Seasons of Z (Book 4): Dead Fall

by Riva, Aline

  She smiled, but then her smile faded as she paused, looking to the sea as she spoke again.

  “I heard about what Brett did to Carla. Everyone knows about it. And he's done something to me as well...”

  As shock registered in his eyes, Alice continued to speak, still looking to the water.

  “Before the outbreak reached us, Brett spoke to the local authorities about putting up barriers. They agreed and went for it, but they left the gates open. A lot of people were leaving town, but those who stayed assumed they would all be safe behind the barriers when those gates closed. Brett put word out that he was looking for healthy, able bodied people willing to defend the town. And at the time I was working at the arcade on the pier. He'd invited me in to see his show a few times in the summer, and he approached me and said there was a place for me when the hordes invaded, a safe place, but I had to join him now, and I could bring a friend with me. But only someone who was young and enthusiastic and good with people, because he needed someone who could liaise with the committee in a persuasive way, he also wanted someone who could eventually handle travellers when they came along... He said we would have to be careful who we let in. No weak or sick or disabled or old...” she paused, glancing at Alex as she blinked away tears.

  “He's going to pay for what he's done,” he said to her, “What happened, with you and him?”

  “I said I wanted my parents to come in but he said everyone else would be let in at the last minute...” she drew in a sharp breath, “It didn't happen that way! Those gates stayed locked until the horde invaded, then he ordered his people to shoot and they killed zombies and I later found out, innocent people. It was a clear message to keep away from the barrier. So the zombies took over and that's what happened to the other half of Wickstall. But I believed him when he said he was going to save me and my family and Devan - he was my best friend, he worked as the manager of a local hotel, he was good with people and Brett said he was welcome to stay. But I didn't get this for free, Alex. When Brett made me his offer, he told me to be nice, to say thank you. And he was Brett Norton, local celebrity. Everyone loved Brett. At the time, when the barriers went up, they said he saved us all... He told me I was special but I felt sick when he asked me to suck his cock. He was still the person who saved the town - but part of it, not all... and he took whatever he wanted and people just let him get away with it.. I kept telling myself, the worlds ending and I'm lucky he let me live... but deep down, I hated him!” she blinked away more tears, “I'm so glad that bastard's locked up!”

  “It wasn't your fault,” Alex told her, “The world as we knew it was falling apart and he manipulated you. He also lied to everyone who trusted him and left half the town to the zombies. I should go over to the police station and stab that fucker!”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head, “He lives to be someone, he has to be important. It's what he thrives on. Now he's just a piece of filth who will spend the rest of his days in a cell. He's got what he deserves.”

  Alex took in a slow breath, recalling how hard he had hit Brett when he knocked him out, as he wished in that moment he had hit him even harder.

  “I'm glad it's over,” she added, “He's finished in Wickstall. And I just want to move on and start thinking about the future.”

  “And we do have a future,” Alex reminded her, “No more zombies and soon, no more barriers - it's going to seem weird at first, not carrying a gun around any more.”

  “And I'm glad you're staying,” Alice said as she met his gaze once more, “And I'm sorry I reacted the way I did, that day on the beach... Your name is Alex and you're the guy for me and I don't care who you used to be, all that matters is who you are, and I'm looking at him right now.”

  She started to smile. So did Alex as what she said began to register.

  “So... you do want to go out with me?”

  “I never said I didn't!” she exclaimed.

  Now Alex was smiling too, as he wrapped his arms around her and they shared their first kiss in the middle of the empty pier below a grey sky as the sea flowed calm, reflecting the shade above it. And then a sound came distant on the horizon. At first it was vague then as it drew nearer they broke off from their kiss, exchanged a glance and looked to the skies as a fleet of army helicopters headed inland.

  “What's going on?” said Alice as she looked nervously to the sky.

  “I don't know,” he replied, still holding on to her.

  The choppers thundered overhead then headed inland, staying high up as the sky began to rain with white fluttering paper. As one of the papers fell nearby and began to drift up the boards carried on the sea breeze, Alex chased it and grabbed it, turning it over as he started to read. As Alice joined him, he was smiling as he showed it to her.

  “A notice to the residents of Wickstall, this is a government announcement to confirm that the crisis is considered over and military and police assistance will be with us in three weeks. We're advised to keep up all barriers and defences until help officially arrives...”

  She laughed as she looked at Alex, his gaze reflecting the same joy and relief as her own.

  “It's official! It's over!” she squealed excitedly.

  Then they kissed, as further along the pier the leaflets danced on the wind, chasing to shore as the skies over the town continued to rain paper, fluttering to earth stark white against the leaden sky as Alex grabbed Alice and lifted her off her feet, spinning her around as they laughed, celebrating something they would never forget - the moment they had sealed their love with a kiss, right at the moment they had also learned the world was free once more.

  Joy arrived at the manor oblivious to the event that had happened in the town. On finding the door open she drew her gun, stepping in quietly and looking about the wide entrance hall: There was not a sound to be heard. Then as she approached the stairway she saw spots of blood on the carpet and she looked up, drew a deep breath and slowly and carefully began to make her way up the stairs as somewhere a clock ticked and then melodic chimes sounded the hour. She passed paintings of Featherstone ancestors that hung on the wall and reached the top of the stairs and looked down the upper hall and as she listened, she heard a chatter then a mix of growl and purr, and a voice speaking softly to an Evolved.

  She made her way down the hallway, seeing more blood that trailed from a bedroom, smeared ugly on the floor. The droplets traced a path into a black and white tiled bathroom, where blood was still stained in a red ring around a porcelain sink. There was a towel on the floor, once white and now marked red with blood. She stepped out of the room and listened, hearing a softly spoken voice again, and she went quietly over to an open doorway where blood was smeared on the varnished boards and partly soaked an antique rug. The bedspread was stained too, but there was no corpse in this room. Charlie was sitting on the end of the bed, away from the dried blood, in his tweed suit with his jacket off and his shirt sleeves rolled up as he cradled a fluffy Evolved in his arms. The creature was snow white with no trace of the blood that had once covered it.

  “...And you're so precious to me,” Charlie was saying, “So very precious, I'll always take care of you, Imp.”

  A board creaked as she entered the room and Charlie looked up at her. That look of desperation and fear was gone from his eyes, replaced by emotion that made him blink away tears.

  “You were right,” he said as he stroked Imp's fluffy head, “Bradley was gone. He fell to the floor and didn't get up again. I came in, I was all alone, I saw him there and I thought, I might as well hold him. But I wasn't holding him, he was gone, I was holding a creature that tried to bite me even as it was dying...” he blinked away more tears, “And then it stopped moving. I was holding this stinking rotted corpse in my arms. Then it split open and this little fella came out... he was covered in blood, but he came from what was left of my Brad, so I cleaned him up, I put him in another room and then I buried the body out in the garden by the oak tree. I've been dying since Brad got infected
. I had a bad heart. So I started drinking again, trying to die slowly, like my husband was dying slowly. And I've been getting chest pains all summer, they got bad recently...” then he looked down at the Evolved in his arms, smiling as he met Joy's gaze again, “And Imp knew. And he bit me. I've never felt better! This creature that came from what was left of Brad repaired me, healed me - and to me, that's my husband's way of kicking me up the arse and saying get on with life again, man!”

  Joy smiled too.

  “You're probably right,” she said as she blinked to fend off tears as sheer relief swept over her. Charlie was going to be okay, thanks to the Evolved.

  “You called him Imp?” she asked as she stepped closer, stroking the creatures fur as it looked up at her with big round eyes and chattered as a rumble came from deep in its chest.

  “Yes,” he replied with a chuckle, “Because he is a cheeky little imp! He's up and down the curtains, he makes noise all the time, he likes to knock over the china, too!”

  Joy laughed.

  “And now you're not alone.”

  “I am definitely not alone now I have Imp,” he told her.

  “It's over soon. The zombies are dying off,” Joy said, “What will you do next?”

  He paused for thought.

  “Nothing that reminds me of this awful year,” he concluded as he stood up with Imp in his arms and they walked out of the room together and headed for the stairs, “I'll get the land tidied up, remove all memory of the war games, carry on running this estate. The manor's mine now, and I want to keep it as Bradley knew and loved it....” he paused for thought as they went back downstairs and as they reached the lower floor, he stood there with Imp in his arms as he chattered, looking wide eyed at Joy as Charlie spoke again.

  “I own a bar in town. It's just before the barrier, on this side of the divide. I might open it up again, it will give me something to do – and Bradley had a share in it. So it's something of ours to keep going. I've heard it's still in one piece, too. Even the outbreak couldn't destroy what we built!”

  “I think that's a great idea,” Joy agreed, “You should come down to the town for a while, meet my friends, bring Imp with you.”

  They walked outside together, still talking. Joy gave him her address and he said he would let her know when the bar was open again - first he would have to speak to the committee, and then he would have stock the place - but before that, he told her, he would clean up the blood from upstairs, and then he would think about the rest.

  Joy left the manor and walked back through the pathway that would eventually lead back to town, feeling relieved that at least for Charlie, the outbreak had led to an ending he could live with. It was also yet another reason to be thankful to the Evolved, Imp had not only cured Charlie's heart condition, but given him back a reason to live, and that certainly was an unexpected result from a creature born of a zombie.

  Back at the house as evening came around, River and Chris had gone to bed early, and they were all smiles as they talked of the future. River was hopeful her parents had made it through, and was impatient for the phone lines to be up and running so she could make calls. She was sure they had found their way to a safe zone. If help was coming all the way to Wickstall, it was likely other places were already free and functioning once more, she had pointed out. They had gone upstairs hand in hand as she talked about permanently running the medical centre, and he added that he wanted to stay on at the school. They had their future planned...

  Angel had been asking many questions that night before bed, such as, what would happen to all the dead zombies, and was she going to grow up in this town, in this house, would they be staying here forever, because she really wanted to grow up with Archie. Joy had told her not to worry, that everything would be fine and all she needed to know was that she never had to be scared again...

  Now as they lay in bed with the lamp light glowing, Joy turned her head, catching a worried look in Mickey's eyes as he thought about the future.

  “Any suggestions?” she asked, “Because all I know for sure is, neither of us are going back. I'm not the person I was before, and neither are you. And I am scared, Mickey! You're a wanted man. What's the plan?”

  He turned on his side, putting an arm around her waist as his worried gaze met hers.

  “The plan is to wait for the banks to be up and running, then we pack up and grab Angel and then we are running!”

  She looked into his frightened eyes as a feeling of dread swept over her.

  “That's all? That's your plan, mister powerful gangland criminal? Where are we going?”

  “I don't know, anywhere that doesn't have the power to bring me back to the UK in handcuffs!”

  Joy looked at him in despair.

  “You don't have a plan!”

  “I have money, Joy - a lot of money! All we have to do is sit tight, grab the cash when the banks are functional and then we can -”

  “Go on the run, with Angel?”

  His gaze was full of apology.

  “I'm as scared as you are. I don't know what else to do, when the world was in chaos, we were safe - now we have three weeks until the police arrive and if I can't get to my money before the police get to me, it's over - at least, it's over for me. But not for you and Angel! You can bring her up without me, if you pretend you don't know me -”

  “I'm not doing that, I love you!”

  Tears filled Mickey's eyes.

  “I don't want you to do that either!”

  He gave a sob as Joy wrapped her arms around him. Mickey was weeping on her shoulder now, while the rest of the town celebrated. Joy felt sure they were the only ones dreading this, knowing it could spell the end for them instead of the new start the rest of the town was looking forward to. She desperately wanted to think of a brilliant plan that would get them out of this mess, but there was nothing. When police records were up and running, they would start looking for Mickey, and in Wickstall the man who had helped to remove Brett from power, the likeable man who now ran the town with Devan and the committee, would be only too easy to find. They were trapped with the only alternative to go on the run, and as a former copper, Joy knew that wasn't likely to end well, and it simply wouldn't be fair on Angel. She had been through enough, she needed a peaceful, stable life. It seemed there was no way out.

  “I'm so sorry,” Mickey said as tear ran down his face, “I never would have done the things I did back then if I'd known one day I'd meet you and we'd be raising Angel together, even the money wouldn't have mattered! I was so unhappy in those days, I was so alone -”

  Joy covered his mouth with a kiss as she rolled with him, her body sliding against his as her hand reached lower under the sheets and she started to caress him. He grew hard quickly despite his tears, and as their bodies joined, he was still weeping as they started to make love.

  “I'm going to lose everything!” he sobbed, “I fucking hate my life!”

  “Stop it,” she whispered, silencing him with a deep and lasting kiss as she moved harder against him.

  As he lost control he held on to her, catching his breath as his face stayed wet with tears. Moments later they were embracing, Mickey with his head on her shoulder as he held her tightly. His tears had stopped, but his thoughts were still on a future he had come to dread.

  “Don't think about it tonight,” Joy told him softly as she ran her hand over his hair, “We have plenty of time to come up with a plan.”

  Mickey gave a slow sigh.

  “I'm going to prison,” he said in a hushed voice, “If not when the barriers come down, some day soon. There will be a knock on the door and they will take me away and I don't want Angel seeing me in prison, she doesn't need to be exposed to that environment. Tell her I died. Just say, I was ill and I died but I loved her very much and I loved you, and then get on with your lives. Forget I exist.”

  “Stop talking like that!”

  “But it's true,” Mickey said quietly, “I never used to care about the futu
re, I had no one to care about, and I'm not the same man I used to be, but I'll be paying for what I did in those days. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a cell, Joy. I'd rather be dead. Maybe that's my only way out.”

  “Stop it, stop it now, no more of that talk!” Joy said firmly, holding him closer as she felt afraid for Mickey, who used to seem unbreakable, who was now losing the will to carry on at the thought of what the future held. It scared her to hear him talk like that. He looked into her eyes with a gaze reflecting so much regret.

  “I've always known when the outbreak ended, it was over for me,” he told her, “I just wanted to carry on living this life with you and Angel and enjoying my second chance. And I did enjoy it, I am thankful for it but I know my time is running out! I don't want to think about the future any more.”

  Joy said nothing in reply, holding him close as he rested with his head on her shoulder, finally closing his eyes, soothed by her comforting presence as he started to slip into a deep sleep. Tears were still drying on his face, he was holding her tightly even as he slept and in that moment, as she thought back to all they had been through since the day she had saved a wanted man from a gangland lynch mob back in Winter, Joy made up her mind: There had to be a way through this. She didn't know what to do yet, but she would find the answer. There had to be way to stay together...

  The days began to pass by. While Mickey and Joy worried for the future and Chris and River excitedly planned their hopes for the rest of their lives, while Alex was frequently absent as he spent more and more time at his new girlfriend's place, and Bess and Sage were making plans for a future together in Wickstall without guns and zombies and barriers, something unexpected happened. A new friendship sparked up, a friendship that would have great significance on future events in Wickstall...

  Charlie had called on Joy, and brought Imp with him, who ran off chattering to run along the curtain pole in the front room where he met Truffle, and the two of them started to chatter together. While the creatures darted about in the front room, Charlie told Joy he had been to the bar. It was intact, and the committee was only too happy to allow him to open the place up again with limited alcohol stocks, because, he added, before the outbreak everyone in Wickstall had known him, in fact they knew him better than they had known Bradley, simply because he owned and worked in the most popular bar in town. He had mentioned he wanted new drapes for the windows, and Joy had suggested he call on Carol who owned the fabric store. Carol had taken Charlie to the shop and he had chosen the fabric. Three days later, while Carol was working a Saturday shift at the medical centre, Carla took a drive over to the bar to drop off the curtains, and she took Archie with her...