Deadrise (Book 3): Savage Blood

by Brandt, Siara

  from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

  There was a wall of shelves, and row after row of books.

  “You awake now?” a shadow that she gradually recognized as Elan said.

  “Yes,” she whispered back.

  Elan wasn’t sure what to do. She looked like hell. If you didn’t look too closely, you might think she was a zombie. He didn’t know what else to call them. Her skin had an ashen cast to it. Her cheeks were sunken in and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was stiff and matted with mud and dried blood. But she was definitely alive. Not dead-alive, but the real kind of alive. He watched as she weakly licked her dry lips.

  “As soon as you’re up to it,” he said as he leaned over her. “I’ll give you some water and see if you can keep that down. But right now, you don’t have to move. I’ll take care of everything.”

  He had rigged up a system for collecting rain water, so that wasn’t a problem. He just needed to get her to drink. He had already decided that if she survived, a nice beef broth would help build her strength back up. He had plenty of that.

  He had not heard of anyone surviving a zombie bite. But maybe some did. If Dani had survived this long, he felt she had a fighting chance. He was going to do his damnedest to improve her odds.

  “Do you know what happened to you?” he asked again.

  “No,” she breathed feebly. She knew better than to shake her head by now.

  Maybe it was better if she didn’t remember what had happened to her, Elan thought. She needed to do one thing only. She needed to put all her strength into getting better.

  Chapter 18

  Near dusk Hunter saw that the half-washed-out trail was cut up and nearly obliterated by a crisscross of undead tracks, which added to his frustration. He didn’t want the sun to go down and put off his search for an entire night. He didn’t want the undead slowing him down, either. Worse than that, he knew that struggling with that sled would make them an easier target for the undead. Eying the tracks with more determination, he pushed onward.

  The tracks took a sharp detour from the semi-straight line they had been following. They suddenly swung wide. He soon saw why. There was a wire fence with a strand of barbed wire strung across the top of it. It would have been a difficult obstacle to get over. Which told him that whoever it was knew the area well. Whoever was pulling the sled knew long before he got to the fence to avoid it.

  It was getting dark fast now. Dani was out there somewhere. She had definitely been through a lot already and he had no idea what she was going through right now. Maybe she was even waiting for him to find her. It drove him relentlessly forward.

  He saw places where the person pulling the sled had rested, and places, too, where he had had trouble. He also saw where he had probably hidden for a while before continuing on. They were not heavy footprints and they had been made by gym shoes. Nowhere did he see Dani’s footprints.

  He saw where someone had eaten a candy bar and then buried the wrapper in the mud. It meant whoever it was, was smart enough to be cautious not to leave any traces that he had been there. Except for the tracks, of course. He couldn’t do much about that. He was probably hoping more rain would come and eventually wipe them out. One thing Hunter knew for certain. Whoever it was, he knew he was taking a chance and maybe putting himself at risk. If it was true that he was actually helping Dani.

  He began to see signs that he was getting tired. He rested more, struggled more. At one point he fell and was on his hands and knees before he got back up again. But he never abandoned the sled. Hunter tried not to let that put hope in his heart, but he began to believe that it was very possible that Dani was still alive.

  He was crossing a shallow creek when he smelled smoke on the air. That’s when he saw the red glow on the horizon.

  “Hell,” he muttered to himself. “That’s the last thing I need right now.”

  She knew.

  Aili stood barefoot on the dew-drenched grass with her face tilted upward and her eyes closed. The sun had not yet risen over the trees yet, but its warmth permeated the early morning air. Beyond the fence, the highest tree tops bowed as if in homage to a sudden breeze. She could hear its whisper as it passed through bare branches.

  She was alone. There was no one nearby to read her thoughts or to wonder at the open vulnerability she had temporarily allowed to find expression on her face. A combination of confusion and innocence was reflected there as a shiver passed through her. She shivered not so much from the cold and the dampness beneath her bare feet as she did from the release of emotion long pent up. How, she wondered, had she come to this place? How had her heart betrayed her so badly?

  She bowed her head and closed her eyes again. A woman might fight against it, but she always knows, deep inside, when she is finally, truly in love. The moment comes when she surrenders completely to the truth. This was her moment.

  She should feel different, she thought. She should feel changed. On the outside maybe that was true. On the inside, amazingly, she still felt like the same person she had always been. Even before the entire world had collapsed around her, she had felt lost, confused and alone. Even then she would not have considered allowing the world access to her inner self. Now it was even more important to keep her emotions hidden deep inside.

  Just thinking about her feelings toward Bresh frightened her. And yet they thrilled her at the same time. They made her feel alive. Schoolgirl crushes were one thing, but this was different. This was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Even with Reeve and Mead. Her innocence defined her love, so it was a deeply-intense longing, both achingly sweet and consuming.

  Bresh had been there for her from the very beginning and she had vowed that she would be there for him, too. No matter what. He alone was responsible for her coming this far. He alone was responsible for her very life. He had not only taught her how to survive. He had given her a reason to believe she would see Elan again. He had promised her he would keep searching for Elan until he found him. How many men would make that commitment? She wondered if he wasn’t searching for Elan right now.

  By now she had memorized every detail about Breshan Southwell. She knew how he walked. How he smiled. And how he looked when he was sleeping. She knew immediately when he was surprised, or angry, or frustrated. She knew how his black hair gleamed in the morning sunlight and how the shadows touched his face in the evening. There was no detail that escaped her. She relived that moment when he had kissed her and it filled her with a sudden breathless sensation.

  She knew that he had held onto his principles through everything, that he still refused to compromise them, that he would not even consider doing the wrong thing simply because it was the easiest thing to do. She admired him for that. He was brave. He was steadfast and loyal, and utterly unwavering in his convictions. She respected him not only because of who and what he was, but also because of who he stayed.

  She drew a deep breath and released it in a sigh. Her heart was an open thing at that moment. She could no longer hide the truth from herself. She was helplessly, hopelessly in love. Despite the shattered world around her. Her heart had chosen this man, this time to fall in love. It was the wrong man. It was definitely the wrong time.

  There were other, more important things she needed to be putting her energy into. Like their upcoming move to the old armory with the Lee’s and the other people that were becoming like family.

  She bowed her head and buried her face in her hands, yielding fully to the awful truth while at the same time vowing that Bresh would never know, not by word or by deed, how she felt about him.

  If that glow on the horizon was some kind of wildfire, Elan needed to know. Especially if it was sweeping their way. He knew that wildfires could travel fast so he had to make some kind of quick decision. He decided he would go check out what was happening, then he would head right back here. He would jog up to the cemetery, which was the highest elevation for miles around. From the
re, hopefully, he would be able to tell what was going on. Dani should be okay on her own for a little while.

  He told her of his plans and she agreed to wait for him. She didn’t have much choice there. If for some reason he didn’t return, she had plenty of food and water. She had weapons. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it was always dangerous going outside. He’d had his share of close calls in the past. After a few more hurried instructions to Dani, he set out.

  He had just made it to the cemetery when he saw blacker shadows looming up out of the darkness not far away from him. He dropped down behind a big tombstone and stayed there until he knew what he was dealing with.

  He soon heard voices and knew who the men were. He had run into them before and he had seen some of the things they were capable of. Ruthless didn’t even begin to describe them. Right now they were like hounds on the scent of prey. Their shouts confirmed Elan’s worst fear. They had been following his tracks.

  If darkness did not slow the men down, it wouldn’t take them long to find the right house. And Dani. There was only one thing he could do. He was going to have to make a run for it and try to lose the men in the darkness, then beat the men back there. And hope like hell he didn’t run into any zombies on the way that would slow him down. Or worse.

  He got up and ran, praying as hard as he could that he wasn’t seen.

  At first he wasn’t. And then there was a shout. In the darkness he tripped over something and went down. In an instant he was back on his feet again.

  “Get that kid,” a rough voice shouted behind him. “I want to know how the little shit has survived this long.”

  His closest pursuer, a huge bear of a man, could run faster than the others apparently.

  The man closed in on Elan. With the red glow from the fire lighting his face, Elan knew a moment of sheer terror when he turned around and saw the man towering over him.

  With a hand the size of a grizzly’s paw, the man grabbed the front of his shirt. He shook him like a ragdoll as he leaned over him. Elan saw the huge knife glinting in the firelight. He only heard part of what the man was saying to him.

  “I’ll gut you like a catfish if you don’t tell me- ”

  It was a horrifying moment, one that Elan thought was going to be his last. But the man suddenly stiffened and went still. And then Elan saw with astonishment that the man had a knife sticking out of one eye as he collapsed at his feet.

  Another man stepped out of the shadows.

  “Come on,” the stranger said in a husky voice. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “You’re not one of them?” Elan asked uncertainly, not at all sure if he should blindly follow him. This man looked pretty lethal himself. He had just seen what he could do with a knife.

  “Hell, no,” Bresh answered.

  Elan heard shouts in the darkness and knew he had no choice but to take a chance and follow the stranger into the woods.

  “You know those men?” Bresh asked over his shoulder as they hurried through the trees.

  “I know what they are,” Elan answered breathlessly. “I try to avoid them.”

  The stranger grunted under his breath as if he, too, had had experience with the same kind of men.

  Eventually, they stopped to catch their breath when there were no longer sounds of pursuit.

  “Those two following us, they’re part of a larger group?” the stranger asked with a jerk of his beard-shadowed chin in the direction that they had just come from.

  Still bent over and trying to catch his breath, Elan nodded.

  “Then you know what we have to do,” the stranger said ominously. “They’re more dangerous than deads if they keep trailing us.”

  Deads, Elan repeated silently, knowing exactly what he was talking about. He agreed. “You’re right. What do you want me to do?”

  “Nothing. You just wait right here for me.”

  The stranger vanished into the darkness while Elan waited.

  Elan could see the farmhouse from here. He needed to try and keep the stranger from going there. But how? He needed to get back to Dani. She was in a strange place and she would be completely in the dark. She might be worried right now that maybe he wasn’t coming back. Somehow, he was going to have to find an opportunity to slip away into the darkness and hope this man couldn’t track him back there. Maybe this would be his only chance to do that.

  But the stranger returned faster than he would have thought possible, and let him know, “There’s nobody following us now.” He didn’t say more than that.

  Elan was even more convinced now that he shouldn’t lead him back to the house. He could take everything they had. He could kill him. And Dani, too. Weak as she was she would be at his mercy if he turned out to be as bad as he looked.

  “Fire’s dying out, too,” Bresh said. “At least it’s not headed this way. You from around here?” he asked abruptly.

  “Sort of,” Elan answered evasively.

  After a pause, the man asked another question. “So where are you headed?”

  Elan shrugged. “Wherever.”

  “Wherever, huh.” The stranger got down on his heels, drew a wicked-looking hunting knife out of his boot, and, with quick, efficient movements, cut something that he took out of a vest pocket.

  “Yeah, I was, uh, kind of passing through,” Elan told him, not taking his eyes off of the knife.

  The stranger returned the knife to his boot, straightened, and stroked his chin with his thumb and forefinger for a moment as he looked back at Elan. Then he held something out towards him. “Jerky. You want some? You look like you’re skin and bones.”

  Elan reached out and took a piece.

  “So, where’ve you been staying?” the stranger asked.

  “Around,” Elan answered cautiously. “Anywhere that looks halfway safe. I move around a lot.”

  “You’ve just been wandering around with no place to stay?” Bresh asked.

  “Pretty much,” Elan answered him.

  Elan didn’t know if the stranger believed him or not, but there wasn’t much more he could do to convince him. He either believed him, or he didn’t. Whatever he did believe, Elan watched as he sat down and made himself comfortable, resting his wrists on his knees as he steadily regarded him.

  “So, were you part of that group at one time?” he asked. “Sometimes it takes a while to realize you don’t fit in.”

  “No, I would never have been a part of a group like that,” Elan answered right away with an almost perceptible shudder. “I’ve managed to avoid them. For the most part,” he added.

  “Must be because you move around a lot,” the stranger commented under his breath as he took a bite of jerky.

  “They were bad,” Elan went on, maybe because he was nervous and he had to talk. “They’d rob anyone. If they caught you, they forced you to go into the city and get what they wanted.”

  “They caught me once,” Elan said. “Before I knew better. They sent me into the city with one of them for alcohol and food. I barely made it out alive.”

  “And then they let you go?” Bresh asked.

  “No, I escaped.”

  Daryl narrowed his gaze. “That must have taken a lot of guts.”

  “No,” Elan replied. “It took a lot of desperation. I didn’t have any choice. They said they were going to kill me when they were through with me.”

  Elan shifted his weight uncomfortably. The man’s gaze was piercing. It was as if he could see right inside his head and read his thoughts.

  “Well, I’m about done in,” the stranger said. “Since you don’t have anywhere to go, we might as well camp right here.”

  We.

  “Here? Together?” Elan squeaked, probably feeling as trapped as a rabbit in a snare.

  Bresh could see the kid was hiding something. He was nervous. Really nervous. Bresh didn’t feel comfortable leaving him out here on his own, but he had a lot of unanswered questions. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s as good a place as any. Unless you
know of a better place.”

  Elan shook his head as he continued to watch the stranger warily.

  Bresh knew the kid wasn’t about to tell him anything. Not yet. Which Bresh thought was a smart thing to do. But he had already decided he was smart. He obviously knew how to keep his mouth shut.

  “It’ll be a cold night tonight,” Bresh said after a deep sigh as he settled himself at the base of a tree. “But I guess if you’re used to sleeping out wherever, I can handle it, too.”

  It would be one long, miserable night out in the open. He could only wonder how long the kid would last. Bresh could see he wasn’t used to this. He was already shivering and his teeth were chattering loud enough to wake the dead. Right now he was pretending to be asleep. Yeah, he was definitely planning something.

  And it didn’t take him long to try and make a run for it after he thought Bresh was asleep.

  But Bresh rose up and grabbed the back of the kid’s shirt, stopping him from going anywhere.

  When Bresh raised himself up to his full height, Elan looked up at him much the same as David must have looked at Goliath.

  “Look, kid. You want to tell me now what you’re hiding?” Bresh asked in a voice like tempered steel.

  “My name’s not kid. It’s Elan.”

  Bresh leaned forward in the darkness, only now noticing the resemblance. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he breathed. “I know someone who’s been looking for you.”

  Chapter 19

  Dani was alive.

  That’s all Hunter could think about as he stood before the big white farmhouse.

  The tracks had led him straight here. He knew, too, that the tracks could lead other people here just as easily. But right now-

  Right now he needed to see her more than he needed to take his next breath.

  He stepped up onto the wide, wrap-around porch. Dawn was just breaking in the East. The first birds were singing in the trees like they did every morning, like they didn’t even comprehend things like zombie apocalypses, like their lives and their routines weren’t disrupted at all. Lucky birds.