Killing the Dead (Book 10): Feral

by Murray, Richard

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and my heart beat a little faster in my chest. I idly wondered if it was perhaps the first stirrings of fear that I was feeling. A new and novel experience to be sure, but not one that I very much cared for.

  I clambered awkwardly over the wall since I had no intention of turning my back on the assembled Ferals and I made my way through the small garden to the house. Another roar sounded and several of those undead gathered before me raised their own broken voices in response.

  Definitely, animalistic behaviour from the undead and that was a whole new type of disturbing. I reached for the door handle with my free hand and briefly considered going back for my axe. Ultimately I decided that it would be a bitch to find beneath the murky water and was very likely right next to the Feral that I’d knocked into the water. I didn’t think it prudent to start feeling around with my bare hands in the same place that it was.

  The door opened easily and I hoped it was because the owners had left in a hurry and not because they were still inside. It didn’t help that the water level in the house was up to my knees, just high enough to hide a zombie lying on the floor.

  A fourth roar came, closer that time and I hesitated. I very much wanted to see what could cause such behaviour in the others of its kind, but at the same time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be a threat to me. Perhaps it could exert enough control to have them head into the water after me. Which was a disturbing thought.

  I moved carefully through the house, letting the front door close behind me and flicking on my pen light. A risk that was needed as there was no light in the house and I had no intention of blindly wandering into the waiting arms of the undead.

  The hallway led to a kitchen with a living room off to one side. Empty of life though something brushed against my leg as it swam past. From the stink, I guessed rat and realised my evening was going from bad to worse.

  Fortunately, the house had a back door that led into a garden with high fences and a lawn that was raised above the level of the house by about four feet and as many steps. Which meant it wasn’t submerged and I could pull myself from the water.

  I was just reaching up to pull myself over the fence when the next roar came. Right from the other side of the house if I was any judge. Again, it sounded different. Hungry, eager and perhaps even a little excited as though it had caught the scent of a particularly juicy bit of prey. Which I guessed was me.

  There was a crash as something hit the front door of the house and I was up and over the fence in an instant. I dropped into another garden that backed onto the one I’d just left and made a run for the back door.

  It didn’t open at my touch and with little time to spare, I lifted a stone urn from beside the door and threw it straight through the glass panel. Shattered glass covered the floor and the sound echoed from the buildings around me but the time for subtlety was long past.

  Fortunately, the house was empty and I made it to the front door with no major problems. A key hung on a hook beside the door and I lifted it down before pushing it into the lock and turning. It clicked and I pulled it open before stepping through, taking the key with me.

  Another roar sounded followed by splintering wood as the fence was broken to allow the undead through. I turned the key in the lock and set off along the street at full speed. It wouldn’t take whatever the hell kind of Feral was chasing me, too much time to get through the door and I wanted to be long gone by then.

  It was time to gather up the others and head back to the sanctuary, then north and away from the Feral infested towns of the area. I turned off of the street as the distant sound of something heavy hitting the door came to me.

  Chapter 15 – Lily

  “Find out what’s going on!” I said to Cass with as much urgency as I could put into a few whispered words.

  I glanced back out the window and swore softly as those shadowed forms began to move towards the pub. I let the curtain fall back into place as Cass dashed off and looked at each of my companions.

  Pat could carry Charlie upstairs while George helped me with Gregg. Once up there we could barricade the door for a while at least until we figured out what to do. No matter what, we couldn’t stay down in the bar.

  “Grab Charlie,” I said to Pat who nodded and immediately went towards her.

  “What! Wait,” she said. “What about my chair?”

  “Leave it for now,” I told her. “If they manage to get in here then we’re screwed anyway. Only way we leave is if we clear them out first and then you can get your chair back.”

  Not waiting for a response I crossed the room to where Gregg lay. Georgia looked up, her eyes meeting mine, a thin smile on her lips. She didn’t look scared at all which disturbed me.

  “Help me with him,” I said and she nodded.

  Together we got him onto his feet, one arm over each of our shoulders as we half carried, half dragged him across the room to the stairs. Pat stood aside to let us pass, his mace in hand and steely determination in his eyes. He wouldn’t go up until the rest of us were safe and I loved him for that.

  We were halfway up the stairs when I realised that Cass was standing at the top, speaking rapidly through the door to someone on the other side.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded as I reached her.

  “They won’t open the door!”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the fucking coward Gabriel has seen what’s out there.”

  I indicated she take hold of her brother and then I stepped up to the door. It was opened a bare inch. Just enough to speak through but little else.

  “What’re you doing Gabe, open the door!”

  “Look lass, I’m sorry but we can’t,” he said. “There’s loads of them out there and we don’t have time to move everything to let you in. If they get in and don’t find anyone, they’ll come up here looking.”

  The implication that if they killed us they might not notice the others hiding upstairs. I was staggered by the callous way he was putting his own life before the rest of us. Perhaps he was more like his brother than he thought. I decided to try another tack.

  “You can’t do this to us,” I snapped. “Becky! You’re our friend.”

  “Sorry sweetie,” she answered, her voice muffled. “If they think it’s just you lot then we have a chance and we wouldn’t get far with Gregg injured and the crippled girl.”

  “Fucking bitch!” I said with a snarl. “Open this door right now!”

  “Sorry lass,” Gabriel replied as he closed the door, his final words hanging in the air between us. “You should have just done what I said.”

  I stared dumbfounded at the door as the seconds ticked by. Unable to think of anything to say, of anything to do that would make a difference. That would make them open the damn door to us.

  “What now?” Cass asked in a small voice filled with fear.

  “Back downstairs,” I said. We had no choice and I wasn’t going to die trapped on the bloody stairs while those bastards listened and did nothing.

  Pat was waiting when we reached the bottom. Even in the darkness of the bar, I could tell he was confused at what was happening. He didn’t ask though, just stood ready for someone to tell him what was needed.

  “I’ll check the windows,” I said and crossed the room silently without waiting for a response.

  When I reached the window I pulled back the curtain just the tiniest bit and recoiled. A grey-faced ghoul was pressed up against the glass, pawing at it with its claws as though trying to decide whether it was worth breaking through.

  I backed away, fear filling me, heart beating thunderously in my chest as I lifted the club from where it had been tied to my belt and gripped the handle so tightly it hurt. We were done. There was no way we could survive if they decided to come inside.

  “Are there any other way’s out?” I asked as I reached the others. I couldn’t see her in the darkness but Jinx was t
here. A comforting presence that was almost as reassuring as Ryan.

  “There’s a back door but it’s locked and no idea where the key is,” Georgia said. Her voice was entirely too calm considering we were facing our likely deaths.

  “We’re fucked then dude,” Charlie said as she reached for a bottle from the bar. “Might as well spend our last minutes getting as drunk as possible.”

  The front door rattled as though something had tried to push on it. A moment later it fairly shook as one of the undead threw themselves at it. I reached down to touch Jinx gently on her head, hoping she’d not break character and start barking.

  “They know we’re in here now anyway, can we break down the door?” I asked.

  “Nah, it’s a security door,” Charlie said before swigging from the bottle. “Built to make sure no thieving bugger can break in easily. Or out, in our case.”

  “What do we do then?” Cass asked. “Fight?”

  “If it was Shamblers, sure,” I said. “Ferals though…”

  She nodded, a single bob of her head in the darkness and I saw the shadow of her arm move as she reached instinctively to touch her belly and the child growing inside of her.

  “I have some herbs,” Georgia said. Still far too calm for my liking.

  “You wanna get us high?” Charlie asked with an eagerness that I couldn’t really argue with.

  I would have certainly appreciated a little something to free me from the endless feeling of dread. Not to mention to take away the images that kept running through my mind. I’d seen what happened when the undead caught someone. It wasn’t pretty.

  “Not high no,” she replied and I could sense, more than see, her smile. “Something that will make us sleep. We won’t feel anything when they get inside.”

  Another crash that shook the door filled the room as she said that as if to punctuate her words and add an urgency to our need to make a decision. A tap came to one of the windows as though one of them was testing for a weak spot.

  “How fast is it?” Cass asked. I hated the hopelessness in her voice.

  “Maybe fast enough,” was all she said.

  “Well fuck it then. Pour me a beer and pass me your herbs,” Charlie said and I blinked owlishly at her shadowed form in the darkness.

  “Beer!” I said. “Where are all the kegs?”

  “What?”

  “There must be a beer cellar, right? Feeding the pumps.”

  “Holy shit!” Charlie said. “Check behind the bar. You’re right.”

  “Quick,” Pat said as the sound of shattering glass filled the room. “I’ll hold them off.”

  He ran forward, his mace raised and seconds later I heard a wet thud as he crushed the skull of a zombie. I wasted no time trying to find the hatch that opened to let staff through and practically threw myself over the bar.

  A light flared above me as someone lit the candle and I sent silent thanks their way as more heavy thuds came from by the broken window.

  My hands moved over the rubber matting that covered the floor as I tried to find something to indicate a way down. Then I found it. A metal ring recessed into the floor. I hooked a finger around it and pulled. It popped up allowing me to grab it fully and pull open the trapdoor that led down to the cellar.

  “Come on!” I practically yelled it as hope surged inside of me.

  Cass and Georgia were first past me with Gregg slung between them. I looked at Charlie who pushed herself over to the entrance and slid from her chair.

  “Not the first time I’ve done this sort of thing,” she muttered as she dragged herself past me while I held the hatch open.

  “Pat!” I called.

  He didn’t look my way as he swung another mighty blow that crushed a zombie skull. Several lay dead before him already, some half through the broken window. More pushing their way through, their clawed hands tearing at the material of the seating as they sought purchase. Another window shattered and more pushed through, falling to the floor and rising to their feet before he reached them.

  “Go!” He yelled back as he smashed his mace into the side of a Ferals head. It snarled and growled at him as he hit it again and then it went still. Jinx darted in amongst them, a silent shadow with sharp teeth that tore at undead flesh.

  “Come on!”

  Another crash sounded as a third window broke. The zombies realising that there were other ways they could get into us. Pat never hesitated as he cracked the skull of another and roared his anger as a swipe of a claw caught him high on his chest.

  There were too many. Five were already on their feet and moving towards Pat, another four pulling themselves through the broken windows and more behind them pushing to get inside. There was no way he could fight them all and as soon as he turned his back to them, they would be on him.

  I raised my club. Not willing to let him fight alone. He glanced back for just a moment and his eyes met mine. He needed just that moment to see my intention and he snarled out a response.

  “Go!”

  A Feral caught his arm in its teeth and he screamed as both part of his coat and the skin beneath was torn free. He lifted his mace and brought it crashing down on the skull of the one that bit him. I wanted to do as he said. I wanted to help him. I wanted so very badly to be able to protect him in the way he’d protected us. But all I could do was witness his end, to be there as long as possible so that he didn’t die alone.

  It couldn’t be real. Those words kept repeating in my head, over and over. It couldn’t be real. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. He was supposed to make it to the far north where we’d find the navy and he could raise his child with Cass.

  “Jinx,” I called softly, voice heavy with my sorrow, and she stopped her manic fight and darted across to my side. Obedient and loyal friend that she was, she wouldn’t go down the steps to the cellar without me.

  Pat’s next swing went wide as the Feral he was aiming at leapt to the side, only to dart back in to swipe a claw across his face. His pain was heard in the scream that he seemed unable to contain and that seemed to excite them as more pulled themselves through the window, eager to reach him and the rest of us.

  He turned his back to them as his arm fell and I saw only blood and ruin where his eyes had been. My friend didn’t see the Feral that sank its teeth into his shoulder. That dug its clawed hands into his neck. He didn’t see the tears in my eyes as I watched my friend die.

  The trapdoor closed over my head and I descended the steps silently. All I could hear was the sounds of the monsters tearing at his flesh. My one hope was that they’d not leave enough of him to return as one of them.

  A light flickered on as I reached the bottom and I didn’t need to look at Cass to see her imploring gaze, to see her straining to look behind me, eyes searching for her beloved partner, the father of her child.

  I fell to my knees as the tears came and my body shook as I hugged my arms to my chest and wept silently for my friend.

  Chapter 16 – Ryan

  It wasn’t something that I particularly liked. Hiding. Cowering away in some long-abandoned house as I peeked out from between the curtains. All while the big bad monsters searched the area. I really didn’t like the idea that there was something out there that had spooked even me.

  Still, on the other hand. There was a hell of a lot of them out there.

  They walked with a slow pace, bowed almost double at the waist and heads raised up so that they could get a good whiff of the night air. More than one would trot ahead on all fours like some animal before rising back up to two feet. It was clear that they were becoming ever more different to the Shamblers they had once been.

  I’d managed to lose whatever the hell it was that had cowed the others and set out after me. Dashing along one street and then another. Through houses and gardens, back alleys and even the occasional store. I’d quickly become lost and all I knew was that a roar had been heard from several streets distant and in a s
hort time, those streets had been flooded with Ferals.

  While it had seemed prudent to duck into a house and lock the door behind me. It left a sour taste in my mouth and the feeling that I was pretty spectacularly screwed. As soon as one of them found me, I’d be trapped like a rat in a barrel and easy prey when they swarmed the place.

  I held back a sigh and let the curtains fall closed. The house I’d found wasn’t particularly large but it had the benefit of four solid stone walls and windows that were double glazed and intact. All the better to prevent any sound, or indeed, any odour escaping.

  As much as I doubted how useful their olfactory senses were, considering their own particular stench, I couldn’t shake the feeling that their leader at least, had my scent. Perhaps a little disconcerting, I could admit that to myself, but nothing to truly worry about. Just yet.

  Their leader though, for that is what I believed it to be, was an entirely different story.

  The only fleeting glimpses I’d managed to get had revealed a Feral of around six feet in height and as thin and wasted looking as the rest of its kind. When it opened its mouth, however, the others listened and obeyed. That was interesting, different and a whole new type of exciting. It was a challenge.

  I wanted to kill it. I wanted that so very badly that I had almost skidded to a stop and faced it then and there. It was only the presence of so many of the others that had stopped me. I had no intention of letting them swarm me. Not until I could kill that leader at least.

  But that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, much to my dismay. Instead, I had to settle down to wait out the night in a house that smelled of mildew and dust. I couldn’t even flick on my pen light to have a quick look through the cupboards for anything to eat. All I could do was wait.

  So that’s what I did. As the hours slowly passed. I sat with my back to the wall and listened to the little sound that managed to make it through the double glazing. It wasn’t entirely exciting, but with so many outside I could hardly drift off to sleep.