Pat, for some reason that escaped me, felt the need to continue asking him questions and as soon as it turned to his life before the fall of the world and other useless nonsense, I tuned them out and focused on the task of emptying the restaurant's larder.
It was simple work but tedious. Enter the building, first making sure nothing had managed to find its way inside while I was away, then fill our bags with as much as we could and haul it back to the truck. Made sense to just load it all up straight away and the others could sort it and inventory after they’d finished their arguing.
By the time we were done, the rain had begun to fall heavily once again and I was forced to go back into the pub to avoid becoming drenched. It wasn’t an easy decision but ultimately I decided that dying from pneumonia was only slightly more insufferable than listening to my brother argue his point.
Thankfully, the arguing seemed to be over. The group, gathered in the main room of the bar, had seemed to reach some kind of accord. Try as I might, I couldn’t gauge how it went by examining the expressions of the people and so crossed over to where Lily leant against the bar with her arms folded over beneath her breasts.
Her brow was furrowed and eyes narrowed as she watched my brother and Becky. I could recognise that expression at least and know that she was annoyed.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked and her eyes flicked towards me.
“We’re apparently going to continue searching the area for supplies,” she said in what could almost be considered a growl.
“I take it that you wished to leave then.”
“Of course I did,” she snapped and then sucked in a deep breath of air as she pressed two fingers to her temple. Her eyes fixed to mine and she visibly struggled to raise a smile as she said, “sorry. I’m just pissed at him.”
“Why? Because he wants to stay?”
“Because he didn’t even consider what Cass said. Because that arrogant prick thinks she was seeing things or that whatever she did see wasn’t anything to worry about.”
“Was she?”
“You really didn’t ask that did you?”
“What exactly would you have me say?” I asked and arched one brow at her questioningly.
“Men!” she said as she threw her arms up and stormed away.
“Think you upset her,” Georgia said as she joined me beside the bar and I looked at her and shook my head slowly.
“So it would seem. No idea why though.”
“No, you really don’t do you?” she asked as she studied my face and a low laugh escaped her. She patted my arm gently and walked away shaking her head, leaving me beside the bar with more questions than when I’d first entered the building.
With a shake of my head at the utter ridiculousness of people in general, I leant back on the bar and watched the other members of the group.
They stood in small groups of two or three, talking quietly and casting anxious glances at each other. More than one of them would glance at the door and then quickly away as though afraid of what might be lurking outside. I guessed that some of them at least believed Cass had seen someone.
If she had seen someone then we had the usual problem. Lily and the others would want to help them. Which was usually not a major issue but I highly doubted anyone had survived on their own for such a length of time without being capable of looking after themselves. It was entirely more likely that they were part of a group or more than a little crazed.
Either way, they would be no use to us and just another drain on the Sanctuary’s resources and a distraction for us when we didn’t need one. I was ready to leave, to continue north and finish the task we’d set out to accomplish.
“We’re headed out again,” Gregg said in that dull tone of his that he had adapted of late. I glanced his way and he quickly turned away and headed towards Georgia who waited by the door.
Something was up with him and I would be happier when he finally worked it out and got back to being himself. This morose individual he’d become was irritating and while I enjoyed the change from his usual cheery chatter, I was fast beginning to doubt his ability to watch my back if needed.
I nodded to Pat as I crossed the room and he raised his brows and tilted his head to the side, towards Cass and Lily who had their heads together in conversation. She looked up as I passed and managed a quick smile that told me that she wasn’t too annoyed with me.
Once outside, I pulled my collar up against the rain and glanced curiously at Georgia and Gregg. “Where are we going?”
“Our fearless leader wants everyone…”
“Except himself,” Gregg interrupted.
“Yeah, everyone except himself, to go further out and find more supplies,” Georgia continued with a wide smile, seemingly unaffected by the heavy rainfall that had already soaked her hair.
“Fine,” I said and hefted the axe in my hand. “Which way?”
“Jess and Nat are going down,” she peered up at the street sign that was attached to the wall of the nearest building on the street corner. “Station road. Guess that goes all the way down to the train station but they’re just gonna check out some of the shops down that way.”
“Leo, Zak and Martin headed north. Houses and a cinema up that way apparently,” she said with a wave of one hand in that direction. “The rest of us will head east along the main road and then split up when we get near the bank.”
“Sounds fun,” I said and looked back over my shoulder as the door opened behind me and Lily led the others out.
She smiled apologetically and let her fingers rest gently against my arm as she passed. I may be emotionally dense, but I knew from experience that generally indicated that things were ok between us.
Moving as a group, we set off along the main street. The sound of the heavy rain hitting the pavement and abandoned cars along the road was all we could hear. Rainwater formed large puddles and ran down the edges of the road and into the drains, many of which were overflowing.
It made sense, I supposed. With no maintenance and a lot of debris to wash away, the drains and sewers wouldn’t last. That would be another problem for the future. When waste had nowhere to go, then we’d get disease and we had no idea what nasty bugs we could pick up from the undead.
That was a problem for another day. For that moment, I concentrated on watching the shadowed spaces between the cars and buildings. If someone was out there, I wanted to see them before they could launch an attack.
The buildings we passed were two storey affairs. Most with flat tops, though a few had the peaked slate roofs that were familiar to the area. There were the usual hotels and cafes, pubs and gift shops. Plenty of clothes stores and a couple of pawnbrokers. Those hadn’t survived the fall and judging by the shattered glass and empty displays, it had been humans and not zombies that had been the cause.
Not sure what they’d do with all the gold jewellery. In some far off future, it may be useful for trading but for the next few years, food and essentials would be a great deal more valuable than trinkets.
“Factory outlet,” Pat said with a nod towards a wide, red brick building that seemed to squat between a betting shop and coffee place.
“Worth a look on the way back,” Lily said. “For now, though, food is the priority.”
“Could use more clothes and better footwear,” Cass said softly. “Won’t be long before I’ll be needing some maternity clothes.”
“Then that’s what we’ll…” Lily stopped midsentence and held up one hand.
“What is it?” Cass whispered with a careful scan of the area.
“Shh,” she said and pulled back her hood, tilting her head as though to hear better heedless of the falling rain. “Can you hear that?”
“What?”
“Moaning,” I said as I too, caught the faint sound, barely audible over the heavy drumming of the rain on the car roofs.
The dog too had picked up on something judging by the way her hackles w
ere raised as she stood, one paw raised as though she’d stopped mid-stride, head tilted to one side as a low growl started at the back of her throat.
“It’s this way,” she said as she pushed between the abandoned vehicles and headed towards the other side of the road. The rest of us needed no urging to follow.
We left the main road and set off along a narrow side street. Past a barbers and craft shop, then a half-dozen houses in one long whitewashed terrace. At the end of the terrace, Lily held up one hand again and we all stopped behind her as she peered around the corner, staring for just a moment before jerking her head back.
“Fuck!” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. I glanced at her, curious as to what would raise such a reaction and she gestured me forward.
With narrowed eyes I leant out and caught a glimpse of what she had seen before I pulled my head back and leant back against the wall, a smile forming on my lips.
“Ferals,” Lily said in answer to the questioning looks of the others.
Chapter 9 – Ryan
Their skin bore the grey pallor that was common with the undead but where the Shamblers would often bear the most terrible open wounds, those of the Feral actually healed enough that they closed over.
The flesh on the ends of their fingers withered around the bone forming claw-like appendages that were stained black with frequent use. Most of their hair fell away and they retained some kind of intelligence. An animalistic cunning that made them dangerous in a manner that the Shamblers hadn’t been for some time.
With the usual, lumbering undead, the danger was in numbers and surprise. If there were enough of them or they caught you off guard, then you had a problem. One on one though, the average zombie was little problem to us. We’d fought them successfully for months.
Ferals, though, were another matter. They were a newer form of zombie, almost as though they had evolved from their stupider brethren. Their taste for flesh was undiminished, though they would feast on their own kind when no living were around.
They were agile, fast and vicious. From what I had observed, their sense of smell was increased which was bizarre considering the stink they gave off should mask anything else. Their eyesight was still not up to the same standards of the living but somewhat improved on the shamblers, and they hunted in packs.
We’d faced them several times now. The most recent being when they attacked the castle and it had been a difficult fight. I suspected that as the other types of zombie died off, the Ferals would keep on going until either we wiped them out or they did the same to us. Considering how the number of humans was lowering almost daily, I rather thought that they would be the last ones standing. After all, from everything I’d seen, they were growing in number.
“What did you see?” Georgia asked. Her breathing was shallow and after a quick glance her way I couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear.
“A few cars in the road, plenty of bones,” I said.
“At the end of the road, a building with a clock tower attached,” Lily added. “There’s four or five Ferals prowling around at the base of it but I couldn’t see what they were after.”
“Two people, barely moving right up at the top.”
“Shit! Really?” Lily asked me and I nodded.
“They could be alive,” Cass said with a look to Pat that had him hefting his mace thoughtfully.
“We can take five can’t we mate?” Pat asked and I paused before answering.
“Ideally, yes, we could take them,” I said with a sideways look to Gregg who was staring at his feet. “But we’d need to take them down without them raising a cry that will bring others. That could be difficult.”
“We’ve gotta try,” Cass said and both Pat and Lily nodded agreement. Gregg didn’t respond and Georgia gave a sharp jerk of her head that I took for assent.
“Okay then,” I said as I tightened my grip on the axe handle. “Ready your weapons, keep low as we approach, preferably behind the cars as much as you can and follow me when I attack.”
I didn’t wait for their acknowledgement before I slipped around the corner, ducking low and scurrying across the pavement to the road before I pressed myself against the side of a parked car. The others followed one at a time. Pat came first and as he reached me, I pushed away from the car and moved along to the next one.
We spent ten agonisingly slow minutes, making our way along the street. The heavy rainfall masked our movements and any sound we made which was a bonus. The Ferals' hadn’t noticed us by the time we were barely the length of the car we were crouched behind away from them.
Lily’s eyes met mine and I smiled at the steely resolve I saw there. She was scared, dark thoughts and darker memories would be crowding her, but she was ready. The admiration I felt for her was well earned. I nodded once and rounded the end of the car.
The Ferals were standing almost still, heads tilted for them to stare up at the clock tower. The first died with my axe blade buried in its skull before it even had a chance to register my presence.
I hit the parked car behind me with a thump as another feral turned and barrelled into me. The axe, pulled from my hand before I could pull it free of the corpse's skull. My fingers pulled at the hilt of my combat knife as I ducked low, barely in time to avoid the clawed hand that shattered the car window where my head had just been.
My booted foot connected solidly with its leg and it hopped back, bent almost double with arms out before it, fingers spread wide. It darted in, left arm slashing down towards me and I rolled beneath it, blade flashing up to meet zombie flesh. I missed.
Jinx leapt at it, seizing flesh in her powerful jaws but unable to get a firm hold, she was easily thrown off. As I struggled to my feet, she leapt once more only for it to slam one arm against her body, throwing her into the side of the car where she went still.
A scream sounded close by and I slashed once again with my blade as I lunged forward. The Feral leapt back and then darted in claws flashing out. I barely avoided being disembowelled.
The next time it swung at me, I sidestepped and lashed out with my blade, catching it high on the shoulder. Black blood flowed sluggishly from the wound and crooked teeth were bared in a rictus snarl as it leapt at me.
My head hit the road surface with a dull thud that sent a jolt of pain through my skull and all I could see was the snarling face of my attacker. The blade in my hand struck once, twice and then again. Each time failing to break through the skull and then pain blossomed in my wrist as my blood splashed around me.
The scent of blood filled the air and the Feral went even wilder as it slashed at me again and again with its hands. With the realisation that I might actually die, I reached up with my free hand and grasped its neck, pulling it down towards me.
Caught off guard, it fell forward onto my waiting knife, the blade slipping in through its eye, to the brain beyond. It shuddered once and then went still.
With my breath coming in gasps, I pushed the stinking corpse away from me and reached up to grasp the car door before pulling myself up. I readied my knife and joined my friends after a quick check to ensure the canine was still breathing.
Cass had her arms around her brother, his head cradled in her lap and her back against a car. He had his hands pressed to his face and the noises he made were ones of pain. Pat was swinging his mace, trying desperately to keep two of the Ferals away from his partner and her brother while Georgia and Lily were working together to try and kill the third.
I stepped up to the bonnet of the car that stood between me and the others and taking two step across it, leapt onto the back of the nearest Feral. My blade sank to the hilt into its skull, helped by the force of my body weight crashing down with it.
Pat, freed of trying to keep two at bay, went onto the offensive and rained blows down on the other Feral. I climbed to my feet and yanked my blade free. A sickening crunch sounded as Pat’s mace broke the creature's arm and it howled in rage, only to be cu
t off as the next swing of his weapon smashed into the side of its head.
By the time I’d taken two steps towards the final zombie, Lily managed to deflect one swing of an arm as Georgia ducked beneath the other and sank her blade into its temple.
Silence fell with the last zombie and I let my arm drop, my eyes following the trail of blood that ran from my torn wrist to splash and mingle with the rain water.
“You’re hurt!” Lily said and I waved her away.
“It tore up the skin of my arm. Fingers, not teeth so I’m probably okay.”
“What about Gregg?” she asked and I shrugged.
“We need help,” Cass said, a touch of pleading in her voice.
Georgia rushed over, her backpack already off her shoulders as she reached for the bulging pocket on its side for the first aid kit she had there.
“Was he bitten?”
“No,” Cass said numbly as she shook her head. “It clawed his face though. It’s bad.”
“Let me look,” Georgia said as she knelt down and gently pulled away Greggs hands from his face. She winced as she saw the ruined flesh. Four long gouges crossed the left half of his face, from the forehead down to his jaw line. Blood ran freely and from what I could see, I suspected at best he’d lose the use of his left eye.
“Fuck!” Pat said, his voice a rumble of anger and pain for his friend.
As they dealt with Gregg I went back to where Jinx lay to find her pushing herself to her feet and standing, on legs that wobbled more than a little. She seemed fine, if somewhat dazed, and a quick check of her revealed no wound.
Satisfied that she was ok, I settled back against the car and wiped the blood from my blade as best I could. The front of my coat was practically shredded from the zombie’s assault and I checked carefully for any wounds as Lily approached.
“Just your wrist?” she asked as she pulled out a length of bandage from a pocket. I nodded and she bit her lip as she lifted my arm and turned it so that she could see the wound. “We need to clean this.”
Killing the Dead (Book 10): Feral Page 6
