“We still need to check out that place.” Gregg said with a gesture towards the main building that the second dock led into.
“You and Pat can do that.” She said, “The rest of us will start loading the boat.”
As Pat and Gregg headed off to their task, I followed the main group to the warehouse. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a day of heavy lifting with nothing to kill and no chance to arrange an accident with so many people around.
Jason proved remarkably competent and as soon as we were in the warehouse he took charge, sorting through the varieties of timber, sizes and shapes and seemingly confident about which we would need.
The rest of my morning was spent hauling wood from the warehouse to the boat and then back again for more. It was hard work and while it briefly warmed me, the sweat soon cooled against my skin and left me more irritated than ever.
Gregg and Pat returned from the main building with wide smiles and the pleasant news that they had found a number of tools we could use as well as surprisingly enough, some fishing gear.
It seemed that whoever had owned the boat yard stored his fishing equipment at his place of work, no doubt to make use of his own personal dock. Whatever the reason he did it, we finally had the required equipment to catch some fish and improve our limited diet.
I was stacking the last long length of timber on top of the boat, ready to be secured when Lily approached me. She smiled and I wiped the sweat from my eyes and nodded to her.
“Hi.” She said almost shyly.
“Hi, what’s up?”
“We have some time left and I thought a few of us could take a walk towards the town, to see what sort of state it’s in.” Lily said, “I thought you might like the chance to go.”
“Sounds like it could be more fun than this.” I said with a quick nod towards the stacked wood. “Who’s going?”
“You, Me, Pat, Gregg and Cass.”
“What will the others be doing?”
“Jason and his fan club will be sorting through the tools. Eddie and Michelle will help. They really don’t want to go.” Lily said.
It took me a moment to realise that Eddie and Michelle were the two religious folk who spent more time with Jim than the rest of us.
“Are we going now?”
“Yep, come on or we’ll go without you.” She grinned impishly and I felt my heartbeat quicken. I told myself that it was the prospect of violence but I could no longer be entirely sure if that were the only reason.
I followed her through the boat yard towards the main road where we met Gregg, Pat and Cass. A cheerful nod of greeting from Gregg before he looked over at his sister and Pat and rolled his eyes.
“Thank god you’ve come.” He said, “Another five minutes and these two would be holding hands and making out.”
“Hush yourself brother.” Cass said with a smile that belied the outraged tone of her voice while Pat merely blushed which caused Gregg to burst into infectious laughter.
“Ok folks, we are going to head towards town.” Lily said as the mirth subsided, “Keep your eye out for the undead and anything useful we could use.”
I glanced at each of my companions, one after the other to determine what weapons they had brought with them. Pat had his lump hammer while Gregg had his steel bar. Cass carried a heavy meat cleaver and Lily held a foot long length of wood like a club.
Satisfied that the group was suitably armed I waited impatiently for each of them to indicate they were ready before leading the way along the road.
We passed the abandoned vehicles that were sitting empty and silent on the road. Here and there were abandoned possessions that hadn’t yet been swept to the side of the road by the winter winds or destroyed by the savage rain and frost.
Fallen leaves from the trees that lined the side of the road covered the ground, sodden and slowly rotting. It was easy to see in them the very same future for the abandoned homes and vehicles with no one to sustain them. They would decay and nature would take over, the weeds growing through the cracks in the tarmac of the road were just the start.
Movement came from within a car as I passed and I looked through the window to see the source. A small child, gender unknown still strapped into its seat with clouded eyes casting around for a source of sustenance to cram between its gnashing teeth.
My grip tightened on my knife and I reached for the door handle. Lily’s firmly gripped my arm and pulled it away from the door. I snapped my eyes to her face angrily only to catch such a look of profound sorrow that I immediately swallowed what I was about to say.
“It can’t harm us, leave it.” She whispered for my ears alone.
I pulled my arm from her grip and walked away from the car, anger seemed to fill me and I couldn’t understand why the sight of just another zombie caused me such rage. The need to kill something, anything returned with full force and I quickened my step.
The first houses came into view through the trees and with them as ever were the undead. Three of them making their way along the road towards us, their tattered clothing stained and torn, remnants’ of their previous lives.
Without waiting for the others I surged forward weaving through the abandoned vehicles and ignoring the wails that rose from the undead as they caught sight or scent of me. I reached the closest, a slim form dressed in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers. It raised its arms and lunged for me.
It was a simple matter to duck to the side to avoid the clumsy lunge before standing straight and ramming my blade into the side of its skull with all the enraged strength I could. It fell soundlessly at my feet and I wasted precious seconds in pulling free my knife blade.
Bare feet with two toes missing from the left foot filled my vision as the blade slid free and I had mere moments to leap to the side as the zombie, clad only in dirty pyjamas reached for me. My first blow landed against its back and did little more than push it away from me, before my second thrust sent the blade through the thinning hair at the back of its skull.
The third was on me before I could pull free my knife and I stopped trying as I used both arms to grapple with the large zombie in a tattered nurses’ uniform. I fell back against the side of a yellow car, hands clasped tightly around its neck as I pushed it away from me.
My arms trembled as I tried to hold back the excess weight of the zombie and I had a momentary surge of displeasure for this hypocrite of a zombie who had worked as a nurse in life, maintaining the health and well being of others while not doing the same for herself.
With a snort of laughter I couldn’t help, I kicked out at the creatures’ legs while swinging her to the side. The zombie fell and pulled me with it.
I landed on top of it and had bare seconds to pull my own exposed neck away from its jaws before releasing my grip on its neck and taking hold of its head. I pulled forward and then slammed it back against the hard surface of the road. Once, twice and a third time before I heard a crack, with renewed strength I slammed its skull against the road twice more before it fell still.
“What the hell were you doing?” Lily snapped as she helped me to my feet.
“Killing the dead.” I said and heard a snort of laughter from Gregg, quickly suppressed at a glare from Lily.
“You could have been hurt you idiot.” She said heatedly.
“I wasn’t.”
“Goddamn men!” she snapped and released her hold on me. This time even her glare didn’t stop Greggs’ laughter.
Cass followed Lily to the side of the road, speaking quietly to her as Gregg and Pat joined me.
“That was really stupid mate.” Gregg said.
“There were only three of them.” I replied absently as I tried to pull my knife free of the second zombies’ skull.
“Yeah, that was stupid too but I meant pissing off Lily.”
“What do you mean?”
“God you really can be dense sometimes.” Gregg said with more than a touch of amusement in his tone,
“She was worried about you. You should let her know you’re sorry that you worried her and kiss and make up or we’ll have a bloody uncomfortable few days.”
“Yeah, I’d rather spend my night tucked up with Cass than sitting on the couch with her brother while she talks with Lily about you.” Pat added quietly.
“See, even the big man gets it and he’s so dumb about these things he’s going out with my sister.” Gregg said with a thump against Pat’s upper arm.
“Hey!”
“Don’t worry mate. That was a compliment.” Gregg said to an indignant Pat, his grin firmly in place.
“You think so?” I asked.
“Yeah, look we’ll all shoot over to those houses,” Gregg said with a gesture towards the buildings that marked the edge of the town. “You two have a chat and after you apologise you can join us. Ok?”
“I suppose...” was all I managed before Gregg and Pat trotted over to have a rapidly whispered conversation with Cass, then the three of them wandered towards the houses with more than one smile thrown over their shoulders.
Lily leant against the stone wall that ran along the side of the road, thick evergreens formed a wall behind her and she absently tapped her club against one leg as she pulled her thick coat closer around her shoulders with her free hand.
Her hair was in a pony tail and wispy strands were hanging loose around her face. A frown was fixed firmly in place on her brow and she looked inordinately annoyed with me, her eyes refused to meet mine and I let out a sigh.
She was undeniably beautiful and the memory of the all too brief kiss we had shared the night before lingered in my thoughts in a way that no other woman’s ever had.
I started to cross the road towards her, thoughts racing as I tried to think of something, anything to say that would remove that frown and bring forth the smile that I found so appealing. Her eyes finally met mine and she looked at me expectantly as I opened my mouth to speak.
Those words didn’t get the chance to come before the thick branches of the evergreen parted behind her and the zombie lurched forward, its ruined jaws closed on her neck and I screamed my denial of what I was seeing.
Chapter 20
Time slowed to a crawl and I had an eternity to watch Lily’s eyes widen in shock and pain. Her mouth opened and she screamed.
The world lurched back into motion and I leapt forward, knife forgotten as I ripped the foul creature away from her. I dragged it over the wall, rage filled me and I barely felt its frantic attempt to claw at my exposed skin.
I threw it against a dark red car and heard bones break as it flopped over the bonnet before I remembered the knife I held. I brushed aside its flailing limbs and stabbed the blade down through its eye again and again as I unleashed all of my frustration, pain and anger on its still form.
Dark fluid covered the bonnet of the car and the ruined remains of the zombie slid slowly to the ground as I turned to Lily. I could hear yells of alarm and concern from the others as they ran over from the house.
I couldn’t look at her, couldn’t see the savage wound with the infection already filling her body. The helplessness as she slowly changed from the bright, beautiful person I knew into an ever hungry creature that would need to be put down.
“What happened?” Cass yelled as she ran up to us, I looked at her through eyes strangely blurred and saw her own eyes widen as she looked over at Lily. “Oh god no...”
“I’m ok.” Lily said with a tremble in her voice. “I think it got my jacket and not me.”
I was at her side and pulling back the collar of her jacket in an instant, carefully inspecting her flesh for any sign of a wound and when I found none, I released the breath I hadn’t been aware I was holding, put my arms around her and pulled her close.
“As nice as this is, we should move.” Lily whispered into my ear.
“Ah... of course.” I said as I let her pull away.
I refused to look at the others as I helped Lily to her feet, embarrassed by my emotional response.
“You ok to continue?” Cass asked Lily softly and she made assurances that she was.
“Come on mate,” Gregg said to Pat as I saw him glance at me from the corner of my eye, “Let’s go and finish breaking into that house.”
They moved away and I appreciated the tact as I fought to stem the tide of emotions that seemed to be welling up within me.
“You ok?” Lily asked as she took my hand in her own.
“No cuts that I can see,” I said as I considered how cold her hand was where it was held in mine and how much colder it could have become.
“Thank you.” She whispered and I nodded awkwardly.
“We should go and help them.” I said and saw her smile.
“Ok.”
She didn’t release my hand as we crossed the road towards the house that the others were attempting to gain entry to and in truth I didn’t mind.
The house was a simple two storey building with double glazing and a white PVC door. A small garden at the front of the property that looked to have been well tended at some point in time, though now loose leaves and bits of paper and plastic littered the ground.
Pat let out a grunt and the door popped open with a clunking sound as the lock broke. I let the others go into the house in search for any undead as I kept a close eye on Lily. Her near brush with death was something I didn’t want to see repeated and of course the noise we made would have alerted any undead in the area.
“You think we should go?” Lily asked nervously as though reading my thoughts.
“I believe we may have brought unwanted attention upon ourselves.” I said as I kept a wary eye on the road beyond the garden.
“Then we should leave yeah?”
“After we have scavenged what we can from this house.” I said.
“Why?”
“We need some kind of win from this if we want to be able to bring more people over to scavenge for supplies.” I said, “If we go back empty handed it will only ever be the few of us willing to try.”
“That makes sense I suppose.” She said with a sigh. “I just really want to go home.”
“Home is long gone I’m afraid, all we have now is our temporary camps.”
“I was referring to the apartments.” She said with a light elbow jab to my ribs, “You think we can’t stay there permanently?”
“We can try but I just can’t see it as a permanent place while all of this is going on.”
“We still have to try.” Lily said.
“Of course we do and I’m sure that I am just being my usual pessimistic self. Everything will be fine.” I lied.
“How are you doing now?” She asked in a hushed whisper after a quick look around to make sure we were alone. “Your ‘need’ that you spoke of.”
“Surprisingly I find myself a little bit distracted to notice it.” I said. “I have had other things on my mind since... well, last night.”
“Really?” Lily said with a widening smile, “Then perhaps I’ll have to make sure you stay distracted.”
“That would be... oh hell, get the others.” I said as I saw the group of undead stumble onto the road in the distance.
With one startled look in the direction I was staring, Lily released my hand and dashed into the house as I watched the group move slowly towards us.
They hadn’t seemed to notice us yet and I guessed that they were reacting to the noise but it wouldn’t take long for them to be close enough to become aware of our presence.
The others came running, almost falling over each other as they left the house and gathered around me.
“How many?” Cass asked nervously.
“Twenty or thirty, perhaps more.” I said absently.
“Time to go then mate.” Gregg said as he led the way from the garden, Pat and Cass close behind.
“You coming or just going to stand there staring?” Lily asked as grabbed at my arm and pulled.
“Sure.” I said as I started from my reverie. “Lead the way.”
We jogged along the road, some of our group moving with a greater grace and ease than others. I took up the rear, not by choice but merely because everyone else seemed to be in better shape than I was.
Jason and the other four people were waiting at the boat, everyone gathered around him as he told some story that had them all laughing. They looked up in alarm as we came barrelling down the driveway.
“Into the boat people it’s time to go.” Gregg called as he slid to a stop on the loose gravel and bent over, hands on his legs as he panted.
“How many?” Rachel asked accurately guessing zombies were on the way, not that it was hard to work out why we had been running.
“Enough to be a risk.” Cass snapped, “Get in the boat.”
With some muttering and shoving everyone was soon aboard the boat and Pat had us moving out into the lake.
The cabin was cramped as it was filled almost to overflowing with all the looted tools and timber as well as several panes of glass.
“What are those for?” I asked with a nod to the glass.
“Jason said he could use them to make some little greenhouse things to let us grow some plants even now in the winter.” Michelle said in her quiet voice when no one else seemed inclined to answer me. I frowned at the blatant way I was being ignored by Jason, Candice and Rachel.
“All we’ll need is some seeds and stuff.” Gregg said, “Sounds good.”
“Shame you didn’t get anything from your little trip except a bunch of undead following you.” Rachel said snidely.
“Oh we got more than that.” Gregg said with a grin and a wink at her.
“We did?” I asked quietly.
“Aye mate, a couple of bottles of vodka and some playing cards.” He said as he reached into his jacket and pulled a bottle into view, “Even better than that, Cass has her jacket pockets full with the contents of a spice rack.” He said as his grin widened, “We can finally have some food with actual flavour.”
Killing the Dead (Books 4-6) Page 12