Killing the Dead (Books 4-6)

by Murray, Richard

  “The door.” Toby muttered as he crossed to it and looked out to make sure no more of the zombies were close.

  He closed it firmly and locked the door, this time taking the key from the lock.

  “What happened?” Lily asked.

  “My fault.” Toby said. “I saw them earlier but didn’t think they’d be a problem.”

  “Why was he up here?” she asked. “Why even go outside?”

  “He was probably looking for the toilet or the cellar door. Poor man.” Gabby said.

  “We need to...” I began but was interrupted by Gabby.

  “I know. I’ll do it.” She said and I chose not to press the issue.

  With no immediate threat to deal with I followed Lily back down the stairs as Gabby and Toby went about the grisly business of disposing of their group member.

  Lily told everyone what had happened and a suitable amount of shock and horror was evident on the faces of most of the group. I left her to it as I settled back against my place by the wall.

  It was too early to mention but I would point out how dangerous it was here in the town and how much safer they would be if they left with us. It still had no guarantee of making Gabby change her mind but she had lost one group member and may be willing to listen.

  Lily would get what she wanted and I found myself to be quite pleased at being able to help her achieve that. It seemed being helpful to others wasn’t as onerous a task as I had long thought it to be and perhaps I would be able to find other ways to make her happy.

  With that thought uppermost in my mind I settled in to get some rest. We’d have a long day tomorrow and then we’d be back at the apartment building and the task of restoring Lily to her place as leader would begin.

  Chapter 18

  Apparently sleep was long in coming for everyone else. I awoke rested and reasonably refreshed if a little cold, to a gathering of irritable and sleep deprived people who had by all accounts stayed up all night talking about the horror that had happened above us.

  I received a cold stare from Karam when I asked what was for breakfast and Lily took a firm grip on my arm and steered me to one side away from everyone else.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked and added, “Ow.” As she squeezed my arm tighter than I felt was needed.

  “Normal people don’t tend to sleep after witnessing a zombie eating a person and normal people don’t cheerfully ask for breakfast when everyone is in shock.” she hissed.

  “Oh.”

  “Yes. Oh.” She shook her head at my confusion and smiled. “You really don’t get it do you. The way you’re acting is singling you out as different.”

  “I thought having to pretend to be something more ‘normal’ was done with.” I said quietly.

  “It is. Most of the time you can be you and no one will notice anything different. When something like last night happens and you aren’t upset or even bothered, people notice.” Lily said.

  “Sorry, I’ll go back to pretending.” I said and couldn’t hide the disappointment. I had thought that the pretence I worked so hard to maintain before the apocalypse was over and done with.

  “You’ll be fine.” She said and released the grip on my arm a little. “If it helps you don’t need to pretend with me.”

  “That actually does.” I said and meant it. “So what now?”

  “Everyone’s tired and upset but we need to gather the food and get back to our own camp.” Lily said. “I’ll talk to Gabby again and see what she wants to do.”

  She gave another squeeze of my arm, this one more gentle than the last and set off purposefully across the room towards Gabby leaving me standing by myself.

  I nodded in greeting to Pat as I caught his eye as my gaze swept the room and he did the same. It was the sort of non verbal gesture from him that I liked no need for unnecessary talking. Gregg was leant against the wall with his hands in his pockets and his head down while Cass was speaking urgently with Vanessa and Melody.

  The rest of the group were idly talking amongst themselves except for Dale who sat quietly by himself and Toby who seemed to be absent. With no one watching me or seemingly bothered about what I was doing, I climbed the stairs to use the tiny bathroom.

  As I walked through the door at the top of the stairs I almost bumped into Toby who was standing with his back to me and staring thoughtfully at the dark stain on the carpet. The remains of Brett and the zombie had been removed.

  “Oh... Hi.” He said as he noticed my arrival.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked with genuine curiosity.

  “Something just doesn’t seem right here.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Brett had a problem with the drink but I’ve never seen him so far gone he confused the outside door with the cellar one.” Toby said as he scratched idly at the back of his head. “It’s just... off. You know?”

  “There’s always a first time for anything.” I said and hoped he’d let the matter drop.

  “Maybe.”

  “What did you do with the bodies?” I asked.

  “They’re in that room.” Toby said and waved towards the front of the Taxi office. “Couldn’t put them outside last night, they might’ve attracted more.”

  I nodded and we lapsed into that comfortable silence that I found so rarely with people. Toby seemed lost in thought and I was just happy to be away from the crowded cellar

  “Christ this is getting me nowhere.” Toby said suddenly breaking the silence, “I need a breath of fresh air.”

  He pulled the key for the back door out of his pocket and unlocked the door before pulling it open and stepping outside. The cold air that blew in through the open doorway was enough to cause me to shiver as I decided to join him.

  “So what do...” I began and trailed off as I saw him looking towards the road, eyes wide. I followed the direction of his gaze and understood his shock. “Oh hell.”

  I pulled him back into the office and closed the door as quietly as I could. He fumbled with the key in the lock before managing to turn it and without a word we went downstairs to the cellar, making sure to close and lock the door at the top of the stairs too.

  As soon as we were back amongst the others he rushed over to speak to Gabby who was still deep in conversation with Lily and I crossed over to lean against the wall beside Gregg as a ripple of shock passed through the crowded room.

  “What’s going on?” Gregg asked as he became aware of the change in the room.

  “Something that really isn’t good.” I said with a sly smile.

  Gabby strode to the centre of the room and called for attention as loudly as she dared. When all eyes were on here she began to speak.

  “Toby’s just told me that a large number of zombies are passing by as we speak.” She waved for silence as people began to talk all at once. “From the amount of snow that’d been churned up on the road, the ones that were passing weren’t the first.”

  I watched the faces around me with interest. Their expressions were either worried, shocked or outright terrified.

  “After what happened last night and if more zombies are moving into this area, we have to decide. Stay here or go with these others.”

  While I was pleased that my actions from the night before had helped Gabby in her decision, I wondered if it had been enough as everyone began to talk at once.

  “What if they’re just passing us?” Vanessa asked.

  “We’re safe here.” Karam declared.

  “You’ll safely starve if you can’t leave this cellar to get food.” Gregg responded.

  “How is their place safer?” Melody asked.

  “We’re at the other side of the lake.” Lily said before adding, “We have a fence and if we see a lot of them headed our way we can relocate to an island.”

  “Why aren’t you on the island already?” Tameka demanded.

  “Long story.” Gregg said with a grim smile that seemed to be dire
cted towards me.

  I was rapidly growing bored with the question and answer session and so instead turned my mind to the potential problem we’d face moving through a town with a large number of zombies wandering around.

  The sheer quantity we had watched pass by in just the short time we were stood outside was a telling reminder of how easy we had had it lately. With the vast majority of the undead safely out of the way we had been able to come and go with little real danger.

  That had changed. I was firmly convinced that just getting out of the town would be a challenge and doing so with food and supplies would be fraught with danger. I allowed a smile at the thought of the violence to come.

  “So it’s decided then.” Gabby declared snapping me from my reverie.

  With those words the people around me moved with purpose as they set about their various tasks. I wondered idly if I was supposed to be doing something. Lily crossed the room to me with a smile.

  “I know you aren’t a fan of bringing more people into the group but it’s good news.” She said.

  “What is?” I asked with a frown.

  “They’ve agreed to come with us. Weren’t you listening?”

  “No. I guess I wasn’t.” I admitted and her smile grew as she shook her head in bemusement.

  “You really should start paying attention.” She said.

  “I do when it’s relevant.”

  “Are you upset that they’re joining us?” Lily asked and I thought perhaps I could detect a little apprehension. It had never occurred to me that she may feel concern about alienating me.

  “No, we’ll be bringing plenty of food with us so they won’t be a drain on our supplies.” I said and she seemed relieved. “So what’s the plan?”

  “We go and fill as many of those vans as we can with supplies and try to get them back to the boat, load it up and get across the lake to home.” Lily said before adding with an impish smile, “Then we get to spend a bit of time together just relaxing.”

  “Oh?”

  She just smiled and wandered away to speak with Cass. She seemed in good humour so that was something I thought.

  Toby returned as the rest of the people in the cellar were ready to go. He spoke quietly with Gabby who seemed to agree with whatever he was saying as she nodded along. Finally he stopped speaking and she turned to the rest of us.

  “We can’t get to the wholesalers the same way we went yesterday, too many zombies up there.” she said and groans spread through the crowd. “Toby’s found another route that he thinks will work.”

  “Stay quiet and follow close.” Toby said and that seemed to be the end of it.

  It had been decided to take all of the lanterns and the radio from the Taxi office. The blankets and few food supplies would be left in case anyone needed to use the cellar as a safe place the next time one of our group visited the town.

  With one lantern shining in his hand, Toby led the way through the hole in the wall, brushing aside the blanket that covered it and impatiently gesturing us through. He did the same with the next wall and then led us up some stairs out of the cellar.

  We came out of the cellar door into the back room of a gift shop. The room was full of boxes and packages containing all those delightful little knickknacks that people inevitably felt the need to buy whenever they visited their holiday destination.

  Fridge magnets, ornaments and posters seemed to be the most common items and each and every one of them was useless to us. We didn’t spend any time lingering in that back room but left through a back door and were soon clustered together in a walled courtyard in the snow.

  It seemed that the gift shop had a separate access point than the others in the row of businesses. The high stone wall to either side of us were easily eight feet in height and directly across from the back door was a thick wooden gate that filled the width of the courtyard.

  “When I open the gate, get ready to kill a few zombies.” Toby said with a stern look around the group. “Only a handful but be careful.”

  He pulled back the bolt that locked the gate and dragged the gate back through the thick layer of snow. Moaning immediately filled the air and I pulled my knife from its sheath while keeping an eye on Lily to ensure she was prepared.

  She smiled back in return when she noticed me watching and raised her hammer slightly in her hand to show her readiness and then they were on us.

  Slow and stupid but still a potential problem, they rushed forward with claw like hands reaching ahead for us. They were dressed incongruously in suits and ties on the once males and pant suits on those that had been female. I guessed they had all come from the same office and stuck together even in undeath.

  Pat took out the first with one mighty swing of his hammer and Toby smashed the skull of another. I thrust at the eyes of a third and my knife glanced off bone that shattered with an audible crack. I swore and stabbed with my knife again.

  I finally managed to get the blade through its eye and into its brain and the corpse fell to the ground as I looked around for another, only to see that mine had been the last to fall. A flush rose over my cheeks as I saw that I had failed at killing once again.

  The group cleaned off their weapons and followed along after Toby, keeping to the wall and staying silent. I lagged behind until I was at the back of the group and kept my thoughts to myself as I tried to understand what was happening with me.

  When I had been fighting alongside Toby I had been my usual lethal self and had considered that any failure in my abilities at other times had managed to rectify itself. Instead it seemed that it was merely a brief reprieve.

  With darkening thoughts, I saw a future stretching ahead of me where I would be ever more reliant on others when it came to protecting myself. The very idea of it was intolerable and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to live that way.

  Chapter 19

  We made it to the wholesalers with no further incidents though we did have to hide on two occasions as parties of zombies passed close by. All around the area though, the sign of their passing was clear with churned snow and fresh stains.

  Once there we moved in teams through the building and attached warehouse to ensure we had no unwelcome visitors. When it was declared safe, Melody and Lily went out to check on the vans while Toby kept watch and the rest of us pulled box after box of foodstuffs and useful items from the racking. Even Dale seemed to be coming out of his semi-catatonic state and was managing to be useful.

  It had never occurred to me before the end of the world, how much we took the most basic things for granted. Toilet paper was worth its weight in gold as was soap and deodorant along with condoms and sanitary products for that time of the month all women share. No one wanted to bring a baby into the zombie infested world while it was so dangerous.

  Tinned meats, fruit and vegetables, salt, flour, sugar and rice. Entire boxes of each were piled beside the doors ready to be transferred to the vans.

  We worked in relative silence and moved as quickly as we dared, all of us aware that the undead could come upon us at any moment which discouraged the usual chatter that seemed to accompany any group activity.

  When Lily and Melody returned to pronounce three of the vans ready to go and working, we began the arduous task of filling all three with as many of the boxes as we could. It was decided that we would have three people in each of the vans and the rest of us would walk ahead clearing any obstacles that the vans couldn’t push past.

  By the time we had finished it was late afternoon and with the prospect of having to spend another night in the zombie infested town looming, we decided that the vans were as full as they’d ever be.

  Toby closed the warehouse and main shop doors and secured them as best he could with some of the tattered straps that would have been used to secure items in the vans when everything wasn’t life or death. It wouldn’t stop anyone who happened to be alive but would at least ensure that we wouldn’t have to clear out the undead
the next time we came.

  Gabby, Lily and Melody would travel in the first van with Cass, Gregg and the red headed Vanessa in the second. The third would have Karam, Tameka and Dale while Toby, Pat and me would move ahead of the vans to clear the route.

  Since Toby was familiar with the area he would be leading us along the simplest route that would take us out of the town and then towards the boat house.

  The vehicles that packed the roads would be a problem but the average width of the pavement was a metre and a half to two metres, while the width of the transit style vans that the wholesalers used was just over a metre and a half.

  It would be a tight fit and may result in a great deal of bumps and loss of paint along the sides but we didn’t have that far to go to get out of the main town. Once away from the packed vehicles in the town itself the roads would have less traffic since most of the cars were travelling along the roads towards the motorway which was the opposite direction to the one we were taking.

  We set off walking, weapons held ready and heard the engines start up behind us. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the first van pull carefully out of the driveway before the wholesalers. It looked like turning corners would be the biggest problem but the van had enough power to push past the nearest car with just a loud screech that no doubt alerted every damn zombie around us.

  I had no real idea why I had volunteered, insisted in fact, on walking ahead with Pat and Toby. The problems I had been having with killing the zombies were making me more than a little apprehensive and it was certainly taking a great deal of the fun out of it.

  The only bonus was that neither Pat nor Toby was very talkative and we could trudge along through the snow in comfortable silence, each of us watching for the inevitable appearance of the undead.

  We moved down one street and then carefully onto the next where we had to move aside some overturned aluminium tables and chairs that had been left outside a cafe. Pat was just lifting the last table and pushing it through the broken window of the shop when the first zombies came out of a side street on the opposite side of the road from us.