The story sounded plausible, but I couldn’t be sure. Sarcasm, lies, truth, passion, they all sound pretty much the same to me. But I couldn’t think of any reason for him to lie about this. I needed to stay on the group’s good side, at least for now. Accusing Mike of trying to deceive me wouldn’t get them out of the camp any quicker.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Thanks for saving us, man,” Alex said.
“You’d have done the same.”
Neither of them responded. They didn’t need to. We all knew they wouldn’t have. Not in the way I had, anyway.
Mike looked down at the dead man and the pool of blood soaking into the dirt around him. “We should bury him in the forest.”
“What about Luce?” Alex said.
“She blames herself for what happened, but she’ll be okay. She’s more than capable of looking after herself.” He gestured toward the bloody remains. “But I don’t want her to see this again.”
We found a small clearing where the ground was reasonably soft. There were only two shovels, so one person rested while the other two dug. Even working together, it took well over an hour to get the body buried deep enough to be safe from inquisitive animals.
Alex threw the last shovelful of dirt onto the grave and patted it down. Mike looked up into the sky at the sun. “We should go and find Lucy.”
We started back toward the lodge. Mike placed his hand on my shoulder, pinning me in place. When Alex was a few feet ahead, he said, “We’ll continue our discussion later.”
I forced a smile. “Sure. Whenever you want.”
Chapter 28
At the Edge of the River
Lucy was sitting on the rocks by the river, close to where I’d been standing when I saw the bear. Her legs were pulled up, and her arms wrapped around them. She was staring into the water.
I hung back with Alex while Mike went to talk to her.
Alex pointed his thumb over his shoulder, back toward the camp. “What you did there? That was a good thing.”
The comment took me by surprise. “Really?”
“Hell yeah. I know he was Lucy’s friend, but he’d lost it, man. Completely paranoid. And I mean completely. Some of the stuff he thought we were doing… crazy. You did what needed to be done.”
“I don’t think Lucy and Mike agree.”
Alex scratched at the tangle of beard under his chin. “Mike knows, believe me. Lucy will come around. There was nothing we could do. It was him or us.”
Mike reached Lucy and slipped his arm around her shoulder. She stiffened and tried to pull away from him. He spoke something, too quiet for us to hear, and she melted. She leaned into him, pressing her face against his shoulder.
“Mike doesn’t trust me.”
Alex gave a little laugh. “Don’t take it personally. He doesn’t trust anyone. It’s the cop in him.”
An eagle swept past, gliding low over the river. Lucy raised her head to look at it. Mike said something to her again. She drew herself upright then looked over at me. I tried to hold her gaze, but the pain in her eyes hit me unexpectedly hard. It was as real as a slap to the face. I swallowed and turned away, following the bird as it climbed up over the forest. When I looked back, Lucy was talking to Mike. I couldn’t hear the words, but her body was tense, angry.
“Awww, crap,” Alex said. He pointed off toward the forest. It took me a few seconds to find what had caught his attention.
It was the young man I’d seen when I’d first arrived at the river. Or it had been. He was now one of the living dead. One shoulder of his jacket had been ripped away. The exposed flesh was torn to shreds. Most of his right side was stained with blood. His right arm hung uselessly by his side. The rest of him seemed intact. Even his face was almost normal. Only the grayish tinge to his flesh and the thick black rings around his eyes betrayed the reality of the situation.
He lurched unsteadily across the rocks toward Mike and Lucy. His progress was slow but relentless.
“Mike!” Alex said.
Mike and Lucy looked around. Alex jabbed his finger toward the oncoming zombie. Mike stood, helping Lucy to her feet. He directed her toward Alex and me then reached around and calmly removed his knife from his belt. He dropped into a slight crouch and waited as the zombie came at him.
Lucy backed away a few feet then stopped. Her hands were clenched into fists.
The zombie was almost on top of Mike when he struck.
He raised the knife, and I shouted, “No!”
I was too late. The blade sank into the side of the zombie’s skull. He made a halfhearted lunge for Mike. Then his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground. The shadow tightened inside me, and I felt an unexpected pang of loss, of an opportunity missed.
Mike joined Lucy, and together they walked over to us.
“I’m sorry,” I said as Lucy reached me, contorting my face into what I hoped was a look of contrition.
She ignored me and brushed past. Alex waited for a moment then followed behind at a discreet distance.
“What did you mean? No?”
It was Mike. The knife was back in his belt, along with Charles’s gun, but his brow was furrowed.
“I… I knew him. Sort of. I thought he might be okay.”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “You couldn’t see the gaping wound in his shoulder.”
“No… Yes, but not at first. And anyway, people get hurt in other ways, too.” I gestured toward the cut on Mike’s forehead.
He conceded the point, and his suspicion lessened, although it didn’t disappear completely. “We should probably get back to the camp in case the shooting has attracted any more of these things.”
I turned to go, but Mike placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “I’d stay away from Lucy for a while. She knows it was the right thing to do, but she’s not ready to admit it.”
I nodded.
Mike didn’t speak as we made our way back to the camp, and I was grateful for the silence. I wasn’t ready to continue our earlier conversation—I might never have been.
Alex was waiting outside the lodge when we got back. He was looking at the shattered window, appraising the damage. Mike joined him on the walkway and picked at the shards of broken glass. “Where’s Lucy?”
“She’s upstairs. I got the sense she wasn’t really interested in talking to me. Or anyone else for that matter.”
Mike gave a little nod. He pointed toward the window. “See if you can find some wood and board that up. I’ll make some food.”
Alex gave a mock salute. “Sure thing, Captain.” He walked around the side of the lodge, toward the woodpile.
Mike frowned. “Marcus…”
I was about to ask him why he looked annoyed when he pointed toward my feet. I looked down. I was standing in the middle of the dark patch of earth where Charles had breathed his last. I flinched and took a few steps to the side. Mike shook his head and went into the lodge as I scuffed my shoes across the ground.
Wary of Mike wanting to continue our discussion, I stayed outside and wandered around the camp under the pretense of checking the perimeter. It was still intact. Apparently, Charles hadn’t been too insane to avoid walking into it.
Perimeter secure, I sat in one of the chairs outside the lodge. There was still a dark smear on the door where the hand had been nailed, and a few dried spatters on the walkway. Alex was working on the broken window. He’d dragged some serviceable planks to the front of the lodge and nailed a couple of the smaller ones across the opening. The two remaining pieces were far too big. Now he was digging around inside the old metal toolbox from beside the generator.
With a look of almost childlike delight, he pulled out a small wood saw. It was short, and the blade was rusty, but it was serviceable enough. Alex propped one of the planks up against the side of the lodge and began to saw.
I could see what was going to happen almost immediately. The plank bowed as Alex pressed the saw against it. The blade skipped across the wood, barely missing his
fingers. He repeated the process, being more careful, and the blade dug into the wood. A couple of minutes later, the plank was cut unevenly in half. Alex hammered the pieces into place.
A gap, roughly six inches high, ran along the bottom of the window. Alex set about cutting the final plank to size. Either he’d forgotten his near miss with the first piece, or the wood was particularly hard, but the saw slid sideways again. It skipped across the plank and sliced into Alex’s hand. He yelled, dropping the saw and letting the wood fall to the ground.
He clutched his hand, his face twisted into a grimace. “Goddammit!”
He lifted his fingers and peered at the wound. His face turned pale. He grabbed his hand again, his frown deepening. Blood oozed from between his fingers.
Mike stepped out of the lodge just as I got to Alex.
“You okay?” Mike said.
“Goddamned saw slipped.”
“Let me take a look,” I said.
Alex held out his arm and turned away. “Is it bad?”
I lifted his hand so that I could see the damage. There was a cut across the soft part of his palm. It was bleeding profusely, but he hadn’t severed anything important. His biggest concern would be tetanus.
“You’ll live, but you might need stitches.” I turned to Mike. “There’s a medical kit in the kitchen.”
Mike nodded and went back inside.
I placed Alex’s fingers on either side of the wound. “Press the edges together.”
He gave it a tentative squeeze.
“Harder. As hard as you can.”
He whimpered but did as I’d asked.
Mike reappeared, holding the medical kit and the bottle of antiseptic. It was half-empty, but there was enough to clean the wound.
I searched through the kit, hoping to find some sort of tetanus vaccine, but if there had been one, it had already been used. I found plenty of bandages, including some small butterfly ones. There was a needle and suture thread as well, but with luck, and if Alex was careful, the bandages would be sufficient. I wouldn’t need to sew the wound up.
I uncapped the bottle of antiseptic, and the vapor stung my eyes. I turned Alex’s hand over. “This is going to hurt.”
He closed his eyes then opened them then closed them again. When I splashed the antiseptic on the cut, he let out a scream that was going to get the attention of anything within a two-mile radius. I considered reminding him of our situation but kept my mouth shut. He was the closest thing I had to an ally in this group, and I needed to keep it that way.
Alex had calmed himself down by the time I got the butterfly bandages in place. I wrapped a cloth bandage around his hand. I was actually quite proud of the job I’d done. It was neat and tidy. If he was careful for the next couple of days and didn’t pull the wound open, he wouldn’t have to go through the pain of actual stitches.
I told him as much, and he nodded gratefully. His brow was covered with a thin sheen of sweat, and he looked paler than ever, but otherwise, he seemed okay. The threat of tetanus obviously hadn’t occurred to him. I didn’t mention it. There wasn’t anything I could do anyway.
I led him inside and guided him toward a seat, playing the good doctor. Once he was settled, I told him I’d get him a drink, and he smiled.
Lucy had come back downstairs, and she was sitting next to Mike. They were leaning over the coffee table, looking at a large sheet of paper. I didn’t realize what it was until Alex said, “What are you looking at, Mike?”
“It’s a map,” Mike said, and he looked up at me, the suspicion back in his eyes.
Chapter 29
The Map
After a moment’s hesitation, I frowned. “A map?”
“Yes. It was in a backpack in the kitchen. I found it when I was looking for the medical kit.”
Frustration radiated through me. I’d left the backpack where anyone could find it. There must have been a dozen opportunities for me to hide it, but I’d let the intruders in my sanctuary distract me and forgotten.
I ignored the waves of suspicion radiating off Mike and Lucy. “Is it useful?”
“Oh yeah, very.” Mike tapped his finger on the map. I knew what he’d found without looking. “There’s a ranger station north of here. If the map is accurate, the terrain’s pretty rough. It will take us three or four days to get there. That helicopter we keep seeing must be holed up somewhere, and the station is the most obvious choice.”
My stomach did a flip. I didn’t want them getting the military’s attention. “We don’t know who has the helicopter. There are dangerous people out there.”
Mike fixed his gaze on me, and I felt a flood of discomfort. “I think it’s worth the risk. This place is pretty safe, but a military or even a civilian compound is going to be even better. There may be other survivors there. And food.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, man,” Alex said. “Four days is a long time. We’re safe here; you said so yourself. What if we get there and the station’s abandoned?”
“I think it’s a risk worth taking,” Mike said, and Lucy voiced her agreement.
Mike tapped another part of the map. For a moment I was afraid he’d spotted the workshop, but when I looked he was pointing at Sally’s Home Comforts.
“We’ll need supplies for the journey. I assume this is the store you found?”
I made a show of checking out the map, my brow furrowed. “Maybe… yes, probably. I don’t recognize the name.”
“How much food did you say was there?”
A sudden realization dawned on me—a solution to my problem. “Lots. There’s more than enough to get you to the ranger station.”
“You wouldn’t come with us?”
I shook my head. “I’d rather stay here.”
Lucy stared at me across the map. “That’s fine with me.”
“I don’t know,” Alex said. “Maybe I should wait with Marcus. You guys can bring the military to get us when you find them.”
A knot of dread formed in my stomach, fueled by Alex’s words. I was so close to getting rid of them.
I tried to think of something to say to discourage Alex, but Lucy intervened on my behalf. “I don’t think Marcus likes company,” she said, her words laden with ice.
“But—”
Mike cut Alex off. He was looking at me. “You should come with us, Alex. It’ll be safer.”
I wondered if he meant safer than staying with me.
Alex started to protest.
“Mike’s right,” I said. “There’s safety in numbers.”
“Then come with us,” Alex said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Lucy clenching her teeth.
I sighed, turning my reply into a confession. “I can’t go out there again. It was… difficult for me. I’d rather take my chances here.”
I could see the gears turning behind Alex’s eyes as he fought to find a more persuasive angle to take. In the end, he just nodded and leaned back in his chair.
“When are you going?” I said, flinching inside when I realized how eager I sounded.
“We’ll make the supply run tomorrow,” Mike said. He ran his finger across the map. “We can take the quad bikes along this road, load them up with supplies, and bring them back here. Marcus, you can show us the way, in case the map’s not accurate.”
I almost told him that no, the map was definitely right, but I caught myself in time.
“We’ll come back to the lodge with you then go on to the ranger station. We’ll take as much of the food as we can carry; the rest can stay here. Think of it as payment for helping us.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. If it worked out and they left, I’d have supplies to last me through the winter. I struggled to find a reason for me to stay at the lodge while they went on the supply run but couldn’t. I nodded.
Alex was still unsure. “What about fuel?”
“The bikes should have enough to get us there and back, but there’s a gas station. We can refuel if we need to
.”
I shook my head. “It was destroyed by a fire.”
“Maybe there’s some stored nearby,” Lucy said.
I started to say that there couldn’t be, but her eyes told me I’d be better off keeping my mouth closed.
“We’ll have to risk it,” Mike said. “Worst case: we leave the bikes behind and carry what we can on foot.”
“What about biters?” Alex said.
“The quad bikes will be quicker than they are. As long as we keep moving, we should be fine.”
If we don’t meet a swarm, I thought. I didn’t mention that particular pitfall. This plan was the best way to get the camp to myself. I wasn’t going to shoot holes in it.
“Okay,” Mike said. “Any other questions?”
Everyone shook their heads.
At last, I could see a way out of this mess, and I had to stop myself from smiling.
Mike scooped up the map and carefully folded it. “Okay. We should get some rest. We’ll leave tomorrow at dawn.”
Chapter 30
Home Comforts
I don’t know about the others, but I didn’t get much sleep. I was tense, nervous about Mike changing his mind about the trip or that Alex might decide to stay at the camp instead of heading to the ranger station when they left. I knew it wasn’t really going to happen, but I was desperate for them to leave. No, I needed them to leave so that I could get my sanctuary back.
When I wasn’t cooking up new disaster scenarios, my mind was filled with images of Charles’s corpse. The jagged rip in his throat, the bloody knife in my hand.
It was the first time I had been solely responsible for a kill. The shadow had been there, of course—it always was—but my actions were my own. I’d crossed a line and opened a pathway. It was just a crack, a tiny sliver, but the shadow had grown stronger since the kill. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to control it again. I could feel it constantly now—a low-grade, ever-present hunger that threatened to swell into a wave of blackness that would break through that crack and come crashing over me. And when it did, there would be nothing I could do.
Serial Killer Z: Volume One Page 21
