“We’ve yet to find anyone with the knowledge of how it’s done. That tech girl, Charlie, she dredged up some instructions and books on boat building techniques, but I don’t think it will be enough.”
“Why not?” I asked. “We have carpenters here who know how to work with wood. I’d have thought they could manage something.”
“This island doesn’t have much in the way of wood spare,” she said. “We’d need to travel to the mainland, find a supply and bring it back, or start work over there.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“No one wants to go.”
I closed my eyes and let my head fall forward as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Every day was a new headache just waiting to build. An almost insurmountable series of problems and issues that could be solved easily by others but were brought to me instead.
“Why not?” Cass asked, watching me with concern in her eyes.
“They’re scared,” I said, before Councillor Barnes could reply. “Charlie is great at what she does, but her office is like a sieve. Information just passes through and we can’t seem to stop it. Word is out about what’s happening over there, and no one wants to be involved in that.”
I couldn’t blame them. I mean, who could? What we were hearing each day was growing progressively worse as those people in the scattered communities began to talk to us again.
Raiders, Reapers, and the Dead, led by Sebastian, who were terrorizing the survivors. Add to that, illness and disease, lack of food for many and access to clean water still a huge problem. People were living in squalor and we could help them, if only we could get our own act together first.
“Then perhaps it is time we looked at securing a place on the mainland,” I said. “We build a secure enclosure somewhere with access to the things we need. We can then use that as a staging point for what we need to do.”
“I’ll have Isaac set up a plan,” Cass said, glancing away from me. “He can come up with a suitable location and set out what we need to make it happen.”
“Where is he anyway?” Councillor Barnes asked. “Usually he’s here for these meetings.”
He was until I kissed him and then had a minor meltdown. In the three days since that night, he had avoided me as much as possible, while Cass was distraught for the upset her insistence of my having that date had caused.
“Overseeing the operation near London,” I said. “They’re expected to report back anytime now.”
“What have they said so far?” Councillor Jones asked. “Have they found anything we can use?”
“Initial study of the parasites remains was optimistic. Vanessa seems to think they will find enough useable data to figure out cause of death.”
“When will we hear more?”
“Satellite is due to pass over shortly and they will be able to use it to establish a video connection.” I glanced at the clock on the wall over the door. “In fact, I should be heading off to prepare for that. If there are no more issues?”
The meeting broke up slowly, the councillors taking their time to talk as they gathered their various reports and personal belongings. I didn’t wait as I made my brief farewell and rose from the desk.
I was out of the door before Cass caught up with me and my guards parted to let her through. I offered a strained smile as she matched my pace.
“Are we going to talk about it?”
“No.” I had no interest in going over it, especially not with my bodyguards listening in. “Just not now, yeah?”
“Okay.” She hesitated. “I’m here to talk you know.”
“I know, and I appreciate it, just not right now.”
We walked on in silence, out of the old town hall and into the bright mid-morning sunshine. A cool breeze was blown in from the sea and I could taste the salt tang on the air. Something that I truly loved.
The streets of the town were busy with people wandering to and fro. Many returning from the market with their cloth bags filled with the things they had traded for. We had a thriving barter system, and foodstuffs that were grown privately were free to be traded.
Many offered sewing work, wood carving, clothes mending and many more things. From music to drawing to a day’s labour in someone’s private garden, anyone could offer anything in return for goods and services. With the obvious exception of sexual favours and criminal acts, of course.
Men and women with brooms were sweeping the pavement, while an older couple were pulling weeds that had sprouted. I couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride for my people. They were working to keep their community clean and tidy, while keeping themselves busy.
So many were willing to volunteer to tend the green areas of the town, to work in the growing houses and on the farms. They did it for no extra benefits, other than to help out all the people of the island.
That was something I wanted to cultivate all the more, and to see it spread across to the mainland where we could all work together.
At the command centre door, the guards stepped aside, and I led the way in with Cass following behind, face unusually pensive as she remained silent. I knew she worried that she had done something wrong with pushing me, and I wanted to reassure her but wasn’t ready to talk about the disaster that had been the date.
Not that I wasn’t about to have a vivid reminder as I stepped into the command centre and immediately caught sight of Isaac standing beside Charlie at the bank of monitors.
His back was to me and he cut an impressive figure in just shirt and jeans, as he was the centre of attention from those around him. He spoke with confidence and they listened, hurrying to obey his orders.
“It’s okay to like him,” Cass whispered as she moved past me to join Isaac and Charlie.
“Just in time,” Charlie said, as she turned to see me. “Should receive the signal any-“
She cut off as the screens before her came to life and I slowly shook my head. Three people, two men and one woman, knelt on the ground facing the camera. Behind them, a dozen figures wearing black hoods and the crimson and black sigil of Sebastian’s followers stood watching the camera.
At some signal from behind the camera, one of them began to speak, his voice rough and full of anger.
“Those who refuse to see the truth revealed in the Book of Ryan, have only one fate.”
A gasp rose from the technicians watching as knives were brought out and slashed quickly across the throats of those kneeling. Vanessa’s eyes widened as she struggled in the grip of the cultists holding her, her blood spraying out over the ground.
“We are the Dead!” those cultists cried in unison and the feed went dead.
I stared, dumbfounded, at the screen and just continued to shake my head. Isaac turned, face hardening with his anger as he met my gaze.
“What are your orders?”
I shared that anger as I stared at the blank screens and I clenched my fists as I fought back the urge to scream out my rage. I met his eyes, reflecting the fury that burned there as I said, “gather as many of your people as you can. We’re going to war.”
Chapter 23
My hands pressed against the cool metal to brace myself as the trailers right wheel hit another pothole in the road, sending me rattling around the barrel. I held back the urge to swear as I was bumped from side to side.
Voices could be heard, though faintly, and I had to only hope that the women wouldn’t betray me to the raiders. It was in their best interest not to, but if they did, I would ensure they died before I did.
Movement stopped and voices shouted a response to a query I couldn’t hear. Moments later the horses started moving once again, the sound of their hooves on the tarmac loud enough to drown out any other noise.
The women could be easily telling the raiders where I hid, and I wouldn’t know until the barrel lid was removed and a blade pressed against my throat.
Voices raised in anger could be heard and I braced myself, waiting for the lid to be lifted. Instead, the horses continued on
walking and soon the hooves echoed with each step, suggesting that they had guided the trailer into one of the hangars.
I waited with barely held patience as my heart thundered against my chest. It seemed to reverberate around the confined interior of the barrel and I almost trembled with excitement. I drew in a breath as the lid was lifted, only breathing out as I recognised the face of the younger woman.
“Keep quiet!” she hissed. “We’re inside but it won’t be safe till dark.”
“What happened?”
She looked over to what I assumed to be the open hangar door before answering.
“We told them what you said, yeah. Attacked by some travellers who headed west along the road. A dozen of the Riders went out to search.”
“No suspicion?”
“They don’t think we’d run, not without the kids.”
“Kids?”
“Yeah, you think they can fuck us every night for years without a kid being put in your belly?”
I’d not really considered it but neither had I seen any children when observing the compound over a number of days. That was a problem.
“Where do they keep the children?”
“Hanger eight,” she replied without hesitation.
“How often do they let you see them?”
Her face betrayed her surprise and she peered into the barrel, searching my eyes.
“We never told you they were keeping them from us.”
“Easiest way to make sure you obey,” I said, with a mocking grin. It would also explain why I hadn’t seen them while watching the compound. “Take away from you all that you hold dear. How many are there?”
“Two.”
“Just two!”
That surprised me, especially considering what she had just said.
“There’s a woman…” She bit her lip as her eyes welled with tears. “Look, you get pregnant, it’s just another mouth to feed. They have a woman come to the compound. She was a doctor or summat before… she…”
“I get it,” I said, and for once I did.
“Yeah, well, she gets rid of the kids until you can’t have anymore. Some slip through or the guy decides he’s okay with getting extra rations to feed them or whatever.”
“One of the kids yours?”
“Nah, I’ve not been pregnant for a year or more now.”
The other woman’s child then, and yet more of a reason to ensure I killed each and every one of those raiders.
“Climb out,” she said. “Quick while they’re not looking.”
I poked my head above the rim of the barrel and seeing the way was clear, quickly scrambled out. I dropped down onto the concrete floor of the hangar beside her. Outside, a dozen men rode past wearing the raiders armour, and soon vanished from sight as the sound of their horse’s hooves faded into the distance.
Wood was stacked high along the left wall, while more of the barrels were against the right. Boxes were piled where space allowed and there was enough of them for me to comfortably hide behind until it was dark.
Once night fell, they tended to settle in fairly early. They didn’t waste fuel on lights, so aside from a central bonfire and any cooking fires, they would drink whatever alcohol they had to hand and sleep until sunrise. That gave me plenty of time to kill them.
The woman’s hand touched my arm and I looked up, irritation writ plain on my face, into scared brown eyes.
“You know I don’t believe that bullshit she was saying.”
“I don’t care.”
“Then why are you here? Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can,” I said, shrugging. “Because it will bring me a great deal of pleasure.”
“You better not let us down!” she snapped. “I’ve not believed in anyone for a long time. I’ve not had hope…”
“Then why trust me now?”
I was genuinely curious. Emma had opened her mouth and created a great many questions. Gregg, rightfully, quickly pointed out that I’d only threatened to kill her if she called me ‘Lord Death’ and I hadn’t forbidden her from talking about anything else.
So, I couldn’t kill her, though I almost had. Instead, I had merely commanded her to silence and that had almost sent the two captive women scurrying in fear, suspecting me to be as bad as the raiders they feared.
It had only been Abigail telling me to walk away that had seemed to give them some pause, letting them open up when I did as she’d said.
I was smart enough to know when my presence was more of a hinderance than a help, after all.
The younger woman had been studying my face for several long seconds as she considered her answer, and finally she said, “because you’re the first one to offer us something close to being free.”
With that she turned and set to unhitching the horses. I took the hint and settled into a shadowed part of the hangar as waited I for night to fall.
It was a long time coming. I watched the hangar doors through a gap in the piled boxes, taking note of the people as they passed. The women and those few men without armour, all wore looks of abject misery, while those in armour strutted about as though they were the top of the food chain.
Thy were about to find out that they weren’t.
I checked my weapons, taking the time to slowly sharpen the blades with my whetstone before sheathing them once more. The shadows had barely shifted outside and I held back a sigh, hating how long the wait was.
As the sky began to darken, the bonfire was lit. More women came into the hangar to gather armfuls of wood to feed the cookfires and I felt my heart begin to quicker. It would soon be time. I checked my weapons for what seemed like the hundredth time and began to hum softly to myself.
The younger woman returned, checking quickly that the hangar was empty before rushing over to where I hid. She crouched down beside me, peering through the gaps in the boxes as she spoke in whispered voice.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Kill everyone.”
“Yes, but how?”
I lifted my knife as though to show her and she shook her head firmly.
“No! I mean, how do you expect to kill twenty-odd people without being killed yourself or getting us killed!”
By ‘us’ I assumed she meant the other captive women and men, and I lifted my shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. Plans were pointless because they would always go wrong at the first engagement, but I could see that she needed more than that.
“Fine. Okay, look, the fire will die down and most of them will go off to sleep. I know which hangars are theirs, so I will go in and kill most of them then. The guards surrounding the place…. What?”
“You know that most of them won’t be sleeping alone, yeah?”
“They won’t?”
“No, they’ll take us to their beds first. We don’t have anywhere of our own, we just sleep in the bed of whoever claims us for the night.”
I took a moment to digest that, then looked her square in the eyes.
“Then why haven’t you already killed them?”
“What!”
“They’re asleep, vulnerable, why not just kill them?”
“We aren’t killers!”
“So, you would rather continue as it is until someone comes and rescues you?”
“Nice, blame the victim why don’t you!”
I snickered then and watched as her cheeks heated and her eyes flashed with anger. I put out a hand to grab her arm, stopping her as she made to rise.
“They are going to die, this night. If you don’t want to help, that’s on you. No one can make you be a victim but you. If that’s what you choose to be, I will kill everyone here for you and tomorrow a new group will come and take you for themselves.”
She didn’t try to pull away and I released my hold on her, keeping my voice low and allowing the killer to come to the fore.
“This world is full of darkness and the monsters that haunt it will never let you rest. Some are not made to fight; they just do
n’t have what is required to take a life. Those that do… they can choose what type of monster they are going to be. One that harms others, or one that protects them.”
“What type of monster are you?” she asked, staring intently right back at me.
“I’m a whole different type,” I answered with a grin. “Do you trust the other captives here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will they betray you to ease their burden?”
She didn’t answer immediately, which was good. It meant she was giving it some serious thought and finally, she shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Then only speak to those you trust.”
“To tell them what?”
I pulled out the black hood that Emma had been wearing when I captured her. I had always tended not to bother wearing one, but I had made my minions do so for a very simple reason. It brought terror to those who saw them, faceless and shrouded in darkness.
“Tell them,” I began as I pulled the hood over my head. “Tell them that any who raise a weapon will die this very night. That they should turn away their face from the darkness and hold out their hands so that they are seen to be innocent.”
“Why?” she asked, seemingly afraid to hear the answer and I grinned behind the hood.
“Because tonight death walks amongst them.”
Chapter 24
My hand clamped down over the sentry’s mouth as the serrated edge of my combat blade sawed through his trachea. The copper scent of blood filled the air as it spilt from the wound in his neck. His booted feet kicked at the dirt as his hands grabbed futilely at mine.
I wanted to laugh, to shout my joy as he died, but I held back. It was too soon to celebrate, and he was merely the first of many.
The dying embers of the fire gave little illumination, but even so, I pulled the body deeper into the darkness between two of the hangars. Soon enough he would reanimate, bringing chaos to the compound and allowing me more chances to kill the rest.
A short, silent, dash to the end of the hangar and I peered out. The clear sky and full moon left a world painted in shadow. Not enough light to make out any meaningful detail, but enough to see the few patrolling guards.
Killing The Dead | Book 21 | The Journey Home Page 17