Killing the Dead (Book 10): Feral

by Murray, Richard

  “Might be worth syphoning petrol too,” Pat said. “Go through the cars and see what they have.”

  “Yes, do that,” my brother agreed. “Jess and Nat, you go to that pharmacy and see what you can find.”

  “Sure,” the girl with the ponytail said. I thought perhaps she was Jess.

  “Pat, Cass and Lily, I’d like you to check out the Farm Direct.”

  Her eyes met mine and her head moved just slightly, the tiniest shake. She knew as well as I that he had put her in another group as a petty attempt to annoy me. It’d worked and he blanched from what he saw when he looked at me.

  “That leaves you three,” he said though his eyes wouldn’t meet mine. “Gregg, Georgia and Ryan. You can try that restaurant opposite the farm shop.”

  “Whatever you say,” Georgia said with a bright smile that soured Lily’s expression.

  “Check out your places and the surrounding buildings. Fill your bags and bring them back here where we’ll inventory them. If anyone sees anything alarming, anything their group can’t deal with safely, then head back or shout for help and the rest of us will come running. Clear?”

  He looked around and when no one offered any dissent, he nodded abruptly and pulled his short club from his belt. He led the way into the pub with Becky and Charlie followed. The other groups set off without complaint and Lily stepped over to me.

  “Don’t worry about me,” she said and smiled at my grimace. “Don’t pull that face, I know you’ll worry.”

  “Call if you need me,” I said and reached out one hand to lightly touch her coat, just around where she’d been stabbed. “Don’t exert yourself too much and take the dog.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said with a grimace as she looked over to where Jinx lay beneath one of the cars, cheerfully crunching on a femur. “Does she have to do that?”

  “The owner doesn’t need it,” I replied with a grin that faded at her frown. She looked pointedly at the others and I followed her gaze, but couldn’t see what point she was trying to make.

  “See how they look at her,” she said through clenched teeth. “It’s making people uncomfortable.”

  “So?”

  “Discomfort turns to disgust, to fear and then to anger. They will see her as a threat if they keep watching her eat human bones.”

  I glanced back around at the rest of the group as they readied themselves for off and understood her point. Sort of.

  “And it will be one more point in their minds about me,” I said and she nodded but didn’t reply as Cass joined us.

  “We don’t have to stay in the groups he put us in,” Cass said. She at least didn’t seem put out by the dog. “You two can stay together if it makes you feel better.”

  “No,” Lily said. “Let’s try and avoid more arguments. Besides, it’ll be good for him to not have me close by. If he’s worrying over me then he won’t be watching for danger.”

  “Yeah but look at him, he’s already moody,” Cass replied while my scowl deepened.

  “I can hear you both you know,” I snapped and they both giggled before Lily leant in to plant her lips firmly against my own. I responded as best I could but soon pulled back with a glare at my friends who seemed to find my discomfort amusing.

  “Be safe,” she whispered with one last touch of my hand and I nodded.

  “You too,” I said and try though I might, it still sounded like a command. She smiled though and glanced back over her shoulder as she walked away with the others. Jinx, with one look at me, followed after her.

  “Well that was sickeningly sweet,” Georgia said and nudged Gregg in the ribs with one elbow. “Don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, suppose so,” he said and lapsed into silence once more. She grimaced and pulled free her weapon of choice. A Hori Hori, or Japanese gardening trowel. At least that’s what she said it was. With the seven-inch long carbon steel blade, serrated along one edge and razor sharp on the other, it looked more like a weapon of war than a garden implement.

  “Let’s go then,” she said.

  I let them lead the way as I watched Gregg carefully. It was clear even to me that he was bothered by something and whatever it was seemed to have dulled his senses. He barely kept watch on where he was going, let alone for any approaching danger. It was a problem that would put me at risk and that was something I wouldn’t stand for.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him as Georgia peered through the restaurant window. He glanced at me and shook his head before going back to staring at his feet. “You need to ready your weapon.”

  “Yeah,” he said but made no move to do so. I hefted my axe thoughtfully as I watched him and tried to think of what could possibly be up with him. I was still wondering when Georgia hissed sharply and I glanced her way to see she had the door open.

  With a sharp gesture of her head towards the interior, I dashed forward and then past her into the dim building.

  It was clear immediately that several people had died and been trapped in there and a handful of emaciated zombies turned towards me as I entered. They were one and all, old withered, skeletal things. Their clothes largely intact though fouled.

  I didn’t wait for them to raise their mournful cry and sank my axe blade into the skull of the closest before it even had a chance to raise its arms towards me. I yanked back on the handle, pulling the blade free and spinning to slam it into the side of the head of the next. It went down without a sound and I released my grip on the handle rather than be pulled off my feet.

  My knife was free of its sheath in seconds and I slammed my foot against the knee of one zombie. It shattered loudly and the undead creature lost its tenuous balance and collapsed to the floor, arms grasping for me as I moved past to thrust the knife blade up beneath the chin of another.

  Dark blood flowed over my hand as I yanked the blade free. The final zombie that was standing lurched towards me and I sidestepped to let it stumble past me before I kicked away the other that was pulling itself across the floor.

  I ducked beneath a wild swing of the standing zombie and lashed out with my knife, cracking through the thin bone of its temple and killing it for the final time. As it fell, I turned back to the zombie on the floor and kicked aside its hands before stabbing down with the knife.

  The whole thing had taken a handful of seconds and I was left panting amidst the carnage as Gregg and Georgia came through the door.

  “Well thanks for saving some for us,” she said in a tone that made me glance her way. There was something about her voice that made me think she was masking actual irritation in false humour.

  “No problem,” I replied and reached down to grasp the axe handle as I placed one foot against the corpse and pulled. It came free with a sucking sound that even I couldn’t quite get used to and I busied myself cleaning the blades of my weapons while the others looked around.

  “There’s stairs over here,” Georgia said as she poked her head through a door and looked through.

  “Kitchen here,” Gregg said from the opposite side of the room.

  “You two fill the bags if there’s anything worth taking,” I said as I pulled free my rucksack and tossed it to Gregg. “I’ll check upstairs.”

  “Here,” Georgia said as she pulled her own backpack free and tossed it across the scattered tables and chairs that littered the floor. “You’re not having all the fun. Misery guts over there can fill all the bags and I’ll look upstairs.” She paused and smiled at me in a way that I thought was supposed to be charming. “You can come too if you want.”

  I shrugged at Gregg’s questioning look and followed the woman up the stairs. She’d eschewed her usual flared skirts and hippy style tops in favour of jeans and a warm coat along with thick boots. Her blonde hair had been pulled back into a short braid and she moved with confidence. No fear evident which was confusing as most people showed some when confronting the unknown where danger may lurk.

  “First one’s mine,” she
said with a wink as she pushed through the door at the top of the stairs and I could just stare after her as she walked through without giving me chance to reply. Infuriating woman.

  She was wiping clean her blade when I entered and wore such a wide smile of satisfaction that I paused, the seeds of an idea beginning to form.

  “Just the one,” she said cheerfully. “Some old fat guy. Looks like he was bitten once and made it up here before he collapsed and turned.”

  “Okay, look for anything we can use,” I said as I watched her carefully. I’d suspected for some time that my parent’s vaunted sanctuary had a killer hidden within and Caleb’s sudden death had confirmed that. The others might doubt me, but if I’d survived then it was likely others like me had too. Georgia had just climbed to the top of my list of likely suspects.

  Which led to a rising excitement in me that I didn’t want to try and contain. A killer meant someone I could kill without breaking my promise to Lily. A killer meant that I could take my time and do the kill in the way that I preferred. A violence filled battle to survive was exhilarating but the slow, well-practiced murder of a victim was something completely, wholly, different.

  “You ok?” she asked as she pulled open drawers in a side unit and I nodded.

  “I certainly am.”

  Chapter 7 – Lilly

  It was a concern for me that Ryan was off with Georgia. I couldn’t quite say why, but it was. I think that Gabriel realised that or perhaps Becky did and had told him. Which was why he’d purposefully put her in a group with Ryan and without me.

  I shouldn’t worry though. I mean, he’d had plenty of time to be with other people and had never shown the slightest bit of interest. There’d been other women who had shown an interest in him and Gregg had held a noticeable crush for a long time, yet he’d not once looked at anyone else like he looked at me.

  So why was I so worried?

  Georgia was a nice enough person I supposed. She’d been an immense help to me when I’d been sick. Heck, when I’d been close to death. It was her herbal skills that had allowed me to hold on until he’d returned.

  She was pleasant, intelligent and if maybe a little off at times, then who could say that was a problem. I mean, who wasn’t a little bit off at so long trying to survive when the freaking undead walked the world?

  So why was I so worried?

  “You ok?” Cass asked, her face full of concern for me. I offered a weak smile that she saw through immediately.

  “It’s fine,” I told her as she pursed her lips and looked over to her partner.

  “Think you can give us a minute?” she asked.

  He looked from her to me and back again before he smiled softly and said, “sure. Take all the time you need, I’ll clear the shop.”

  “You sure?”

  “Aye,” he said and leant in to give her a quick peck on the cheek before striding off towards the store, taking two steps to every one of ours. Jinx trotted after, ears pointed straight up and a wolfish version of a grin on her maw.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” Cass said in a tone that brooked no argument.

  “It’s silly,” I said. “And really not something that can’t wait till a better time.”

  “Oh don’t worry about that. Pat can handle any undead and if he thinks there’s an issue he’ll let us know.”

  “We’ve become pretty blasé about all this haven’t we,” I said with a heavy sigh.

  She chuckled softly and said, “certainly have. Who’d have thought that looting and fighting walking corpses would become commonplace?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Now, don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to change the subject…”

  “It’s Georgia,” I said and as soon as I did, it all came out in a rush. My doubts, my fears and insecurities and all the while I spoke, she listened and kept watch at the same time. A true friend.

  “You don’t have reason to think he’d ever…” she said after I’d finished. From inside the farm shop came the heavy sound of Pat’s mace hitting something soft. A twinge of guilt came. I should be helping him.

  “No… I don’t know.” I looked at her and swiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. “I don’t think he would but there’s something about her…”

  “Can you really say, after knowing him since the very beginning of this whole mess, that he would have any concern about staying with you if he wasn’t interested?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She leant close and her voice dropped to a whisper, even though there was no one near enough to possibly overhear us. “He’s a serial killer! From everything he’s said, from what we’ve seen… any feelings he might have for anyone are hard to find.”

  “They are there,” I said, my voice defensive. “I know that he cares about all of us. Just, in his own way.”

  “I know he does,” she agreed with a smile. “But the only reason he tolerated us enough to reach the point where he realised we were friends was because of you. Without you, he would be wandering the world happily murdering anyone he came across.”

  She sighed. A soft exhalation of breath and cast her gaze around warily, an almost unconscious action now for all of us. That constant checking of our surroundings.

  “Don’t get me wrong here, I actually like him. Not sure I’d ever have imagined myself being friends with a serial killer, but there it is. I am his friend and he’s mine. He’s saved our lives, fought for us and risked himself for us. That tells me there’s some humanity inside of him somewhere and you bring it out of him.”

  “You think?”

  “I do.” She leant back and crossed her arms beneath her breasts as she studied my face. “He fights it, doesn’t understand it, but it’s there. Some form of humanity that he tolerates for you. If he didn’t want to be with you then he’d be gone in an instant, back to being the monster he once was.”

  “Then you think I’m overreacting to this?”

  “Sure do,” her smile as she said it was genuine and I responded. Feeling a little better about things at least. “Now, we should go check on Pat.”

  I nodded agreement and lifted my club. The brief rest, while we waited outside the shop, was appreciated since I still wasn’t at a hundred percent and I was kind of glad that Pat had gone ahead. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do in a fight.

  That won’t be an issue, I thought as I walked through the double doors of the farm shop and put one hand up to block my nose.

  “Holy crap what’s that smell!” I said as Cass burst into a fit of coughing beside me.

  Pat, standing in the centre of the shop with three bodies at his feet, turned and grinned at us. He was totally unaffected by the foul odour. Jinx had left the corpses and, unperturbed by the stench, was busily exploring the shop.

  “That lovely aroma is the mixed odours of zombies and rotting fruit and veg,” he said with a gesture to the mould covered boxes that covered the shelves and display stands.

  “Think I’m gonna be sick,” Cass said as she dashed back through the door. I held back as I did my best not to throw up.

  “Any point us checking through this place?” I asked.

  “Nah,” he said. “Was all fresh food, so anything that might have been useful began to rot ages ago.”

  “Let’s get out…” I began as Cass yelled out a warning.

  We were through the doors in an instant. I reached Cass just as Pat did, his mace held above his head and murder in his eyes. I pitied anyone or anything that dared threaten his pregnant girlfriend.

  “What is it?” I said as I searched the area for danger.

  “There was someone here,” Cass said as she wiped at her mouth with one hand, the contents of her stomach had splashed the pavement at her feet.

  “Someone or something?” I asked as Pat ran to the corner of the building and peered around.

  “I think it was someone,” she said. “Didn’t act like no zombie.”

&n
bsp; “You sure?” I said and waved my hands as she glared at me. “No, I believe you.”

  “I’m not an idiot,” she snapped. “There was someone stood at the corner of the building, watching us.”

  “What did he look like?” Pat asked as he jogged back to us.

  “Only caught a glimpse. He was tall… that’s it. Fast too.”

  “You sure it was human?”

  “A Shambler would moan and attack, a Feral would have been on me before I knew it was there and it certainly wouldn’t have run away. This guy stood and watched me then ducked away as soon as I noticed him.”

  “We should go tell the others,” I said and both Pat and Cass nodded agreement.

  “Looks like Ryan and them found something at least,” Cass said as she pointed across the car and bone strewn road.

  The three of them came out of the restaurant, their bags positively bulging and each of them carried boxes full of tins. I took one last wary look back towards the corner and gestured for the others to follow me as I set off after them.

  As we walked back along the street the hairs on the back of my neck rose. Despite looking back several times and seeing nothing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. It was disquieting in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

  I hurried my steps, eager to be back with the main group and determined to find whoever it was that was watching us.

  Chapter 8 – Ryan

  The argument went on for almost an hour. I couldn’t quite grasp why they were bothering to argue since the solution was pretty straight forward to me. If there was someone in the area, decide if they are a threat and deal with it. Sadly, the others didn’t seem to grasp that.

  So while they argued about splitting up, staying together, searching for this stranger, heading back to the castle and so on, I busied myself with cleaning out the restaurant with the aid of Pat, Gregg and the bald fellow, Leo.

  He seemed pleasant enough. By which I mean that he was fairly stoic and did as instructed when it came to accomplishing a task. I’d no idea what use he would be in a fight, but he claimed – when asked by Pat – that the limp he had, came from breaking his ankle fighting his way out of Edinburgh.