“No,” I said, voice clear as I looked directly at the woman I loved. She glared back at me, knowing what I was about to say. “Genpact have made their intentions clear. We know where their base is, so, we go and stop them.”
“Stop them?” Vanessa scoffed. “Just like that, huh? How do you propose to do that?”
“Easy,” I said with a grin. “We kill them all.”
Chapter 9
When I arrived back at the control room, I stepped through the doors and received a round of applause. I stopped, staring around in surprise as the normally dour Admiral approached me with a wide smile on his face.
“Congratulations,” he said and performed a smart salute.
All around us, the soldiers and technicians rose to their feet and did the same. It was a display that brought me to tears and I unashamedly wiped my eyes as I smiled widely.
“Thank you. All of you,” I waved to the staff and they clapped once more before settling back down to their work.
“You look a little overwhelmed,” Minister Shepherd said as she joined us. The stern-faced woman had a smile of her own and looked happier than I’d ever seen her before. “Come, take a seat.”
She directed me to the corner of the room that had become a sort of break area. In lieu of desks and terminals, there were comfy sofas and cabinets where they could store whatever snacks they could scrounge up.
At a glance from the Admiral, the two staff members taking their break there, rose up to their feet, saluted and then hurried away. I watched them go with a pang of guilt. They shouldn’t have to move for me.
“You could have warned me,” I said, with only a hint of an accusation in my tone. “No one told me they’d written in my name.”
“Didn’t know it would matter until we tallied them up,” Shepherd said.
Admiral Stuart, Cass and Shepherd seated themselves on the sofas and I did the same, sighing as some of the tension I hadn’t even realised that I’d been carrying, drained from me. It felt like an age since I had really had the chance to relax.
“You’ve been briefed about the boat people?” I asked, looking at the Admiral and Shepherd.
“Yes, most troubling.”
“One way of putting it,” Shepherd muttered. “This is damned biological warfare! What are we going to do about it?”
They were all looking at me, I realised, expecting me to just have an answer. They had elected me to lead them and it seemed that came with a great deal of expectation. I had to admit, I liked that. I enjoyed being useful, being in charge, being the one to have the answers.
It gave me a chance to help remake the world we had lost and to remake it better than it was. Without the corruption and waste, without the needless suffering and selfish hoarding of resources. We had a chance of becoming great.
“There’s no way to cure those infected people,” I said, voice soft and even, hiding the pain those words caused me. “We can leave them to suffer or put them out of their misery.”
“Kill them,” Shepherd said flatly, mouth twisting with distaste.
“Yes.”
“And burn the bodies,” Admiral Stuart added. His demeanour was calm but there was an undercurrent of anger in his voice. He didn’t like the idea. “I have drawn up a plan of action, ma’am.”
There he was with the formality again. At times, he treated me almost like another human being, but at others, he retreated into formality. I had been irritated at first, but soon came to realise that it was his way of coping with distressing situations.
He was a military man and had been one all of his life. He liked to have a well-defined chain of command. It helped him deal with the chaos of the world, especially in the apocalypse we found ourselves in.
“Go on,” I encouraged, gently. “I’ll need a full report, but please, let us have the basics.”
“The drone coverage will be extended to ensure no one approaches the island without being noticed. I will increase the number of patrols in the Irish Sea, and there will be several rapid response teams set up along our eastern coastline.”
“What will these rapid response teams do?”
“They will be outfitted with containment suits and will meet any approaching boats. Once aboard those boats, they will redirect them south to the Calf of Man.”
I shared a puzzled glance with Cass. “I’m not familiar with that name.”
“Apologies, ma’am. It is the smaller island just off the south coast of the Isle of Man. Approx two and a half square kilometres that is separated from the main island by a narrow stretch of water. It was, I understand, a bird sanctuary before the fall.”
“Okay, so you will take them to this bird sanctuary and then what?”
“Doctor Cassidy is working with us to set up containment protocols. Any new refugees will be tested and observed. If they are not infected, they will be allowed to the main island.”
“And if they are?” Shepherd asked, squinting suspiciously at the military man. “What then?”
“They will be assessed as to whether they can be cured of whatever infections and illnesses they carry. If they can, we shall do so,” I said firmly. “If they can’t, then they will be given peace.”
“A polite way of saying we’ll kill them.”
“Yes.”
The silence stretched uncomfortably as the older woman grimaced at me, jaw moving as though she were chewing something unpalatable. I didn’t need the full support of the government to make that decision, but it would be easier to have it. I needed the other members of my cabinet to work with me, else I would spend my days pointlessly arguing and nothing would get done.
Finally, she nodded.
“I don’t like it, but we don’t have much choice.”
“You will have sufficient forces stationed there to ensure no one can make it to the main island?” I said, turning back to the Admiral.
“Yes, ma’am. Also, Samuel has agreed to have a rotating force of acolytes there.”
I nodded at that. It made sense. They would be the ones most likely to put people out of their misery. We didn’t have the resources to medically do the task and most of the islanders would baulk at the idea of killing those people. Not Ryan’s followers though.
“That’s that then,” Shepherd said. “What about whoever sent them?”
“The most likely culprits are Genpact,” I said. “And we know where their base is.”
“A bunker, with power, supplies and mercenary guards with a small arsenal. It would not be an easy fight.” Admiral Stuart looked thoughtful, eyes seeming to unfocus as he looked inwards. “When Samuel stripped the Scottish base of supplies and useful equipment, he took the time to record everything he could.”
“He did?” That was news to me.
“Yes, ma’am. From the video he provided, those bunkers are designed to survive anything. The steel doors alone were several feet thick and blast proof. Even if we could get inside, we would then have to fight our way along narrow corridors as they picked us off. We would lose a lot of people.”
“Then what do you propose?”
“Honestly? I would suggest we try diplomacy first.”
He smiled at the way we all gaped at him and he tapped his clean-shaven chin with one finger as he thought.
“Yes, we can distract them with diplomacy while a small team make their way inside.”
“And how do you propose they do that?” Shepherd scoffed.
“That would be me,” Isaac said as he sauntered up beside us.
The big mercenary grinned at our looks of surprise and he offered a casual salute to the Admiral and a nod to me.
Despite his brutish appearance, he was an intelligent man and surprisingly loyal considering that he had been one of the mercenary guards at the Genpact base. What surprised me most was that Ryan seemed to trust him, as much as he trusted anyone.
After all, Isaac had been the one to abduct him and take him to be tortured by his Genpact employers.
“What do y
ou mean?” Shepherd asked and the man offered her a wolfish grin that would have made a nun blush.
“I know those bases. I lived in one for long enough.”
“Isaac offered a plan of action,” Admiral Stuart said softly. “One I am inclined to listen to.”
“Aye, well, when I heard about the boat people-“
“You heard?” Cass asked. “Who told you?”
A good question. It wasn’t exactly a secret but we needed to maintain some level of distance between the Islanders and the full facts, just to avoid a panic.
“I have friends,” he said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Soldiers gossip amongst themselves.”
“What’s your plan?” I said and gave the Admiral a meaningful look. He nodded in acknowledgement and I knew he would deal with any further such gossip.
“We send a force of your CDF soldiers.” I opened my mouth to speak but he raised one hand, gesturing for me to wait. “We make a show of building up a large force that could attack them and as we do, we send a group of diplomats to talk truce with them.”
“Won’t work, of course, those Genpact fucks care only about themselves. They’ll make a show of listening though as it will give them time to come up with a counter to the soldiers on their doorstep.”
“While that is all going on, I can lead a small group of suicidal fucks into the base and…”
He didn’t need to finish. We all knew what needed to be done and as cold and harsh as that sounded, it was necessary. Genpact had created the zombie apocalypse and they wouldn’t leave their bunkers until the world was clear of living and undead alike.
They wanted a virgin world to rebuild in their own image and would stop at nothing to get that. There was no way we could make peace with them, even if I had wanted to. They had murdered billions and didn’t seem the sort to give up before the job was done.
“I thought the Genpact people in the England bunker were having doubts about their plan,” Cass said. “That’s what Ryan told us when he came back.”
“Aye, well that’s before he went and wiped an entire bunker out,” Isaac said. “No offence to you lot, but that probably wiped away any doubts they were having.”
“Who will go with you into the bunker?” Shepherd asked and all eyes seemed to turn to me.
“Ryan and his people,” I said, with a heavy heart. I knew that was the only real answer that made sense, but I didn’t have to like it.
Cass reached out and squeezed my hand gently and I squeezed back, appreciating the support but giving my own to her too. If Ryan went, then so would Gregg and Cass knew that too. He wouldn’t let his friend go off alone.
“The diplomatic team will be in danger too,” Shepherd said. “I’ll lead them.”
“You don’t have to-“
“I want to. Those bastards are the reason we have all lost those we love. I’m not fatalistic enough to join your boyfriend’s bloody death cult because of it, but I have no problem risking myself if it means we can get our revenge.”
“Very well.” I could understand that. I felt the same anger when I thought of those people who had unleashed the zombie plague. “Write up a full plan of action, detail what you will need and give me a timeframe and we shall get this started.”
“No,” Shepherd said. “We’ll get this finished!”
Chapter 10
The door to our prison opened and, to my surprise, we had visitors and not the doctor or nurse that I had expected. Gregg glanced up and smiled, before returning to the decade-old fashion magazine that he’d been reading.
I pushed myself up from the bed and approached the clear plastic wall of our confinement tent and then stood, arms down at my sides as I waited for them to speak.
“Hello, Ryan,” my mother said. Her voice was soft and low, with a little apprehension evident.
“Ryan,” Evelyn said and I almost smiled. Still a great deal of anger in her tone.
“To what do I owe this special honour?” I asked with a mocking smile. “It’s been a while.”
“Since you admitted to killing, Gabe,” Evelyn said, anger fully evident in her voice and eyes.
My mother reached out to lay one hand on my sister’s arm. Evelyn looked at her, anger dying down in the face of my mothers irritating calm. She, it seemed, was trying to forgive my sin and I had no doubt that she’d been praying nightly for my soul.
Which really annoyed me. If I had a soul, it was mine and needed no saving.
Evelyn grabbed a couple of the plastic chairs and brought them across to where I stood. She set them down and my mother, looking older and frailer than ever, took a seat. Evelyn seated herself in the other and crossed her arms as she stared at me.
“Dad’s doing better,” she spat, and I blinked, not sure why she had told me that. “Like you fucking care.”
“Evelyn, enough!”
I grinned at the sharp tone to my mother’s voice. She usually reserved that for me and me alone.
“As much as I enjoy our pleasant meetings, I have to wonder what brings you here?”
“My son is in quarantine. I was concerned.”
I cocked an eyebrow at that, but she seemed sincere. I knew that she had been working hard to get over my admission of killing my brother, but she had not spoken to me since that day back on the Isle of Lewis when she had asked me outright if I had done it.
So, I couldn’t help but wonder just how concerned she could be. All through my childhood, my parents had espoused the view that violence was wrong. There was no greater sin than taking the life of another.
They had struggled with the idea that I had killed people, even when they only had a vague belief that I had done so to stay alive. Later, when they’d not been able to avoid hearing the rumours that people spoke about me, they must surely have learnt the truth.
I enjoyed killing.
As I watched my mothers face though, it seemed that she had managed to resolve that in her own mind. She had made peace with my penchant for murder and even, it would seem, my leading a death cult.
Evelyn, however, was a different matter. She had been close to Gabriel and had taken his death poorly. I knew that she had been growing closer to Lily and loved spending time with the twins, but she had actively avoided me whenever possible.
Which made their visit doubly troubling.
“I will be fine.” If they noticed the chill in my voice, they didn’t show it. “As you can see. I am alive and well, so you may return to your lives.”
“Ryan!” Gregg snapped and I turned to him, more than a little surprised. “Have some respect for your family, mate. Most people don’t have the luxury of having them close.”
Great! I thought to myself, he was sounding more like Lily every day. It was bad enough at times having her voice in my head, that little bit of conscience that I had never had before. If I had to listen to him too, I would never get anything done.
Even so, I had to admit that he was right. A little civility wouldn’t hurt, and I had faked it for long enough before the fall of the world, I could do so again.
“My apologies,” I said with an expansive smile and a slight bow, barely bending at the waist, but hopefully appearing at least a little contrite. “It has been a difficult time and I forget my manners.”
“I prefer you when you’re honest,” Evelyn said. “None of this overly polite and formal crap.”
“Make up your mind, sister. I can’t be honest and be the dutiful brother at the same time.”
“Children, enough!” Mother said sharply and I closed my mouth before I could say anything else. “It’s time to move forward in the time we have left.”
Evelyn reached out to my mother and I gave her a puzzled look. Something was different there and I wondered, briefly, what it was before realising I didn’t care enough to pry.
“Sorry, mum.”
“My apologies, mother.” At her pointed looked, I held back a sigh and turned to Evelyn. “And, to you, sister.”
She gave m
e a tight-lipped smile and I looked back at Gregg, raising an eyebrow in query. He shook his head and turned back to his magazine.
“Very well then. What can-“
“It’s time to talk. Properly,” Mother said. “And since you are in here, you can’t run away from it.”
She had me there.
“Very well.”
“Evie has helped me understand a little better,” she said, and I looked over at Evelyn with more than a little surprise. She avoided my gaze. “I understand why you did what you did to… to, Gabriel.”
Because he was a cowardly piece of shit that got my friend killed, I thought, but had the good sense not to say it out loud. I had no guilt over his murder and wouldn’t pretend I had.
“For a while, I blamed myself. I thought that it was something I had done when you were young.”
I wanted to roll my eyes. The constant need some people had to find a way to blame themselves for something outside of their control was infuriating.
“It turns out that you were born… as you are.”
“Yes, that would seem to be the case.”
She hesitated and chewed on her lip before speaking again. I found myself genuinely curious about what she was going to say. A rarity, but then I had never been confronted about my differences by my mother.
“I look at what you have achieved.”
Okay, that wasn’t where I expected it to be going.
“When the, the, people began to come back as those monsters.”
“Zombies, mother.”
“Yes, zombies.” Her mouth twisted at that, as though she were tasting something sour. “Everyone panicked and even in our sanctuary, we knew we wouldn’t survive. We just didn’t have the heart to fight the people who had once been our neighbours.”
Fools, all of them. Weak and deserving of death.
“But you did. Your peculiarities allowed you to step up and save others. Because of this, many people are alive who should, by all rights, be dead.”
True enough, I supposed, but not something I’d expected my mother to recognise.
“I must accept then, that God made you this way. He created you as his weapon to fight in the apocalypse, to save his flock.”
Killing The Dead (Book 17): Siege Page 6