Burden of Survival: Killing the Dead : Season Two (13 page)

“You should get some rest.”

“Perhaps,” I said.

“She’s right,” Becky said from behind me. She pushed herself up from the desk and gently grasped my arm as she turned me to the door. “You go rest, I’ll stay with our injured friend.”

I would have protested but another yawn forestalled anything I was about to say and I gave in. Sleep would be useful and in the fresh light of morning I would be better able to make the decisions that needed making.

Since Ryan was away on the mainland and we’d had several zombie attacks, I considered it pointless heading out to the boat. Sadly though, due to the losses we’d had, we had ample room for me to find somewhere to sleep. I chose an unattended spot and settled down.

Even as exhausted as I was it took some time for my mind to stop going over the same seemingly insurmountable problems endlessly in my mind. When I finally did drop into a restless slumber it seemed I had barely closed my eyes before a hand shook me roughly awake.

“You need to wake up,” Cass said with an urgency to her tone that filled me with dread.

“Another attack?”

She shook her head and leaned close to whisper.

“There’re strangers on the island.”

I sat bolt upright and threw the blankets off of me. All around me, the sleeping people were being woken and alerted. Whispered words were exchanged as instructions to stay as quiet as possible were passed on.

“How many?” I asked as I climbed to my feet, all weariness burnt away by the burst of adrenaline her news had given me.

“Seven, armed.”

“Damn,” I looked around the room. The front doors were secured but wouldn’t hold off someone determined and the windows, though boarded up were adequate defence against zombies but wouldn’t stop the living monsters. “Get everyone up and armed, where’s Jim and Jonathan?”

“Roof,” Cass said. “They asked for you.”

I nodded and jogged across the room to the stairs. I didn’t want to look too panicked and upset everyone. As soon as I was out of sight I sprinted up the stairs and scrambled up the ladder to the roof.

A cold wind caught at my hair, blowing it across my face as I walked along the narrow walkway to the other council members. In the early morning light as the sun crested the horizon I could clearly see the concern on their faces. They were staring down over the stone rail at something in the grounds below. They nodded in greeting and pointed down as I joined them and I followed the direction they were pointing.

Six men and one woman were sitting on camp chairs a short distance from the front entrance of the round house. They were dressed in mismatched clothing like our own people and they looked to be half starved and filthy.

Each of them carried a gun of some kind, two of which looked to be the type I’d last seen used by the deserters. The standard automatic weapon used by the British army. The ammo clip was behind the handle and the two men who each carried one, looked to be familiar with them.

The leader or at least the man who sat in the middle, had a handgun. A sleek rectangle of black metal that rested against his leg. The other two men had a hunting rifle apiece much like our own and the woman had a double barrelled shotgun.

I glanced to Jim and he shook his head to indicate they hadn’t said anything as yet. He gestured for me to speak and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him. He should have already asked what they wanted.

“Can we help you?” I called down politely. No need for them to think us rattled.

The man in the middle looked up and shaded his eyes with his free hand as he squinted at us. His face had a shaggy growth of red hair that looked as though he hadn’t shaved in days.

“Good morning dear lady,” he called. “Are you in charge here?”

His voice was deep and his tone jovial, entirely at odds with his grim appearance.

“I am one of those in charge, yes,” I called back. “What do you want?”

“This island,” the man called back. “You people can stay if you surrender.”

It was hard not to laugh in his face. I looked over to Jim who shook his head in disbelief.

“Why on earth would we do that?” I asked.

“Because if you don’t we will kill every last one of you,” the man said. “I’m not unreasonable though and if you surrender your life here will be much the same, except with me in charge.”

“Lily,” Jim whispered. “Be careful.”

“Big words from you,” I said with a touch of anger. “You’re outnumbered and we have guns of our own.”

“Oh I have no doubt you do,” he said. “You have yourselves all boarded up and locked inside that big stone house. You lost some people to the little presents we sent you though didn’t you?”

“You admit to sending those zombies?”

“Of course we did,” he said with a laugh that his companions copied. “Consider that a warm up.”

“Warm up?”

“Merely the opening salvo of our attack,” he said. “If you wish to fight then that is merely a taste of what you can expect.”

“What makes you think we won’t kill you right now?” I called back. “You’re sitting there spouting your threats, but there’s just seven of you.”

“Not just seven,” he said. His voice had gone cold and dead, much like Ryan’s before he killed and I tensed. “But you need proof no doubt.”

No!
I screamed as the warm spray of blood covered the side of my face. Jim made a strange sound of surprise before he fell forward against the railing as blood leaked from the hole in his head. The sound of the shot that had killed him was almost an afterthought.

“That was my friend,” the leader called. “He has a high powered sniper rifle.”

“Fuck you!” I screamed and his lips turned up in a smile.

“You can’t win here,” he said. “We want this island and while we’d rather have it with all the people here to do our bidding, we’ll happily clear you all out first.”

“Damn you,” I whispered as I stared down at Jim’s dead body. He’d been such a caring man.

“This is a grenade,” the leader of the group called. I looked over the side to see him holding up a black ball that I could only assume was the explosive. “We have several. In one hour we will make some holes in your nice little building and toss them inside. Then we will come in with our guns and kill any survivors.”

“I suggest that you open the doors and surrender to us before then,” he finished.

“What do we do?” Jonathan asked.

He was pale and visibly shook as he stared down at the man he had been talking to just a short while before.

“What else can we do?” I said bitterly. “We surrender.”

Chapter 17

Ryan

Someone was weeping. It wasn’t quiet and it wasn’t pleasing to the ear. Great hiccupping sobs that filled the room and grated my nerves. I kept my hand away from my knife lest the urge to silence that ridiculous sound grow too much to ignore.

Thirty or so people filled the dining room of the Coppermine cottages hotel. Several of them were upset by the news of their village and the state we had found it in. One of them at least, was being obnoxiously loud about it.

Gabby was speaking softly with the bearded man who had first greeted us. No doubt going over plans and options while the rest of us lingered by the door, watched warily by the people we’d come to save.

At least five of them were over sixty and an even dozen were under thirteen. The rest were somewhere in between, more female than male and all now without a home.

Gregg whispered something to Pat who nodded tersely. His eyes passed over mine as he surveyed the room, they didn’t linger and I wondered absently why he was so upset with me.

Jenny meanwhile, kept her gaze turned outwards. She was ill at ease and seemed convinced that someone had been following us. I didn’t question her as it meant she’d leave me be. Solitude was something I craved and doubtless something I wouldn’t get.

I exhaled a sigh and leant back against the wall as the horrible noise continued. Someone needed to silence her or I would not be responsible for my actions.

The bearded man was shaking his head as he argued with Gabby. She seemed certain that he’d understand the need for them to return with us to the island. Their mountain refuge, while relatively zombie free was also absent any significant supplies.

“No,” bearded man said loudly. “We’re safe here.”

“For now,” Gabby agreed. “What will you do for food? Water?”

“We’ll get by,” he said. “Those creatures will move on and we’ll go home.”

“Your home is gone,” Gabby said. She slapped her hand down on the low table that was set between her and the bearded fellow. “You have little food and no heat up here. Your village is overrun and they aren’t going anywhere.”

Round and round they go
I thought as the cycle began anew. He would protest, she would insist, he would slowly give way as she made promises that she couldn’t possibly keep and we’d end up with thirty plus new mouths to feed.

It was pointless and just getting everyone down the mountain and back to the island would be a huge task. We’d made it to Coniston relatively unscathed because there were so few of us. We could move quietly in a way that a large group couldn’t.

Besides that, the old folks were clearly not up to the journey. They would slow us down and bring more risk to the rest of us.
Perhaps I could arrange accidents
I mused. Nothing that would outright break my promise, but perhaps something that would skirt the line a little.

The wailing had dropped down to a low sobbing and I rubbed at my temples in an attempt to stave off the headache that would do absolutely nothing for my mood. I’d had enough, it was time to get some fresh air.

I nodded to Gregg as he moved aside to let me past and I slipped out the door into the cool clean air. The obnoxious sounds were muted wonderfully by the door and I wandered a little way from the building.

My feet crunched on the gravel that surrounded the hotel as I walked. It wasn’t a displeasing sound. If nothing else I appreciated it for its usefulness as an impromptu alarm to warn me of someone approaching.

Behind the hotel, loose rocks mixed with the grass as the slope steepened, rising up to the rocky mountain peaks high above. If I chose to stand in front of the building though I had an incredible view that ended with the glistening waters of Coniston’s lake in the far distance. From where I stood, you couldn’t tell that the distant village had been overtaken by the undead.

I briefly wondered what had happened to the guests and staff of the hotel but soon dismissed it. Most of the hotels and facilities in the Lake District had been closed for the winter when everything had gone to hell. The Coppermine hotel was likely the same.

From what Becky had told us those many months ago after I’d just rescued her from the crashed plane, the zombies had been around for a while before they reached such numbers that they seemed to be everywhere.

That was when I’d first noticed them, when they were so many that they couldn’t be contained. Though apparently if I’d been watching the TV and monitoring the news, then I might have figured things out sooner. But no, I’d been busy with the killing of my latest victim.

It had only been when Lily arrived at my door that I’d realised something had changed. It wasn’t long before I knew that to survive I’d need others and I’d done that. I’d formed alliances, survived the beginning of the apocalypse and reached a place of safety.

Sometimes though I wondered if it would have been better if I’d never opened the door to her. If I hadn’t, I certainly wouldn’t be hampered by the promise I’d made to her. I wouldn’t be being consumed by a need that I was unable to fulfil.

But then I wouldn’t have found friends to survive with or someone who loved me for who I was. Loved me despite of who I was.

I let out a sigh as I picked up a loose stone and threw it down the hillside. No matter the struggle I faced now, I had to admit that my life was better for having her in it. I wasn’t particularly sure I could explain why, but it just was. I found myself almost at peace when I was with her and that was something I’d only ever found when killing people.

The gravel behind me crunched as someone approached and I spun round, my hand falling to grasp my knife hilt. I relaxed my grip as I saw Pat approaching, his face set and anger still in his eyes. I nodded a greeting that he reluctantly returned.

“They made a decision?” I asked with a tilt of my head towards the people inside the hotel.

“Not yet,” he said with a grunt.

I shrugged and threw another stone down the hillside before I pulled my collar up to protect my neck from the biting wind. By the look of the grey skies, it was due to start raining sooner rather than later which would mean either a night spent at the hotel or a long walk through poor weather.

Pat glanced at me and then away, his jaw clenched as though he had something to say but wasn’t sure how best to say it. I couldn’t help the smile that came, though his expression darkened as he saw it.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped.

“How do you mean?”

“Last night. What was the point of that? Were you trying to get yourself killed?”

“No,” I said and sighed deeply. He stared at me expecting more of a response so I considered what to say before I spoke. “You know what I am yes?”

“You know I do.”

“Well you may not know that the… need that is inside of me, well, it gets harder and harder to ignore.”

“What do you mean?”

“He means he needs to kill someone,” Gregg said softly from behind us.

We both whirled around in alarm at the sound of his voice and he laughed, a short guffaw of pure amusement at our expressions. He sauntered over to us, inordinately pleased with himself for sneaking up on us.

“Prat,” Pat muttered to his friend who just grinned in response.

“I’m right though aren’t I?” he asked. His smile faded as I nodded sharply once. It was time to lay all my cards on the table.

“So that’s why you went out on your own?” Pat asked.

“Killing the zombies isn’t very hard,” I said. “If they won’t provide me with a challenge the least they can do is be a distraction.”