“That’s good. How many is that now?”
“It will return us to two hundred and forty-three.”
Not terrible. There had been around 300 minions when I was abducted but apparently, the defence of the island had cut that number in half. Since then though, we’d had a fairly consistent stream of people asking to join.
Many of them were turned away outright and some left shortly after when they realised just what their ‘training’ would entail. If any of those were spreading wild tales about it though, that hadn’t seemed to stop them coming.
“Are we keeping them all?”
“Yes, My Lord Death. They are all as lost and alone as the rest of us.”
There was something in his voice as he said that and I suspected it was emotion of some kind though I was unsure what. When I glanced his way, he didn’t turn to look at me, his gaze fixed on the children at play.
Perhaps that was it. He’d had a family of his own, back before the fall, and the loss of them had been the catalyst that had primed him to be the first and most devoted of my followers. I was pretty sure that if Lily had been there she would have offered some kind of comfort.
But that was Lily. She was full of life, love and compassion. I was the opposite and all I could ever truly offer him was the death of as many of the zombies as I could. It wasn’t much but was perhaps the only revenge he would ever get.
“Have you seen the list of locations I left in your office?”
“Ah, not yet, my lord.”
“When you get the chance, take a look. I want our people sent out straight away to scavenge what they can.”
“It shall be done.”
“Not you though.” He did look at me then, brows drawing down in confusion.
“My lord?”
“You have other tasks to be about. Send one of the Righteous instead. There’s a couple around here, no?”
“As you command. If I may ask, what task would you have me do?”
“There are some groups here that are being vocal about how Lily is running this place.”
He turned his head to look at me, one eyebrow cocked and I grinned.
“I want you to look into that.”
“What would you have me do?”
“You are recognisable but many of those recruits here have not been seen outside of the sports centre without their hoods. It would be a simple matter for them to infiltrate these loud groups.”
“That could be done, my lord. But the acolytes join to fight the Scourge, not to spy on the Living.”
“It will be temporary. If Lily loses power here then we shall be forced to leave or fight the Living.” I shared another smile with him, my most sincere one that usually worked. “We need to know what they plan so we can make sure they don’t do something foolish.”
“Forgive me, My Lord Death. I do not think…”
“They are a threat to my children and the woman I love.” My voice was harsh as I interrupted him, a little of my anger filling it. “You can find the threat and stop it before it becomes a problem or I can go and slaughter them all.”
Samuel stared at me, lips twisting as though he tasted something sour but eventually he nodded.
“It shall be done.”
I nodded curtly and turned back to watching the children play. I could practically feel his anger rising off of him and I knew that I needed to do something to keep him on my side. I had forced his obedience and needed to show that I could be magnanimous too.
“There’s something else.”
“My lord.”
His tone was definitely off and he was angry with me. That was fine. I had no need for him to be a yes man after all, but I did need to make sure he wouldn’t turn on me. I knew his history and I knew what he had lost.
It wasn’t hard, then, to know exactly what I needed to offer to mollify him, to take his mind off of me.
“I want you to approach the parents,” I said with a nod towards the children that were playing in the field.
“For what reason?”
His tone was defensive and I smiled at that, guessing that he thought I was about to tell him that they could no longer play around our base. That would upset him. I had the sense that he was a man who had always liked kids anyway and with the loss of his own, he was intensely protective of them.
I could understand that. My own inclination was to protect them anyway. I had little interest in harm coming to them.
“To train them,” I said, voice low and calm. He turned once more to look at me, surprise evident on his face. “Not to recruit them. Make that clear. But I want you to offer to train those children to protect themselves. Parents too if you like.”
His eyes were distant as he turned back to the children, watching them play as he considered my words. Finally, he nodded.
“That would please me, My Lord Death.”
I know it would, I thought with another smile that I guessed he wouldn’t realise was mocking.
“Good. Then you have two tasks to attend and when I return from the Isle of Man, I shall expect progress to have been made on both.”
“It shall be done.”
I rose to my feet, looking up at the overcast grey sky and smiled once more. By the time I left for the island, I expected to have a few things already in place. Someone had attacked Lily while I was away the last time and I very much intended to make sure that didn’t happen again.
Once we were safely ensconced on the Isle of Man, I would be leaving again. To find the Genpact base in England. There I would either meet allies or more enemies, but either way, I would deal with them.
In my absence, I needed to ensure that Lily and our children were safe. To do so would require actions that she would not approve of, I was sure, but I would do them anyway.
My fingers twitched towards the hilt of my knife and my smile widened as I imagined the chaos and death to come. As I walked away from Samuel, I began to hum softly to myself.
Chapter 8
Jinx padded on beside me, staying close with her ears pricked and attention focused on the crowd of people we were moving through. Ryan had told her to protect me and it seemed she had understood what he wanted.
Not that I was complaining. Her company was always welcome after all. Though, a hospital was generally not the sort of place you would take a dog.
I pulled my coat a little closer and walked slowly, allowing the crowd to part before my hooded escort. The waiting room was full to overflowing and there was a line stretching out the door. One of the perks of being in charge was that I got to bypass that.
Sure, it made me feel a little guilty, but when I considered the sheer amount of work I had to do that day, the feeling soon went away.
“Doctor,” I said by way of greeting to the young, frazzled looking woman in a white coat.
She barely nodded my way before continuing with her examination of the middle-aged man seated on the edge of the table beside her.
“You’re fine, Harry. This is the second time you’ve come in and there’s nothing wrong.”
“I can feel it,” the man said. “There’s summat up with me.”
“Whatever it is, I can’t find it,” she insisted. “Now go on home. Plenty of rest and fluids and if it gets worse, come back. Only if it gets worse though!”
“Okay.”
He pushed off of the table and offered me a shy smile that crinkled his nose and edged around my guards before leaving. I watched him go for a moment before turning back to the doctor. She brushed a strand of loose, auburn, hair from her face and cocked one eyebrow.
“You’re not due for a visit today.”
“I know. But I needed to check in with you.”
“The cholera outbreak seems to be contained. We haven’t had a death in a couple of days and most of those we are treating seem to be recovering nicely.”
“That’s good.”
She smiled wearily and leant back against the table that Harry had just vacated. Her shoulders slu
mped and she rubbed at her eyes, before looking at her watch. “Christ! Is that the time?”
“How long since you slept?”
“What day is it?” she countered with a tired smile. “I’m fine. What is it you need.”
“Minister Shepherd has managed to locate a number of people who had basic first aid training. It’s not much, but it’s a start and I’ve had one the navy medics running them through the basics.”
“Great. I’ll take them. Send them in.”
I smiled at her eagerness. No matter how much help she was given there were some things she had to do herself and with so many people and just her, that meant pretty much everything was either done or overseen by her. A young woman who had just completed her medical training when the fall began.
The rural hospital where she had taken up residence was small and had likely been fine before the fall when patients could be airlifted to the mainland if required. Since then, the one hundred and sixteen beds had been filled pretty consistently from the first day we’d arrived.
“You will have them by the end of the day.”
“Thank you.” Her words were heartfelt even though it wouldn’t make too much difference. If anything, there would just be more staff asking her for help.
“There’s more,” I said with a genuine smile. I’d been looking forward to giving her the news. “The people Ryan brought back…”
She gave me a puzzled look and I stopped as I realised she’d probably been too busy to notice his return or anything else for that matter.
“Okay, well look, Ryan returned and brought some people with him.”
“Right.”
“They are all medically trained researchers. Two of them had also taken rotations in trauma centres and all five of them have put in their time around the world providing medical aid.”
Doctor Reed’s eyes grew rounder with every word and I couldn’t help my smile. It was rare that I had the chance to give someone good news.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes. Vanessa was in charge of their project and while they will need to split their time between here and their own work, she has assured me that they will be more than happy to provide whatever assistance they can.”
The doctor smiled widely and clasped her hands before her. “I don’t know if I should hug you or kiss you!”
“Probably neither, to avoid upsetting these folk.” I laughed as I pointed to my guards waiting close by.
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” She pushed herself up from the table, a lot of her weariness fading. “Still, I’m grateful. Really, I am.”
“Not a problem. Just glad I could…”
“Doctor!” the call came from a woman dressed in the pale blue scrubs that the volunteers wore. “It’s Marjorie!”
“What is it?” I asked as the doctors face lost all colour. She just shook her head and ran after the nurse.
I glanced at my guards and got nothing from there since all I could see was their eyes. Curious as to what could provoke such a reaction, I followed after the medical staff.
It wasn’t far. One of the side rooms further in. A closed ward with just four beds, curtains surrounding each for privacy. My heart sank as I saw the heavily pregnant women in three of them sitting up, clutching their blankets to them and staring at the fourth bed.
A woman, wearing nothing but a hospital gown, was bucking on the bed, violently enough that it was taking three nurses to hold her to the bed. Her hair was flying wilding around her face as her head whipped this way and that.
I watched fearfully as the mound of her belly shifted and moved beneath the gown. My own hand pressed to my stomach. Jinx, at my side, growled softly as she stared at the struggling woman. My other hand went to my sidearm as the four bodyguards moved to stand slightly ahead of me.
The woman screeched as Doctor Reed jabbed a syringe into her arm. It didn’t seem to do anything as the woman broke free, nails raking the doctors face leaving bloody tracks.
“Doctor! What’s going on?” I called. She looked back at me, eyes filled with sorrow and shook her head.
“Her baby died and now so will she.”
I swallowed past the lump in throat and took a step back, unwilling to believe what I had just heard. I didn’t want to see what happened when something like that occurred. I wouldn’t have wanted to even if I didn’t face the same possible fate myself.
The other women had started to cry. They too understood the peril they faced. It was all the more apparent that we needed to test the vaccine and make sure it worked. To make sure that no woman would ever have to face losing their child and what came after.
Blood stained the front of the woman’s gown and I had flashbacks to one of those science fiction movies from the eighties. I had no desire to see something like that happen in person. I pulled my gun.
“No,” Lisa said as she placed a hand on my arm. “This is our burden.”
She released my hand and pulled out her knife before walking over to the bedside. Another of the black-garbed acolytes followed her and pulled the curtain closed as the doctor turned to look at them.
Then all was hidden from my sight and I could just listen to the screeching until it abruptly cut off. The nurses pushed through the gap in the curtains, none of them looking back and not a one without a look of horror on their face.
Doctor Reed came next, followed by Lisa, her knife once more sheathed on her belt. Jinx whined and flopped down onto the floor, her head between her paws.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Doctor Reed said as she quickly scanned the room, making sure the other women were being seen to.
“H-how often does that happen?”
“She was the second this week,” the doctor replied grimly. “Before them, we had three weeks without one.”
Too often, then was the answer, I thought. Far too often and that meant the odds were high for mine as well. I swallowed once more and licked dry lips as I tried to think of a way to ask the question I dreaded hearing the answer to.
Doctor Reed reached out, her hand on my arm and squeezing gently. “We’ll do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
That really didn’t help because I knew that no matter what, no matter how much you did right, pregnancies could still go wrong at the best of times. As a survivor of an apocalyptic event and struggling to get through each day, we were definitely not in the best of times.
I gave the doctor a half-hearted smile anyway and turned to leave, stopping for a moment beside the door to turn back to her. “The other doctors will be here soon.” Then I left, the joy I had felt at being able to give her some good news for once had turned to ash in my mouth.
All I wanted to do was go somewhere and weep.
Chapter 9
The cargo ship sat out to sea at anchor. It wasn’t as large as I’d expected, somewhere around a hundred meters in length and wide enough to hold three containers placed side by side on its deck. In total it could hold ten, with three rows of three and a single container placed horizontally at the far end near the bow.
The ship was controlled from a wide tower of rooms at the stern. Four levels, all placed one atop the other in a haphazard terrace, painted in white with all kinds of antennae and equipment attached.
It had been commandeered by one of the ships that Lily had sent out searching for survivors and with a little bit of maintenance and some heavy refuelling, it had become a useful addition to the fleet.
My four containers had already been loaded and it was just a matter of being ferried across and we would be dropped off at the Isle of Man before the ship headed further south to, hopefully, be loaded with scavenged supplies to help feed our beleaguered populace.
As such, several fists of minions and squads of CDF troops had already made their way across and wandered around the deck as they waited for me. I sucked in a deep breath of the chill sea air and turned back to Lily.
She offered me a smile, but there was worry in he
r eyes. The scene at the hospital had upset her, I knew that, but when I had asked she had soon changed the subject. I respected her desire not to speak of it and would wait till she brought it up again.
Gregg engulfed her in an embrace, whispering something to her that widened that smile in a way that I seemed unable to do. He stepped back, holding her at arm's length, laughing at his own joke no doubt, before he turned to his sister.
Her embrace was less joyful and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. I’d been around her enough to know that probably meant she was upset about something Gregg had done. Probably something silly and he would talk about it endlessly on the journey.
“Clever Bastard.”
I looked back with a slight frown forming and nodded a rough greeting. “Isaac.”
His companion, Erin, was beside him. The short redhead carried a rifle almost as long as she was while he had a large knife over one hip and his assault rifle hanging from his shoulder.
“Figured we’d come with you. Earn our keep a bit.”
They would be useful enough, that was for sure. I had first-hand experience of how capable they were and Erin was a superb shot with that rifle she carried. I lifted my shoulders in a shrug.
“Sure. The more the merrier.”
“Hello, Ryan,” Lily said softly and I turned back to her, the mercenaries forgotten as she approached me, one eyebrow cocked as she waited for me to complete our little ritual.
“Hello, Lily.”
Her smile was radiant and if it faded all too soon, I didn’t question it as I just stared at her. She was utterly captivating and at such times, I often found myself just surprised that she had been able to love me and more so that I could return that love.
She had become someone I cared deeply for. I had changed for her in ways I had not suspected I would ever have been able to do and more than that, I had found a shred of hope that I could change further, for our children.
My fingertips pressed lightly against her growing stomach and my smile was genuine as I stepped closer to her. My arms encircled her and our lips met as the world around us faded away entirely.
“Come back to me,” she said as I pulled away. “Please, promise me you will.”
Killing The Dead (Book 16): Infected Page 5