Dark and Deadly Land

by Richard Murray

  “Yes, we suspect that to be the case.”

  “Why wouldn’t you tell us this?” lily demanded.

  “Because they wanted us to say yes to their stupid idea,” Gregg snapped. “No way, no fucking way are we doing this. Cannibals!”

  “What makes you think they are cannibals?” I asked. “Have you seen proof?”

  “We suspect it,” Ethan said.

  “How do you know about them if you’re stuck in here?” Pat asked.

  “The undead line one long wall,” Bess said before Ethan could. “If you’re careful you can get out past them by land or sail up the coast a ways and come ashore behind them.”

  “We’ve not just survived on the things we found here,” Ethan said. His fake joviality was entirely gone and he waved away the men who had risen to back him up. He seemed almost defeated. “Two scavenging parties failed to return before one man came back from the third. He told us they’d been attacked.”

  “He also told us what he’d seen,” Bess snapped.

  I held up one hand to cut her off and looked over at the young man and women we’d found back in Keswick. Aiden seemed to be trying to shrink back away from the rest of us as though by doing so he could avoid having to speak. Lily followed my gaze and glanced questioningly at me.

  “What about it Aiden?” I asked. “Anything to add.”

  “No,” he said. A single word, a denial and a refusal all in one. I pulled free the knife in my pocket and flicked it open, the deadly claw-like blade just long enough to slice down through an artery.

  “You sure about that?” I asked as I stalked towards him.

  “Ryan! Stop,” Lily shouted as she reached for me but I was past her. I seized the boy’s shirt and slammed him back against the wall of the building as I pressed the sharp point of the blade to his throat. His sister reached for me but one look to her made her stop in her tracks.

  “Anything to say?” I asked politely as I pressed down on the knife. A small bead of blood appeared on his neck and he gulped.

  “It’s all true,” he stammered, his words almost tripping over themselves in a rush to get out. “Those people are insane, you can’t make us go back there. Please, please!”

  He began to weep, body shaking with the great wracking sobs that gripped him. I let him go with more than a little disgust and folded the knife before dropping it back into my pocket and turning to face the dumbstruck crowd of people behind me.

  “Well then, won’t this be fun,” I said with a grin.

  Chapter 14 - Lily

  Aiden sat against the wall, his body shaking as he fought against the memories of the hell he’d been through. I shot a furious look at Ryan which he ignored as he sat on the edge of a desk and scratched absently at the fur on Jinx’s head.

  Emily was signing furiously at us, at her brother, but he wouldn’t respond and the rest of us didn’t know what she was trying to say. With a heavy sigh and even heavier heart for what I had to do, I crouched down before the young man.

  “Aiden. Aiden, listen to me.” He raised red-rimmed eyes and looked at me with such a forlorn expression that I had to resist the urge to reach out to comfort him. Not yet, not now.

  “You know about these people?”

  “Yes.”

  “We need you to tell us,” I said carefully. “Tell us what you know.”

  He sucked in a deep breath and wrapped his arms around his chest, hugging himself as he willed himself to stop shaking. I waited as patiently as I dared. The restless shuffling of feet came from behind me and I held up one hand to them without looking round. A signal to wait.

  “Before it started to snow,” he began. “We’d run from a farm we’d been staying at when it got overrun.”

  “Just the two of you?” I prompted as he paused.

  “No, we had Ben with us. It was his family’s farm and he was the only one who made it out.”

  I glanced to my right to see Emily staring at me, big brown eyes begging me not to ask these questions. I swallowed what I was going to say and nodded for him to continue.

  “We wandered for a while. Sleeping where we could, never staying anywhere long. Ben wanted to see the sea, he thought it would be the best place to go and we had no other ideas.”

  He shrugged at the memory and even now, looked like he regretted that choice.

  “One night, we were sleeping in a car that had been abandoned on an empty road when they found us.”

  “The people…”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “They were kind at first. Brought us back to the factory where they’d set up home. Told us that as long as we worked hard, we’d have a place with them.”

  “How many of them…” Ryan began but I cut him off with the wave of a hand. Later for that.

  “There were men, women and kids so we thought we’d be safe,” he said and a sob escaped him. He clenched one hand into a fist and pressed it against his mouth to still the sounds until he was back in control.

  “Food wasn’t great. We didn’t have a lot, usually just enough for a few days at most but we got by. People looked out for each other. Then it started to snow.”

  “It was bad up here?” I asked gently.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Several feet of snow fell in the first few days. We were stuck inside but we thought it’d be ok. It’d settle and we’d be able to go out looking for food and stuff again. It didn’t.”

  “What happened?” I pressed.

  “The food ran out,” he said simply. “Jack and Pete, they went out into the snow anyway to try and find something. They never came back.”

  He sucked in a deep breath and brushed at his eyes with the back of one grimy hand. He shook his head, though at what I couldn’t say.

  “Zombies still came though. The cold didn’t stop them and we were all together, huddled under blankets for warmth. Three people died in that attack.”

  “It’d been snowing for a week,” he said. “We’d had no food for four of those days, Jack and Pete had gone out the night before and not returned then we’d had the zombie attack. It was too much for her.”

  “For who?” I asked.

  “Angie,” he said. “She was nice to us but a bit strange. We found her hanging in one of the backrooms. She’d stood on a chair to do it, used some of the cloth they had at the factory to fashion a rope.”

  Aiden stared down at his feet as though afraid to go on, but I realised it was so that his sister couldn’t read his lips.

  “Ben said it first,” he said. “She didn’t turn which meant she probably wasn’t infected and we were so hungry.”

  “You ate her,” I said into the silence, careful to shield my mouth with one hand as I said it. No need for her to read my lips too. “Your sister?”

  “We didn’t tell her what it was, just that it was meat,” he said as the tears fell freely. I gave him a few minutes to get it all out before pressing for more information.

  “What then?”

  “She lasted us a while,” he said. “No one was happy to do it but we were starving and the meat smelt so good as it cooked. When it was gone, we were still trapped.”

  He looked away then and this time, I could tell it wasn’t just to protect his sister but to avoid seeing the condemnation in our eyes.

  “One of the kids didn’t have any parents,” he said. “Ben told us, convinced us really, that it was for the best. The boy would die anyway so might as well make his death mean something.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out, I swallowed hard and tried again but still nothing. The flick of the knife blade opening behind me was clearly audible in the silence that had filled the office. I held up my hand and waved him back, half hoping he wouldn’t listen and he’d end the horror of what I was hearing.

  “This Ben killed him?”

  “The first one yeah.”

  Aiden risked a look to me, his eyes met mine and he flinched back from what he saw there. I spoke a
nd wasn’t surprised at how cold my voice was. “Keep talking.”

  “He made me help him with the next,” the man said. “She was only eight and she struggled. He got angry when she scratched him…”

  “Finish your tale,” I told him. My body shaking with the rage that was building. I could guess what was coming but I needed to hear him say it.

  “What did it matter? That’s what he told me. We were going to kill her anyway, might as well have some fun first.”

  A growl was the only warning I had as a hand seized Aiden’s shirt and lifted him to his feet, knife ready to strike as I reached out to grab the hand that held that knife. I could feel the muscles tensed beneath my fingers and it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to not let go.

  “Ryan,” I said. “Don’t, please.”

  He looked at me and I shivered as I saw the darkness was once more fully behind those beautiful blue eyes of his. Ryan wasn’t the one looking out at me, it was death itself and I wanted to run gibbering away from what I saw.

  “Please,” I repeated instead.

  With a monumental effort of will, I saw the man I love slowly return as the killer slipped back down into that deep dark place inside of him. Without looking at Aiden he spoke, “Answer every question fully and truthfully or your death will be beyond painful.”

  Emily was scared, and as I looked around at the faces of my friends I saw no compassion for the man there. I turned my head towards Cass and nodded at the girl. Cass, bless her, understood what I meant and pulled the girl away. She didn’t need to see what was to come.

  “Speak,” I instructed and with a look of terror at the knife still in the hand of Ryan, he did.

  “I didn’t want to,” he insisted. “Ben made me, told me I had to or he’d kill me next because he couldn’t have me knowing what he’d done without being part of it myself.”

  “You didn’t want to but you did,” Pat said. His mighty fists were clenched and I had no trouble imagining them crushing the man’s skull.

  “Bastard,” Bess muttered and I saw her grip tightening on her rifle. It was fast getting out of hand.

  “Continue,” I instructed. While you still can. I had no doubt the young man was going to die. I didn’t think I could have stopped that even if I’d wanted to.

  “She didn’t last long, she was only small,” he said. “When it came time to do it again the only ones were there with at least one parent. Ben had us choose.”

  “Everyone just went along with it?” I demanded.

  “He had a way, made it sound reasonable and always waited till we were hungry, so very hungry.”

  I felt sick, nausea churned my stomach and disgust filled me. I wasn’t sure how much more I’d be able to hear.

  “We chose a kid who only had his mum with him,” Aiden continued. He seemed almost eager to finally confess his crimes. “She tried to fight but by the time we’d finished with her she just lay there. Ben made her eat too.”

  “You fucker!” Gregg snarled.

  “So that’s the kind of man we’ll find there,” Becky said. Disgust coloured her features and she had a green tinge around her lips that suggested she felt the same way I did about what we heard.

  “You heard enough?” Ryan asked and I nodded as I finally released the hand holding the knife. Tacit approval for what he was going to do. He glanced at Pat and Gregg who understood what he wanted without needing words. They moved in on either side and pinned the man to the wall with their hands on his shoulders. I looked back at Ethan, who thankfully wore the same look of hatred and disgust as the rest of us.

  “Will you fight us on this?” I asked and he shook his head.

  I looked back at Aiden who seemed almost calm and felt no shortness of breath, no intrusive memories. They would likely come later, along with the nightmares but right then, in that moment. I wanted that bastard to die.

  “How many were there when you left?” Ryan asked.

  “Sixteen of them.”

  “Weapons?”

  “A couple of guns, knives and clubs.”

  “How many would be on watch?”

  “Two at a time usually, watching the main doors mostly.”

  “Why did you leave?” he asked which surprised me.

  “I couldn’t do it anymore. Ben was acting crazier each day. He kept looking at Em,” Aiden said with a look to his sister who was standing off to one side with Cass holding her tight and keeping her head turned away from what was happening.

  “You shouldn’t have done it at all,” Ryan said.

  “What would you have done?” Aiden asked. “Starving with nowhere to go. Can you honestly say you wouldn’t eat the dead flesh? I’ve seen you, heard you all talk. You wouldn’t give a fuck about that.”

  “Eating the dead to survive is one thing,” he said as his voice dropped to a whisper. “I care nothing about that but doing what you did to those children… that is why I’m going to kill you.”

  The knife blade sank up to the hilt into Aiden’s stomach, the wickedly sharp-clawed blade sliding in easily. With one strong pull, Ryan tore open the other man’s stomach and slimy coiled intestines spilt out as he screamed.

  “Fuck,” Ethan shouted. “You could have bloody well done that outside.”

  “Probably,” Ryan said with a grin as he drew back the knife and slashed it across the man’s throat. His scream turned to a gurgle as blood sprayed over the carpet. His body dropped to the floor as Gregg and Pat released it.

  Silence filled the room as everyone watched the man die, thoughts no doubt on the terrible things he’d confessed to. I hoped they felt some remorse for him since I couldn’t. Not this time, not after what he’d done.

  “So,” Ryan said with a grin as he wiped the blade on the dead man’s shirt. “Who wants to pay this cannibal a visit?”

  Chapter 15 - Ryan

  The girl was crying somewhere on the other side of the warehouse. It was… irritating, Understandable perhaps, but irritating none the less.

  We’d been provided with a section of one of the warehouses to sleep in since the planning had taken most of the afternoon. I can’t recall much of what had been said since the adrenaline high from the kill had kept me distracted as I replayed the look on his face over and over again.

  As much as I’d enjoyed killing him just for the pleasure that killing afforded me, it was also somewhat justified after hearing what he had done. I cared for few people in this world but I did have a soft spot for children

  With the life I’d had, their carefree joy and innocence is something I could barely grasp, let alone experience and that made it all the more valuable. That innocence needed to be protected and not tarnished by the actions of others. No, Aiden’s death was entirely deserving though I did wonder what effect it would have on Lily.

  “You awake?” I whispered but she didn’t stir beneath her blankets.

  I couldn’t sleep with that weeping off in the distance. She’d opted to sleep in a separate location to the rest of us which I could understand. Admittedly I was kind of glad since if she was sharing the tents with us, her noise would have been even more unbearable.

  Ethan had allowed us to gather our belongings from the car and since we wouldn’t be carrying those boxes of vegetables with us, we’d traded them in for a few bits and pieces that may be useful later on. They were gratefully received and the vegetable stew that was made and shared with us was actually quite delicious, especially with the fresh bread they’d baked.

  That crying wasn’t stopping anytime soon I decided, so I pushed aside the blankets, careful not to wake Lily, and left the tent.

  The warehouse had been used to store various items taken from the boats when they made it to port and was mostly empty. In place of the stacked boxes, barrels or whatever, a shanty town of sorts had grown.

  With tents of all shapes and sizes spread around the great empty space, it had the feel of a community. One that I could never be a p
art of like most such communities, but one none the less.

  I had to admit that the people of Haven had done a reasonable job with what they had. If they could manage to clear away the zombies, they’d have most of a town by the sea with farming and fishing to provide food. They could survive for a number of years, so long as no one else took what they had from them.

  Too many people I had met since this began, had the strange notion that things would return to normal. It wouldn’t, the world they’d known was gone. In this new world, even without the zombies, it would be a case of the strong preying on the weak.

  Much like this Ben fellow. He had taken control and managed to get others to do some nasty things with him. That made them committed and he further used them to take over and become the leader of his community. He’d not be satisfied with a few people in a factory. No, not at all.

  Ben, Marcus, they were the same. Most likely as was I. Remorseless, without empathy or care of any kind for others. I couldn’t help but wonder if not for meeting Lily, I would have ended up doing what they did, preying on the sheep.

  Instead, I had become a shepherd of sorts. Guarding those too weak to protect themselves. That was certainly due to Lily’s influence and if I were honest with myself, which I usually was, then I would admit that I quite liked it.

  Because of her, because of that influence, I had friends. People who cared for me and wanted me to care about them. I suspect that perhaps I did a little bit. I certainly had strong feelings for Lily and not the usual feelings that I was familiar with. Those basic urges of anger, hate and that indescribable joy I gained from killing. No, those feelings for her were something else, something new.

  “You ok mate?” Gregg asked as he plonked himself down beside me on the hard concrete floor. I’d not heard him approach, so engrossed in my own thoughts as I was.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “That was messed up wasn’t it?”

  “What was?”

  “Aiden. What he told us.”

  “Ah. Yes, I suppose it was.”

  He looked at me and I couldn’t see his features, just a dark shape moving in the night.