Death Plague [Four Zombie Novels]

by Ian Woodhead

  I thought back to my encounter with the bandits. Obviously, they knew the lay of the land, meaning that they must have been aware of this guy. How the fuck was the man still breathing?

  The remaining family had bowed their head as this new character almost danced towards them. There was an almost childlike simplicity to how he moved. At any other moment his posture would have wound me up to the point of running up to the fucker and clawing out his windpipe. Instead, I found myself smiling to the point of almost laughing.

  The man stopped in front of Linda and placed both hands on her shoulders. He leaned forward and kissed the woman’s forehead. Linda responded by bursting into tears. I found the whole situation most perplexing. He stepped to the side and waited for the three of them to pass him before turning his attention towards me.

  His engaging smile, showing me a full set of pearly whites, stopped me in my tracks. I now knew exactly how this dude had managed to stay alive. This Keeper had an aura. As he approached my own extra senses went haywire. It honestly felt as though I was stood next to a power station.

  “Why, hello there, you gorgeous hunk!” he said. The man wrapped his fingers around my hand. “Oh lordy, I think I’m in love.”

  It’s impossible for me to describe my exact emotions while this man continued to caress the back of my hand. Like those garishly decorated shipping containers, this whole situation made me feel as though I was full of mind-bending drugs. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My retort was supposed to explode out of my mouth, the harsh growl having enough force to knock this weird bastard into next week.

  The man patted my arm and led me towards the shipping container.

  “Oh, don’t you get all macho, young man. Believe me, I’ve put bigger boys than you in their place.” He stopped by the large metal door. “Oh, now listen to us, being all bitchy without even introducing ourselves.” He giggled. “I know all about you already, of course, I do! Heck, do you think that I would have even allowed you to live if I hadn’t already checked you out?”

  For the first time since arriving at this surreal wonderland, my guts began to quiver. I knew that right now I was stood before a real power, and despite the looks and his rather effeminate voice, this guy had nothing to fear from me.

  “I’m Dominic, Colin. Back in the past, I was the best pie maker this side of Yorkshire.” He sighed. “Oh, how I wish for the ingredients to create one of my steak and ale specials. Like that’s going to happen; the horrid dead things wiped out the cows decades ago.”

  He sighed again. “No matter, I’ve other goodies to give to my hungry guests.” He stopped and turned around. The man placed his warm hand over my forehead. “I’ve never had a hunter in here before, and although I sense good in you, there is still a dark blot that needs exorcising. Don’t fret, my hunky man, this won’t hurt, maybe tickle.”

  Like an old friend, darkness embraced me.

  ***

  The light from muddy-yellow dusk coated the carpark with a vile shade of rotten vomit. I blinked away the hot tears, so trying not to allow my hateful conscience to finish off its self-destructive journey. There was one piece of landscape unaffected by the setting sun’s new sheen of colour, and that was the last thing I wanted to gaze at. The vile mess by my feet only reinforced my difference. Danielle held my hand, and right at this minute, her presence was the last thing I needed. All I wanted right now was for her to hold a big fucking gun aimed at the side of my head, and for my loving sister to have the courage to pull the trigger.

  “You knew this would happen, Colin. Not matter how hard you fought the instinct, the urge to feed was bound to grip you.” She grabbed my chin and pulled my head until her beautiful eyes found mine. “Accept what you are, Colin.”

  I pulled myself out of her grip and jumped away when Danielle attempted to grab me again. “Just leave me the fuck alone,” I cried. My foot slipped in the mess, and for one brief moment I thought I was about to land in the remains of my meal. The tears flowed harder when I remembered that my last meal’s terrified voice had begged me to let her go.

  She was only ten years old, meaning she was one of the first to have been born after the big event, and I had snuffed out her light just as easily as snapping a thin dry twig. What made this fuck up even worse to bear was that Danielle was right. I had known that this day was inevitable. I had come to terms that I was a hunter years ago. The human was my prey, and the shambling dead would stop at nothing to rip me into a thousand pieces. I was one of the shunned, hated and feared by both the living and the dead. My only companion for the past decade had been my sister.

  I pulled my gaze from the half eaten corpse that stained the tarmac, and followed the sun’s slow progress as it dipped behind a tower block. I licked my lips, moaning quietly when I tasted the girl’s blood.

  It had been nine years since my sister had shown me my true colours, and in all that time I’d interacted with dozens of humans, and at no point had I ever felt the burning urge to feast upon their warm flesh. Despite my spotless track record, Danielle had never allowed me to forget my true nature. At times I had asked myself as to why she kept banging on about it. Had I not proven myself to be the one hunter to break the mould? Looking down at this mess, it was pretty fucking obvious that I wasn’t to be that person. I now understood her apparent obsession to constantly remind me of my true nature.

  “We need to move out, Colin. Her family will be back soon.”

  I shook my head, already deciding to stay right where I was. Thanks to me, the family who had taken us in and looked after us for the last couple of days had lost their only reason for living in this horrible fucking world. They both deserved an explanation before no doubt the father would shoot me in the face.

  It seemed a fitting way to end my vile existence.

  “They trusted us, Danielle, and look where it got them.” I shook my head again, keeping my eyes on the crime. “You had best go, my love. They won’t be satisfied with just my body, and I don’t want you to die because of my error.”

  I never even saw the two fists, but I certainly felt them smash into my face. My sister followed this surprise assault by sweeping her leg into my knees. The impact put me on the floor. The girl’s open ribs cushioned my face.

  “Don’t you dare talk to me like this!” she snarled, dropping to the ground. Danielle curled her slender fingers around my thick neck. “You’re my brother, my care and my only concern. For ten years, I’ve looked after you, nurtured you, and this is how you repay me?”

  Her eyes blazed in fury. My sister’s reaction took me completely by surprise; I’d never witnessed my sister in this state. Danielle’s vehemence unsettled me. Fuck, it did more than that, it utterly terrified me. She was acting more like the hunter that I had tried so hard to mask for the last ten years.

  “You are what you are, Colin, now more than ever. Her death was a regrettable mistake, but we can never go back, nor can we shirk from our allotted path.”

  The pressure on my neck eased, and some of that bright light in her eyes dimmed. “What else can I do, Danielle? I now despise every inch of myself. This world has enough monsters without me adding to the score. It would be better for everyone, including you, if I just fucking died.”

  Danielle slowly got to her feet, her eyes filling with tears. “I know I can’t change your mind now. Fine, I’ll leave you to wallow in your own self-pity then.” The woman stormed over to a crumbling stone wall. “Just before I leave you to your pathetic fate, let me ask you just one question. Answer me this before I’m out of your life.” She smiled. “Will you tell me how she tasted?”

  Her sweet smile exactly matched the memory of how it felt to sink my teeth into the girl’s tender flesh. The girl’s hot blood filled my mouth, gushing down my dry throat. That virgin fluid awoke my sleeping urges. My true suppressed nature had fucking detonated. I squeezed her little arms, the flesh bulged at both sides, stretching her skin taut until it split like overcooked sausages.

>   I ate my way through the side of her neck. My mind was on fire, it felt like a million orgasms bolting through every nerve in my body. The girl’s flesh did more than nourish me, it gave me life, it energized my very being, showed me what I really was, and that was a fucking hunter!

  As the last of the sun’s rays lost their shine, I found myself staring at Danielle’s slim figure, still leaning against that wall, the taste of my first meal now just a fading memory. “I remember exactly how she tasted. Why do you think I can’t go on, Danielle? If I don’t end this right now, I’ll never stop. I’m a fucking monster.”

  My sister laughed. “Right now, all I see is a pathetic little boy, full of shame without knowing the reason. You’re no more of a monster than the two returning parents. Do you not remember what we did, all four of us yesterday?”

  I found myself nodding.”

  “Sure you do. I saw the grin on your face when you slammed that corpse into the side of that shop door, grunting with satisfaction when the metal door handle slammed into its rotten brain. I also saw the looks on our guest’s face too. They both grinned. Let me ask you, does that not sound like how monsters would act?”

  I shook away that memory, tempted to press my hands against my ears. I didn’t want to hear any more of this. Her words were confusing me. The dead are just walking shells, there’s nothing there but corruption and instinct.”

  She laughed even harder. “Don’t give me that bullshit,” she shouted. “You know that isn’t true, you of all people know that there’s more to the dead than that.” She looked to her left. “They’ll soon be here, Colin. When they see what you’ve done to their only child, they’ll be utterly traumatised. Once they have taken out their grief on you, do you think that’ll be it for them? Do you think they’ll forget about this incident and carry on as if nothing had happened?”

  “No, of course not. This will haunt them for the rest of their lives.”

  “That’s very true,” she said, nodding. “Thing is, how long do you think that will be? I mean, from this point on the pair of them won’t be able to think straight, meaning they’ll make mistakes. We both know that making mistakes in this world costs you your life. I’ll be surprised if they last longer than a week now.”

  “How is this helping me?” I cried. “Just go, Danielle, for crying out loud, just fuck off, and leave me alone.” I pressed my hands into my face, obliterating the image of Danielle running a hand through her soft hair. The next thing I found was her breath in my ear.

  “You suppressed the urge for so many years, Colin. For that, I’m truly proud. Don’t allow this one slip to end your achievement.” She caught her breath. “If not for you, then do it for me. You’re my brother. I need you just as much as you need me.”

  I didn’t hear those soft words, I felt them. Each syllable slid through the gaps in my mind, caressing and massaging, comforting me, and as moments passed I became more aware that her voice was seducing me into doing her will. Yet my awareness didn’t halt my transition to self-destruction; on the contrary, it hastened it.

  “There is a way for the both of us to reach a compromise.”

  My sister gently turned my head and brushed her soft lips against mine.

  “The girl wasn’t a monster, but what was to stop one of them taking her tomorrow or the day after? Human monsters were here long before the dead rose and long before the arrival of the Hunter. The Turning didn’t extinguish the original template; it brought them out into the open. We both know that, we’ve seen them, hid from them, and heard of them.”

  Should I find it surprising that I heard her without my sister uttering a word? Danielle had not stopped kissing me.

  “You’re terrified that now your demon is out, it’ll never go back. That’s why you want to take the coward’s way. You’re right. It won’t ever go away.” Her lips left mine. Danielle pulled back and rubbed her forefinger across my lips. “If you want really want to remember the little girl, see this moment as one more life changing moment. Give your demon what it craves, only pick and choose.”

  “You mean, I hunt down the evil, twisted, and sick?”

  She nodded. “Exactly that, Colin.”

  Today’s sun had taken away its light, leaving long shadows that hid what remained of the girl’s corpse. Only in my case, I saw everything. My eyes took in every scrap of luminescence and showed me exactly what I’d done. Only now, I saw no crime at all, only a discarded meal. I shook my head from side to side, trying to dislodge that thought, feeling what was left of my humanity slip through my open fingers.

  “They’re here, Colin. The parents are back. You know what you have to do. Finish this, finish them. They have no future.”

  No matter how hard I tried, her silken suggestions coated my every opposing thought. They hadn’t seen their daughter unlike me, and their human eyes would only show them a small dark shape behind me. Not that they needed to see. They knew she was dead just by the scent of blood filling the air and by the sight of the pair of us covered in bits of the girl.

  The women shrieked, her cry splitting open the sky. Instincts ripped through me, and my body was already airborne before the father had a chance to join her. In this silent world, human voices carried for miles. Within minutes, every walking corpse hearing that would be on their way to feast.

  My clenched fists smashed into their jaws, splintering bones that ripped through their flesh. They both fell to their knees, side by side, their dazed eyes sailing up and down my panting body.

  I no longer needed my sister’s verbal embrace to know what to do now, as my body had already woken up. My human emotions of guilt and shame that had earlier took me to the edge of self destruction had already left. I growled softly, saliva streaming down both sides of my mouth.

  The last thing I heard from somewhere in the darkness was over a dozen answering calls leaving dead mouths. Their approach was of no concern, nothing was going to stop me from feeding.

  ***

  I staggered back until my body slammed into the wall of the shipping container. “Just what the fuck did you just do to me?” I snarled, feeling and fighting that all too familiar malaise sliding over my fury.

  The man in front of me shook his head. “Oh, you poor man.” Dominic hurried over and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Even now, you really have no idea. How can somebody be so blind? If you want to be truly free, you have to examine her motivations, Colin.”

  “Shut up, just shut the fuck up about the past, I’m not here for a history lesson.” I pushed him away from me. I had no idea what he was talking about, nor did I have any idea how he had taken me back ten fucking years. “These clowns say you know where my sister is. Tell me now, or I swear I’ll pull your spine out of your fucking arse!”

  Dominic giggled. “Oh my, you have no idea what your manly voice does to me when you get all macho!” He strolled over to Marcus and Nathaniel and placed his arms around their shoulders. “Linda, I’m sorry, but this sexy hunk of mansex will be leaving here without me fixing him.” Dominic dropped his gaze to the floor, and when he lifted his head, my blood froze. I found myself falling into a pair of bright crimson eyes. I shrieked as the floor dropped away, and my body plummeted towards an ocean of molten rock.

  The blazing heat ignited my clothing, my skin charred and turned black, yet I my eyes still saw, and my voice continued to blast out my scream, even though I must be dead. The agony only ceased when my cooked carcass splashed into the magma, and blessed oblivion claimed my soul.

  Chapter Nine

  Expecting answers

  My senses crept up on me one by one, and I welcomed their return gladly. Becoming aware meant that all I had suffered through that weird man had been a major attack upon my mind. I’d been subjected to a major mind-fuck. It unnerved me to be on the receiving end of a psychic attack of that magnitude, the disquiet made worse because the power even eclipsed my talents.

  I felt warmth on my face and bright light scratching at my eyelids. As anoth
er sense funnelled through the melancholy, it became obvious that I was moving, or more to point, being carried. I couldn’t open my eyes, nor could I move any part of me, but it didn’t really matter, at least not yet.

  Why panic when my body wasn’t fully powered? One aspect did make me question the motives of the ones I met, especially this Keeper. Did I really undergo a mental assault? Oh sure, it fucking felt like one, yet on the physical this Dominic showed no signs of aggression; quite the opposite, the man was making a move on me. It drew me to the conclusion that my fucked up mind drew up its own suspicious and paranoid interpretation of what he was trying to show me.

  I now had sensation in my extremities. My eyes flickered open to show me dots of grey sky peeking through a heavy canopy of dark green leaves. I tilted my head back until I caught sight of light brown hair.

  The sight of the woman behind me gave me some comfort, and as my eyes roved around this unexpected landscape, Linda’s ever present concerned looking expression was the only thing here that did offer me consolation.

  The procession stopped beside the bank of a slow moving river. My dazed senses hadn’t asked the obvious question of how such a picturesque scene could even exist in this car crash of a town. Oh no, all that went through my cotton wool head was trying to remember if I could swim. For that fleeting moment, I honestly believed that the remaining family members were going to tip this makeshift stretcher and laugh as my body rolled into the clear water.

  That never happened, so once again my two not so redeeming qualities of paranoia and suspicion were behaving like Adam and Eve’s unwanted reptilian gooseberry. Despite everything we had been through since hooking up with my unlikely comrades in arms, I still couldn’t bring myself to fully trust them.

  My carriers gently lowered the stretcher, and going from their faces, both Marcus and Nathanial were glad to lose the extra weight. Linda leaned forward and stroked my left cheek then ordered the males to lift me up.