he witnessed a gang assaulting a woman and her child. He went to their rescue, and killed all five.
Can these three heroes, extracted from their timelines at the point of death, save the world?
The Undead (Book 23): The Fort Page 34
