Killing The Dead | Book 23 | Come The End

by Murray, Richard

  “Anything else?”

  “You start being more like yourself and I’ll talk with Lily,” Evelyn said. “She’s scared and worried, but she will see the truth.”

  “Okay.”

  “One more thing,” she said and held back my sigh. “Talk to Samuel.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s suffering.”

  “What has that to do with me?”

  “Brother, you cannot be that obtuse. You know that he suffers because of the punishment you have placed on him. Frankly, I find it ridiculous, but he believes, and he is in pain. He needs to heal.”

  “He allowed my family to be harmed.”

  “No, he was taken prisoner himself and even then, worked tirelessly to gather the people loyal to you. There was an immense risk taken there, and he didn’t once worry about himself, just about making sure your family would be safe.”

  Her words hit home and I grimaced once more, chewing over her words and realising that perhaps I had not considered everything. Once again, I had acted in anger and created a problem I had no real desire to deal with.

  “I will consider it.”

  “That’s all I ask.” Her smile widened as her shoulders dropped, released of the tension she’d held. “I am glad you’re safe and back with us.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Not a strange question, I thought, considering that I had killed my brother and she had hated me for that not so long ago.

  “Because we’re family and in this world, there’s little of that left. I can’t fully forgive what you did but I can understand your reasons, even if I don’t agree.” She paused, then added, “I can’t keep hating you though.”

  “Okay.” I was rapidly losing interest and wanted to return to the solitude of staring at the rain.

  Her hand reached out and then stopped, hesitating for a moment before dropping, and her smile fell away. Without another word, she turned and walked quickly from the room and with a soft sigh, I went back to staring through the window.

  She had made a lot of sense and given me much to think about. If she was right, then I needed to find a way to be both the killer and the man, and as I looked back at my daughter, I knew that she would need to learn to exist as two separate parts too.

  But that was something she could deal with later, after all, she hadn’t even made her first kill yet and when she did, I would be there to help guide her.

  Chapter 8

  The road ahead was covered with crimson vines, undulating almost in time with one another, like a mass of snakes with no end. As far as the eye could see, there was red, and I couldn’t help but react in a visceral, almost primal manner at the sight of them. There was something wrong about them, something evil.

  “Christ!” Isaac muttered, beside me as he stroked his beard with one hand, eyes fixed on the road. “Worse than I thought it would be.”

  “Where’re they going?” Gregg asked, rising up on tip-toes to try and peer over the overgrown bushes beside the road. “There something over there?”

  “Houses,” I replied, not taking my eyes from the squirming mass on the road. Behind me, the troopers shifted nervously, likely all too aware that the crossbows they carried would be little use. “No one lives there, it’s fine.”

  To my left, the mass of appendages crossed the overgrown fields and down the rocky beach to disappear beneath the frigid waters of the River Dee, and would emerge again almost two kilometres distant on the opposite shore.

  That the parasite that sat in Liverpool had grown large enough to send its leech-like limbs all that was, was astounding enough. Knowing that there was still enough control over them to be utterly lethal was something that made me shiver.

  As I watched, a smaller limb rose, uncoiling from the rest and striking with uncanny speed at the bushes where a finch had landed. Death was instantaneous for that small avian creature and the limb thrashed as the fangs in its tip worked like a grinder, tearing the bird apart and swallowing those parts, where they would traverse the long way back to the centre mass where it would be absorbed by the parasite.

  “Couldn’t we poison it?” I asked, staring at that macabre sight. Someone should bear witness to the death of that innocent creature, so might as well be me. “Infect some meat with the viral agent and feed it to the damned thing?”

  “No.”

  A surprisingly firm response from Gregg and I turned to cock one brow his way. He flashed a grin in response and just shook his head.

  “Briony tried. If one of those appendages were to ‘eat’ something that would harm it, that limb would be torn from the body by the others and left to rot.”

  “That shows a surprising amount of intelligence,” Isaac said with a soft grunt and a huff of breath. “Looks like the only real way to kill it is to stab the bloody body.”

  “Which is what we’ve been telling you,” Gregg pointed out.

  “Aye, lad. You have but your mates not been much help has he?”

  There was no real answer to that. Ryan’s absence had been noted and I couldn’t help but feel the restlessness of his followers as they waited for something, anything, from their messiah. While I wasn’t sure what that would be, I knew that I wouldn’t like it.

  I knew what the problem was, of course, and even if I hadn’t, both Cass and Evie had been there to point it out. The problem was me. He was trying to be what he thought I wanted and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what I wanted other than to have him in my life.

  The thought of him leaving again, of putting himself in danger… that was unbearable. I’d lost him once and I couldn’t lose him again. That was the crux of the matter and the reason I hadn’t taken the time to sit and talk it through with him.

  “Do you have a plan of attack?” I asked, turning to look at Isaac.

  “We can’t go by boat, no idea how many of those bloody tentacles are hidden beneath the water. By air is out too. We’ve seen one of them pluck a plane from the sky and tear it apart.” He tapped his chin as his eyes narrowed, his focus turning inwards as he considered. “Land is the only way.”

  “How?” Gregg asked, waving towards the mass of appendages that trailed for some considerable distance. “This thing has spread so far beyond the city that your people won’t get close to it.”

  “Do you have a better suggestion then, lad?”

  “Yes!”

  He didn’t even need to speak it out loud. We all knew exactly what his suggestion would be, but I couldn’t do it. Whoever went after the parasite would likely die. A lot of people would probably die, but we had to try. I just couldn’t bear for it to be Ryan though.

  “What about-“

  A scream sounded behind us and I spun, hand reaching for the knife that I wore sheathed on my belt and I stopped for a moment to stare in horror as blood burst from the leg of the young trooper closest to the side of the road.

  Wrapped around his leg was the crimson limb of the parasite and with wide-eyed horror, I could only watch helplessly as it dragged him screaming into the undergrowth beside the road, to vanish from sight quicker than anyone could react.

  The other troopers spread out as they moved away from the place the young man had been standing. Their weapons were raised and breathing shallow as the bushes and trees began to rustle and shake.

  “Oh fuck!” Gregg breathed, pulling free his own knife. “They’ve turned back on themselves.”

  He was proven right as a dozen wrist-thick limbs burst from the undergrowth and straight at us. I leapt aside as another trooper let out a scream devoid of all hope, a crimson limb wrapping tight around his throat as blood spurted across the road.

  Another, a blonde-haired woman, fired her crossbow at a wrist-thick limb headed straight towards her. The bolt flew past the limb and into the bushes as the tip of that limb struck lighting fast, tearing through her stomach with a sickening sound.

  Her scream was one of the worst I had ever heard as the parasites fangs worked like a chainsaw on her intestines. When
a trooper tried to rush to her aid, two of the parasitic limbs snaked around his arms and tore them from his torso.

  Isaac slammed his boot down against one of the limbs and fired his crossbow straight down at it, the bolt hammering through into the road below and holding the limb in place.

  “Fall back!”

  No further urging was needed as the few remaining troopers ran, their comrades screams of pain and terror ringing in our ears. I ducked as another tentacle burst from the bushed and almost stumbled, until Isaac grabbed my arm firmly and pulled me along.

  Behind me, a trooper thrashed, her boots thumping against the ground as three of the parasites tentacles wrapped around her arms and waist. Her cries of terror turned to ones of pain as those embedded fangs went to work, rending her flesh.

  We didn’t stop running until they were well behind us and only then did, we slow to a jog as I cursed myself for getting so close. A quick count of the troopers was enough to tell me we had lost seven back on the road.

  Those that remained were pale and shaken, their hands trembling as they clung to the crossbows that had been largely useless.

  “I fucked up,” I whispered to myself.

  “Not just you,” Isaac agreed, his voice dropping low so that only I would hear. His hand still gripped my arm almost painfully tight. “We’ll have trouble finding people willing to try to get to the parasite once word of this gets around.”

  He didn’t need to say anything else; I knew what he was thinking. When no one else would risk doing something, there was only one who would be stupid enough to try.

  “Dammit!” I snapped, pulling my arm from his.

  “Has to happen, lass,” he said, holding his hands up and widening the distance between us.

  I wasn’t willing to admit that he was right, not just then. We continued the rest of the way in silence while keeping a watchful eye on either side of the road. It wasn’t a long walk back to Mostyn and in a short time, we were approaching the wire mesh fence that surrounded the village.

  The troopers guarding the gate were pulling it open as soon as they saw us, and Isaac began to mutter at that. He quickened his pace as his cheeks flushed, the anger and frustration from the deaths of his people earlier about to be unleashed.

  “What in the name of God Almighty do you pricks think you’re doing!”

  Confused glances were exchanged, and it was a long few seconds before the trooper in charge spoke.

  “We saw you coming and-“

  “And what if we had been captured? What if we were being forced to walk up the road by a hidden bloody enemy just so you would open the gate nice and wide for them?”

  “Sir, I’m sorry, I didn’t think-“

  “You’re damn well right you didn’t bloody think, but I will tell you something lad, you’ll have plenty of bloody time for thinking!”

  Isaac’s yelling had drawn attention from the black-garbed cultists crouched a short distance away and I could well imagine their smirks behind their hoods. That was the last thing I needed as there was already a growing rivalry between them and the troopers.

  “Come with me, laddie! I have a special duty for you to be doing that will give you plenty of time for thinking.”

  The furious Isaac led the trooper away as the survivors of our trip trudged through the gate. At the sight of us, the cultists rose to their feet, weapons half out of their sheaths as one of them darted away. That meant Samuel would soon know something was up.

  I held back a sigh as those cultists fell in around me, eyes hard behind their hoods and danger seeming to emanate from them. The troopers at the gate watched warily as they secured that gate and I waved them away as I headed back to the house.

  There was no point arguing with the cultists or trying to send them away. They would serve their bloody messiah regardless of my wishes and since he would want me safe, they would keep me safe.

  “What now?” Gregg asked, falling in beside me. The cultists parted for him without a sound, affording him a great deal of respect due entirely to his companionship with Ryan. “I know you won’t want to hear it-“

  “I don’t, you’re right,” I snapped.

  He nodded thoughtfully and dropped the subject. Seven people had died because I had needed to see what we faced with the parasite and in doing so, I had likely ensured that there would be no one willing to risk fighting the damned thing.

  Just a few moments of seeing that creature’s limbs tearing into the troopers had been enough for me to know that it was a great deal more dangerous than I had thought. The speed, the ferocity of the attacks and the accuracy. It was too much.

  There was nothing else for it. I would have to ask, Ryan to do something that would probably kill him. He’d been back in my life for just a few short weeks, and I was already in a position where I was going to lose him.

  I just wasn’t willing to do that. One thing his return had shown me was that life without him was something I could not endure. Not again.

  That meant there was only one thing I could do.

  When I stepped inside the house, my home, the place where I lived with my family and was happier than I had been in years, Ryan was there. His eyes, dark and hooded, face still as he stared into the empty fireplace, thoughts a thousand miles away.

  He turned and looked at me as I entered the room, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips and some light returning to those beautiful eyes of his.

  “I need your help,” was all I said, and he titled his head, brow furrowing.

  “Whatever you need.”

  “To kill the parasite.”

  “Okay.”

  No gloating, no knowing smile. God, I loved that about him. He just accepted that I had changed my mind with an implacable expression, much the same as he would have worn had I told him that I was making cabbage for dinner.

  That was it then, he would head off into danger and risk his life for us once more. It had barely taken two weeks before I had broken my promise to myself to not let him leave again. I wasn’t sure I could survive his death, but one thing was for sure, I needed his help.

  I drew in a deep breath, and added, “I’ll be coming with you.”

  Chapter. 9

  “You’re sure about this?” Cass asked Lily as I gathered my weapons about me.

  “I have to do this.”

  “What about the kids?”

  A good question, and I paused for a bare instant and turned my face slightly towards the two women.

  “If… If anything happens.” Lily swallowed and coughed, eyes shimmering. “Look after them for me, please.”

  “Of course we will,” Evie said and for some reason that seemed to be a signal for the three women to embrace.

  I glanced at Gregg who just grinned and shook his head, indicating that he had no intention of hugging me. Something that I was entirely grateful for.

  “What’s your plan here?” Isaac asked, all red-faced and surly. He stood with arms crossed over his thick barrel-like chest, a frown seemingly permanently drawn on his face. “I just lost seven of my people to that bastard thing!”

  That was a good question and one that I didn’t quite have the answer to. The last couple of parasites that I had killed had been considerably smaller. Since he appeared to want a response, I lifted my shoulders in a shrug and went back to work on fixing my weapons to my belt.

  “Is he for real?” Isaac looked around the crowded dining room as though expecting a response. “Seriously, you can’t do this.”

  “Eunice has been in contact,” Cass said. “She seemed surprised at the news of a viral agent that could kill the parasites, and told me they would get straight to work on finding a way of using it effectively.”

  “We could wait then?” Charlie asked, glancing up from her computer screen in the corner of the room. “Rather than risk more lives.”

  “No!” All eyes turned to me and I lowered my voice, attempting to inject some warmth, some humanity, into it. “The larger it grows, the m
ore chance of it reaching here anyway. We need to deal with it now.”

  Besides, I desperately wanted to kill something and absent a human enemy, a parasite would do. Especially one that was the size of a building which presented quite the challenge.

  “I won’t be putting more folk at risk just so you can go and get your jollies trying to kill it!” Isaac snapped. “You have a plan, or you can go alone.”

  “Fine.”

  “No, it’s not fine.” Lily gave an exasperated sigh as she looked from me to Isaac and back again. “You have a family here. There will be no foolishness. We only go if we can have a valid plan.”

  Like that would matter. Any plan would fall apart as soon as it began, as they tended to do. Still, if it made it easier on them, then I would give them a plan.

  “The minions and my Furies will provide a distraction. While they do that, I will go in and kill it.”

  My gathered friends and acquaintances, shared looks between themselves until finally, Lily spoke.

  “That’s not much of a plan.”

  “Those appendages do not think, they are basically just muscle. They react to sound, or at least the vibrations produced by sound,” I said, not pausing in my task of checking the head of my hand-axe as I considered sharpening it once more. “Start chopping the ends off and more of its attention will be drawn to those doing the chopping which will allow me the chance to slip past.”

  “Past what?” Charlie asked, gesturing at the screen. “The bloody thing’s limbs spread for miles.”

  I gave her a pitying glance and rolled my eyes, caused her brow to furrow as anger flashed across her face.

  “Those limbs are like the roots of a tree.” Admittedly a carnivorous tree that would eat you. “At the base, they are a great deal thicker than at the tip. Besides, the creature will have devoured everything in its path so once you get past the dangerous tip, it’s just a quick run to the centre.”

  “As it attacks you,” Gregg muttered. “Like last time. The limbs pulling back and stabbing down at you.”

  Another shrug and I flashed him a grin.

  “Will certainly make it interesting.”