Seasons of Z (Book 4): Dead Fall

by Riva, Aline

  “I have twenty heavily armed men killing off the towns security as we speak,” she stated, “We will take all the valuables and cash we can find and then we will leave. But we have all night, Mickey boy. You and me still got business to take care of, I have a score to even up. YOU FUCKING STABBED ME!”

  The look in her eyes became close to one of insane fury as Mickey started to laugh.

  “Yes I did and it was great! I want to do it again, I wish I'd done it years ago, Flora!”

  She stepped back pulling a curved, serrated blade from her belt. As she toyed with its sharp tip, she held back on the urge to batter him senselessness.

  “I will break every bone in your body,” she said darkly, “but not yet, I'm going to have some fun before I kill you because I know that pathetic, weak body of yours can't stand up to much... and I want to hear you scream!”

  She grabbed him by the shoulder, flipping him hard on to his back as he gave a cry of pain, then she tugged aside his coat and the tip of the blade cut through his shirt as she started to cut through flesh slowly, pressing harder as he gave a weak cry. She smiled, satisfied to see the start of blood flow as it soaked through the fabric of his shirt as pain registered on his face and he tried not to scream because that would bring the others - Chris and River were upstairs with Angel and they were not ready to take on this maniac. But he was. As she pressed the knife into his flesh once more, he reached out beneath the workbench close by, hand closing over a wooden handle. He drew it up and it felt heavy, he didn't know what it was or if it would be enough but now all he could think of was the pain in his shoulder as he smashed the heavy object into the back of her head, not knowing what he had laid his hands on. There was stunned look in Flora's eyes as she drew in half a breath, then blood began to run through her hair and over her face, and as the knife clattered from her grip he pushed her off him and she rolled, landing face down as he raised the weapon. Finally, he knew what he had hit her with. It wasn't the right shape to be a hammer and too heavy to be a screw driver...

  “It was a block plane...” he muttered and then he got up, feeling dizzy and sick.

  Mickey looked down at Flora and saw blood flowing from the back of her head as she lay there still as death. Her skull had an ugly dent and it reminded him of felled zombies on the road. He stood up as his own head throbbed and the light hurt his eyes, he swayed as he felt a lump forming on the back of his head. There was a small cut too but she had not hit him hard enough to cause real damage, intending to save the worst for later. Flora was still on the ground, face down as blood started to flow in a slick around her. Then the coppery rising stink of blood was too much after that blow to the head and he staggered past the body, put a hand to the wall to steady himself and puked on the floor. She was dead, she had to be - her head was partly caved in and she wasn't moving and he saw no sign of breath.

  He reached for the garage door and pulled it up, then went back inside and stepped over the increasingly fast flowing red slick as he went around to the back of the van and grabbed a machine gun. The dusk was fading now but still the last glows of light from the dying sky hurt his eyes as his head throbbed. He looked about the garage then saw what he needed, Chris had left his dark glasses in the van. He opened up the door, put them on, then turned back, reaching for Flora's body and dumping it in the passenger seat of the car. Then Mickey went around to the driver's side, got in and started up the engine. Even as he drove away heading for the sound of the gun fire, the glow of the fading light in the distance was making his head ache, but thankfully the worst was wearing off as he hoped he wouldn't puke again. Mickey picked up speed as the van rounded the corner, as Flora's body flopped lifeless against the window with a thump, leaving a bloody smear on the glass.

  Sage clung on to the seat with eyes wide as Joy sped towards the open gates. They passed though in a blur, the vehicle jarred as she braked, as the car hurtled with a squeal of tires on road surface and slammed into a cluster of armed men who fell like skittles, cracking the wind shield and denting the hood as bodies thumped and rolled leaving the car streaked red. Shots were fired again and the car took a hit as Sage ducked, feeling the vehicle jolt with the impact as Joy reversed at speed, then turned the car sharply, heading straight for the raiders who peppered the car with bullets as the glass blew out and they both ducked low. The second impact felled two more as the shots came from the other direction. Now their own people were using the distraction to fire back at the enemy, who were decreased in number as men staggered to their feet and others raised guns once more. As shots hit the car, Sage opened up the passenger door and rolled out as Joy followed, they hit the ground and scrambled up and ran for cover, firing back at the enemy as they rounded the corner of low wall and ducked down. Bullets were still flying as the shots changed direction, now the patrol men were clustered together on the hillside and advancing as they picked off two more of Flora's men.

  As Sage reloaded, Joy crawled close to the wall, heading for the edge where she saw their people scatter for cover as more shots were fired, then she was grabbed by the back of her jacket and dragged up as a heavy arm wrapped around her throat and a gun was pressed to her head.

  “Let's see what your people do now we have a hostage,” said McKinley, and he pushed her towards the glass front of a closed amusement arcade as he yelled for cease fire.

  As his remaining men fired off the last shots, the towns security guards stopped firing too, looking in dismay to see the raider had Mickey Silk's partner with a gun to her head.

  “Lower your weapons and no one else dies,” called out McKinley, “Disarm and surrender. We just want the cash because it's not worthless any more - all of it, I want the bank emptied, and the safes and the strong boxes in the town stores too, and no one gets hurt!”

  There was a squeal of brakes as a van came to a sharp stop, slamming into three of the raiders, they landed hard, one rolled off the car, another was flung to the side as the wheels crushed the head of the third man. Then machine gun fire was sprayed from a half open window, as McKinley looked on, still holding on to his hostage, his eyes wide as he realised all of Flora's men were dead. Then the van door opened up and someone clumsily kicked out a dead body that rolled on to its back and lay there bloody and limp... He stared at the body... Flora was dead?

  The drivers door opened and Joy's eyes lit up in triumph. Only Mickey would have kicked that body out of the car so clumsily, and taken out those raiders so easily as he shot from the window... Mickey got out of the car armed with a machine gun and walked stiffly over to the arcade, where McKinley still had a gun pressed to Joy's head. Mickey's weak hand was shaking with the effort of carrying the heavy gun and having just fired off shots from the van, and as he looked at Flora's last remaining gunman, he lowered his weapon.

  “I'll pay you to let her go and fuck off,” he said, and he reached into the pocket of his winter coat and drew out a handful of diamond necklaces, the remainder of the stash he had stolen from the jewellery store on a snowy day a year before.

  McKinley stared at the sight of the valuables as the diamonds caught on the glow of the light that shone from the fairground office, casting a path through the increasing darkness. He lowered the gun and shoved Joy towards Mickey, who stood there with his long coat open and a bloodstain to his shirt, his eyes shielded by dark glasses as he tilted his head thoughtfully. Joy had staggered over, and he caught her with an arm around her waist, then let go and stepped in front of her.

  “Or maybe not,” he added, and raised the weapon, spraying machine gun fire in a short burst that peppered McKinley's body and sent him crashing through the glass front of the arcade. Mickey stuffed the diamonds back into his pocket, then he cast aside the machine gun and looked at Joy.

  “Are you okay?” she asked in alarm, seeing the slash to his shirt and the wet bloodstain that was still seeping through.

  “No, I'm not okay yet,” he replied, and he reached out and tugged her gun from its holster and went back over
to the body of his sister, then he turned back to Joy.

  “No more lectures about killing in cold blood,” he said to her, “I have to be sure...” and he aimed the gun at his sister's head and fired off two shots as the body jerked with the impact.

  Mickey lowered the weapon and looked to Joy.

  “Now I'm sure she's dead!” he told her, and he looked down at the body, watching as more blood pooled, running to join more as all around, Flora's men lay dead amid stray bullets.

  “Is it over?”

  On hearing Devan's voice, they turned to see him limping over with a hand to his shoulder.

  “Yes, it's over,” Mickey replied, “And I want you to have our people leave the raider's corpses for the army to deal with - but not her,” he glance down at his sister's body, “And not that one over there either,” he added, indicating to McKinley's corpse bleeding out on a floor of shattered glass, “Take them away and dispose of them like zombies.”

  Devan looked at him in confusion.

  “You want me to have them burned?”

  “Yes,” Joy added, “These were dangerous people - notorious raiders. We want the liberation of this town to go smoothly and quickly with no fuss. Just burn the fuckers, please.”

  “Right, okay, they're for burning...” Devan replied in confusion, then he turned away, looking about to see who he could ask for assistance. The enemy had been defeated, but at a cost - there were at least fifteen of their own dead, a high price to pay for winning the fight.

  “I'll send River over to assist the wounded,” Mickey added, and just then Sage hurried over, with a look on her face that was pure relief.

  “I need to go home, Bess and Poppy will be worried sick.”

  “Tell Bess we need her here,” Mickey reminded her, “River has the wounded to deal with and she will need some help.”

  Sage nodded, then she turned away and stepped over the body of a raider and made her way to the open gates, longing for home and to reassure Bess and Poppy that the crisis was over.

  Mickey put a hand to his aching head as he turned back to the van, then as he saw Flora's was body was gone, his eyes widened in alarm.

  “Over there,” said Joy, indicating up the hill where, following Devan's instruction, the body was being taken to the beach to be burned.

  Mickey breathed a relieved sigh.

  “Just for a moment, I thought -”

  “No, she's dead this time,” Joy assured him, then as he took off his dark glasses and winced as he put a hand over his eyes and his head throbbed, she put her arm around him.

  “Did she knock you out?”

  “Briefly.”

  “You've probably got mild concussion.”

  “River can let me know later, I can wait - there are people here with bullet wounds,” Mickey reminded her.

  Joy opened up the van door.

  “Get in,” she said, “You need to rest. I'll drive us home.”

  Mickey thankfully got into the van, not caring about the blood stains as he sank back against the soft seat, closing his eyes again as his head ached. Joy got in the drivers side and started up the engine, then, after carefully reversing to avoid more bodies and mess, the van backed out of the parking area that led to the fairground and turned around, taking the road that would lead them home.

  Chapter 8

  The news of the battle had been a shock to the whole town. No one had been more shocked than Carla, who had arrived home from her shift at the bar to hear Archie and Carol talking of gunfire in the distance. Joy had called to visit that evening after taking Mickey home, and she has assured them the threat was gone. Later, River had returned home exhausted after hours of tending to the wounded and she had insisted on checking Mickey over, and confirmed he had mild concussion.

  The next two days were spent with Devan nursing a painful shoulder as he liaised with the army, who removed the raider's bodies and began to make arrangements to take down the barriers. Now the gates were wide open all the time, this gradual transition back to the old world was reassuring.

  When River's phone lit up and she yelled that she had a signal, Joy and Mickey had rushed in, along with Alex, who had come over after hearing about the battle and insisted on staying for a while before he packed up and moved in with Alice. No one wanted to stand over River as she made a desperate call to her parents, so they waited on the other side of the room as Angel ran in, looking on in fascination as River began to speak into her phone.

  “Are phones working?” she asked excitedly.

  Mickey nodded in reply as the others lingered there trying not to watch, no one wanted to be a spectator to potentially bad news. Chris was beside her, ready to wrap her in his arms as she wept, but instead as her mother answered the phone, she gave a squeal of joy.

  “You're alive!” she said as tears came to her eyes, “Is Dad okay?” then as her mother confirmed he was alive and well and currently helping out in the local town where the last of the barriers were coming down, she laughed joyfully.

  “You're both alive? So am I!” and then she laughed again as tears streamed down her face.

  The others left the room as Chris lingered, smiling as River told her mother there was someone she wanted them to meet.

  “His name is Christian, he's a teacher and he saved my life more times than I can count,” she said as she looked at Chris through tears of joy as love reflected in her gaze.

  The rest of the day was spent waiting to use River's phone, as she was the only one who had held on to her mobile. Joy didn't bother making any calls, she knew everyone in Belwick had died when the horde invaded. The house phone had a dialling tone the morning after, and then the barriers begun to come down.

  The town was free again.

  The army did all they could to help, planning to focus on the abandoned side of town as those who had survived began to return and supplies were flown in to help those with nothing to get started again. And the day after the town was open once more, the police station was back in its rightful hands. The law was back in town, and Joy and Mickey knew the rest was only a matter of time...

  When the phone rang, Joy and Mickey had exchanged a puzzled glance as they stood in the front room, staring at the landline as it struck them both as bizarre that a phone was ringing, and they were looking at each other as if they didn't know what the hell to do about it. Joy reached for the phone and picked it up, saying nothing.

  “It's Charlie,” said the voice on the end of the line, and Joy breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Oh thank god! How did you know the number for this place?”

  “I used to know the people who lived there,” he replied, “Now listen - this is important. There's an army general and a police detective and two armed coppers going about in a squad car. They've heard the whispers and the general is looking for Carla Reynolds, to taker to Marshcast ASAP - and the coppers, I think you know who they're looking for... Anyway, you and Mickey need to be at the bar by eleven am. Just get here, and stop here all day if you have to -”

  “But won't that make us easy to find?” Joy asked in confusion.

  Charlie chuckled.

  “Yes and no. Trust me, you're safe. Just get here. Bring Angel with you, she can play with little Archie and take his mind off bouncing on my seats. Hurry up, it's almost ten thirty. See you soon.”

  He ended the call as Joy turned her head, looking in confusion to Mickey.

  “I don't know what his plan is,” she said, “But he sounds confident...”

  A look of fear came to Mickey's face as he drew in a slow breath.

  “Are they looking for me?”

  “Army's searching for Carla and the police are looking for you,” she replied, “And he seems to think we need to be at the bar. I'm trusting him, we know he's got a plan, let's go for it.”

  Mickey hesitated as Joy went to the hallway, put on her coat and called to Angel, saying to grab her coat because they were going to the bar. Then she turned around, saw Mickey standing there
in the hallway, looking immaculate in a dark suit as he looked at her with a haunted look in his eyes.

  “This could go wrong. If it does, I want you to know I love you. But I'm not going to prison for the rest of my days. I'd rather make a run for it even if I take a bullet.”

  He walked slowly to the door, grabbed his coat from a hook on the wall and put it on, his eyes locked with hers.

  “I'm terrified,” he said in a low voice.

  “So am I,” Joy told him quietly, then Angel hurried downstairs with her coat on.

  They left the house together, closing the door on their empty home. Alex had moved in with Alice, and was busy enjoying the freedom to explore the recovering town with his girlfriend. Chris was liaising with the local authority along with committee members, as he discussed the running of the school, and River was over at the medical centre, meeting new staff. Poppy was at home with Sage while Bess was over the other side of town, ready to return to work as a paramedic now the hospital was starting to become functional once more. Joy and Mickey were making this journey alone with Angel, making the short car journey to Charlie's bar, not knowing what they were heading into, only knowing they had nothing to lose by hoping and trusting that Charlie's plan was solid...

  They arrived near the bar and parked further up the road. There was no parking space close by, and the place was packed out so heavily that people were standing about in the street with drinks in their hands.

  “What is going on?” Mickey said, and then as Angel sat in the back, wondering why he suddenly sounded so upset, Mickey drew in a breath, turned to Joy, shifted closer and as his hand touched her cheek, he whispered I love you.

  “I love you too,” Joy said and she sounded tearful, just like Mickey.

  “What's the matter?” asked Angel.

  “Nothing,” Mickey told her as he looked back at her and forced a smile, “Let's go to the bar. Charlie said Archie will be there!”