Dead Days: The Complete Season One Collection (Books 1-6)

by Ryan Casey

  “They’ll move on,” Anna said. “Besides, we’ve got enough soup in here to last us a few weeks.”

  “I’m not talking about the zombies,” Pedro said.

  Riley nodded. He knew what Pedro was talking about. “Ivan.” The stinging on his chest flared up again. He’d have to take a look at it soon. He’d been delaying it as best as he could. Pretending not to notice it and trying to wish the pain away. But it was beginning to win the battle.

  Pedro offered a single nod.

  “He doesn’t have to find us,” Anna said. “We don’t even know if he’s dead or alive yet.”

  Pedro stared at the candle on the table. Wax dribbled and hardened down its side. “Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t like that we didn’t see him out there. Or any of the other soldiers. Makes me wonder… what he might be telling them if they’ve managed to get together somehow.”

  Anna pulled the curtain so it was completely shut. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We should get some rest. If we wake up early tomorrow, we can think about heading to that old narrowboat and getting it on the water. Riley?”

  Visions of the knife moving across Ted’s throat flicked through Riley’s mind. Could he have saved him? Could he have done more to save him? Had he let somebody down again?

  “Riley? What do you reckon?”

  Riley snapped out of his day-dream and stood up. “Where’s the bathroom?”

  Anna rolled her eyes. “Bladder’s still shit then?” She pointed to the door on the left. “Just don’t stink it out too much.”

  Chloë sniggered as Riley walked towards the bathroom. He needed a place to go. A place to be alone. He needed to think.

  Riley wiped down the bathroom mirror, which was covered with grime. The bathroom had Velux skylight windows, which gave him just enough light to make out what he had to make out. He winced as he peeled his shirt away. The bandage that was wrapped around his chest was lined with blood. It couldn’t be too serious. He couldn’t allow it to be. The group — they didn’t have the supplies they needed to look after him here. He just had to pray it wasn’t infected.

  He bit his lip as he pulled back the bandage. It felt like somebody was dragging razors down his body, nipping at the cut on his chest. When he’d fully removed the bandage, which was filled with a brown shade of dried blood, he stared at his reflection in the murky mirror. Fortunately, it did not look like the cut was bleeding anymore. He had been fortunate. Fortunate that Ivan hadn’t cut any deeper. Fortunate that Pedro had made his way to that room and saved him.

  Fortunate that Ted had sacrificed himself for him.

  He shook his head. Tensed his fists. No. He couldn’t view things that way. Ted would’ve died regardless of whether he’d interfered with that generator or not. They all would have died if he hadn’t. But he’d given them a chance. He’d offered up his own life and given them a chance.

  But Riley could’ve done more.

  He smacked his fist into the mirror. He brought his hand back and smacked it into the mirror again. He could see his face crumbling away as the glass cut his knuckles. He punched it again and again and again as tears ran down his cheeks, and then he fell down and sobbed onto the cold, hard dusty bathroom floor.

  His best friend was dead. Gone. And he wasn’t coming back.

  “You okay in there?”

  Claudia. He thought about calling back and saying he was okay. He thought about taking those deep breaths his therapist had taught him and responding in the calmest, most controlled of manners. He thought about the things the therapist said about riding out the tingling sensations; about accepting them for what they were — a figment of the imagination. He thought about it, but instead, he carried on sobbing.

  The door clicked open. He felt hands on his back. He looked up. Claudia nodded her head at him. “I know,” she said. “Come on. I know.”

  Riley lay down on the pillow that was propped up against the bedside cabinet. Claudia wrapped the blanket over him, like a mother looking out for her sick child. “You need to rest. We all do.”

  Riley turned over to his side. His bruised and cut knuckles masked the pain in his chest. Anna had seen to him after Claudia brought him out of the bathroom. Dabbed water on his chest and wrapped tissue paper around his knuckles. It was all she could do with the medical equipment she had on offer — very little.

  “We rest,” Anna said. “And then we wake up first thing tomorrow and we get ourselves out of here. Okay?”

  Claudia, Chloë, and Pedro all nodded.

  “Right.” Anna lay down at the opposite side of the room by the door. She held Pedro’s gun and pointed it in his direction so that he knew she was keeping an eye on him. “Sweet dreams. We’ve earned them, that’s for sure.”

  Claudia blew out the candlelight and climbed under the covers next to Chloë. The room was silent.

  Except for the feet outside. The creatures knocking into one another. They weren’t groaning, but they were definitely out there. Riley could feel them, like that sensation when you knew somebody was staring at you. Just like that. Only they were the starers, and what they were staring at was completely terrifying.

  He pressed his eyelids together.

  Images of Ted, laughing and joking as he played his Xbox. Nachos spread across his face. Telling one of his awful jokes.

  He’d made the choice to intercept the generator. He’d acted. And he’d saved their lives.

  He took a deep breath in and let the images of Ted disappear from his mind.

  Ted had given them a chance. Now they had to make damn sure they took it.

  The room was silent but for Riley’s light snores. The creatures that had been gathered outside were moving on, searching elsewhere for prey. There had been no more sounds from the barracks. No more sounds from anywhere, in fact.

  But still, the creatures drifted on. On to their next location. Their next hope of a jackpot that was fresh meat. On to spread their death.

  Pedro held the curtain with his shaking hand and stared out at the armoured vehicle down the road. He knew who was in there. He knew what he was planning. And he was supposed to be a part of this. He was supposed to be the one who dangled the hope in the group’s face then took it away from them in the night.

  Ivan’s plan had changed. After all, catching Riley wouldn’t guarantee the rest of the group would try to save him. The rules had changed.

  He turned away from the curtain and looked over at Riley. He was fast asleep. All he had to do was kick the shit out of him while he slept. Leave his blood-splattered, caved-in head for the women to find tomorrow. His tensed his fists. Fuck.

  He looked at Claudia and Chloë. Amazing how well a room could sleep no matter what shit had gone down. He wished he could just snap out of it right now and rest until the morning.

  But that wasn’t happening. Because he had work to do.

  He crept over to Chloë and lowered his body. He was so close to her now. All he had to do was wrap the cloth over her mouth, send her to sleep, then take her out to Ivan. The group would realise she was gone in the morning. Then they’d have their bargaining chip.

  He heard a rustling over by the door. He looked up, holding his breath. It was Anna. She turned to one side and mumbled a few inaudible words in her sleep. He let go of his breath. It was okay. She was sleeping.

  He looked back down at Chloë. All he had to do was take her. Take her, and Ivan and he could think about restarting that civilization of theirs again. If the rest of the world really was gone, then it was a viable enough plan. A sick fucking plan, but viable for sure.

  But the group had been so good to him. They’d let him in. Riley — even after everything he’d done to him — had put his trust in him.

  But that was Riley’s problem. Too weak. Too naive.

  He reached for the cloth in his pocket and brought it closer and closer to Chloë’s face.

  It would be over soon. Everything would be back to normal again, soon.

  CHAPT
ER SIX

  Riley opened his eyes. The guilt that had been missing from his stomach the previous two weeks that they had been shacked up in the barracks had made a return. It was like a deep, throbbing sense of dread. A sense that something bad was going to happen. The same sense of dread he used to get even before these Dead Days. Only now, it was much more justified.

  He rose from the pillow. His neck ached with the awkward position he had slept in. It was strange getting used to sleeping on the floor after the comfort of the army barracks beds just a matter of metres away, across the road. If only they could go back to that innocent, naive state they’d spent the last two weeks in. If only they could go back to pretending.

  But the bodies. The frozen bodies. The things Ivan had done — the slice across his chest. Ted.

  No. There was no going back. They had to pursue the new plan — this narrowboat Pedro knew of. They had to get away from here.

  Riley looked around the room. It was dimly lit, and even though it was chilly, there was a heat about the place from the number of bodies that had slept inside. The number of sweaty, blood-drenched, fear-soaked bodies that had spent the night together. It was like staying in a cheap hostel somewhere overseas. They’d become too accustomed to the clean showers of the barracks. A luxury they’d taken for granted.

  He looked over at Anna. She was still sleeping. Claudia was a little further over the other side of the room, her eyes also closed. He could just about make out Chloë beside her. They’d planned to leave as early as possible this morning. Riley wasn’t even sure what time it was. But they’d survived the night. The creatures hadn’t come storming in through the downstairs door. The shuffling outside seemed to have gone, in fact.

  And Ivan. He hadn’t found them.

  Riley could hear the bathroom tap running. He saw Pedro’s bed was vacant. Must have been what woke him up. Getting prepared for their new beginning. Their new start. Riley couldn’t forgive Pedro for his part in Ivan’s crimes, but he’d made his comeback from what he’d done. He’d seen wrong and right for what it was and stopped while he could. And he seemed serious about the plan to get away on the narrowboat. That was a start.

  Rubbing his eyes, Riley rose to his feet and walked over to the curtains, which were filled with holes. Little beams of light shone through — a cold, crisp winter’s day outside, waiting for them. He grabbed the curtain. Prepared to peek outside. He just had to pray it was clear. Pray it was empty.

  He held his breath and opened the curtain.

  The road was clear.

  A smile twitched across Riley’s face. The majority of the horde had vanished. The open-gated barracks grounds were still scattered with creatures and the spotlights still shone at full beam. But the road was relatively clear. Nothing they couldn’t handle. They could get out of here. The milk van up the road — they could all get aboard that and try their luck.

  But something else was different up ahead. Riley’s semi-photographic memory from sitting atop that barracks wall and holding the gun beside Pedro meant that he’d seen the road a lot. The patterns of abandoned cars. A red car. A white car. A milk van.

  But now, there was something different in the scene.

  The gun-mounted, armoured vehicle that Lance and Stu had driven out of the barracks to distract the creatures. The same gun-mounted vehicle that Ivan, Pedro, and Stocky had saved Riley and the group and transported them to the barracks in.

  It wasn’t there yesterday. It definitely wasn’t there yesterday.

  Riley turned to the room. He needed to mention it to them. Ivan could be inside. He could be planning his escape in the vehicle. Or he could be intending to clear the barracks grounds with it. But they could use a vehicle like that. Even if it was only to get them to the location of the narrowboat, Riley couldn’t think of many safer vehicles.

  The bathroom tap continued to trickle. Pedro was taking a while in there. Riley knocked on the door, being cautious not to wake the others up. “Pedro?”

  No response.

  Riley knocked at the door again. He started to worry. Maybe something had happened to Pedro in there. Maybe he’d got bitten and not told anybody about it. He could be inside, waiting to sink his teeth into the rest of the group. He could be a creature.

  Riley grabbed the handle. It might be locked, but he had to try.

  To his surprise, the door opened.

  He held his breath. “Pedro?”

  When he’d opened it fully, he saw that the tap was running but nobody was in there.

  His muscles tensed. He turned back to the room. Pedro definitely wasn’t in bed.

  The armoured, gun-mounted vehicle outside the terraced houses. Something wasn’t right. Something was desperately wrong.

  Turning off the tap, Riley walked back into the room. He needed to tell Anna, Claudia, and Chloë. He didn’t know what it was, but he had a bad feeling about what was going on. Why would Pedro have left the building? And why would the gun-mounted vehicle be outside all of a sudden? Unless Pedro had sneaked off to retrieve it for them. But that didn’t make sense.

  The more he considered it, the more Riley started to sense that perhaps Pedro hadn’t been entirely honest with the group after all. Why had he gone back to the room for Riley when Ivan stayed downstairs? Why had he helped him? Really?

  Riley stopped at the foot of Claudia’s bed. He was about to call her name to wake her up, but he noticed something else. The mound beside her. The mound that he thought was Chloë when he’d woken up. It was nothing but a pillow. A large, plump pillow.

  Chloë was gone.

  A weight fell to the bottom of Riley’s stomach. He didn’t understand what was happening. But he could figure it out. He had a rough idea. If Pedro wasn’t being completely honest with them, then there was a chance he’d taken Chloë. Taken her to Ivan. A bargaining chip. Or worse.

  “Claudia,” Riley said, his voice breaking. He needed to alert her. He didn’t want to worry her, but she needed to know. They needed to work out their next step.

  Claudia yawned and stretched out. “Ye—Yes?”

  Riley’s wide eyes stared at the pillow in Claudia’s arms. His entire jaw quivered. “I don’t know how to say this, but… but it’s Chloë.”

  “What’s going on?” A tired voice the other side of Claudia. Anna woke from her sleep. Her dark hair was fluffed up atop her head.

  Riley’s heart pounded. “It’s… It’s Chloë. She’s gone. And Pedro’s gone. I think he’s—”

  “Everything okay in here?”

  The voice froze Riley’s speech right in its tracks. He turned around.

  Pedro was at the door with a frown on his face. “Thought I heard some commotion?”

  Riley walked over to Pedro. He couldn’t believe he’d have the guts to come back in here. “What… What have you done with Chloë? Where is she?”

  Pedro broke into a smile. He pushed the door open and tilted his head. “Little devil was just giving me a hand with breakfast. Beans and… beans. Hungry?”

  Chloë stepped out from the side of Pedro. A strong smell of beans made its way into the room. Riley’s muscles slackened and his heart returned to a normal pace.

  She was okay. She was okay.

  Pedro cleared his throat. The smile dropped from his face. “But there… there is something. I need to talk to you. All of you. Urgently.”

  Pedro took in a deep breath. The conversation had gone better than he’d expected. He’d dealt with them. Made them see sense. Now all he had to do was take Chloë to Ivan.

  He looked down at Chloë. She was fast asleep in his blood-covered arms. The effect of the drugged cloth he’d stuffed in his pocket. It’d keep her out for as long as it needed to. That was Ivan’s plan, anyway.

  Opening the door, he let the early morning sunlight cover his skin. He was cautious not to attract the attention of any creatures as he stepped outside. He held his breath. Bit his lip. Ivan would be watching him. Waiting for the signs. Waiting for the clues that his p
lan was playing out perfectly.

  Pedro lowered his head as he crept across the road. The road was covered in used bullets and broken glass — debris from the firefight last night. In the distance, inside the ground of the barracks, creatures wandered around aimlessly, puzzled by the lack of food.

  But that wouldn’t matter anymore. The fight was almost over. They’d be able to start again soon. Just one final act to do.

  The closer he got to the gun-mounted vehicle, the more he started to consider whether he’d got things right. He’d take Chloë to the vehicle. Anna and Claudia would scream when they found what he’d done to Riley. And then Ivan and whoever was with him would move in.

  The shutter of the vehicle raised. Ivan stared out at Pedro, bleary-eyed. He nodded at Pedro. Pedro nodded in return. He gripped tighter hold of Chloë’s blanket-covered body. This had to work. It had to.

  He stopped at the side of the vehicle. The side door swung open.

  “Get in,” Ivan said.

  Pedro cleared his throat. Something he always did when he was fucking nervous. “Nice to see you too.” He climbed into the vehicle, placing Chloë’s flimsy sleeping body in the middle seat between them.

  “Check him,” Ivan said. He titled his head to the back of the van. Two soldiers were there. Dave and Adam. Always kept themselves to themselves. Barely made an effort to get to know the group. Which would make Ivan’s plan all the more easy for them.

  “Come on,” Pedro said, as Adam reached forward and brushed his hands down Pedro’s front. “No need for this.”

  Ivan narrowed his eyes and peered at Pedro. “Right. What took you so long? It’s almost nine a.m.”

  Pedro pulled away from the soldiers behind him and shot a confrontational glance in their direction. “It’s not easy doing what I had to do.” He raised his blood-coated hands. “I’m not quite as comfortable making these decisions as you are.”

  “Evidently not,” Ivan said. He lowered his head and rubbed his hand against the partly condensed glass of the front window. “So you’ve killed him?”