“What undead?” Dawn snapped, speaking for the first time since we had climbed into the back of the truck. “None around here.”
“You always get a couple wandering through,” Jer countered. “Best to be wary.”
“Nothing to worry about,” I said, perhaps a little snidely. “You have your guns after all.”
“Aye, you bet your ass we do! That’s why we kick ass and the rest of the world is dying.”
I shook my head, a smile growing on my face at his bluster. Take away his precious guns and he would be soon dead. It was foolish to grow reliant on them.
The truck rolled to a stop and the two mercenaries in the front clambered out. Isaac, looking a great deal drier than those of us who had been required to sit in the open rear of the truck, began issuing orders.
Since I wasn’t under his command I simply leant back against the side of the truck and looked around, affecting a bored demeanour while trying to take in everything I could.
Surrounded by trees and a large grey fence, the building had been a holiday home for some wealthy family. A two-door garage sat open beside the main gate and a wood chip covered pathway marked the way through the trees to the house that sat beside the loch.
There was a small dock for their pleasure boats and a great many wide windows set around the building. Not a great thing to have in a building you want to be secure from the undead. Still, I thought with a shrug, it wasn’t my concern.
“You!” Isaac snapped and I turned my head to look at him. “Get your ass moving!”
Dawn prodded me with the muzzle of her gun and I flashed her a smile which she ignored, merely prodding me once more with a little more force.
I followed her directions towards the house where Neil, the youngest mercenary, was waiting. He had a torch in one hand and his assault rifle in the other. Dawn said something that I didn’t catch over the sound of the rain hitting the leaves of the trees and the slate roof of the house. Neil did though and nodded as he gestured for me to step ahead of him.
A smile creased my face as I looked back to see Dawn jogging back towards the front gates. I was alone with just the youngest mercenary, who, despite having a gun was still just a man. I was a killer.
He directed me through a series of once lavish rooms, now dust covered and smelling slightly of damp. Past the stairway that led up to the next floor and into the kitchen. He gestured for me to pull open the door there and grunted when I did.
“No,” I said as I looked into the empty pantry.
A small room with barely any space to stand upright let alone stretch out to sleep. Bare shelves and no light, hardly an accommodating place to spend my night.
“Get in or I’ll beat your ass and stuff you in there.”
There was no heat in his voice, as though he was having a normal conversation. I grimaced and glanced down at the gun he held as I revised once again the order in which I would kill the mercenaries.
“You have a choice,” I told him in a soft voice, barely above a whisper. “Consider your…”
The butt of his assault rifle caught me full in the face and I staggered back, tasting copper in my mouth and seeing just his grinning face in the dim light provided by his torch.
“Should’ve done as I said. Now you don’t get a piss-bucket.”
I just glared and stepped back into the tiny pantry, not taking my eyes from his until the closing door cut off my view. It shut with a final-sounding thud and there came a heavy scraping from outside as he moved something in front of the door, no doubt to prevent me opening it.
His laughter came through the thick wood panel of the door and his voice too. It was too low for me to make out any individual words, but it was clear he was talking to one of his companions and likely laughing at the way he had treated me.
I reached up and wiped the blood from my chin, feeling at the swelling there and planning a particularly gruesome death for him should the chance arise.
In the utter darkness of the pantry, I felt the walls with my bound hands as I searched it as best I could. The shelves were fixed firmly in place and I had no space to gain the momentum I would need to prise one loose.
No weapon there then. I turned my attention to the ceiling next but it was solid plasterboard and even with the rain outside making a considerable noise, my banging on the ceiling would likely be heard before I could break through.
The floor was stone and that was that. Trapped in a tiny room that was barely big enough for me to stand or wide enough to sit unless I had my knees pressed up against my chest. It was frustrating but I wasn’t done, not by a long shot. I would kill them, that I was sure of.
But not that night. I leant back against the wall and listened to the distant sound of the rain as I allowed my mind to drift back to Lily and our child. Despite everything I was, despite the murders and my disdain for people; I very much wanted to meet my child.
Lily loved me and I her, but I could not change who I was. A killer. She had come close and closer than anyone I had ever known. For her I had changed, but not enough. A child though. My child. That could provide me with a new need.
A need to protect it and raise it in a world that didn’t need men like me. A world that Lily was determined to build.
I’d long since realised that for her to build that world meant I could not be part of it. My love for her had kept me from committing fully because of what it meant. But to have a child, a reason to do what I had been baulking at. That was something I needed more than I’d ever expected.
My thoughts kept returning to that as the night wore on. The sound of voices beyond my little prison came and went but the door remained firmly closed. I was pretty sure they were breaking some rule or other about confinement and refusing me food, but since there was no one left to judge them, I doubted they cared.
At sometime around midnight, by my best guess, I was roused from my half-slumber leant against the wall by the sound of gunfire. A little excitement, at last, I thought, as my heartbeat increased and I shook my head to clear it of the fogginess of half-sleep.
More gunfire, coming in short bursts and then shouting as the mercenaries called out to each other. I pressed my ear up against the door as I tried to hear what they were saying. I also hoped that they didn’t die out there.
For one thing I didn’t exactly like the idea of being stuck in a small room with no way out and for another, I wanted to be the one to kill them, dammit!
Whatever was outside the door was shoved noisily aside and I narrowed my eyes, ready to protect them from any unexpected light source. A good call since the door swung open and Neil’s torch was shone directly into my face.
“You! Move!” he snapped by way of greeting.
I was ushered into the kitchen, blinking my eyes that despite my preparation had still teared up from the sudden light. Dawn stood by the door, assault rifle raised as she stared outwards.
“What’s going on?”
“Shut up!”
Fair enough.
He pushed me ahead of him towards Dawn and I grunted as I stubbed my foot against something heavy on the floor. Dawn looked back and once sure I was behind her, set off down the corridor, a flashlight attached to the barrel of her gun illuminating the way.
I couldn’t see much but I noted the blood running down her arm from a gash high above it and I grinned. Zombie, I guessed and unless there happened to be some random ones wandering by, it was likely the Reaper. I felt almost giddy at the thought.
Dawn moved slowly, each step placed carefully as she shone the beam of light from left to right. I wondered where the others were but figured asking would get me another blow from Neil, so remained silent and waited for an opportunity to present itself. It didn’t take long.
It burst out of the darkness, claws flashing and a scream filled the air, followed by gunfire, the sound thunderous in the narrow corridor. Neil pushed me aside and stepped forward, firing his gun at something that moved too fast for him to hit.
&nbs
p; Then it was gone. Dawn picked herself up, more blood staining her clothes. She grimaced as she reached for her assault rifle, dropped when the reaper had slammed her against the wall. She gestured for Neil to lead the way and he moved forward.
I followed after a sharp gesture from her and didn’t bother to hide my delight at her pain. Her glare could be practically felt against my back as we moved onwards through the large, dark, house.
Neil moved as slowly as Dawn had, taking his time to search every corner of each room before moving through it. Then we were out the door and into the heavy rain and darkness of the night. He turned to look at me, ready to bark an order and his eyes widened.
I ducked to the side as he raised his gun, firing wildly at a grey shape in the darkness. Dawn did the same and unnoticed, I slipped behind Neil and watched.
The Reaper ducked behind a tree and bark exploded from it as the bullets hit. “Reload,” Dawn shouted and reached for a spare clip on her belt. The zombie leapt from behind the tree running straight at us and I reached up, slipped my bound hands over Neil’s head and pulled back.
He cried out and fired into the air as his aim was thrown off. I lifted my knee and set it against the small of his back as I pulled back with my bound wrists hooking his neck, choking him, right up until the moment the Reaper disembowelled him.
Dawn slammed a new clip into place and raised her weapon, firing a rapid burst at the zombie. Black fluid spurted from the wounds and with a hiss, it retreated, vanishing back into the trees.
Neil shuddered and bucked beneath me, blood pouring from the shredded flesh of his stomach and his wide eyes blinking up into my grinning face.
“Let him go!” Dawn shouted and I glanced her way to see the muzzle aimed directly at me.
With a shrug, I released my hold on him, letting him slump to the floor, dying slowly.
“Bastard,” she said as she took a step towards me.
Lights shone through the trees and the others came into view, Isaac leading the way. They each had their weapons at the ready and scanned the tree-lined path warily.
“What happened?” Isaac asked as he looked down at the dying mercenary.
“Ask him,” Dawn snapped, assault rifle still aimed my way.
“He hit me,” I said with a smile. “So, he got to die first.”
Isaac’s mouth twisted and he looked from Dawn to me and back again. Before he could speak, Erin did.
“Gotta go, boss.”
“We’ll deal with this later,” Isaac said in that same controlled tone of his that I was becoming used to. “Get to the truck.”
He raised his weapon and fired once, ending any chance of Neil rising as one of the undead and cutting short his miserable and painful death. Annoying, perhaps, but I could live with that I reasoned as I was forcibly shoved along the path.
One down, four to go, I thought with an almost giddy sense of pleasure.
Chapter 5
“What now?” I almost moaned as a soft tapping came at my door.
Jinx looked up, ears pricking and her tongue lolling from her mouth as she stared at the source of the sound. I lifted my head from the pillow and gave her a mock glare.
“Someone needs to train you to open doors.”
She didn’t respond, not that I expected her to and I held back a sigh before I called out, “come in if you must but stop the bloody knocking!”
I had to shade my eyes from the sudden shaft of light that shone directly into my face as the door opened and I scowled at the apologetic visage of Samuel as he put his head around the side of the door.
“Apologies, but there is an issue.”
“What time is it?”
“A little past midnight.”
“Can’t it wait till morning? I literally lay down to sleep barely an hour ago.”
“I’m afraid not.”
There was an edge to his voice that gave me pause and I swallowed back my angry retort and said instead, “give me a minute to get dressed.”
He bowed low and retreated from the room, leaving the door open just enough that light filtered in and gave me some illumination but not enough for anyone to see inside. I scratched Jinx behind the ears and threw back my covers.
I paused a moment as my eyes landed for an instant on my stomach and I reached out tentative fingers to press there, wondering if perhaps I was starting to show a little. It was hard to tell to be honest and I didn’t expect to really show for a little while yet, but even so, I could almost imagine the life growing there. All of it.
“No rest for the wicked, babe,” I whispered to the Alsatian who put her head down between her paws and watched me as I began to dress.
Three minutes later I was running my fingers through the snarled mess that was my hair and grabbing my jacket from where it hung beside the door. Jeans, a thick jumper and walking boots. Hardly the regal garments of a new ruler, but they were actually all I had.
Samuel fell into step beside me as I walked through the sports centre and much to my annoyance, four black-garbed acolytes joined us. I gave them a side-eyed glare but refrained from commenting.
“What’s this big problem that can’t wait?” I asked.
“It will be better to show you.”
Great, well that was no real help. I had the urge to kick him but realised it would do no good and would probably just hurt my foot.
Intellectually, I knew that my poor mood was due to worry over Ryan, the news I had received in the medical centre and the general worry about suddenly being in charge of the last remnants of civilization. But that didn’t make me feel any better.
As we reached the entrance to the sports centre I let Samuel take the lead. The guards he had posted there didn’t so much as glance at us, their gaze focused instead on the small crowd of people gathered a little way up the street.
“I thought after you’d saved their butts they would have given you some slack,” I muttered as we turned down a side-street.
“They have. Those are protesting you.”
“Me!”
“It would seem that they see you as some potential dictator who has usurped the rightly elected government.”
“Well… they’re not wrong I suppose.”
Even so, it upset me a little. I wasn’t doing anything but try to make things better for the people of the island. Not to mention what I would have to do if the small number of protestors grew into a large and angry mob. I suppressed a shudder at that and reached down to pat Jinx as she nuzzled my leg.
We moved along one side street and then down another, both of them empty of movement and sound. Few people were out at such a time and I couldn’t exactly blame them. There was a chill to the air that seemed odd for the month.
I glanced up at the clear night sky and couldn’t help but wonder if the cold was some other symptom of the hellish year we’d just had. The winter had been especially cold, unusually so given the past few mild ones we’d had.
“Here,” Samuel said and brushed past two naval marines with a brusque nod.
He pushed open the door and gestured me through then held up a hand for my guard detail to remain outside. A pleasant surprise but one that surprised me. I gave him a curious look but he ignored me and led me through the building.
If I were to guess, I would have said it was office space at one time. Open plan offices and plenty of desks with computers still sitting on them gathering dust. Then, over in the far corner, I caught sight of an old friend.
“Charlie!” I said with a delighted smile.
The young woman looked back and gave a casual wave before returning her attention to her screens. She’d not changed much since I’d seen her last. She wore her hair in dreadlocks, short, barely shoulder length but no doubt easier to maintain, I thought with a rueful tug at my own tangled mass of hair.
Her wheelchair had been upgraded a little from the old hospital one we had found for her and she glided smoothly from one workspace to another. Her attention was focused entirely on th
e array of screens she had set up and I shook my head at that.
When we’d first met her, she’d been hiding away in her university halls of residence. An engineering student and a damned good one, she’d been using solar power to keep her drone surveying the area and had helped Ryan and Gregg out when they’d been trapped by a mob of undead.
Since then, Admiral Stuart had put her to use and given her a great deal of our limited resources to build a small fleet of drones that she, and her team, used to keep a watchful eye over the island. If there were to be a zombie incursion on our shores, then she would be the first to see it.
“Been a while,” she said, not bothering to look my way.
“Certainly has, how’ve you been?”
“Ah…” Samuel interrupted. “My pardon, but perhaps we should save the pleasantries for another time.”
“That bad?”
“Must be to have us all out of bed at this hour,” the admiral said.
I looked over to the shadowed corner where he’d been standing and smiled a greeting.
“You too, huh?”
He nodded and rubbed at the stubble on his chin before looking at Charlie.
“Well then. We’re all here. What’s the emergency?”
“Direct your eyes to screens number three, seven, nine and twelve,” she said with a wave of her hand towards the monitors that I saw were indeed numbered. “Try to remember you’re not supposed to shoot the messenger.”
I exchanged a look with the admiral and moved closer to the first screen. The image wasn’t great since it was obviously live and at night, but it was enough to bring a frown to my face.
“Port Ness?”
“Yup.”
Shahid had been busy building up the defences in just the short time she’d been there. Lights shone brightly down on the rough barricade that surrounded the village and while most of the houses were dark, it was easy to see the large number of guards around the church in the centre.
“She’s stuffed most of the people in the church,” Samuel said softly. “But not all.”
Killing the Dead Season 3 Box Set | Books 13-18 Page 21