by Frank Tayell
“Like what?”
“We still don’t know why Paul killed that man in the university. Or why he killed Llewellyn, either.”
“We probably never will,” I said. “Though my money is on Paul being the one who handcuffed Llewellyn to the bed and left him there to die. That’s what the court record will show.”
“Which is another reason for you to write an account of the trial,” she said. I didn’t argue. The list we’d taken from Rob’s body fell out. She picked it up. “Addresses. How did Rob know this list was in the house? If he thought we were going to kill him, why didn’t he make his move straight away?”
“Cowardice?” I suggested.
“That would be a reason for him to have killed us the moment we got into the house. No, instead, he kept disappearing,” Kim said. “Why?”
“He was looking for a tunnel,” I suggested.
“How did he know there was one?” Kim asked. “Because he did know. He must have known exactly where it was. You wrote that, when you first went into the kitchen, there was no zombie in it. The second time, after you’d fired a shot, there was. The zombie had been hiding behind that door. Rob didn’t open it. He must have known where the hatch to the tunnel was.”
“You mean someone told him?”
“About the tunnel, and the list of addresses,” Kim said. “I doubt Rob worked for Kempton, but what if someone on the island did. Someone who knew about this property. Maybe someone who escaped from here. Not Kempton herself, because everyone knows what she looks like. I wonder who?”
“It’s another mystery to be solved,” I said.
“An important one, but we won’t solve it tonight.”
There was a sound from outside. The soft and almost unfamiliar patter of rain hitting the bungalow’s window.
“Autumn’s arrived,” I said. “A few weeks late, but it’s here.”
“If it’s a storm, then our rescue boat might be delayed,” she said. “But you were thinking about the radiation? About Birmingham?”
“I was.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t worry about things you can’t change. Let’s talk about something else. Something different. You said that you’ve been to Ireland before?”
“Belfast and Dublin,” I said.
“Tell me about it.”
“There’s not much to say,” I said. “They were conferences where I didn’t see much beyond the airport and hotel.”
“Tell me anyway,” she said.
We talked as the rain fell, and until she fell asleep. I’ll do the same soon.
Rob’s dead, but so are Simon, Lilith, and Will. David Llewellyn can be added to that side of the scales, but it’s not balanced by adding Paul to the other. That’s four good people dead, a good deal of ammunition expended, a boat lost, and nothing to show for the effort.
We are the help that comes to others. If that’s true, then we’ve done a poor job of it over the last few days. If I’ve learned anything since the outbreak, it’s not to wallow in the past but look to the future. The question now is whether there are others to whose help we can come, or is it too late? Does our community on Anglesey represent all that are left?
Two steps forward, and three steps sideways. We never end up where we plan, and each new journey is more difficult than the one that went before. Looking at Kim, asleep on the mildewed sofa, I will say that, for me if no one else, that journey is worth making. I can’t tell if our future is bleak, or in comparison to what went before, whether it is bright. Perhaps it is both, just as it would have been for generations and centuries. Perhaps I think too much, and it’s time to sleep. Tomorrow will come whether I’m rested or not, and whatever it brings, at least I won’t be facing it alone.
The end.
The story will continue in Book 9: Belfast.
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Other novels:
Surviving The Evacuation & Here We Stand
The outbreak began in New York. Within days, it spread throughout the world. Nowhere is safe from the undead. Books 1-3 are the journals of Bill Wright, a political operative trapped in London after the city is evacuated. Books 4-7 tell of Nilda, a mother searching the wasteland for her son, and Chester, a criminal in search of repentance. Here We Stand is the story of the North American survivors, and the collapse of the United States.
1: London, 2: Wasteland, Zombies vs The Living Dead, 3: Family, 4: Unsafe Haven, 5: Reunion, 6: Harvest, 7: Home, Here We Stand 1: Infected, Here We Stand 2: Divided, Book 8: Anglesey
Post-apocalyptic Detective novels:
Strike a Match
In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt.
Twenty years later, civilization is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise, aided by a shadowy conspiracy. It is down to Detectives Mitchell, Riley, and Deering of the Serious Crimes Unit to unmask the conspirators and save their fragile democracy.
1. Serious Crimes, 2. Counterfeit Conspiracy
Work Rest Repeat
Sixty years after The Great War, the last survivors of humanity have taken shelter in giant towers. The colony ships that will allow them to leave the diseased Earth are nearing completion when two murders are discovered. For our species to survive, the criminals must be caught, and the launch must go ahead.
Thanks for reading.