Star Drawn Saga (Book 1): Death Among The Dead: A Zombie Novel (23 page)

‘I… I couldn’t let you just die,’ Brother Mark replied, his eyes dropping to the plate in front of him with something that Tom could only describe as shame in his eyes. ‘There’s too much death in this world as it is and I… I thought if I... I mean if God could spare just a few more from it…’

‘Well, as I said, I’m very grateful,’ Tom interrupted.

‘I’m just sorry you won’t be staying,’ said Brother Mark, idly pushing some boiled seaweed around his plate.

‘No biggy,’ shrugged Tom, knowing that unlike Max, even if the opportunity had arisen, he would not have chosen to stay after all.

‘We have a list of houses, buildings and nearby farms,’ Brother Mark continued, briefly glancing at Tom. ‘It’s not much but you should be able to find a safe haven in one of them for a while at least... you and Max.’

‘Oh, I think Max and I will be parting company,’ said Tom, glancing across to the man angrily glaring at Father Matthew while filling his belly with the man’s free food.

‘Oh,’ said Brother Mark, turning his attention solemnly back to his meal. 

‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ Tom warily began, knowing many didn’t appreciate you reminding them of a past that had most likely been ripped violently from their grasp, ‘but what did you do before all this?’

‘Policeman,’ the Brother replied in a noticeably lowered volume, at last looking up from his plate while absentmindedly pulling at his thick beard. ‘I was a constable… Marazion had been my beat for ten years… You?’

‘Taxi driver,’ Tom replied. ‘Black cab in London.’

‘Ah,’ said Brother Mark, slowly nodding as he imagined the horrors the man sat next to him must have witnessed in his escape from the capital.

For a moment the two men looked at each other, both of them wondering just what horrific twists of fate had occurred to bring them together at this particular table.

‘But you don’t represent the law here on St Michael’s mount… not anymore?’ said Tom matter-of-factly, glancing down at his own meal to skewer some potatoes onto his fork before looking back up at the man next to him, his words clearly a statement rather than a question.

‘There is only one law on St Michael’s mount,’ Brother Mark replied, with equal certainty and conviction. ‘God’s and we follow it to the letter.’

Although he deeply doubted the reality of Brother Mark’s statement, Tom purposefully held his tongue and said nothing. He knew that to argue with such intensely held beliefs was ultimately pointless; for never had a believer or non-believer been convinced by each other’s truth, it was simply something grounded within the psyche of the individual and could not be changed by argument.

After a briefly uncomfortable silence between the two men their attention returned to their food to eat in silence. Tom was just popping the last fork full of food into his mouth when he felt Bella brushing heavily against his legs under the table.

‘Sorry, girl,’ he said, leaning back to look down at the bitch whose eagerly sniffing muzzle had appeared by his lap. ‘I’m all out... I’m done.’

‘Can’t you control that mutt of yours?’ growled Max in Peter’s direction, finishing his question with an unnecessary ‘Fucking retard’ said under his breath.

‘Max,’ said Dave, glancing from his brother to Peter and then to Jane.

‘Oh, Fuck this!’ snapped Max, standing so abruptly that he caused his chair to screech across the floor behind him in the process. ‘I need some air.’

Almost instinctively Tom began to rise from his own seat, concerned the long awaited explosion from Max was about to erupt. As he stood he noticed across the table, Fran was also tensing herself ready for action.

‘Mr Harper,’ said Father Matthew, his tone calm but firm as he too slowly rose from his chair. ‘Do not cause me question the Lord’s judgement in allowing you rest and safe harbour for a few days, I will not…’

‘Fucking crazy, the lot of you!’ shouted Max, interrupting Father Matthew as he threw his arms up in angry desperation before turning to storm out of the refectory.

‘Father Matthew, I’m so…’ Dave began to apologise, anxiously rising from his chair to follow Max.

‘No, no, no,’ said Father Matthew, waving away Dave’s hurried words and halting the man’s departure, ‘you are not your brother’s keeper, Mr Harper… I mean, Dave,’ he continued, correcting himself and using his first name to show he bore him no malice for Max’s actions. ‘Believe me it is not the first time that we have had to deal with those churning with such fierce anger.’

‘And he wasn’t that pleasant to start with,’ mumbled Tom, lowering himself slowly back into his seat but not before he noticed the side of Father Matthew’s mouth twitch in what could only be called a smirk of approval.

‘Brother Christopher, go after him will you,’ instructed Father Matthew, nodding to the door through which Max had stomped.

‘Yes, Father,’ the young Brother replied, immediately jumping to his feet to carry out his mentor’s request.

‘He’ll calm down, Father,’ said Jane, ‘I’m sure he’s just coming to terms with the fact that this is only temporary…. for him, and anyway,’ she continued, idly tinkering with the position of the cutlery on her empty plate, ‘it’s not as if he can go too far.’

‘Your wife is a very pragmatic woman, Dave,’ Father Matthew replied, an intriguing twinkle glinting in his eye as he kept his gaze fixed on Jane.

‘Back out there, you have to be,’ stated Jane, jerking her head to an unseen mainland inhabited by hordes of the Dead, ‘just to stay alive.’

‘Of course,’ said Father Matthew, slowly nodding in agreement. ‘Anyway,’ he suddenly continued, his tone instantly changing as if he had decided the dark horrors of the mainland had no place on St Michael’s mount, not even in their thoughts. ‘How about I give you a proper tour of the island, show you the cottages you’ll be staying in and then leave you to rest up for the remainder of the day… I’m sure you could certainly do with it.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Tom, smiling as he once again rose from his seat, swiftly followed by Fran, Kai and the others while Bella, darting back under the table to Peter, barked with excitement at the sudden commotion.

Hearing that they had finished their meal, the young woman called Kasey appeared back though the doorway and began to clear away the plates.

‘Here, let me help you,’ offered Jane, knowing that if she was staying she would need to build as many alliances as she could, in such a small community they were vital. ‘It’s Kasey isn’t it? I’m Jane, Jane Harper.’

‘Thanks,’ Kasey replied, with a smile handing Jane the tray onto which she began to pile the plates.

As Jane and Kasey started to make small talk, the others began to move away from the table, each politely pushing their chairs back into place; all accept Peter who was suddenly engaged in another playful tug of war with the excitable Alsatian.

‘C… Careful, P…Peter,’ warned Kai, as Bella unceremoniously bumped into a small antique gaming table upon which sat a chess board, the position of the pieces on the board telling him a game was still half way in play, ‘if you mess up the pieces you’ll ruin someone’s game.’

‘Sorry,’ said Peter sheepishly, making sure to pull Bella as far away from the table with its delicately spindled legs, ‘she didn’t mean to.’

‘Do you play, Kai?’ asked Father Matthew from across the room, noticing him scrutinising the chess board to make sure none of the pieces had been knocked over. ‘Perhaps Brandon or Kevin, will give you a game… that is if you can persuade them to take a break from their long running tournament that is. You’d think they’d get bored with it by now but no, every evening until they can barely see their hands in front of their faces, they’re sat at that table trying to best each other in their mini games of war.’

‘I used to p…play,’ said Kai quietly, almost to himself than in reply to Father Matthew’s enquiry, as he pushed a black rook back into the centre of the square it was sat on.

It was such a simple thing that triggered a torrent of memories in Kai but as his finger moved over the intricately carved piece it instantly took him back to one of the precious stolen moments he had shared with this father and even now the spicy aroma of his father’s aftershave came to him in haunting clarity. It had been during one of the rare summer holidays away from his boarding school and he could clearly see them both sat in his bedroom at the Embassy trying their best to ignore the music and soft rhythmic drumming of the Thai band drifting up from the reception below.

‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ his father had asked, looking up from the chess board between them, his dark sparkling eyes dancing with amusement.

Kai had paused, his fingers still barely touching his knight and looked back at his father, back into the eyes that were so like his own, only different. He had his mother to thank for the touch of European in his features, a touch that added the subtle yet somehow noticeable differences between his father and himself. Yet as Kai stared back into the almost obsidian blackness of his father’s eyes, knowing their colouring was one thing they did share, he tried to determine the honesty of his father’s amused expression. This was a game they had played often and Kai was yet to break the secret of the older man’s ‘tell’. His father would happily try to bluff and double bluff his son into making a wrong move or sacrificing the wrong piece and even though Kai hated to lose this way, he could not deny the simple enjoyment of spending time playing a game of chess with his father.

‘The German ambassador’s giving the usual signals that he’s about to leave, Kiet,’ came the voice of Kai’s mother from the open doorway, ‘and it looks like Mr Wattana is going to try to leave with him. You may want to stall him somehow, you know what a bore he is.’

Hearing his mother’s voice, Kai began to turn to look at her but even as he moved the memory began to dissipate and blur; the room about him losing its clarity, dissolving into mere remembered thought once again.

‘Ah, and here’s the man himself,’ said Father Matthew, his voice shooing away the final wisps of Kai’s memory to ground him in the here and now. ‘Brandon, I think we’ve got you a new opponent to replace that old misery, Kevin Harrison.’

Turning, Kai saw a bespectacled middle-aged man with a receding hairline dressed in jeans and for some reason a thick red jumper with a Christmassy white reindeer on it.

‘Erm, Father…’ the man Kai took to be Brandon began to say before another, older looking man, appeared from behind him.

‘Nice way to talk about people behind their backs,’ interrupted the second man, who was clearly the Kevin Harrison Father Matthew had just referred to, ‘very Christian, I must say.’

‘Oh, Kevin, if only I could get you interested in the words of our Lord,’ Father Matthew laughed, ‘I could meet Him with a smile on my face, knowing my life was a job well done.’

‘Yeah, well don’t hold your breath,’ Kevin grumbled, his words inducing yet another bout of deep laughter from Father Matthew as he stepped round Brandon and into the room. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ continued Kevin, his tone lightening as he extended his hand for Kai to shake. ‘Welcome to the madhouse.’

Kai was just about to take the man’s hand when behind him came the sudden sound of crashing plates.

‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God, I’m so sorry!’ apologised Jane, immediately falling to her knees to retrieve the dropped tray she had been holding. ‘I’m so sorry. Crap, look at all this mess.’

‘Hey, it’s alright,’ said Kasey, smiling reassuringly as she bent down to help collect pieces of the broken crockery, ‘accidents happen. It’s just some old Ikea plates. Believe me, we’ve got plenty.’

‘But I…’ Jane began to say, almost on the point of tears as she glanced over at Father Matthew.

‘I mean it,’ Kasey repeated, her hand reaching across to touch Jane’s, ‘it’s okay, forget about it.’

Looking nervously back at the woman trying to comfort her, Jane forced a small yet brittle smile to her lips just as Dave slowly pulled her to her feet again.

‘Are you okay?’ Fran heard Dave ask his wife in a concerned whisper.

Noticing all eyes in the room were still on her, Jane gave a brisk nod to her husband before forcefully turning up her smile a notch.

‘It’s… it’s just been so long since we’ve managed to sit around a table and eat a proper meal,’ she flustered, focusing her attention on Father Matthew. ‘I… I guess I just didn’t want to spoil it that’s all.’

Father Matthew took in her words, his eyebrows creasing together briefly in concern before speaking.

‘My dear, plates are plates and broken or not, can always be replaced,’ he said, stepping forward to rest his hand reassuringly upon her shoulder to show his sincerity. ‘Now, how about I give you that tour of your new home?’

‘Yes… yes that would be nice, thank you,’ she replied, his words, as far as Fran could see, doing little to release the visible tension in the woman’s body.

‘Good,’ said Father Matthew, offering up a friendly smile before turning to lead the group from the refectory.

‘Riley, stay close,’ Fran heard Jane say to her son as they left the room, ‘I don’t want you wandering off and getting lost.’

For a moment Dave turned his head back, nodding a belated and slightly embarrassed ‘hello’ to Kevin and Brandon, before, with look of mild confusion settling on his face, he followed close on the heels of his departing wife and son.