Dead Days [Season 11]

by Casey, Ryan

  Riley nodded. He looked back at the Main Building. Thought of that district beyond. Thought of all the other districts and wondered what other secrets they hid.

  “What did you see in that other district?” Alison asked.

  Riley thought of a word to describe it. And despite everything, there was only one word he could settle on. “Beauty.”

  Alison nodded. Like she got it. Like she understood. “They say beauty hides in the most unexpected places.”

  “Who said that?”

  “I dunno. What do you take me for? Wikipedia?”

  “Well, you’re super-strong, so…”

  Alison laughed. And Riley found himself smiling, too. Smiling despite everything.

  “Thank you,” he said. “For saving Anna’s life. For saving my child’s life. You’ll never know how grateful I am.”

  Alison smiled back at him. “I was wrong about you.”

  “About what?”

  “You have changed. You’re more… intense.”

  Riley laughed. “Is that a good thing?”

  “Yeah,” Alison said. “I’d say it is.”

  She reached over. Squeezed his hand.

  “You’re going to be a good dad,” she said. “You couldn’t be first time round, sure. No point torturing you about that any more. We all have our reasons. We all have our shit going on. You’ve more than made up for it, now.”

  Riley wanted to disagree. Wanted to argue.

  But all he could do was lower his head and nod. “Thank you. I’m—I’m glad you’re here. And I’m glad Riley Junior is okay. That he’s got a good dad. A good family.”

  Alison nodded, too. “Me too.”

  They sat there. Sat there and stared at the waves. At the sea. So many questions, so few answers. A limbo that Riley didn’t know how to escape. A crossroads he didn’t know how to navigate.

  “What are you going to do about Melissa?” Alison asked.

  Riley’s stomach sank. A question he didn’t want to face. A question he didn’t want to answer.

  But a question he knew only had one outcome.

  “We’re going to have to take her out,” he said. “We’re going to have to finish her off. Because she’s gone. She isn’t here. Not anymore.”

  Alison looked back at him and half-smiled with that look of guilty acceptance on her face.

  A look like she knew the same fate was in store for her, too, in time.

  But not now.

  Soon. But not now.

  Somewhere in the distance, a storm brewed.

  Chapter Four

  Melissa stared into the dark void of the blindfold and tried to resist the voices in her head.

  She could hear them screaming at her. Urging her to escape. To get out of here. Because there was still a chance.

  Riley. Rhubi. Kesha.

  If she could get to them… she could find a way over to Britain.

  And once she was there—once she was somewhere populated, somewhere the true conversion process could begin… then the world would follow.

  She saw it now, clear as day in front of her.

  And now she’d seen it, it wasn’t the kind of thing she could unsee.

  She tasted bitterness at the back of her throat. She could feel her nose bleeding, trickling down her face as she tried to fight her urges; as she tried to resist the screaming voices begging her to do what deep down, she really didn’t want to do.

  Because at first, she thought she was in control. She thought she wanted to spread this virus. She thought it would be the best thing for humanity.

  But then she’d seen glimpses. Glimpses of the true humanity in Riley’s eyes. In Anna’s eye.

  She’d seen those glimpses, and she wondered whether this was the right—

  KILLTHEMKILLTHEMKILLTHEM

  The screaming. Louder. Making every hair on her body stand on end.

  And something was beginning to happen, too. When she was out there earlier, she’d felt invincible. Like she could take on anyone. Like no pain could unsettle her.

  But pain was beginning to grow.

  Creepy crawlies working their way through her body. Spreading through every inch of her system. Sending an aching, splitting sensation right through what was left of her arm.

  And biting.

  Biting.

  Eating away at her…

  GETOUTGETOUTGET—

  She saw Alison in her mind’s eye, then. And she knew there was something totally different about Alison. The way she’d… changed. The way she was strong—like Melissa.

  No. Stronger.

  Something different about her.

  Something that scared Melissa.

  She wanted to break free of these cuffs, but she was so, so weak. She wanted to reach for her belly, to put her hand on it, to cradle her child. Her little girl. She should be looking forward to a life with her. She should be looking forward to raising her. To giving her the best life she could.

  But now there was no chance of that.

  Now, there was—

  Your little girl’s going to be okay; stronger better than ever before.

  That voice. Shouting in her ears. Not as loud, now. Like it was trying to appeal to her. Trying to negotiate with her.

  But not if you don’t do what you need to do not if you don’t do it not if you don’t—

  She cried out as loud as this gag would allow.

  She heard footsteps, then. Footsteps approaching her cell. A cell she’d walked past a million times before. A cell she never in her wildest nightmares imagined she’d end up locked inside one day.

  But a cell that she was being kept in—and with perfectly good reason, too.

  She heard the front door to the cell open and someone step inside.

  She could smell them. Male. The sweat dripping from their body. The slight hint of fear about them. Not Riley.

  “You—you okay in here?”

  She recognised his voice immediately. Jon. One of the residents of their district. One of the survivors of all the shit that had gone down.

  Someone who’d always had a soft spot for her, too.

  She wanted to beg Jon to leave. To urge him to go away. Because she didn’t trust herself. She didn’t trust the monster she had become; the monster she still felt she had the capability of growing into.

  She found herself shaking. Shaking, like she was having some kind of fit. Some kind of seizure.

  And that’s what it felt like. A seizure. Her convulsions getting stronger. Her body fitting even more violently, even more wildly.

  “Um, guys?” Jon shouted.

  But nobody was coming. Melissa knew that much.

  So she kept on fitting.

  Kept on shaking.

  Out of control.

  But at the same time, totally in control.

  She heard the hesitation to Jon’s steps. Heard the way he shuffled from side to side. Heard him cursing under his breath.

  His sweat smelling stronger.

  His heart beating faster.

  “Fuck,” he said. “Fuck.”

  And then he rushed over to the cell door.

  Unlocked it.

  And he stepped inside.

  Melissa listened as he walked slowly towards her. She was weak. So weak. But she could feed. She could feed, and then she could be strong again. And then she could see the world in that wonderful, beautiful way again.

  She could—

  “Melissa?”

  Jon was just inches from her face now.

  She could feel the heat radiating from his body.

  She could sense his fear growing.

  And how much he liked her.

  How much he wanted her.

  He reached for her eyes.

  Moved her blindfold away.

  She looked at him, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  She shook her head as she began to sweat. And then she realised something. From the horror on Jon’s face.

  It wasn’t tears she was crying.


  It was blood.

  He started to back away.

  Then he stopped.

  Something stopped him.

  He moved forward.

  Pulled her gag away.

  “Melissa?” he said. “What’s… what’s happening? Speak to me. Please.”

  She felt her jaw shaking.

  Felt herself sighing.

  Felt herself closing her bloodied, tearful eyes for a second, and then opening them again.

  “Run,” Melissa said.

  Jon frowned. “What—”

  But it was too late.

  Melissa felt herself lurch forward.

  Felt her teeth sink into Jon’s forehead.

  Crack through his skull.

  She heard him begin to shout, and it was then, on the taste of blood, that it came back to her.

  Her strength.

  Her lucidity.

  Her clarity.

  He didn’t scream for longer than a second because she yanked her arm and her legs free from the cuffs and she wrapped herself tight around Jon’s body.

  And she sunk her mouth into his neck.

  Smashed him against the floor, again, again, again.

  Biting.

  Chewing.

  Tasting.

  Orgasmic.

  And when she was done, when she was satisfied, when her hunger had been satiated, she looked down at Jon, and she waited. Waited for him to return. Waited for him to open his eyes.

  It was a few seconds before his eyes opened.

  Before he looked up at Melissa, throat torn, skull dinted, but smiling. Laughing and smiling.

  She looked down at him and smiled back. “Now come on,” she said. “We’ve got work to do.”

  She looked up at the open door.

  A smile crept across her face.

  Chapter Five

  Riley walked over to the cells as the skies began to grey, a looming storm closing in.

  It was time to make his decision about Melissa.

  And the way he saw it—as tough as a decision as it was to make—there was only one possible choice.

  He walked over towards the buildings and the homes. Places that had been so comforting for so long. The Main Building in the distance, looming over with its dead authority.

  And then the sight of the wall in the horizon. The wall leading to the other districts. The virus in all its forms, in all its states of evolution.

  He looked over his shoulder at where Alison was. She was with Anna and Rhubi, getting the bodies out of the streets, disposing of them. Rhubi was keeping a close eye on Kesha. Flames crackled above, but it didn’t look like they were going to be burning for long. Not now the storm was closing in.

  He saw Kesha sitting in Anna’s arms, Anna’s pregnant belly, and he felt so grateful that they were still here.

  But at the same time, he felt so uncertain, because he’d seen just how much he could lose.

  He didn’t want to face anything like it. Not again.

  He turned back towards the cells when he noticed something.

  Blood on the door to the cells.

  He stopped in his tracks. Tried to logically explain it. Maybe blood had got on there when they’d locked Melissa away. Or maybe it was from when he’d killed Peter. That seemed like the likeliest option.

  But there was still an uncertainty in Riley’s gut.

  He lifted his rifle and walked towards the cell entrance.

  When he reached the door, more hesitation built. Because he swore he heard something in there. Rustling. Shuffling.

  It stopped the moment he reached the door.

  He looked around. Back at Alison. Still with Anna, Rhubi, Kesha. Still clearing up the bodies.

  Then he turned back to the door and lowered the handle.

  When he pushed the door open, the first thing he noticed was the smell. A weird freshness to the air. Like flowers in spring.

  And then there was the silence, too.

  It just felt wrong.

  He walked past the empty cells. Scanned them to make sure nothing was in there. To check he hadn’t missed anything.

  That silence growing stronger.

  More foreboding.

  He kept walking as he made his way to Melissa’s. He didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to see. Didn’t want to…

  He stopped, then.

  Melissa’s cell.

  There was something wrong.

  It was empty.

  He unlocked it. Rushed inside.

  And when he reached the stool where Melissa had been sat, he saw something that filled him with fear.

  Blood on the floor.

  His heart raced. She’d escaped. She was out there. And if she was still acting at the whims of the virus… then she would be trying to get to Kesha and to Rhubi.

  And to him.

  He’d made a mistake.

  A fatal mistake.

  He was about to turn around when he heard the cell door creak.

  When he looked back he saw Melissa standing there.

  Jon by her side.

  Only Jon was different now.

  Jon had changed.

  They both looked at him, smiling. But regretful, in a way. Like they really didn’t want to do this. Really didn’t want to carry this out.

  He lifted his rifle. Raced over towards them. “Don’t you—”

  Melissa grabbed Riley’s arm, yanked it through the cell and threw the rifle away.

  Then she took a deep breath and sighed. That struggle to her face. That conflict in her eyes. “I’m sorry for this, Riley. Really. I am.”

  “Don’t—”

  Then she jabbed a syringe deep into his arm.

  And she extracted blood.

  A hell of a lot of blood.

  She pulled the needle away when she’d done. Pushed Riley back. Then stepped back.

  Riley gripped his bleeding arm, spurting blood everywhere. “You—you can’t do this.”

  “We can,” Melissa said. “And we will. We’ve got all we need from you now. Rhubi, she should be easy enough to get to. As for Kesha…”

  Riley lunged to his feet. “Don’t you touch her.”

  Melissa smiled. “You know I wouldn’t harm her. And really, I’d love to invite you to join this new world. But if you’re so set. If you’re so insistent. Well, you can stay here. You can stay here and rot.”

  Her face dropped, just for a moment.

  Then that glassiness returned to her eyes once again.

  She turned around and walked out of the entrance to the cells, Jon by her side.

  He banged against the cell bars. “Don’t touch her! Anna! Alison! Don’t—”

  “Goodbye, Riley,” Melissa said.

  She turned around and looked at him.

  And for a moment, Riley saw the old Melissa.

  He saw her trapped in there.

  Screaming to get out as the rain washed the blood from her face.

  And then she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

  Chapter Six

  Anna heard the shout, and she knew something was wrong right away.

  It was only momentary. Only brief. But she’d heard it, and that was enough.

  A shout.

  Then silence.

  Only it was down by the cells. That’s what had her even more concerned.

  She looked at Alison standing beside the fire. Or rather, the fire that had been burning before the rain arrived. She saw that same uncertainty on Alison’s face. That same concern.

  She didn’t even have to ask her if she’d heard it.

  She clearly had.

  “You two okay?”

  Anna looked at Rhubi, who didn’t look like she’d heard much. Then at Kesha, who was wailing in her arms. She felt so vulnerable standing here, holding Kesha like this. But then she couldn’t put her anywhere. She couldn’t risk losing her. Not again.

  “The cells,” Anna said. “Something… something’s happening.”

  “I didn�
��t hear anything,” Rhubi said.

  “It was only brief. But I think…”

  Before she could continue, she saw something.

  Jon.

  Walking towards them from the cells.

  There was something different about Jon. Something different about the way he was walking. The look in his eyes. He had an expression of concern on his face… but something else, too.

  A look like he knew what he was doing.

  And that filled Anna with uncertainty.

  Alison stepped forward. Walked ahead of Anna, of Kesha, of Rhubi.

  Walked towards Jon.

  “Alison?” Anna said.

  She turned. Looked right at Anna.

  “Be… be careful,” Anna said.

  Alison nodded.

  Then she turned back around and walked back in Jon’s direction.

  Anna could only stand there, tightening her grip on a crying Kesha, the rain lashing down. She could only watch as Jon inched closer.

  But she sensed that something was coming. That the clouds and the rain were just a precursor for what was going to follow.

  She saw Alison reach Jon, and that’s when she spotted it.

  The grenades.

  The two grenades in each of Jon’s hands.

  Then she saw the pins were released.

  “Alison!”

  An explosion erupted. Blood splattered everywhere. Bone and skin fragments erupted all around.

  Alison disappeared in the haze.

  Anna stepped forward a little. Jon had erupted into a bloody mass.

  But Alison.

  She…

  Anna reached her side.

  She was lying there on the ground. Burned. Bloodied.

  Unconscious.

  And as Anna stood there, she heard another scream.

  Only this one wasn’t from the cells.

  It was from further in the distance.

  From the Main Building.

  “What…” she said.

  She saw something, then, as Rhubi reached her side, helping Alison to her feet, dragging her to one side.

  She looked over at the Main Building, and she could only stare in awe.

  There was something coming from the entrance to the Main Building.

  Something she could only describe as… colours.

  Colours so rich, so inviting.

  Colours she had never ever seen before.