Burden of Survival

by Richard Murray

  I watched for several long minutes before rising slowly to my feet and moving back, further into the trees. I found the first group of huddled villagers and shook them roughly awake. As soon as I had their attention I whispered instructions harshly and then returned to my place beside the sycamore.

  Behind me the word was spreading amongst the villagers and the voices were finally stilled or at least low enough not to be heard. I waited, tense with the need to kill something burning inside of me as I watched the undead.

  A shadow moved beside me and I had my knife halfway to them before I recognised the hulking form of Pat in the darkness. He nodded a silent greeting and held his hammer before him. His meaning clear, he was ready to fight beside me should he need to.

  Finally after what seemed an age, the rear edge of the zombie horde passed us by. A few stragglers followed along, those too damaged to move as quickly as their brethren. I had no idea if they were the ones from the farmhouse, Coniston or just another bunch travelling the road.

  In truth it didn’t matter, there were too many of them to fight and they were ahead of us. We’d have no choice but to cut to the east as following the road was now impossible.

  Without warning the sound of a scream echoed through the trees behind us and I whirled to face whatever threat was there. Too late though, the damage was done and from beyond the trees came the rising moans of the undead.

  “Jenny,” Pat said with a curse as he dashed back into the trees.

  I followed along. The undead knew we were here, too many to fight and nowhere to run we were likely soon to be dead. The least I could hope for would be the chance to kill Jenny before I died.

  Another scream sounded, then another this one the higher pitched voice of a child. All around the villagers were on their feet, voices raised in a babbling cacophony of fear.

  Jenny lay still where she had been left by Pat. Her arms and legs bound, the gag still fitted over her mouth and eyes closed as she trembled in the grip of the infection. She wasn’t the cause.

  “South,” I said as another scream sounded.

  We dashed through the crowded villagers and found Gregg and Gabby on the edges, battling a growing number of undead. Several of our charges lay dead with zombies feasting, faces and hands darkened with fresh blood.

  Gregg shattered a skull with a blow from his steel bar as Gabby yelled for everyone to run. With nowhere to go the villagers milled around, scared and unable to react.

  “East,” I yelled at her. “Drive everyone east, we’ll have to push through the undead.”

  She nodded and I glanced at Pat. His expression was grim as he prepared to fling himself at the undead moving through the trees. Instead I grabbed his arm and pointed with my chin back to the road. He understood immediately and followed me through the trees.

  The undead were pushing against the stone wall, too many to count and far too stupid to climb over. The closest ones were being slowly crushed by those behind. Those that had been walking in the space between the wall and the trees were headed our way.

  Without waiting for them to reach me I dashed forward, my knife lashing out to strike at the slower moving zombies. Pat was right behind me, his hammer making short work of the undead. Each powerful swing of his lump hammer crushing a skull.

  Behind us the villagers poured out of the trees, fear filled cries filling the air as they saw what awaited them on the road. I caught James’s gaze as he came out from beneath the trees and gestured to my right, away from the mass of zombies that were on my left.

  Not really caring if he understood, I returned to my task of killing the undead. I hammered my blade into the eye socket of a naked zombie with desiccated flesh, kicked out at another and heard ribs crack audibly over the moans and cries of terror before I pulled free my knife and plunged it into the zombie’s skull.

  We moved towards the massed zombies behind the wall, Pat following my lead as I kept their attention on us and away from the villagers. The much fewer undead between the wall and trees were easy to kill.

  They were uncoordinated, rushing blindly at us singly rather than waiting for their fellows to catch up and swarm over us. With weary arms I pushed away with one hand, a zombie that came too close while following with my knife and stabbing down through its skull.

  Slow as they were, they seemed unending. Screams were raised all around us as villagers died and with a thunderous sound audible over everything else, the wall gave way and the horde came tumbling through.

  Chapter 24

  Lily

  When we were all rudely awakened by our captors, it was to be greeted with the sight of Amy. She stood almost proudly by the main entrance, her face a discoloured mass of bruises and dried blood. Her posture was far from straight and she stood uncomfortably though her smile never faltered.

  We were informed brusquely that there would be no food for breakfast and immediately broken up into groups. Those who had specific tasks, such as Will and me, were largely left to it.

  While the guards sorted the people I pulled four aside. They were regulars on scavenging runs before the arrival of Marcus and his men, so were more than capable of going out with his people. I gave a few brief instructions and watched helplessly as they were led away by one of the new guards.

  Lucas, the burly henchmen that Marcus had spoken to and - beside Amy - the only one whose name I knew, came to me and I braced myself for some new torment.

  “Boss doesn’t need you until later,” he said.

  “Then what task would he like me to do?” I asked.

  “Clean the floors.”

  I stared at him and then looked around the room at the piled blankets and assorted belongings of the people who had slept there. You could barely see the floorboards and considering barely anyone walked on them, they were hardly in need of cleaning.

  “Are you serious?” I asked and he nodded. He smiled thinly and his eyes were full of malice. “There aren’t better things I could be doing?”

  “Do as you’re told,” he said.

  Perhaps he thought that I would consider it too demeaning a task but he didn’t know me that well. I considered it unnecessary at the moment but if I had to do it, then so be it. I’d do it and I’d do it well.

  I set to the task by first gathering the assorted sleeping bags and blankets. They were stacked neatly on top of the tables set against the wall that just the night before had held the far too little food for our group.

  Once that was done, I gathered pillows and personal belongings and piled them on to the sofa that had been pushed against the back wall. I grabbed a broom from the cupboard beneath the stairs and gave the floor a quick sweep.

  It wasn’t a terrible task and was actually quite pleasant to lose myself in the work. I finished sweeping and grabbed the mop and bucket from the same cupboard.

  In the kitchen I filled the bucket with hot water and rooted in the cupboards beneath the sink. Eventually I found a bottle of cleaning fluid and added some to the steaming water. Since we cooked outside the gas in the propane tanks was used primarily for heating water for showers.

  At some point either the water or the gas would give out and we’d have to find some other way of cleansing ourselves but for now, while the pressure was low, we did have some water from the taps.

  I was halfway through mopping the wooden flooring when I noticed I was being watched. Marcus stood in the doorway, a smile on his face as he watched me work. It seemed the best course of action would be to ignore him so I continued as though he wasn’t there.

  The splash of water as it hit the floor made me jerk my head up and in his direction. His smile widened as he zipped up his trousers and pointed at the puddle on the floor at his feet.

  “Clean that up,” he said.

  My hand tightened on the mop handle as without a word I crossed to where he was and mopped up the stinking puddle. He watched me with that same look of amusement as I worked and when I was finished he w
alked away without speaking.

  Disgusted with what I’d just had to clean up I took the bucket outside to empty into one of the drains. While doing that I took the time to watch over my people.

  The previous night’s storm had brought down a number of smaller branches and littered the grounds with debris that was being cleared by one group. Another was setting to the trees with hand axes under the watchful gaze of Lucas.

  They seemed to be taking down some thick branches and smaller trees entirely. I couldn’t tell exactly why they were doing that but I guessed they had a reason.

  A third group was working in the gardens, getting everything ready for planting and the fourth were out on the boats fishing. All seemed in order and I turned to go back inside when someone yelled. That was followed by a cry of pain and I looked back to see one of Marcus’s men standing over a young man.

  I took three steps towards them when a hand circled my arm. I glanced back in annoyance and received a warning shake of the head from Becky. Her right eye had a darkening bruise around it and her lower lip was swollen and broken.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “They’re being rough,” was all she said. “If you fight back it gets worse.”

  “Why’re they doing this?”

  She shrugged. “Showing us whose boss is my best guess.”

  “Damn them,” I said as I clutched the handle of the bucket tightly. I needed to lash out at someone, something. Anything I could direct my fury at.

  “Harry’s gone,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said. He’s gone, I don’t know where.”

  “You think he left?”

  “No idea,” she said. “He wants to get to Scotland so if he thought we weren’t going, he might have set off on his own.”

  “I need a weapon,” I said. “See if you can find anything I can use.”

  “Why? You can’t fight them.”

  “We’re going to have to. No one’s coming to rescue us.”

  “They’ve taken everything that could be used,” she said. “Annalise has knives but she’s watched over closely when cooking.”

  “Anything that can be used as a weapon,” I said. “It only needs to be used once and then I’ll have one of their weapons.”

  “I’ll see what I can find,” she said with a sigh.

  “And I’ll keep an eye out for Harry,” I said. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

  I left her there and went back inside. I couldn’t do anything to stop the beatings and the best way I could help my people would be to kill the bastards as soon as I could. I refilled my bucket and set about finishing up the cleaning.

  After the floor was clean another of Marcus’s men wandered by. He saw the floor was finished and with a grin he instructed me to clean the bathrooms. With a resigned sigh I filled my bucket once again and set to.

  With seventy people in a house designed for a great many fewer, no matter how careful you are the lavatories end up in an unpleasant state. The roundhouse had three bathrooms. One on the ground floor, one on the next floor up and the third en suite to the master bedroom.

  I finished the first two and went to clean the en suite. Of course Marcus had taken the master bedroom as his own but fortunately he wasn’t there. The bathroom door was closed and I knocked once. When no one answered I pushed open the door and went inside.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Amy asked.

  She was sitting in the half filled bath. It was clear to see why she was sitting up and not laying back because her entire back was an inflamed mass of bruises and welts. She stared at me defiantly as my eyes filled with tears.

  “I asked what you wanted,” she snapped.

  “Was told to clean the bathrooms,” I said.

  “Do it then,” she said dismissively.

  “Do you need anything for your injuries?” I asked. Other than getting away from those sick bastards.

  “Leave me alone.”

  “You don’t have to put up with this,” I said in a rush. “I can help you.”

  “Piss off bitch,” she said. “This is none of your business.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, anything that would help but she looked at me. Just once, just looked, nothing else and I saw the same madness in her gaze that I’d seen in his. She wanted me to ask, she wanted me to offer sympathy so she could laugh at me and dismiss my need to help her.

  “You’re as broken as he is,” I said instead.

  She just laughed and in that sound was the madness I’d seen in her eyes. I swallowed what I’d been about to say and set about the task of cleaning the room. For the next thirty minutes I ignored her and she ignored me as I scrubbed.

  When I was finished I left without a word and headed back downstairs. I hadn’t realised how late it had been getting but by the time I’d emptied the bucket and put it away beneath the cupboard, people were filing back into the house.

  Each of them looked exhausted and defeated and it broke my heart to see that in such a short time. Several bore bruises or small cuts from where they had been struck and several refused to meet my eyes. Lucas came in and instructed everyone to sit which we did once again.

  One of the men shoved my neatly folded blankets and sleeping bags onto the floor to make way for the heated pots of food that Annalise and her helpers brought in. Then we got to sit and wait once again for Marcus to make his appearance.

  When he came down the stairs, he wasn’t alone. Harry followed behind him with a rifle slung over one shoulder. I glanced back to see a look of shock and horror pass over Becky’s face before she stilled it.

  “It’s been a long hard day for you,” Marcus said as he joined us. “A long hard day but several of you were chastised for not working hard enough.”

  His face darkened as he glanced around the room and few met his gaze.

  “Those who were chastised will not be eating today,” he said. His voice was full of gloating and I desperately hoped no one would challenge him about it. “The rest of you will receive half of what you did yesterday.”

  “Why?” I asked and he smiled at my question. He’d wanted someone to ask.

  “Because you’re being punished for your companions letting you down. We are a community here and as such we share the rewards of our hard work so too must we share the punishments of those who let us down.”

  My fists curled in anger and I forced myself to stillness as I told myself that a response was exactly what he wanted.

  “Now one of you,” he continued. “One of you has had the good sense to join with us. He will eat a full portion today.”

  Harry’s lips curved in a smile as he crossed his arms over his chest and stood up straighter, apparently proud of his betrayal.

  “You see, he understands the new order here,” Marcus said. “You can embrace the changes and prosper or you can fight against it and slowly starve.”

  When no response came from the seated people he gestured us up and towards the table. Those with bruises and fresh cuts remained where they were while the rest of us received a tiny portion of food.

  Julie, the wife of one of the men with fresh bruises, offered a spoonful of her food to her husband and Marcus saw.

  “No,” he said. He gestured to Harry who nodded once and strode through the seated people to the couple. He backhanded Julie across the face and pulled her husband Mark to his feet.

  “I said that those who had been chastised were not to eat,” Marcus said. “This is your own fault.”

  With no need for further instructions, Harry began beating the poor man. Vicious strikes to Mark’s face as he struck him again and again. Blood sprayed and the people around them shuffled as far away as they could in the crowded room.

  Eventually the beating stopped and Mark was left to fall face down onto the floor, his blood spreading out around him.

  “Until I say otherwise that man will not eat,” Marcus
said. “Neither will the woman who tried to share her food with him. If either refuse their tasks they will be killed. Am I clear?”

  Several sobs could be heard amongst the chorused assents of the crowd. The madman nodded, apparently pleased with the response. He gestured for food to be handed out to his men and Harry was the first in line to receive a full bowl.

  We got to watch with rumbling bellies as he and his men ate slowly. No one dared to help Mark as he lay bleeding, or his sobbing wife. When they had finished their meal, Marcus stood and once again addressed the room.

  “I have the same offer for you today as yesterday,” he said. “If anyone wishes to earn some extra food they need only stand and come forward.”

  No one moved though I saw more than one look of indecision on the faces of the gathered people. Marcus apparently saw the same as his smile grew.

  “What about you?” he called to Julie. “The only way you will eat at all, will be if you entertain my men.”

  Julie shook her head as she cradled her husband. His breathing was shallow and bubbles formed in the blood that covered his nose and mouth.

  “Not even for medical aid for your man?” Marcus called his voice jeering. “What a poor mate you are.”

  He seemed to look right at me as he smiled.

  “Get some sleep, you’ve a lot of work to do tomorrow,” Marcus said.

  With those words lingering in our heads he left the room, his men following after. Lucas sent one lewd look my way before following. The door closed with a click and I sprang to my feet.

  “Get some water and some cloth,” I instructed the man nearest me. “We need to help Mark.”

  He ran to the kitchen as I pushed through the crowd to get to the injured man. I caught Becky’s eye as I passed and she patted her coat pocket. I smiled grimly. Good, it’s time to make them pay.

  Chapter 25

  Ryan

  I ducked beneath a clumsy lunge and shoulder barged the zombie out of my way. It fell to the ground at my feet, arms flailing at my trembling legs as I leapt over it and continued my flight.