Seasons of Z (Book 4): Dead Fall

by Riva, Aline

  “Brett's dead. Someone torched him in his cell.”

  Mickey's eyes went wide as he sat up, pushing the food aside.

  “They burned him alive?”

  Joy found her voice, knowing instantly what it was like for suspects when interrogated by the police: Keep calm on the outside, don't show the guilt...

  “After murdering half this town when he left them to the zombies I'd say everyone's a suspect,” she replied, “And it has to be said – he's no loss.”

  Mickey paused for thought.

  “The man who tried to kill me - who also attacked Carla and threatened dear little Archie, is dead. I can't say I'm too concerned. I'm sure some grieving relative of one of the many he left to the hordes back in Winter also feels a sense of justice today...”

  As Alex and Mickey talked about the news, Joy went off to find Angel, and as she watched her hugging Truffle and smiled as she talked about how they were going to do a project on the Evolved at school, Joy reminded herself the town was a safer place now. Mickey was safe. Carla and Archie were safe too. She never wanted to spill blood again - human or zombie - and it was almost over, normal life was returning, and she wanted to adjust to that as she thought of Carol and the petrol, quiet Carol who seemed so harmless had resorted to petrol to get rid of the man who had threatened to kill Carla and Archie. It reminded her of the old saying about, it's always the quiet ones you need to watch... And sometimes, the ex coppers, she thought to herself.

  Chapter 7

  It was late evening. Zombies were rotting at the roadside, old blood had dried dark and the stench was carried away by the sea air as it blew cold along the road leading to the gates of what remained of Wickstall. The vehicles pulled up at the gates, as armed guards looked warily at the two large vans that had come to a halt. Then the tinted window of the vehicle in front slid down.

  “We are looking for a place to stay, we have been driving for days,” said the woman who sat in the drivers seat, she gave a weary sigh and added with a smile, “We have supplies, if you are low.”

  “Supplies are plentiful here,” said the guard, “How many of you?”

  “Just me...” she indicated to the van behind her, “And Mr McKinley,” she said, and the other vehicle slid down a window as a heavy set man with greying, swept back hair looked out.

  The guard and his colleague approached the first vehicle.

  “We are a free town in three days,” he told her, and she smiled.

  “Yes, the whole world is becoming free, or so I'm told. I haven't seen the cities yet, we've been out in the countryside for months.”

  As the other guard unlocked the gate, the one who lingered by the van stood next to the vehicle as the gates were opened up.

  “If you take the main road around the other side, the army is cleaning up the other half of the town,” he told her, “They usually pack up for the day and leave by four pm, they're camped a couple of miles away from the town, but you could take a drive back and see if you can speak to someone. They might know of a town that's already wide open.”

  She smiled as she attached a silencer and raised her gun.

  “No thanks. We know all that shit,” she said, and fired off a muted shot as he fell back with a bullet to the head.

  The guard at the gate turned in horror to see his colleague bleeding out as blood pooled in the fading light. She aimed her weapon before he got a chance to raise his own, firing off another shot that hit him in the chest. As a scream sounded from the tower, McKinley aimed from the van behind and single shot felled Kerry as her body slumped in the watch tower. The vans sped through the gates, and as guards came running, they were mowed down. The vehicles crossed through the entrance to the fairground parking area, came to a halt with a skid beside the closed gates, and as Devan ran from the office, he raised his gun but armed men jumping from the vans began to shoot, as from the beach the patrols were alerted and they started to fire off shots as they ran from the sea wall above. Devan ducked machine gun fire as the men turned, firing back at the patrol men. Then a soundless bullet clipped his shoulder, he fell to his knees and dropped his gun as pain throbbed and suddenly she was standing over him, with long black hair in bunches and a red lipstick smile that clashed with the coldness in her eyes as she kicked him on to his back and placed a heavy boot on his chest, increasing pressure as she looked down at him.

  “Soon this town is free,” she remarked, unconcerned by the gunfire that sounded in the distance, “But you let people leave recently...and they talked.”

  Then she leaned close to him, looking demonic clad in black leather as the wind whipped back her hair and the deep lines on her face grew deeper still as her expression became a mask of rage and her long fish bone earring caught fiery on the amber sunset.

  “WHERE IS MY BROTHER, WHERE IS MICKEY SILK?” demanded Flora Deering.

  As Devan coughed and gasped, McKinley called to Flora as he stepped out of the office with a book in his hand listing housing and allocations. Flora kicked Devan in the jaw as he rolled to the path unconscious, then she went over to join the only survivor from the massacre at the warehouse, the man who had found her in shock and bleeding to death. He had fixed up her wounds. It had taken all Spring and part of Summer to recover, and by then the zombies were dying off. On the way to the city they had passed people leaving Wickstall to head in the direction of home now the crisis was over, and she had heard all about Mickey Silk, the man who had got rid of Brett Norton and now ran the town so very well... If her brother was still alive this raid would be worth it, and so would the effort of recruiting new men on the way to this town, because now, with the world about to be declared liberated once more, it was a race against time to see who got to the money first - and she was determined it would not be her brother...

  As gunfire continued to exchange over by the hillside that led up to the sea wall, she exchanged a smile with McKinley.

  “Good work,” she said, “Stay with the men, it shouldn't take long to get this town under control. Grab weapons and try and find some cash, too - it's about to become valuable once more! I'm off to find Mickey boy.”

  Sage had run to the window as she heard shots in the distance, then as Bess had joined her, Poppy ran into the room with wide eyes.

  “People are shooting!” she said in fear, “I saw from my window, Sage, they have guns, and the beach patrol are shooting back at them! What's going on?”

  More gun fire echoed in the distance.

  “I don't know, but I need to find out.”

  Sage had dashed out to the hallway.

  “No, Sage!” she heard Poppy cry as she and Bess hurried out to join her, “You're not going out there!”

  Her eyes were wide as Bess looked at Sage, who had put on her coat and then grabbed her rifle.

  “Look after Poppy,” was all she said and then she opened the door, hurried out and closed it behind her as Bess yelled her name.

  Poppy ran to the window in time to see Sage duck low as she ran along the promenade, heading for the slope near the fairground where gun fire was being exchanged.

  “Come back!” Poppy yelled, then as a stray bullet hit the window with a crack she gave a cry of alarm as Bess grabbed her and pulled her to the floor.

  “Are you hurt?” she said anxiously as she covered her and more shots rang out.

  “No, I'm okay... I just want Sage to come back!” she sobbed as they laid low on the carpet for fear of another stray bullet hitting the window.

  “Sage will be okay,” Bess told her, clinging to those words with more desperation than Poppy knew, as they stayed low and she kept an arm around her, as her thoughts stayed with Sage and outside, the gunfire echoed.

  As shots were heard far off near the beach, Carol had closed the curtains and turned off the lights, then called Archie into his mother's room, where they sat on the floor between the bed and the wardrobes, as Archie held Fluffle in his arms.

  “Why are we hiding?” Archie asked quietly as he looked
at Carol with wide eyes and stroked Fluffle, who growled contentedly.

  “I think there's fighting going on somewhere,” she said, “Don't worry about Mummy, she's on the other side of town at the bar, she won't even hear it - the shots are being fired near the fairground, up by the beach... We just have to stay quiet and hide, and we will be safe, okay?”

  Archie nodded solemnly, holding Fluffle closer as the firing continued, sounding far off as the wind blew in strong from the sea, making bare tree limbs bend as it whipped around outside the bungalow.

  Chris had heard the shots first, he and River had been in the garden raking away dead leaves as they talked about getting the pool cleaned eventually, then they had started a debate on whether or not to use the thing again – it was the thought of the disembowelled zombie that put her off, but Chris had said it wouldn't matter once it had been deep cleaned. And then they had heard the gun fire, and exchanged a glance.

  “What the hell is going on?” Chris exclaimed, and he had run back inside to find Mickey and Joy had abandoned the task of cooking dinner as Joy looked at him in alarm.

  “I can hear guns!” Angel said, and she looked scared as she added, “Are the zombies back?”

  “Highly unlikely,” Mickey replied, then he looked to River, “Watch Angel, lock the doors, don't let anyone in.”

  “I'm staying with them,” Chris told him, “We don't know who is out there, or what's going on. River and Angel need me.”

  “Yes, we do,” River looked scared as she stood there behind Angel with her hands on her shoulders, “I've always said it, I'm a doctor, I'm not a zombie killer or... what ever it will take to stop whoever has attacked this town.”

  Chris stood close as he spoke gently to her.

  “It's okay, I'll grab a gun and we will wait upstairs out of sight, we'll go into the bedroom and Angel can hide under the bed, just in case.”

  “In case of what?” Angel asked as she looked up at them.

  River was visibly shaken as she and Chris exchanged another glance.

  “In case we all need to hide, but you first,” he replied, and then he led River and Angel from the room as Joy heard more gunfire and then glanced to the door that led around to the garage.

  “We'll need the machine guns. They're in the garage in the back of the van.”

  Mickey grabbed his car keys and handed them to Joy.

  “Drive the long way around to the promenade. I'll meet you there. We can check it out from a distance and see what's going on - we don't know who these people are.”

  Joy looked at him in confusion.

  “Why don't I just wait for you?”

  “Because I have to check those weapons, Joy, and some of our people might need ammo! You're a copper, you're the best one to watch and work this situation out. I want to know what I'm walking into!”

  “Be careful,” she told him.

  He kissed her cheek and turned for the door.

  “You too,” he replied, “I'll meet you at the other end of the promenade, we'll figure out what to do from there.”

  Then he hurried out the back door, following the path that led to the garage.

  While Joy was putting on her coat and checking her weapon, she wasn't aware that Mickey had been far from honest with her:Yes, he wanted her to wait at the other end of the promenade, far from the gunfire, where she would be safe. He had no intention of meeting with her, and as he opened the door, went into the garage and closed it behind him, he turned on the light and as the bulb above glowed dimly he opened up the back of the van and took out a machine gun, planning to wait until she had left in the car before opening up the front of the garage and leaving the house on foot to cross the field and reach the scene of the battle. He was taking no chances with Joy, she had done enough to keep them both alive and now the zombies were gone, he would handle this new crisis without her...

  And then he heard a sound behind him and as he turned, something crashed into the back of his head, and Mickey fell dazed to the floor as his vision blurred and dimmed. As he saw heavy laced up boots standing over him, he was hit with the crazy notion those boots reminded him of his dead sister. But it couldn't be... Unless... No, no, Flora couldn't be alive... Or was she? He didn't have time for that last thought to linger as he lost consciousness.

  As Joy slowed the car, gunfire sounded far off at the other end of the street, where in the distance she saw a battle going on between armed men who she did not recognise and the towns patrol men. If any zombies still lived, they would have simply staggered to shore right now, because everyone who did any kind of guard duty along the beach front was there, as the battle raged on the hillside between the promenade and the fairground. She saw two large vans parked at clumsy angles through the wide open gates to the fairground entrance.

  Joy thought for a moment: The army were cleaning up the other side of Wickstall, but this was a job that always finished by four pm, and then they left to return in the morning... these people must have known that, this was the time when the town had no back up defence... She counted twenty men heavily armed and guessed they must have been packed in the vans, and struck when the gates were open. There were dead security guards outside the open gates, and two more were fallen and bleeding out as the battle raged within.... And where was Mickey? Joy checked her watch and took a glance back down the road. It was empty with no sign of the van yet.

  “Hurry up, Mickey!” she muttered as she checked her weapon, and her mind was still turning it all over:

  Who were these invaders?

  Why now, when the crisis was over?

  They were a free town in three days...

  These people wouldn't have attacked now, with the army back in the morning... unless they were here specifically for something, or someone...

  “What am I missing here?” she whispered as she watched another exchange of gun fire and one of the aggressors was hit square in the chest with an explosion of blood on impact with the bullet, and crashed lifeless against the fairground office, sliding down the wall and leaving a crimson smear behind him. She was still wondering why they were doing this when she saw Sage duck behind a low wall close by, pausing to reload as she prepared to take a shot from a distance.

  “Sage!” Joy yelled as she slid down the window.

  Sage glanced back then ducked low, hurrying with the loaded weapon in her hand towards the car. Joy opened up the passenger seat and she got in, breathing hard as she slid lower in the seat, level with Joy and out of sight of the gunmen in the distance as she paused to catch her breath.

  “Are Bess and Poppy okay?”

  “Yes, I left them at the flat, Bess is keeping Poppy safe... I had to come out here and see what I could do... I'm not even sure if I can get in there, not without talking a bullet - unless we went in across the field. Where's Mickey?”

  “He's joining us, he's bringing the van, thought our people could use some extra ammo.”

  “Good idea,” Sage agreed as more shots fired, “Why is this happening, why now? The zombies are gone, the army is back tomorrow - why would raiders do this at the last minute? We don't have anything valuable here!”

  That police instinct was kicking in sharply, and in a way that made Joy wonder if she was going mad, because a crazy thought had just come to mind.

  “Maybe they're not looters. They have two vehicles... no, they're not, they're not raiding us for what they can take...” Joy's eyes had gone wide as she looked sharply at Sage, “If it's not goods, it's someone! They're after someone and they want to take them out before law and order is restored. This is something personal...”

  It was still there, an awful realisation had hit her, and as a look of horror came to her eyes, Sage looked back at her in alarm.

  “What?” she demanded, “What do they want from us?”

  Joy drew in a ragged breath as fear laced into heart and gave a sharp squeeze. It was falling into place: Any business that used to rake in the cash was gone with the outbreak, including the i
llegal kind - but the cash was still there, and there was only one person who would do something like this to ensure she got her hands on those millions, because her own wealth wasn't enough. She had wanted to take everything from him back at the warehouse, when the last weapons stash was the prize... Now that was over, this war was about blood money... Joy could barely breathe as she turned the keys in the ignition.

  “If Mickey's sister isn't dead...”

  Sage looked at her in confusion as they pulled away, then she was slammed against the seat as Joy floored the accelerator and the car took off at speed, hurtling towards the open gates where a handful of the raiders stood firing off shots.

  Mickey felt a kick to his guts that made him groan, and the pain shocked him back to reality as the darkness lifted. He looked up as his head ached and even the dim glow of the bulb overhead hurt his eyes. She was standing there looking down at him, hair trailing her shoulders as her fish bone earring hung long and shiny and caught the light... No, it couldn't be... But it was. Oh shit, Flora was still alive... Mickey turned on his side, laying there with a look of shock on his face as he looked up at his sister.

  “That's right,” she said as she looked down coldly as her scarlet lipstick shone too bright against her ageing, pale skin, “Not dead!” she declared, “Almost, I was in shock and bleeding out but thankfully McKinley was on the other side of the warehouse when you stabbed me. He was able to patch me up pretty good after that bitch took off with you and your ugly woman, in MY helicopter!”

  His head throbbed as he drew in a breath.

  “McKinley's still alive? Is he still around to kiss your saggy old arse? I bet he's all you have left now!”