“What the hell?” I muttered as the man vanished into the trees.
Chapter 26
I hummed softly to myself as I sharpened my weapons. Two, cheeks flushed and eyes flashing with anger, stood with arms crossed as she watched me in stony silence. If she were waiting for me to break beneath the weight of that silence, she would be in for a long wait.
“Why?” she snapped, finally.
“Because I have told you to.”
“You don’t trust us here with you?”
I paused then, blade in one hand and sharpening stone in the other, and cocked one brow as I looked up at her. Her cheeks flushed a deeper crimson and I gave my head a silent shake before I returned to my work.
“Fine, you trust us. But why do we need to-“
“The enemy will come,” I said, sighing softly at her insistence. “Their numbers will be greater and those raiders will be bolstered by another group that will prove a great deal more difficult to face with the weapons we have here.”
“Aye, then you need as many here willing to fight as you can get!”
“No.”
“Your friend, he’s-“
“Going to need help,” I finished for her, patience wearing thin.
“I don’t like this.”
“You don’t have to, you just need to do as I have ordered.”
She opened her mouth to undoubtedly complain all the more, but I was saved from having to listen to her whine, by the arrival of both Lily and Isaac.
“Hello, Lily,” I said, brow furrowing at her lack of a smile. “There’s a problem?”
“Someone went over the wall.”
I was not adept at much when it came to the reading of emotion and expression, but I had picked up a little over the years and from the strain in her tone, I gathered that she was upset.
“Oh?”
“Don’t bloody well give me that!” she snapped. “You were talking to him earlier and now he’s over the wall and into the bloody trees. What’re you planning?”
There was no point in lying since Lily would see that coming and I had no desire to displease her. However, the truth might well displease her more so instead of saying anything, I just gave her a steady look and considered my words carefully.
“I am not ready to share everything that I have planned, but rest assured, that man is doing his duty and his sacrifice will help ensure success.”
Something I had said caused her eyes to widen and nostrils to flare as a red heat ran up her cheeks. I’d said the wrong thing and I wasn’t sure what that was.
Fortunately, she was more than willing to help out.
“Sacrifice!” Her raised voice was the cause of a few heads turning our way and she lowered it, though still spoke in heated tones. “What the hell do you mean by sacrifice?”
“He’s going to get captured,” Isaac answered for me, eyes hooded as he looked down on me with distaste. “Let them torture some information out of him before they kill him. Right?”
“Yes.”
Lily gaped at me, speechless, for what seemed an eternity before she threw up her hands and spun on her heel before stalking away. I watched her go, not sure if that meant she was okay with the explanation or not.
“You’re a damned fool!” Isaac snapped as he turned, watching her go. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“What?”
“Send one of our people out to die!” His bellow of rage had a couple of nearby minions reaching for their blades and I merely glanced at them, and they subsided, though remained watchful.
“We are being watched,” I said, voice calm and even. “Constantly. If any of our ‘people’ leave, they are waiting.”
“Aye, we know that.”
“There are three roads that lead out of this village. North, south and west.” He had stopped shouting at least and seemed to be listening. My gaze flicked towards the three wagons that Gregg had overseen loading. “They will know that we know they can watch us. They also know there are three exits to this village and they will want to ensure they are at the right one.”
He pondered that for a moment before speaking through clenched teeth.
“What if they figure out your fellow is a trap for them?”
“Why would they do that?”
“Torture, for one.” He scratched at his overgrown beard in irritation. “Christ man! Soon as they start cutting into him they will get all the answers they need.”
“Aside from the fact that my minion is well aware of his role and will give only the info I expect him to, he doesn’t know enough to give anything else.”
Isaac glared down at me, meaty hands clenched into fists and I wondered for a moment if he would take a swing at me.
“You’re a cold bastard.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know what the hell she sees in you but you carry on like this and you’re gonna destroy her.”
“Who?”
“Lily, you jack-ass!”
“Oh.”
Something in my expression set him to muttering and he did raise one fist before quickly lowering it again. I watched him, amusement fading to boredom as I waited for him to leave.
“I kissed her.”
“Lily?”
“Yes!”
“Okay.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“What would you have me say?”
He flapped his arms, blowing out his cheeks and growing redder in the face by the minute, almost apoplectic in his rage. I couldn’t help but wonder why he had told me that he had kissed Lily.
“You that heartless you can’t even muster up the heat to take a swing at me?” Isaac asked. “I kissed the woman you say you love for god’s sake!”
“I can only assume that if she felt it worthy of note she would have mentioned it to me. As she didn’t, why should I care?”
“You’re a freak.” He spat, turning to leave. “A goddamned freak!”
I watched him walk away, unsure what to make of his behaviour. It took me a moment to realise that Two was still standing nearby, watching me with arms crossed and a slight smile of amusement on her face.
“What?”
“You really don’t care?”
“About a kiss? No, why?”
“Most guys would.”
“Unless it happened recently, I would assume it was during that period of time when she thought I was dead. Why would I be upset with her moving on with her life? I expected her to have done so and I am pleased that she was willing to be with me on my return. Whatever she did in between my apparent death and return, is her business and I will not dictate to her what she should or should not have done.”
Two watched me for a long moment before laughing softly and shaking her head.
“He’s right, you know. You are a freak.”
“Maybe.” Whatever that meant. “You are agreed then?”
“About your plan? Yeah, unless I’m another sacrifice?”
“If I were sending you to your death, I would tell you so,” I said turning back to sharpening my tools. “Be ready at nightfall.”
“So soon?”
“If I’m right, the attack will come in a day or so. Sooner we do this the better.”
“We’ll be ready.”
“Make sure you are.” I stopped for a moment and glanced up at her. “You failed me once. Don’t do it again.”
She swallowed back her reply and nodded stiffly. “We won’t.”
“Good.”
I put her from my mind and concentrated on sharpening my weapons. If I were right, then we would have several hundred raiders from at least three different groups to deal with and perhaps a handful of an enemy I thought done with.
The attack would come soon enough and no matter how much we prepared, we couldn’t possibly be ready. Any plan that I came up with ended with unacceptable losses on our side, namely at least one or more of the few people I cared for.
A second plan would be
needed and a third for if things went wrong with that. Plans within plans within plans. It gave me a headache to think about for too long but I was reasonably sure that I had everything covered.
It would all start once they captured the minion I had sent out. A night full of torture would see him releasing the information I had given him and the battle would begin.
If we didn’t survive, then I fully intended to take as many of the enemy with me as I could.
Chapter 27
We couldn’t see them, out there in the darkness, but we could hear. Though many wished they couldn’t.
Screams filled the night air, bloodcurdling, fit to raise the dead type of screams. They were full of despair and absent all hope.
There was nothing we could do but stand there, holding firm behind our wall of timber, and listen to the sound of a man’s agony drawn out over the entirety of the night. Isaac passed me by with barely a look in my direction, not that I needed to see his face to note the disapproval there.
Those few soldiers we had, muttered amongst themselves, casting fearful glances towards the treeline; while the Dead stood as still as statues, heads bowed in reverence to their brother who suffered at the command of their messiah.
I would have been sickened by the whole thing, knew I should have been, but for some reason, I wasn’t. It was a necessary evil to ensure my children had a chance of survival. If one man had to die, then so be it.
Even so, I wept silent tears, there, in the darkness where none could see.
We listened throughout the night, their torments a response to those Ryan had visited upon our own captive. It was only towards dawn that the screams finally died down and there was blessed silence.
“Hold!” Isaac bellowed. “If they are to attack, it will be now when we are all exhausted from lack of sleep. Do not let them over this damned wall!”
There was little response, though a few of the soldiers closest to him seemed to hold themselves a little straighter. I risked a peek over the top of the wall and quickly ducked back down as Isaac came up beside me.
“Fuck,” he spat. “They’re stringing him up from the trees.”
A bloodied and mangled corpse was being hauled up into view beyond the wall and I didn’t need to see the horrific damage done to the poor soul.
“They’re showing that we can’t leave,” I whispered. “What will happen if we try.”
“More than that, lass,” he replied, glancing down at me. “They’re saying that whatever we do to one of theirs, they will do a lot bloody worse.”
I had no need to reply as a commotion towards the gate drew our attention. Frowning, I simply watched as four cultists dragged a struggling figure towards the gate. Naked and covered in wounds that would make anyone weep, the prisoner snapped and snarled at his handlers and my heart sank.
“God, no!”
“He’s making it fucking worse!” Isaac snapped, but made no move to stop Ryan as the gate was opened and the former raider was pushed out.
As the gate slammed shut, the freed zombie lunged at it, yet received no response from the stoic cultists watching.
“It’s just going to bloody well try and get back in you prick!” Isaac yelled.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ryan replied. “They will see it. They will know that when they attack, they will have to face their own dead.”
“Sick fuck.”
I could feel the headache returning, a powerful throbbing behind my eyes that was certainly not helped by the lack of sleep.
“You need to do something about him,” Isaac said, turning away from the cultists. “I’ve seen some nasty shit in my time, but he’s going far beyond anything I’ve witnessed.”
“Even when Genpact tortured him?”
He scowled at that and I waved away his angry retort before it could be uttered. I had long since made my peace with the fact that Isaac had worked for that evil group, and had abducted Ryan to be tortured.
No, it was a cheap shot and I was sorry as soon as I uttered it. The truth, though, was that I had lost far too much to care what he did. Perhaps if Genpact hadn’t attacked the island after betraying our trust, or we had received some form of support from the people we were trying to help. Perhaps then I could care.
It was all too much. Too many losses, too many dead, their memories haunting me. Promises made and broken, a war lost before it had really begun. Sure, I could blame Ryan for what he did, but it wouldn’t have made any difference.
The Rider’s would have still fought us, guarding their territory. Genpact would likely still have betrayed us and all those people on the island would have still died. All that was left were the few hundred of us in Mostyn and as soon as the main force arrived, there would not even be that.
Despair was all that I knew and it filled me completely. If not for my children, for my love, I would cast aside my responsibilities and walk out into the sea. I would let it engulf me entirely and free me from the unending nightmare of loss and death.
I was pulled into a tight embrace, my body shaking with sobs that I had not even realised were my own. I tried to speak, tried to stop those tears, but I could not and all I could do was cling to the man who held me so strongly.
For some time, we stood there, locked in an embrace that was comforting and suffocating at the same time. It was wrong that I had turned to another for comfort when I so desperately needed it, but it was something that I could not rely on Ryan for. As much as I loved him, I was able to admit he lacked in such things.
“S-sorry,” I whispered pushing myself away and gave a start of surprise as I caught sight of those familiar, beautiful, eyes staring at me with something like concern in them. “Ryan!”
“Hello, Lily,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
I looked around, wondering where Isaac had disappeared to and saw that most of the people were studiously ignoring my breakdown.
“How?”
“You seemed upset.”
“So, you hugged me?”
“Yes.”
“That seems odd, but not unwelcome.” I returned his smile as I wiped at my eyes. “Thank you.”
“I have been trying,” he said, chewing on the word as though testing it before speaking. “It is not easy.”
“No, I bet it isn’t.” My hand touched his, squeezing it and I realised my heart felt a little lighter. “Things are going to get worse, aren’t they?”
“Perhaps.”
“What do we do?” my voice was imploring, as my eyes filled with tears once more and in an act of surprising gentleness, he reached up to wipe the tears from my eye.
“We will do what we always do,” he said, smiling. “We will survive and we will kill them all.”
Chapter 28
I slept most of the day away and it was only towards the end of the day that I roused myself from the bed where Ryan had left me, and ran my fingers through the tangled mass of my hair. I didn’t need a mirror to know that I was a mess and had been for far too long.
The sleep had cleansed me and I felt almost human again. The breakdown in the morning had been partly a result of the stress and lack of sleep, but I was not wrong in my belief that I needed to step down. I had failed, utterly, and if we survived what was coming, I would step aside and let another take over.
That decision made, I yawned and stretched, feeling the tension in my neck and shoulders. I was out of shape, and my muscles were stiff and lacked the flexibility I had gained while fighting for my life daily all those years ago.
I was a distraction to Ryan, a weight holding him in place. He felt the need to protect me, both from external dangers and from his own dark personality. He accepted the leash I had placed around him and at least some of his deep anger was due to that.
He was not a man to be leashed or controlled by another. Like putting a collar on a wolf, for a while he would play nice as he bided his time, but his instincts would not let him lie still for long and he would lash out.
; I’d been wrong. I could admit that, at least to myself. It was my fear of his leaving that formed that leash and limited what he could do. If I had just let him go off to kill the parasite, perhaps a lot of what had come later could have been avoided.
A show of strength, to Genpact, to the raiders. They would have taken pause and that would have allowed us the time we desperately needed. The people on the island might have survived. Genpact might not have attacked, fearing our strength.
Instead, they had seen us as weak. We had the vaccine and the viral load, and yet the parasite was allowed to continue growing. Threatening us as its tendrils crept ever closer.
Everything that had happened had been a result of my decision to hold him back. The Raiders felt they could do as they pleased, trapping us inside the walls as they waited for reinforcements. What would have happened had I just let Ryan lead his cult beyond the walls, hunting them?
I shook my head and climbed from the bed. Such thoughts had a clarity that I had lacked since he had come back to me. Fear had held me in check and I would allow that no more. The leash was firmly off and I would tell him so.
Though, perhaps not in such terms.
The clothing I had worn for the past few days I left on the floor where I had discarded them and went in search of something clean. Then I made an effort to comb my hair, and clean myself up as best I could with the bucket of cold water in the bathroom.
Ready to face the world, I strode from the bedroom and headed straight for the dining room. The living room was empty as I passed, and I was met at the dining room door by a young, pretty, woman wearing a white sash.
She bowed her head at my approach and I rolled my eyes. I should have stopped that nonsense the moment they had arrived.
“What is it?”
The silent woman lifted an envelope and waited for me to take it from her hands. I did so and opened it with barely concealed irritation.
It was short, and to the point, and left me reeling as I read it for a second time. My hand trembled as I crumbled the paper in a fist and threw it across the hall with a scream of pure rage.
Killing The Dead | Book 23 | Come The End Page 17