Killing The Dead | Book 23 | Come The End

by Murray, Richard

  The raiders eyes widened at that and I almost laughed again.

  “Again, I hold no belief that I am a competent enough surgeon to ensure you will have full feeling down there when I am done, but you will definitely have a nice, warm place for all your friends to stick their dicks when I return you to them.”

  He tried to rise but Gregg gripped his shoulders and forced him down, holding him in place as I pushed my face closer to his until I could whisper almost directly into his ear.

  “Imagine that, my new friend. What will it be like when you are returned to your companions with arms that cannot work, no tongue to speak with and your only way of providing use to your friends will be on your back with your legs spread.”

  “Tell me, you know your friends better than I do. How long do you think it will take them to take turns raping you like you and they have raped so many others?”

  Chapter 20

  I wiped my blade on the shredded rags that had been the raiders clothes. He had pissed himself when I cut into him for the first time. Starting with each finger, severing the tendons one after another so that he could feel the slow crippling.

  He had tried to be brave, but he did indeed know his friends well and it wasn’t long before he began to weep and beg for his life. At least I assumed he was begging behind the duct tape gag. I had left that in place while I worked my way from fingers to wrist and then to elbow. Only after that did I remove it and ask him if he would like to tell me anything.

  Apparently, he did.

  “Would you really have done that to him?” Gregg asked, sounding almost like he would rather not know the answer.

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck!”

  “The threat has no meaning if you are not willing to carry it out. He would have been able to tell if I was lying. I’m not sure how, but they can.”

  “Sounds like you’ve learnt from experience.”

  “Yes.”

  I didn’t elaborate and he didn’t ask any more questions as I led the way back into the woods. The directions to the camp were straightforward and it didn’t take long for us to find it, nestled in a hollow beside a stream on the far side of the hill.

  A pretty stupid place to set it, to be fair. The hollow would provide shelter, but at the same time, all but one direction was raised above the camp. Anyone could approach practically unseen and look down on them, while the swift-flowing stream made enough noise to cover our approach.

  It was a fine encampment against the undead, but not against humans which gave me a sense of what they had been facing in the east that had battle-tested them so well.

  They had tents that, while well used, were the decent kind. No doubt looted from some sports goods store. The smouldering embers were all that remained of the fire in the centre of their ring of tents, and over to one side, tied securely to a tree and not moving, was a naked, young, woman.

  Welts covered her back and her limbs had begun to bruise. It was clear that they had treated her harshly and that only increased my fury.

  “Guard,” Gregg whispered, lifting his chin towards the riverbank where a man sat with a fishing pole in hand, keeping himself busy while watching the main entrance to the hollow.

  There was no easy way to sneak up on him, not without clambering down the rock face that provided the shelter for their camp. Maybe not such a stupid place to make their campsite after all.

  “How far down do you think it is?”

  “Ten, maybe eleven, foot.”

  Which wasn’t great. Since the rock looked to be without much in the way of hand or footholds, at least none I could see in the limited light of the moon, I would have to hang and drop. Now, if I did that and didn’t alert the guard, I would still likely injure myself which would be limiting.

  No, there had to be another way. I just needed to figure it out, and fast. Dawn would be soon approaching and I had no desire to have them wake and wonder where their two sentries had gone to.

  “Okay, this is what we do.”

  I quickly gave Gregg some instructions before crawling back from the edge of the hollow. Once able to do so, I rose to my feet and moved swiftly and as silently as possible around towards the front.

  It took longer than anticipated and the darkness was turning grey as dawn approached. Soon enough those men would be up and about. I fully intended not to wait for long and as I crouched in the bushes, avoiding the gaze of the half-alert guard, Gregg gently threw a stone into the river to the man’s left.

  The ‘plop’ of it hitting the water was audible enough to catch his attention and he glanced over which is when I made my move, dashing out of cover and into the campsite on silent feet. I paused behind a tent, keeping low, as the guard turned back to half-watching the entrance to the hollow.

  Ten tents were spread in a wide semi-circle around the fire pit in the centre of the hollow. According to the raider I had killed, there was only a single occupant in each tent, which meant two were empty to account for the sentries watching the road.

  Seven sleeping and one awake by the river. Numbers I could handle if things went my way. Which, to be fair, tended not to be the case more often than not.

  I moved swiftly, darting from tent to tent, vigilant gaze on the guard. He didn’t notice me and nor did the woman. Or at least if she did, she was in no state to acknowledge me. Though her eyes were open, there was no indication she was seeing anything, her mind elsewhere.

  They truly were a despicable bunch and I was going to take a great deal of pleasure in killing them all. First, I would start with the sentry.

  So engrossed in his fishing that he didn’t notice my soft-footed approach. I stood behind him for a solid ten seconds as I wondered if he would react to my presence and make it interesting for me. He didn’t.

  My knife cut deep into his throat as my hand covered his mouth. The minor sounds made as he dropped the fishing rod and struggled against my grip could barely be heard over the river and all I had to do was stand there, holding him close to me as his hot blood gushed out over my hand.

  It was as close as I would ever get to someone, there in that moment. I connected with him in a way that few would understand, feeling something that I couldn’t quite put into words as I bore witness to his death.

  The moment was something special, and as his struggles slowed, his body becoming limp, a rush of exultation unlike anything I could ever experience elsewhere, rushed through me. It was a pleasure beyond that of the flesh, but of the spirit, if such a thing existed.

  A connection that could be shared with no other, not while they lived. It could only be felt as one took the life of the other. It created a bond that felt, for a moment, to be unbreakable. A connection to the world that I lacked, and his dying breath the bridge between that world and my own tormented and dull existence.

  I cherished that moment. Forgetting, for a short instant, his crimes, his despicable actions, and enjoying just that feeling of kinship, of connection, with another human. It was rare and it was special because so few would ever truly understand it.

  Then the moment passed and I was alone, once more, standing beside the river holding a corpse that stank of body odour and shit. I let it fall to the ground, leaving it where it lay as I turned to the tents.

  With a growing need to feel that moment of connection once more, I crossed to the nearest tent. All was dark inside and no one moved as I gently lowered the zip. A figure wrapped in a sleeping bag snored softly and I crept in, laying down beside him.

  For a moment, I considered waking him first but decided against that. There would be time for such games later, for the moment, I needed stealth more. His eyes jerked open as my blade smashed through the thin bone at his temples and into his brain beyond.

  A myriad of responses flashed through those eyes before the light left them and I forced back the urge to giggle, drunk on the pleasure of their murders. It was a heady experience indeed and one I had too long been absent from.

  The next tent went much the
same way and the one after. Three bodies lying dead as I moved on to the fourth.

  “Fuck off, Jackie,” the sprawled figure muttered, only half-awake as I crawled into his tent.

  I had no idea who Jackie was but clearly, he had a habit of climbing into the tent unasked. I raised my knife above his head and readied to plunge it down.

  “Hey, I said- Who the fuck are you?”

  His confusion lasted barely a second and he managed to let out a cry of surprise as I ended his life. The remaining two raiders were out of their tents at almost the same time as I managed to scramble out of the dead man’s tent.

  “The fuck’re you?” One asked, as the other gestured at the tents with his sword.

  “Get the hell up! Intruder in the camp.”

  I cocked my head to the side and smiled as I waited for a response that would never come. Realisation washed over them and I did laugh then as I transferred my knife to my left hand and pulled free the axe from my belt with the right.

  There was no more chatter, no threats nor attempts at intimidation. Both men just raised their weapons and ran straight at me. I didn’t wait for them to arrive.

  The crash of steel against steel rang through the hollow and battle was joined. A dance of death as exhilarating as nothing else could ever be. Blows were exchanged as I ducked and weaved, slipping past their thrusts and swings, swiping back at them with my weapons and watching them dance back in turn.

  I could smell their fear in the night air, that heady stink mixed with the coppery scent of the blood that I had already spilt, that coated my hands and arms almost to the elbow already, that spattered my face and coat.

  A wild joy filled me, a pleasure all the sweeter for being so long without it and I laughed, filling the air with the sound of madness as I played with the two men. They were not equal to me, they were children who had taken up the sword and learned how to use it from others who knew as little as they did.

  No doubt a danger in numbers or when taking their prey by surprise, but against me?

  Blood spurted high into the air and the closest of the raiders stumbled back, hand clasping the gushing wound in his neck. I didn’t hesitate as I spun around him, my axe almost severing his leg at the knee with such force did I swing it.

  The final raider’s face hardened. He knew he was outmatched, he knew he was going to die and he prepared to face it like a man.

  I wouldn’t allow that. He was no man, he was a beast, a base creature that preyed on the innocents of the world. He was damned in my eyes and he would not die like a man, like a warrior with a blade in hand.

  My elbow connected with his jaw and he stumbled, giving me the chance I needed. I swung the axe, twisting it in my grip so that as it connected with his head, it was the blunt side. He dropped like a puppet that had just been cut from its strings and I stood, breathing deeply of that befouled air and trembling from the rush of adrenaline and pure, unadulterated pleasure that suffused my entire body.

  Gregg had followed me into the hollow once that fight had begun and was busying himself with his knife, making sure that none would rise to become a pest I would need to deal with later. He hesitated as he came close to me, eyes on the bodies at my feet, the blood that covered ground and myself quite liberally.

  “You been wounded?”

  “Not that I am aware of, no.”

  My voice was so very cold and it was an almost monumental struggle to force some warmth into it, to send the killer back into the darkness and let the man inside come out.

  I shook my head, holding tight that image of Lily that calmed me so, and blinked before looking at my friend, a smile playing around my lips.

  “That was fun.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure, mate. What do you want to do about this one? He’s still alive.”

  “I have questions,” I said, by way of explanation. “Find something to bind his hands then see to the woman.”

  He looked over to where she lay still, she hadn’t moved so much as a muscle even with the fighting going on just a short distance away.

  “She’s in a bad way.”

  “Then we had best get her back to the village, no?”

  “Aye, mate.”

  “Good, do this then and I will see if I can find anything of interest in their belongings.”

  “Then what?”

  I thought for a moment and then laughed, a chilling sound even by my standards.

  “Then I will leave a surprise for whoever comes to check on this camp,” I said, laughing harder at the look of distaste that twisted his lips into a sulky pout.

  “You’ll make things worse.”

  “By the time I’m done, my friend, things will only get better. You can count on that.”

  Chapter 21

  Half the damned village saw him return and there was not a one of them that did not stop to gape. There was something utterly and completely compelling about him as he strode through those gates, head high and with the confident, arrogant, strut of a man who knew he was without equal.

  It was clear why he had a band of devoted followers.

  Blood covered him liberally, head to toe, and it did not seem out of place. Those eyes of his, ones I had so often looked into and marvelled at their beauty, were cold as ice and as dead as I had no doubt those raiders were.

  Bound and stumbling along beside him was a young man, naked but for the ropes that wrapped around his wrists and neck, like a leash that was held in my beloved’s hands. His face was bloody, a long trail of it drying on his chin, while more seeped from open cuts on his torso.

  I couldn’t believe that those wounds had been gained in battle and a shiver ran down my spine as I acknowledged that any torments he had faced, had been at my command. It was me. I was the one who had set him loose without restriction.

  God forgive me for that.

  Gregg walked behind him, face set hard as stone and a limp bundle in his arms. He looked neither left nor right, refusing to meet the curious stares of those around him, as slender limbs hung from the blanket wrapped person he held.

  “She’s alive?” I asked, meeting them on the road.

  “If you can call it that.”

  Another shiver for the ice in his tone. He punctuated his words with a tug on the leash and the young man dropped to his knees, weeping as he hit the rough surface of the cracked and worn road, the loose stones digging deep into the skin of his knees.

  I arched an eyebrow, tilting my head to one side as I watched him. The way he obeyed without question scared the hell out of me. Barely halfway through the day which meant Ryan had cowed the man in just the few short hours since he had left and killed the others.

  “What happened?”

  Ryan glanced at those around us and I waved away his unspoken question. I no longer cared who would hear. They had as much a right to know what had happened as any of them.

  “I killed them.” He glanced down at the young man who knelt unmoving but for the trembling of his body as he wept. “Captured this one.”

  “All of them? How many were there?”

  Ryan didn’t glance at Isaac as he answered the large former-mercenary.

  “Ten in total. Nine died.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Gregg said, as the crowd murmured loudly. “I was basically there to carry his stuff. He did the killing. Now, who is going to get this woman the medical care she needs?”

  “We will,” Two said, pushing through the crowd, using her elbows with more force than necessary to push the taller men out of her way. “She’s our sister.”

  Two limped as she walked, but seemed in decent enough health. Her companion, the redhead grimaced with every step she took, but she did not speak.

  Both of them stopped, before Ryan and bowed their heads. I couldn’t help but think of them as the faithful offering up their prayers before their god. Just another thing that scared the hell out of me, the effect he had on these damaged and broken people who had survived the apocalypse.

  As the tw
o women gently lifted the unmoving woman from Gregg’s arms, Two looked back at Ryan and her eyes flicked towards the man.

  “We can have him when you’re done?”

  “If there’s anything left, you can do as you please.”

  A sharp nod was all the reply he had and the women hurried away to tend to their friend. I gawped at them, realising in that moment that I was not in charge just then. In an instant, any power or control I might have had was gone, and all around us were looking at Ryan as though he had the answers they so desperately needed.

  Either he didn’t care enough to acknowledge that, or, more likely, hadn’t noticed, Ryan turned his attention fully to me and with one short sentence, he gave all of that power back to me.

  “What would you like me to do now?”

  God, I loved him. Man enough to not be worried about who was in charge or scared of looking weak by deferring to me. It was bizarre that it had taken the world ending for me to find a man willing to do that.

  Of course, that also meant that whatever happened to the captive was also my burden to bear. That, I was sure was something he realised.

  Bastard.

  “Find out where the other raiders are,” I said, taking a deep breath before adding, “do whatever it takes but get everything he knows.”

  “Whatever you desire, my love.”

  Another tug on the leash and the man rose to his feet and meekly followed after my beloved. I shivered once more and didn’t realise how noticeable that was until Gregg stepped up beside me.

  “Yeah, I had that same reaction.”

  “What?”

  “I tell you something,” he said, ignoring my question with a soft smile. “He’s my friend and I truly do love him, but he terrifies me sometimes.”

  Me too, I thought, but kept that to myself. Not that he didn’t know I was thinking it anyway. I exhaled softly, shaking my head as I caught Isaacs’s eye, and gestured with one waved hand for him to join us.

  “Are you really going to let him torture that lad?”

  “You were fine with Genpact torturing him.”

  “Touche.” His grin was easy and his laughter booming. “You have me there, lass.”