Killing the Dead (Book 10): Feral

by Murray, Richard

  For the most part, the Ferals kept to the roadside. They rarely ventured into the gardens and if they did, they didn’t linger for long. Sometime around midnight, the rain began to once again fall. I listened to the sound of it striking the windows. At first slow, and then growing until it became once more a torrent.

  I risked another look through the curtains but what little light there had been was gone. The rain clouds had covered the sky and hidden from view the undead menace. I briefly considered whether it was worth risking going out but ultimately decided against it.

  Whatever benefits I would gain from the cover of the heavy rain, I would lose in lack of visibility. Knowing my luck, I’d wander headfirst into a whole horde of the damned undead and they’d be on me before I could kill any of them. I exhaled a soft sigh and sank back down to the floor.

  Lily would be worried about me. She’d be safe at least, but she wouldn’t sleep for worrying. The others would likely stay up with her to keep her company as well as to look after Gregg. They would likely reassure her while worrying in their own way about me. It was such a bizarre thing to have friends.

  It’d be good to finally get back on the road. Away from my family and the sanctuary they had made. Back to being just the few of us, travelling north. Gregg would no doubt require some time to heal and he’d slow us down but he’d be ambulatory at least.

  Cass would worry and fuss over him constantly. I wondered if that was an indication of her impending motherhood, that need to fuss and fret. Lily and the mutt would stay close, respecting my need for solitude while being a constant presence. I’d somehow become used to them being there and noticed when they weren’t. Perturbing as that was.

  Becky might insist on bringing my brother but as soon as we reached our destination we would part ways. Pat, would no doubt help with Gregg when he struggled. When his injuries got the best of him. He’d be the shoulder to lean on, the pillar of strength for the others when they needed it. Funny to think I had planned on killing him way back at the beginning when he’d first joined Lily and me. Instead, he’d become a friend. One of those few I could rely on.

  Georgia. Now she was an oddity. She’d made some noise about joining us when we went north and while she seemed personable enough when required, there was something about her that had my fingers twitching towards my knife hilt.

  If she was what I suspected, then that darkness I carried within would be sated with a fresh kill. One done right, as I’d used to do before the world died. She would be especially fun to kill if she was in fact like me.

  The smile that formed on my face was one that I found all too rarely these days. Killing the dead was a chore for the most part and even killing in combat was somewhat unfulfilling. I wanted, no needed to kill someone the right way.

  Of course, I wouldn’t get to do that if I didn’t get back to the others. If, I died beneath the claws of some Feral undead creature that wanted nothing more than to taste my flesh. The problem was, they didn’t sleep and wouldn’t necessarily go away unless they found something more interesting.

  When I had been able to see them out on the street, I had done a –very- rough count. Hampered by the poor illumination of the moon and stars before they had disappeared behind the clouds, I had counted twenty-two. Which, was about twenty too many.

  If they had been Shamblers, then I would have been straight out and amongst them. Ferals though were a different kind of threat. Plus, if just one of them saw me and raised the cry, I would be swarmed in short time.

  No, I needed to get out there and move around as silently as possible while killing as many as I could. Not the easiest thing to do and perhaps a little easier when the light was low. Which meant waiting until towards dawn.

  So that’s what I did. I sat in the dark for the next five hours or so and waited. It was almost intolerably boring. I had little to do but listen to the wind howl and the rain strike the windows. Eventually though, the darkness began to lessen and I pushed myself wearily to my feet.

  The worst of the storm had passed leaving behind it just a light drizzle that meant I’d be cold and damp but not soaked through. A small bonus at least since I had little desire to catch pneumonia.

  A quick glance through the window to make sure the way was clear and then I was off. Out the front door, keeping low as I crept towards the garden wall. There was nothing in sight, though admittedly with all the cars on the road, a small army of the damn things could be hidden.

  I clambered over the garden wall and dropped down to the pavement. It was only then that I realised that I had no idea where I was and even less idea of which way was north. Damn!

  Since the town wasn’t that large, if I picked any direction I would come to the end of it eventually. If I encountered the train tracks, then I’d know I’d found the southern end of the town. The river would be to the west and the main street through town to the north. If I came to the end of the houses and found endless fields before me then I had likely reached the eastern edge.

  So no matter what, I would be able to orient myself eventually. With that in mind, I set off walking.

  It was slow going. Keeping below the roofs of the cars that I used as cover. Checking around the end of each car as I passed to make sure there was nothing lurking there and of course, straining to listen, to hear any sound of the undead.

  My caution paid off as I neared the end of the street and heard it. Tap, tap, pause. Then again. The sound of a Feral as it searched. A couple of steps and then wait as it sniffed the air then move again.

  I crouched between two of the cars, pressed back against the bumper of one while I tilted my head and listened intently. It was approaching along the road between the two lanes of abandoned vehicles. Definitely headed my way and taking its time about it.

  Each step sounded that little bit louder, that little bit closer. The foul stench was almost overpowering even over the noxious odour of death and decay that seemed to be part of the town. I tightened my grip on my combat knife and slowed my breathing, keeping as still as possible.

  A clawed hand appeared as it gripped the side of the car I leant against. A head next as it sniffed, eyes clouded with white, widened as it caught my scent and its mouth opened to cry out just as I surged to my feet, knife driving up below its jaw with all of my strength.

  It collapsed without making a sound and I smiled grimly as I pulled free my blade, wiping it clean on the tattered remnants of the dress the Feral had worn.

  Pleased that the kill had gone so well, I began to hum softly as I set off along the road. One down, many more to go and soon enough I would find that one that had so cowed the others and it would feel my blade.

  Chapter 17 – Lily.

  My tears didn’t stop for quite some time. It was selfish of me to give in to my grief when Cass needed me so very badly but I couldn’t help it. Pat’s death was one too many. Losing people over the past few months had been hard and I’d felt the loss of every one of them keenly.

  Pat was different. He was a close friend. Someone I had survived so much with. We’d fought and lived together, laughed and shared our stories of life as it once had been. I’d been so very happy when he’d gotten together with Cass and despite my worries over the pregnancy, had been hopeful for the future because of it.

  If they could have a child, could raise it in the messed up shit hole of a world that we existed in now, then it meant we had a future. While they’d lived, while they’d been together, hope existed. Hope that things would get back to how they were, that things would improve, that if they could make it work then perhaps I could with Ryan.

  That hope had died along with him and as selfish as it was, that was part of why I wept so long and so hard. Even as the Ferals moved around above us, their clawed hands scratching at the floor as though they knew we were down here but couldn’t quite figure out how to get to us.

  When my tears finally ended and I wiped at my face as best I could, I finally moved over to Ca
ss. She looked at me with eyes wide with pain and fear, with loss beyond anything I’d imagined ever seeing there and I wrapped my arms around her.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I hugged her close. “So very sorry.”

  Her response was more, raw emotion than words and I held her as she rocked back and forth, biting down on one fist that she pressed against her mouth to keep from screaming out her loss. We stayed that way for several minutes before I realised that I could see her at all.

  “Turn that light out!” I snapped.

  “Nah dude,” Charlie said. “Can’t see shit without it and those monsters up there won’t be able to see it through the trapdoor.”

  “It’s fine,” Georgia assured me and as much as I wanted to argue, I settled on a glare for each of them and turned my attention back to Cass.

  I comforted her as best I could for the next hour as I listened to those things above scratching on the trapdoor. I held her close and whispered soothing words to her as she wept, all while I kept a watchful eye on Jinx.

  The Alsatian stood on the bottom step, eyes fixed on the trapdoor above and barely moving as she stood silent watch for us. Georgia sat beside Gregg and stayed close so that she could be available should he need her. Not that he did. Whatever she’d shot him full of had him blissfully unaware of what was going on. I dreaded him waking up and having to learn about what happened to his friend.

  Charlie had managed to pull herself up onto an aluminium keg and balanced there with a small torch in one hand. She turned her head this way and that as she followed the beam of light around the room, searching for an exit that just wasn’t there.

  Finally, I disengaged myself from Cass. She curled up beside one of the stacks of barrels and shook silently. As much as I wanted to let her have the time to grieve, as much as I wanted to sit and weep for however long it would take, we needed to do something.

  I crossed to where Charlie and Georgia were seated, pausing a moment as I passed Jinx to give her a soft stroke. Too little thanks for help and watchfulness but all I could do just then.

  “Pass me the light,” I said as I held one hand to Charlie. She passed it over with a grunt and settled back on her perch.

  When I shone the light around I felt more than a little dismay. There were plenty of aluminium kegs stacked up around the dusty cellar. Ample spider webs between the joists that held up the floor above us and a stale odour of damp. Understandable really being so close to the river as it was.

  The only way out that I could see was up the same stairs that we had entered by. Obviously, that wouldn’t happen since I couldn’t ignore the sounds of their feet as the Ferals prowled around above us. I returned the torch to Charlie and settled down beside her.

  “How secure do you think the trapdoor is?” I asked, keeping my voice low. I wasn’t too sure about how well those things could hear but I didn’t want to risk them getting riled up by hearing their prey.

  “You need to pull up a ring from where it’s recessed into the floor,” she said with a shrug. “If they manage to figure out to do that and that they have to lift… we’re fucked. Otherwise, we’ll probably just get to sit down here till we starve to death.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “You don’t think the others will come and rescue us then?” she asked with a sour grin.

  “Bastards. I thought Becky was our friend.”

  “Yeah well, when it’s you or them everyone will always pick you.”

  “So what’s the plan?” Georgia asked as she joined us. I offered a weak smile and a shrug of my shoulders and she nodded solemnly. “That bad?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “I might still take you up on those herbs then,” Charlie said into the silence that followed. “Can’t be arsed dying slowly down here.”

  “About that,” I said before she could reply. “Why do you have herbs that will kill people?”

  The too pretty blonde girl just raised one eyebrow and smiled in reply. My frown deepened as I scowled at her and she rolled her eyes dramatically as she said, “it’s a dangerous world right now. A girl needs some protection.”

  “Herbs?” Charlie said with a snort. “Some protection.”

  “You’d be surprised,” she replied with a wink.

  Once again that suspicion about her resurfaced and there was something else, something that a small part of my mind was trying to bring to my attention. Then I grasped it and my eyes widened.

  “Why aren’t you scared?” I asked her. She turned fully to face me and her smile widened. “The rest of us, all this time, were scared witless. You’ve not been, not once.”

  “Maybe I hide it well,” she said as her smile grew.

  “Or maybe you don’t feel it at all,” I said. “Maybe, you don’t feel it because you don’t feel any emotions.”

  Charlie looked at from me to Georgia, clearly confused but the blonde girl just laughed. Low so as not to be heard by the creatures above, but with genuine humour.

  “I guess you’d know what to look for wouldn’t you?” was all she said in reply.

  “Caleb?” I asked and she lowered her eyes and looked away coyly. She was playing with me, amused by my questions which confirmed my suspicion finally.

  She was like Ryan. A sociopath, psychopath or whatever the hell they were called. She lacked the basic emotions as the rest of us but from the looks of her, she was much better at hiding it than he was. She also seemed to recognise Ryan for what he was and I had to wonder if he’d seen the same in her.

  If he had, why hadn’t he told me? Unless he had a reason not to. A reason to keep her close. He wouldn’t do that, I thought but it wasn’t reassuring at all. I had no real reason to think he’d cheat on me but being who he was, what he was… how easy would it be for him to do so and not care about my feelings?

  Georgia watched me as all those thoughts went crashing through my head, that same damn smile on her face and more, an amusement borne of knowing that I was torturing myself with such things while we were in the most desperate of situations and should be turning my energies to finding a way out.

  “We’re going to talk about this later,” I promised and she just shrugged.

  “Whatever.”

  Bitch!

  We had another killer in our group. Another serial killer judging by the number of unexplained deaths that had happened at the castle before we’d arrived. I wondered what they’d done to deserve death but realised they’d probably done nothing. She’d done it because she could. Because she enjoyed it.

  I should kill her now, I thought and her eyes met mine. I saw there that she knew what I was thinking and a genuine eagerness for me to try. I shook my head and looked away, back to where Cass lay curled on the floor.

  “Where were they all?” I asked the room.

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  “The Ferals. Where were they all day while we were wandering around up there?” I turned back to the other two women. “We found a few, yeah. But all of these that came out to feed on the rats. Where were they?”

  “Dunno. Hiding, sleeping, killing some other poor bugger elsewhere.”

  “They don’t sleep,” Georgia said. “Perhaps they find somewhere dark and quiet to wait though.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, they need energy, right? That’s what makes them different from the Shamblers. They eat the living and the undead. They must do so because they need food to turn into energy.”

  “Which is why they’re quicker, smarter than the others,” I agreed.

  “Their energy will be finite. If they stop eating and just use it all then they’ll go back to being the same old dumb Shamblers that we know and love,” Georgia said. “Which is why they’re eating rats and hiding away during the day. They’re conserving their energy.”

  It made sense in a way. I couldn’t help but wonder if they had started to come out at night because that’s when the rats were
active or if that was just another part of their odd behaviour. It was bad enough having to dodge them during the day but at night it would be worse.

  “Things are certainly more interesting now,” Georgia mused and I scowled at her in reply which just brought another laugh. Ryan finds this world interesting too! Another twinge of suspicion that I didn’t need just then.

  “So what do we do?” Charlie asked. “Take the herbs or hope that the others have a change of heart and help us.”

  “They might go back to where they came from when it gets light and besides, Ryan will be back soon enough,” I said and avoided looking at Georgia. “He’ll help us.”

  “You think?” the blonde girl asked. “Maybe he’ll see the odds of anyone getting us out will be almost zero and just go on his own way.”

  She left unsaid that that was exactly what she’d do but I heard it anyway. “He’s not like that.” Not like you. “He’ll come for us.”

  Her mocking smile was all the reply I had and I settled in for the long wait till morning. One thing I was sure of was that Ryan was different. He was strong, capable and he cared about me. Above all, he was the most dangerous killer I’d known and I doubted anything would stop him.

  Chapter 18 – Ryan

  The roar, when it came in the early light of morning, was different. At least it seemed so to me. Still primal, still full of rage, but insistent too. As though it were a summons. I couldn’t shake that feeling and ten minutes later, as I crouched beside a wall and saw two Ferals run past on all fours towards the sound, I was sure that’s what it was.

  A summons then, but to what? To feed? To rest? The only way I would know would be to follow along and find out. Of course, that would be incredibly stupid and perilous.

  I kept telling myself that as I turned into the street I’d just seen the Ferals run into. I repeated it as I ducked behind a hedge when the slap of feet on pavement came from nearby. Which turned into a Feral running past my hiding place.

  For the next three streets, those words kept repeating in my head. It didn’t stop me though. I couldn’t seem to shake the curiosity that had me gripped tight. The Ferals had a leader! I wanted to know everything I could about it before I killed it.