Killing the Dead (Book 7): Burden of Survival

by Richard Murray

  “Why didn’t you just leave me?” I asked.

  “Because you were about to get yourself killed,” he said. “Why? Why would you do something so bloody stupid?”

  “You won’t understand,” I said.

  “Make me understand then.”

  “No.”

  A single word, a refusal to answer. He’d get no more from me and if pressed I would walk away before I killed him. At least I hoped I would. In the darkness I didn’t see the fist that caught me in the side of the head with a great deal of force.

  I stumbled to the side as I shook my head.

  “Wha…?”

  “You might not give a damn but we do,” Pat said before he struck me again. I fell to my knees from the blow, dazed and wondering why he’d hit me.

  “Pat, mate… enough,” Gregg said.

  Two meaty hands grabbed the front of my coat and lifted me to my feet before I was pushed back against the wall of the house with bruising force. Pat leaned in close and snarled his words.

  “You do that again and I’ll let you bloody die.”

  With that he released me and roughly searched my pockets for the key to the door. He pulled it free and unlocked the door, letting it swing open silently before disappearing inside.

  “He’ll calm down mate,” Gregg said as he came out of the house. “You just scared us.”

  “Had to do something,” I said, dazed by the blows to my head. I could taste copper in my mouth. “Didn’t want to hurt any of you.”

  Gregg paused as he approached me, just for a moment but long enough for me to notice. He shook himself and reached out to take my arm and lead me inside.

  Chapter 14

  Lily

  Michelle lay on a makeshift bed at the back of the room Gabby used for her surgery. She’d pushed aside the blankets and lay on her back with teeth clenched and a sheen of sweat covering her skin. The veins along her arm showed against her skin as dark lines coming from beneath the bandage.

  I shifted my weight on the chair beside her and eyed the polyester strapping that had been wrapped tightly around her lower legs and chest. I’d never seen it before but was assured that it would hold her. Apparently it tended to be used to secure loads in warehouses, Lorries and so on.

  When – and that seemed more likely than if – she turned, it would hold her long enough to give me chance to end her misery. I hefted the hammer in my hand, it still bore the stains from the fight earlier.

  “How’s she doing?” Cass asked as she entered the room.

  She passed a steaming cup of what smelt like hot chocolate to me. I raised one eyebrow enquiringly at her.

  “Figured after everything we needed a treat.”

  “Thanks,” I said as I accepted the cup. “I don’t think she’s going to be immune.”

  “Ah,” she said. Cass was the only person we’d found so far who was definitely immune to the bite of the zombies. Since the only way to find out if you were immune was to be bitten, it didn’t give us many opportunities to test others.

  “What about your leg?”

  “Bruised,” I said. “But it didn’t bite me.”

  “Well that’s something.”

  “What’s the final count?” I asked knowing that I didn’t want to hear the answer.

  “Eight dead, two bitten including Michelle.”

  “Who else was bitten?”

  “Mark, he was only eighteen. He turned ten minutes ago.”

  “Damn.”

  With the three from the earlier attack that meant thirteen including Michelle. That was just shy of twenty percent of our population gone in a single day. It was beyond a catastrophe.

  “To add more bad news, we have maybe fifteen bullets left for the rifles.”

  “Great.”

  “I sent them up there, that’s my fault,” Cass said. I turned to see her with such a look of misery on her face that I rose and gave her a quick hug before returning to my vigil beside Michelle.

  “If you hadn’t done that we’d have lost more people,” I said. “You did great. I screwed up by going after them.”

  We should have just retreated straight back to the house rather than going after them. Those deaths were on me.

  “That wouldn’t have helped,” Cass said. “If we’d let that many come at the doors they’d have managed to get in. We never expected so many to come. Hell, we never expected any to come.”

  “We should have. I want to know who is sending them.”

  Cass shrugged helplessly and Michelle moaned. I watched her for a moment but she didn’t seem ready to turn so I lowered my hammer.

  “They’ve come from the north and east,” I said. “That makes me think it’s someone actually getting them from Windermere.”

  “Why though?”

  “Because there’s not enough of them to attack us outright,” I said. “Think about it. Why go to all the trouble of building the rafts, somehow getting the zombies on to them and then aiming them at the island?”

  “So that the zombies will do the work for them,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s hope Toby finds them before they send more.”

  “The one this morning was likely a test,” I said. I’d been thinking about it as I waited and it was the only thing that made sense. “They put a few on it and tested the idea to see if they could reach the island. Once they were sure they filled whatever other rafts they’d made and sent them to us.”

  “What makes you think that was all of them?”

  “If they had more, they’d have sent them. As it is, there must have been fifty of them on the island. It will take them time to build more rafts and get them ready.”

  “So we have a chance then.”

  “Yes,” I said. “We also have the rafts they sent.”

  “What do you want to do with them?”

  “Keep them for now, if they can be made secure. Any chance of them coming over and taking the rafts though, burn them.”

  “Okay.”

  “Organise parties to gather the dead and burn them too,” I said.

  “Already done. Jonathan’s sorted it.”

  “Good,” I sat and thought through the list of things we needed to do. “Until Gabby and the others get back, we need to secure the house.”

  “Windows are covered, doors are locked with locking bars too.”

  “Increase the number of people on watch, especially tonight.”

  Cass nodded and took back the cup, I’d not noticed I’d emptied it. So busy with what needed to be done that I’d not even tasted the hot chocolate which seemed so wasteful somehow.

  “I’ll get on it. You staying here until…”

  “Yeah.”

  She nodded and swallowed what she was going to say before turning for the door. She closed it quietly behind her and I checked Michelle. She was pale and clammy, it didn’t look good. With a sigh, I settled back in the chair. It could be a long night.

  An hour later the door opened and Becky poked her head round. When she saw that Michelle was still peaceful and I hadn’t yet had to kill her, she came inside.

  “Not the best time,” I said curtly.

  “Jim sent me,” she said with a gentle smile. “He needs you up on the roof.”

  “It’ll have to wait until,” I gestured at Michelle. “You know?”

  “I can watch her. You really need to go up there.”

  “Fine,” I sighed as I pushed myself to my feet. My leg ached from where I’d been bitten and I was glad I’d worn thick jeans when I got dressed that morning.

  When I put my full weight on my leg it hurt which left me with a slight limp as I walked through the house. Our people were all crowded together into the main room, something they wouldn’t have been able to do just a day ago when we had so many more people.

  True, five of our group were off to Coniston, Toby was scouting and many of the rest were out gathe
ring the dead for burning. Still, the sad remnants of the rest were a pitiful sight.

  Tears streaked many of the faces and I couldn’t escape the accusatory looks as I passed them. Whether I were imagining it or not, it was there and I deserved it. I’d led them into the woods, I was the one who’d got so many killed.

  Since the very beginning, all I’d wanted to do was save as many people as possible. As autumn changed to winter, it had become apparent that the zombies weren’t the only monsters out there and in my head it had changed, to save as many good people as possible.

  Too many of those good people were now dead. I had to take the blame for that, it was on me. Perhaps it would be best for everyone if I left with Becky, left them in the hands of someone who could protect them.

  I’d tried that before with Matthew and it had not ended well. With Gabby and the rest though, perhaps they’d have a chance.

  The roof hatch was already open when I reached it and water pooled around its base as heavy rain fell through the opening. I frowned at that and grasped the damp rungs of the ladder carefully. The last thing I needed was to fall and break a leg.

  I pulled the hood of my coat up over my head and circled the narrow walkway until I found Jim and two others. They were leaning on the stone rail and staring out over the water towards Windermere.

  “You asked for me?” I said.

  “How’s Michelle?” he asked before anything else. No matter the issues I might have with him, I respected that he cared for people.

  “Hanging in there,” I said and his silhouette nodded in the darkness.

  “Over there,” he pointed and I peered through the rain but couldn’t see anything.

  “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

  “Keep watching.”

  Exhausted and far from being in the mood for games I tried to marshal my patience as I stared across the water. Then I saw it. A flash of light, brief and low, close to the water.

  “What was that?”

  “We think it’s whoever is making those damn rafts,” a woman answered and I thought I recognised the voice as belonging to Annalise.

  “Why would they be out in the darkness? Where about is that?”

  “One of the Marina’s,” Jim said. “They could be scavenging from the town and taking it there. Most of those marinas had security fences and gates.”

  “Yeah, while I wouldn’t want to live there, as a temporary measure it would be reasonably safe.”

  “The question is,” Jim said. “What do we do about it?”

  “Nothing,” I replied. All three of them seemed to be staring at me and if I could have seen their faces, I imagined they’d be showing shock.

  “We have to do something young lady,” definitely Annalise.

  “Lily,” Jim said. “I know today was bad but we can’t leave them to make more mischief.”

  “What should we do?” I asked as I wiped the rain from my face. “Row over in the boats with a war party? Try and shoot at them from here? Good luck with that in the dark and they’ll likely be in hiding during the day. Oh and we only have a handful of bloody bullets.”

  “They’ll send more rafts,” Annalise said.

  “Toby is out there now,” I said. Each word was punctuated with the slap of my hand on the wall. “Gabby and the others are on their way to Coniston, they’ll all be back tomorrow. Until then we’ve lost too many people to risk sending anyone.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Jim said. “Too many souls have passed on today.”

  “No,” Annalise snapped. “We should attack them.”

  “Help yourself,” I said and smiled in the darkness as I realised who I sounded like at that moment. God, I could have done with him being near me right then. “Good luck with it.”

  I left them there on the roof, voices raised in argument. It occurred to me that I had been giving orders a lot rather than waiting for the council to make the decisions and that would need to be addressed.

  Sodden and dejected, I made my way back to Gabby’s surgery. As much as I didn’t want to be the one to kill her, it was my fault and my responsibility to do so. She deserved to die with whatever dignity I could give her.

  The door swung open at my touch and I stepped inside only to stop in shock. Becky was crouched over the other women as she gently lifted her up to a sitting position. Michelle looked over to me and smiled weakly.

  “Guess Cass isn’t the only one who’s immune.”

  Chapter 15

  Ryan

  The little sleep I’d managed had been restless. It didn’t help that I was soaked to the skin and had more stains on my clothing than I cared to think about after my encounter with the zombies. I was actually pleased when the rest of my companions stirred as it meant I could cease my futile effort.

  Pat was stoic as he marched past me and into the kitchen, while Gregg nodded as he followed his friend. Jenny’s face darkened as she saw the state of my clothing. She opened her mouth to speak but apparently thought better of it. Gabby had no such problem.

  “What the hell happened to you?”

  I shrugged and pushed past her to follow the others out of the house. She protested but I was able to ignore her and concentrate on keeping up with the others. My energy was low and while it was my own fault, it didn’t help my mood.

  We followed the pathway towards the road and away from the house though we turned off into the trees before we reached that road and any zombies that may be walking it. Those I had found the night before were not an aberration. The roads were busy.

  In less time than I’d expected we found the first zombies walking through the trees. Pat, in less than good humour barely broke his stride as he slammed his hammer into the side of the first creatures head. It split much like a cantaloupe and without pause he shattered the skull of the next.

  He glanced back and his eyes met mine, I saw the fury there and wisely swallowed what I’d been about to say. The others noticed something was wrong but didn’t spare the breath to ask questions as moans rose from further ahead.

  With weapons drawn we kept walking. A lone zombie reached for Jenny as she passed the tree that had hidden it from view. She slashed its arm with her knife once as she yelped in surprise, before thrusting the blade through its eye. She avoided my eyes and her cheeks reddened.

  We passed by a number of corpses sprawled in the mud and I mustered a grin for Gregg when he glanced back at me. He shook his head and rolled his eyes before pressing on past them. Gabby’s head moved from the dead to me and back again as her lips pursed in thought.

  The route Pat took skirted the very edges of Hawkshead Though we had been there before, the sheer number of undead we’d seen walking the road that led there indicated to us that it would be less than safe.

  One look through the trees to the village below revealed hundreds of bodies moving through the streets. Many of them spilled out onto the road that led to Coniston. Wherever they had come from, it was clear they would be a problem if not dealt with soon.

  While we lived on an island, we still needed to be able to access the mainland for scavenging and to locate any survivors that could be invited to join our community. If we couldn’t do that then we’d soon run out of materials and supplies that we couldn’t do without. The island was a long way from being self-sufficient.

  After skirting the village we travelled east through the hills. We encountered roving bands of the undead just twice and they were not great numbers of them so we dealt with them without problems. It was well past midday when we reached the hilltop that overlooked the village of Coniston.

  The last time we’d been there, snow had covered the ground and our reception had been even colder than the weather. Though we’d traded with them, I still had the impression that they considered us outsiders and as such, not truly welcome.

  “Fuck…” Gregg said, eloquent as always.

  “Stay in the tree cover,” Gabby added.

&n
bsp; Since I was at the back of the group, I inched forward to see what had so rattled my companions. It took only a moment to see why they were upset and a rising excitement filled me. Coniston had fallen to the undead.

  A large barrier of dirt and stone had been raised in a great ring around the majority of the homes. Wooden stakes with sharpened points had been set into the sides of the barricade with barbed wire strung between. I recalled looking at it for the first time and thinking they had a chance. I was wrong.

  By far the largest concentration of zombies were on the east side of the village where the road from Hawkshead lay. They had followed that road and spread out along the front of the earthworks when they couldn’t immediately get inside.

  Hundreds lay dead, many on the stakes and earthen barrier but the majority trampled into the mud at the feet of their own kind. The villagers had fought well but not well enough. At several points, the undead had made it over the barrier through sheer weight of numbers and into the village itself.

  The people of Coniston had been overwhelmed and their village was dead. My companions seemed to realise this too as their expressions were full of shock and dismay as they looked at the thousands of zombies that filled the streets and surrounding fields.

  “We should go,” Gregg said quietly.

  “What about survivors?” Gabby asked.

  “Do you really think they are any?”

  “They must have had plans in place for something like this. They wouldn’t have just cowered in their houses.”

  Her voice was raised and Pat gave her a warning look which quietened her a little. I ignored her as best I could as I took in as much of the carnage as possible, savouring it. Something about it called to me and I had a moment’s wish that I’d been there to witness their end.

  “If anyone survived this, we have no idea where they’ll be,” Gregg continued. He was the voice of reason and he glanced to me for support but I had no desire to become involved.

  “The village had nearly four hundred people who had survived the first weeks,” Gabby said. “They can’t all have died.”

  “Well, where the hell do you think we should look?” Gregg snapped. “We can’t exactly wander down and knock on bloody doors can we?”